29/02/12 Creole Day at the President's Village

So it’s week 6 already and time just seems to be flying by so quickly! People have been keeping busy even though the week started off with some unfortunate windy weather. Everyone has been using their spare time to work on building and designing things from games for Creole Day to benches and tables. Even some of the girls have been using some of the newly found wood to make their very own wine rack for the GVI base. Go girls!

We have all been lucky recently as while playing a very competitive game of water volleyball in the Bay, some of us were thrilled to see our first two ever hawksbill hatchlings. The game was interrupted halfway through by the arrival of these little gems. It seems that unfortunately the strong winds had washed the hatchlings in the wrong direction towards the shore so the volleyball game had to temporarily stop while more than enough volunteers helped usher them in the right direction.

After spending the last few days preparing for what we call ‘Creole Day’ for the orphans at the President’s Village here in the Seychelles, we finally succeeded in making it both a fun and special day for the lovely Seychellois children. As the orphanage is GVI’s Charitable Trust, GVI regularly gets involved in organising fun events for them as well as arranging weekly snorkeling lessons which they enjoy. Creole day involved throwing the kids a fair with bowling games, twister, water fights, face paints, bracelet making, crafts, sports and more. I’d have to say the face paints and nail polish were the biggest hit. Every single person attending, young or old, got tagged with either face paint or nail polish, or both! And often the paint and polish weren’t even on your face or your nails. Even the boys got involved! It was utter chaos but great fun and it was just so nice to see so many people, including the orphans, staff and volunteers laughing continuously and endlessly smiling.

The water fight was hilarious as well. What was to be a simple wet sponge toss turned into a full on water war. Buckets, sponges, and soda bottles were filled and poured over everyone. You just had to smile and even laugh at the squeals of joy and laughter that filled the front yard of the orphanage. It was so great to be able to give the children some fun and excitement, as well as some extra attention, as we know the kids far out number the staff who take care of them. You could tell the kids were eating it up because as the day went on we began to notice some of the kids pairing up with us quite randomly. We took it as a sign that we were needed and doing something worthwhile for them.

After lunch, which was amazing Creole food cooked by the staff, we headed to the beach just across the road from the orphanage and were amazed at the children’s fearlessness as some jumped off large granitic rocks into the sea. Other children preferred to go off snorkeling with their volunteer buddies while the smaller, younger infants paddled happily in the shallows with some of their new volunteer friends. The nicest thing about Creole Day was that it was just so rewarding for everyone. It truly was a special day.

29/02/12 Creole Day at the President's Village