Weekend Fun

The first work week just flew by as the Global Volunteers all made friends and discoveries.  Thanks to the program staff, we had a full range of activities lined up for the weekend ahead. We kicked off the weekend by spending our Saturday morning planting trees.  Some of us had great interaction with the local kids helping each other with the water pump.  The volunteers also got fairly creative with building the baby tree shelters.  Ikeizjea stacked up a whopping castle and Jackie built a Palm Springs resort for her little tree with pine cones hanging. The increasingly pleasant scent coming off of the group urgently called for the need of laundry.  Hakuna Matata!  Mama Tony came to our timely rescue and patiently taught us how to turn our hands into heavy duty washing machines.  A good number of us were determined to wear each piece a few more times as we struggled to remove the stains from the clothes

After a filling lunch and a couple hours of chilling around the house, the group went out on a hike to a waterfall nearby.  It was a pretty relaxing walk over and some of us got to see downtown Pommern for the first time since we arrived. The water fall isn’t all that big and makes a great chill out spot.  It wasn’t long before people started posing up for all sorts of photos in this scenic destination. 

The early schedule on Sunday didn’t allow us to snooze as much.  We all attended the morning service at the local Lutheran church.  As different as the service may be to the ones we’re more familiar with, the devoutness to God was universal, not to mention the amazing performance put on by the choir.  Right after the service, everyone stood around for the auction.  As quiet as the scene was, all items were successfully sold. At 4:30 we marched to the field for the much anticipated soccer match.  Our dear Coach Allen had already walked us thru the basics of soccer and positions we were going to play.  We were confident that we would lose by only single digit goals.  As we kicked off the match, all mzungus went 100 percent against our half-trying opponents. We did a great job defending against the waves foattacks by the mwalimu team, only to give away a goal on a net-tearing shot after the first 30 minutes.  Our 2-minuted stamina quickly go exposed and we had to sub players in and out to keep up.  Kudos goes especially to the girls for keeping the goal shut with the unyielding backline and also for scoring the last minute goal with the staff team’s generous help.

The weekend fest doesn’t end here. At dinner we found out just how pampered a birthday mzungu can be in Pommern.  Thanks to Jenn, we got to indulge ourselves with two birthday cakes which included a full roasted chicken.  After dinner, we took a short walk in the dark to get a few drinks at the local lounge bar, where we marked completion of an exciting week of venturing out in a foreign land.  It was only when we realized how closely we’ve all bonded as a group.  As another work week lies ahead, I don’t believe anyone is ready to leave just yet.

Christian Allen