Saturday "Grow The Girls" Outreach!

Today was a very full day! We started the day on less sleep than usual, having picked up the rest of the GEO group from the airport last night and then celebrating with a very fun dinner until 1am.  We all woke up with a lot of energy though because we were very excited to finally go to Orkeeswa as a full group. We had breakfast at around 8:30 (Which was amazing as usual.)  We drove to the school at 9:30 and arrived at around 10am, where we instantly saw a lot of primary school kids and met with our tour guides.  After a quick tour for those who arrived here last night, we all participated in several different activities, all of which were unique and very fun.  Many of the GEO students played basketball with primary students and alumni in the morning while others played music and chess. Some of the boys tried rugby as well, while Jacques, Ada, Sagata and Alejandro had their first 2-hour filmmaking class. 

Lunch at Orkeeswa was great, with rice mixed with vegetables and meat. The kitchen staff was kind enough to serve food to Semira and Jacques, who came to lunch 20-30 minutes late after a long chess game. After a  lunch where we watched hundreds of primary students fill the basketball courts, the official Orkeeswa girls team set up to play a match. To our surprise, Sage was invited to go down and scrimmage with the team. Basketball is clearly very important here - especially to the girls. They are very competitive and even brought in official refs to hold the scrimmage. During the game, just about all of the Groton students and faculty were in the stands cheering, and with the help of the Orkeeswa community, we were able to work past language barriers and interact with so many different people. This included toddlers like Ester and Juliette, primary students, Orkeeswa students like Heshe and Salim, and adults. While the toddlers were trying on our sunglasses and hats, many of the primary school students and some of the alumni were sitting in the stands with us, engaging in great conversation. We also got to know the two Spanish volunteers, Alvarillo and Blanca. After the basketball game ended and many students started to head home, we all played pickup basketball, and Fred couldn’t stop giggling while playing against Kesuma and some Orkeeswa alumni. Nolan, Jayden, Zoe, and Sage also played basketball for well over an hour. It was 5:30 in the afternoon when we all wrapped up the basketball games and got on the bus, headed to the lodge, and had dinner. Dinner was amazing— we had good soup and salads as starters, and most students ordered a delicious 120g steak for the main course. Dessert was banana cake. We are eating very well! After that, all sixteen of us sat around a campfire.  Before checking in for the night, we played a game of Mafia. Although it felt like we were missing some rules (the game felt entirely luck-based), we all had a lot of fun. Sanya narrated the game and chose three faculty members to be murderers (they lost). After checking in, all students took quick showers and then headed to the common area to play cards and dice before turning in for the night. It was a great first day with the rest of the group— we all had an amazing Saturday at Orkeeswa.