If you want to smile and feel inspired, read on…
Exactly What All Children Need. – from our friends at Africa Yoga Project
What is family for?
Leaning on when times get tough! Or in Lucy’s case, when you get too tired.
Field Day Fun
- Celebration!
In November of last year, Flying Kites made the vital decision to scale its class sizes down to ten children per teacher for the sake of quality education for both student and provider. In doing so, we partnered with an area private school called Mwangaza Primary that was seeking to intake students also at a scaled level of high quality.
- Alex watches the competition with fierce interest
This past Saturday, for the first time since November, the two schools united in a memorable field day celebration. All week the two schools practiced in preparation, to compete in sack racing, handball, soccer, and tug of war from morning until evening with the teachers acting as coaches. Each of the kids had a chance to participate in sports and the day created an opportunity for bonding time between the kids at Flying Kites Leadership Academy and other kids in the community. We were proud to see great sportsmanship from both schools and look forward to hosting many more days with Mwangaza.
Squeaky clean
Serah gets creative with shampoo
Today is shampoo day at Flying Kites! How are you planning to work a little fun into your Monday routine?
Auntie Rebecca practices her tiger mom look with a cheeky Rahab
Hannah, Auntie Rebecca, and Elias
Flying Kites leader Francis cracks a wide smile, followed by shared laughter on a lunch outing with the other “big kids.”
Delighted to learn
Miriam takes her first typing class in the new computer lab. We found her joy to learn inspiring. What has inspired you today?
A Look in the Mirror
by Hannah Peterson, Flying Kites Ambassador
Mary stared intently at herself in a hand mirror, tilting it slightly to see her hairline, and then to the side to trace the lines of her ear. The playroom was set up like an art workshop with three big wooden tables cornered by benches, each with a mirror and bucket of colored pencils. For our Mlezi and Championi level sponsors, we decided to make self-portraits to send in the month of September. Orchestrating an activity for 26 energetic kids has its unique challenges, and having executed all sponsorship correspondences over the past year, I’d learned a couple key lessons to keep things going smoothly. Number one, create a lesson plan and split the kids into small groups. Number two, the kids mirror your excitement, so make it something that excites and challenges you too. And finally, number three, always, always, have dance music playing.
I set up my own table and armed myself with glue sticks for each finished picture to be set onto a glittery frame. I gave them the advice that I wished had been given to me in my first art class: draw what you perceive, not necessarily what you see. I knew it was a success when I heard laughter around the room and could look around at the tens of mirror faces revealing themselves.
In the past year, we have funneled effort into sustaining a more creative and evolved relationship between child and sponsor through a correspondence program that spans media types. From emails to holiday ornaments, to self-portraits, to video messages, our hopes are that this program has helped to reshape and enhance this relationship. The unexpected treasure though, always lies in the kids. In showing the kids how to creatively correspond with people around the globe, their own understanding of giving has evolved into a more creative and authentic outlook. It has been a meaningful journey to act as the bridge between child and sponsor, and with the growing intellectual and creative tools cultivated by the kids, I can’t wait to see where they take things next as our superstar Communications Ambassador, Adam, steps into the role.
flying kites 