Fun, dance, games and stories at the orphanage
Another morning at the Yebo camp and we were excited for the day ahead. We would be working with the children with things that we had learned from our visit to see the chimpanzees, both at UWEC and Ngamba. Today we would be visiting the children at the orphanage so they could get to know us better.
So today we went to the orphanage and we were greeted again by the children’s smiling faces. We started the day with a chasing circle whereby we introduced ourselves by dance and funky moves.
We told the children a story about a chimp called Sarah, whose mother died when she was young. Sarah the chimpanzee was passed around to different people in her life and treated badly before she was found and rescued by UWEC. They gave her the love and care that she needed so she is now able to live a happier life. The aim of telling this story was so that the children could relate it to their own similar experiences and to also provide them with educational information about rescued chimpanzees.
We then further divided the children into different groups, focusing on expressing the chimpanzee’s story through art, music and dance. We encouraged the children to write their own songs, and source their own instruments, choreograph their own dance moves and draw their own art work to tell the chimps story.We all worked together and it was great fun and really interesting and thought provoking to see what the children were coming up with.
Before we left the children created a circle and invited three members of the Yebo team, Melissa, Janet and Alice into their circle and gave them a present of African names; Mushabi (meaning peace), Mukusi (meaning blessing) and Gyrabo (meaning the gift).
We ended the day with dancing, laughing, and hugs before we got back on the bus to come home to UWEC. We are looking forward to taking the children to Ngamba island soon.
By Susan, July 9, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
This is such exciting and special work! Tell us more about what dances the children bring. Can we see some video footage of their dance? Feel I am with you in that circle!
By Emmy, July 14, 2011 @ 9:51 pm
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I wish I could be there! Well done guys you’re all doing an amazing job :0) xxx