October Birthday Party

With over 40 boys at the Light in Africa Pilgrim House, and around 80 kids at the Tudor Village site – having an individual birthday party for everyone is impossible and impractical. Not to mention, many of the children don’t know what day they were born, their age is just estimated, and a day of birth is made up, sometimes. Upon arrival to LIA, Mama Lynn gave us the task of planning a “small and simple” birthday party – which was exactly what we delivered.

We were given the name of 8 kids who had October birthdays, and we set about trying plan our first birthday party for 16 children (each child with a birthday was able to invite one friend.) With the help of our godsend Gloria, we ordered cupcakes from a “bakery” (no frosting L), picked up juice concentrate, cookies, suckers, silly birthday hats, and a gift for each birthday kid. We mostly gave out stuffed animals, but also gave out colored pencils (with cool fuzzy stuff on the end), and a silly hand clapper with candy to our only birthday boy. We introduced Pin the Tail on the Donkey (I drew a donkey with a giant bare butt on a piece of cardboard), as well as had a very intense water fight – complete with water balloons.

We both felt the party was a decent success, but couldn’t really get a read on if the kids enjoyed themselves and liked their gifts. The kids are so modest and reserved when you give them gifts, that because they didn’t do the “normal” squeal and run off to play with it – we thought we didn’t do that great of a job. However, the next day, we noticed a few of the kids still had their presents’ wrapping paper, the home-made card, and parts of their birthday hat. In the end, I think everyone had a great time, and they really appreciated having a special afternoon in celebration of their birth. As an October birthday girl myself, I know I will never have another party without seeing each one of their gorgeous faces.

--Sara