It was over a week of planning for the big event. Why? The words that come to mind are worth, hope, and value. At the first ever day camp hosted at University Village, our desire was that the theme of royalty would be woven through every detail of every activity so that these kids would know that they truly are princes and princesses of God.
Because they are worth it.
Because there is hope even in the darkest of circumstances.
Because they are valuable.
We arrived in Dwaleni around 8 am to pick up 286 kids only to find out they had been waiting since 7 am. Can you say excited? I wish every one of you reading this could have heard the squeals of excitement when those buses pulled onto University Village. I don’t think there was a dry eye as we returned the excitement to welcome them with high 5’s and handshakes in people dressed as princes and princesses.
I really think this little guy could feel the royalty in his swagger to the registration line.
It took us two hours to get 286 kids from Dwaleni and 132 from Mbonisweni registered. The kids enjoyed dressing up as royalty and photo shoot time in the photo booth, learning a dance, face painting, crafts, movies, getting nails done in the “royalty room,” songs and Bible stories, soccer, lunch, and a chance to dunk the staff in the dunking chair.
I loved one little girl’s response to the day. Her favorite part was the “peace and quiet” she felt when she got off that bus. Most of these kids live in chaotic homes. The scene around them is chaos. What they’re feeling in their hearts is chaos.
It’s hard to hear anything in the chaos. Eliminating the noise helped these kids hear with fresh ears…
“YOU ARE VALUABLE.”
“YOU ARE GOD’S ROYALTY.”
“YOU ARE HIS CHOSEN SON AND DAUGHTER.”
Best ever way to spend seven hours on a hot Saturday!
WITH THANKS…
We thank God for the kids who made a commitment to Jesus.
We thank Him for the Ten Thousand Homes staff (including kids) who gave up their Saturday to love on these kids.
We thank Him for YWAM Orlando and YWAM Holmsted and the many hours spent in preparation.
We especially thank Stephanie from YWAM Orlando for spear heading and organizing the event.
We thank Super Spar at The Grove in Nelspruit for their donation of 20 watermelons.
We thank the following businesses for discounts they gave us…Kodak in White River, Janelco, Postnet, and Buscor.
It truly was a community effort and for that we say, “Thank You” from the bottom of our hearts.