Reflections from the Playfield at Grace Village

-- From Mike

Reflections from the Playfield at Grace Village

The playfield is a compacted gravel space with some loose rock which is surrounded by a combination of metal supply containers and concrete walls, with a wide opening for the driveway off of one corner.   The Haitian sun has full command of the entire field, and the wind is fleeting. In a word: HOT!  Takes about one breath to start sweating.  

The view is breathtaking: we are looking over the land as it descends to the water below.  The ocean is ever-present, a swath of amazing blue and green beyond the brown landscape.  To the left, Cite Soliel is smoking.  Always smoking.  

Our team (Dean, Shannon, Sarah, Alex and I) has prepared well - appropriately flexible with plenty of ideas and an understanding that the execution will likely be very different from the plans going in.  

Our group on Wednesday is ~12 kids, ages 7-15 years, a mix of boys and girls.   The first activity is sharks and ships (or sharks and minnows) requires the kids to start at one side of the field and run to the other without being eaten by the shark (tagged).  It is so fun to see the kids transition from observing, questioning, waiting, to engaging, laughing, smiling.   Fast forward to late in the session and a football keep-away game...turns out our group of kids are world-champion keep-away players!   They enjoyed our hopeless attempts to intercept as they went from person to person and worked together.  

Play, like love, is universal and essential.  I am so blessed to be able to spend time with these kids.