In my mind, I had it choreographed perfectly. Bringing nearly 40 children to the beach for an afternoon? Amna shida…no problem.
Our dear friends, Jan and Hannelei, own and manage Tunza Lodge in Mwanza. It’s a restaurant and local hangout with a beach overlooking Lake Victoria. They also have several bungalow-style hotel rooms on the property.
Jan and Hannelei have big hearts and are incredibly generous to us at JBFC. Two weekends ago, they asked Stephanie and I to bring all the girls to their beach for a day of fun. When we gathered the girls to share the news with them, we were immediately engulfed in a screaming/jumping up and down/rejoicing/hugging mob of girls. Needless to say, they were excited.
Throughout the week, Stephanie and I made our carefully laid plans. We coordinated transportation, meals, chaperones, and a schedule. We would stay at Tunza the night before (to attend a party and enjoy a little get-away), and the girls would join us the following afternoon.
The plan was they’d call before they left, giving us a luxurious 90 minutes to pack our things and assemble lunch. Then they’d call again when they pulled up outside the gate. We’d greet them with a prepared lunch and go over our rehearsed “Fool-Proof Safety Plan” for the day before going inside. It sounded so good.
As we were enjoying our morning—confident the group would be at least an hour late and still relaxing because we hadn’t received a “we’re leaving” phone call—we followed the gazes of everyone in the restaurant to the door. What a surprise! Standing in the doorway were 32 JBFC girls, three mamas, four additional children from campus, our driver, and several other people from campus who somehow managed to make their attendance on this outing seem necessary and altruistic. The kids shuffled into Tunza, towels around their necks, eager and a little uncertain. They rarely leave our campus, so this was A BIG DEAL.
Stephanie and I leapt up from our chairs and sprang into action.
First priority—a photo with Jan and Hannelei with a thank you gift from JBFC, painted by Stephanie.
Then, we performed a frantic head-count and shouted an abbreviated version of the “Fool-Proof Safety Plan" as the girls eyed the beach. I'm sure they heard everything we said about the buddy system, not going in the water above your waist, and not running through the restaurant with dripping wet clothes. Yep, they definitely heard it.
I managed to take a few pictures of them after they put their bags in the bungalow Stephanie and I had stayed in the night before.
It happened to be a stormy day, so the usually calm water of Lake Victoria was more like a high-tide-lifeguard's-worst-nightmare kind of situation. I may be exaggerating only slightly.
This picture pretty much captures how the day went - unbelievably happy children, chaos in the water, and smiles masking Julia and Stephanie's mutual terror as the waves grew to epic heights.
But the girls had a blast, so that's what counts.
We did manage to keep the little ones closer to the shore. I don't think it put a damper on their fun in the least!
There was a slip-and-slide AND a bounce house, too. As if the day couldn't get any better.
Meanwhile, Stephanie and I assembled 53 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in record time. I credit Stephanie's experience as a weekly volunteer for "Hearty Meals" back home for our ability to pull of this feat. Our main course was accompanied by bananas and a bottle of COLD SODA. A special thank you to Jacques who saved the day and volunteered to be our "bartender", opening all the sodas for us with remarkable efficiency. (Jacques is a Tunza regular who is rumored to have been Michael Jackson's bodyguard at one point. I'll do some fact-checking and get back to you on that one.)
Mama Miriam, Mama Tulieta, and Mama Grace dressed up and looked beautiful for our outing. I think they enjoyed the PBJs, too!
We enjoyed more time in the water, and then confronted the greatest obstacle yet: finding dry clothes for everyone to wear home. There were at least eight different girls wearing items I found in my backpack--scarves, t-shirts, a football jersey--we got creative.
Once everyone found something dry to wear home, we took one more picture to document the day. WE LOVE TUNZA! A very special thank you to Jan and Hannelei for such a wonderful day.
We hopped on the bus, did one final headcount, and took our place on a bench with three children perched between our two laps. It was a cozy and quiet ride home, as almost everyone slept on the way back.
I laughed when I recalled meeting a woman at Tunza earlier in the day. She had told me, "oh, we're just here for a little family outing." I exclaimed, "oh great--us, too!" Well, kind of.
It was a great day we'll remember for a long time. And all 36 children made it back safely...or was it 37?
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