Sanna's Village
For those of you who've been to PEI as a child, this village is not to be confused with Santa's Village. hehe. Makes me laugh every time I say it.
When we were upcountry at Tendaba Camp our driver, Sanna, took us to his village. The people there are from the Mandinka (sp?) tribe. The village is quite small and very poor. When we arrived in our NSGA van, all the kids in the village came out to greet us. Maybe 50 or so! Sanna had given us a bag of suckers to give out to them. Kids are always asking for "minties", which apparently means sweets or candies. Ruth took the bag and was instantly mobbed when she got out of the truck. They were grabbing and pulling and fighting with each other. Chaos! Sanna made them all line up and that seemed to work. Then he took us and introduced us to his mother, a sweet lady sitting on a rug on the porch and dressed in traditional clothing. There was also a young woman with a 3 week old baby girl who let us all hold her.
We were there for a couple of hours and spent most of our time playing with the kids and taking pictures. The kids here are SUPER cute. I taught one little girl how to "high five" and soon all the kids were yelling "High five! High five!" and running over to slap my hand. Too funny. The village is very poor and some of the kids' clothing was ripped and old. A bunch of them asked us for pens to draw with and one little girl was so thankful because I gave her a hair elastic. The football team, mainly just the older boys in the village, asked us if we had brought a football because they don't have one to practice with. How sad is that? In the short time I was there I managed to befriend a little girl named Mnana. She's the first one I taught to high five :) and I played with her a lot. When we were leaving she took my hand and walked me to the van. Then as we drove away she followed along behind us and everytime she caught my eye she'd break into a huge grin and wave furiously. I wish I could've taken her with me! It was a great experience but left us all feeling pretty melancholy.
When we were upcountry at Tendaba Camp our driver, Sanna, took us to his village. The people there are from the Mandinka (sp?) tribe. The village is quite small and very poor. When we arrived in our NSGA van, all the kids in the village came out to greet us. Maybe 50 or so! Sanna had given us a bag of suckers to give out to them. Kids are always asking for "minties", which apparently means sweets or candies. Ruth took the bag and was instantly mobbed when she got out of the truck. They were grabbing and pulling and fighting with each other. Chaos! Sanna made them all line up and that seemed to work. Then he took us and introduced us to his mother, a sweet lady sitting on a rug on the porch and dressed in traditional clothing. There was also a young woman with a 3 week old baby girl who let us all hold her.
We were there for a couple of hours and spent most of our time playing with the kids and taking pictures. The kids here are SUPER cute. I taught one little girl how to "high five" and soon all the kids were yelling "High five! High five!" and running over to slap my hand. Too funny. The village is very poor and some of the kids' clothing was ripped and old. A bunch of them asked us for pens to draw with and one little girl was so thankful because I gave her a hair elastic. The football team, mainly just the older boys in the village, asked us if we had brought a football because they don't have one to practice with. How sad is that? In the short time I was there I managed to befriend a little girl named Mnana. She's the first one I taught to high five :) and I played with her a lot. When we were leaving she took my hand and walked me to the van. Then as we drove away she followed along behind us and everytime she caught my eye she'd break into a huge grin and wave furiously. I wish I could've taken her with me! It was a great experience but left us all feeling pretty melancholy.
posted by brandy at 3:00 PM
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