For the last month or so, Steph and I have been teaching weekly swimming lessons at the local orphanage. We had some grand ideas about what and how to teach the valuable skill of swimming to the kids, but have come to find that our time at the orphanage is better spent supervising and playing than actually doing much teaching. But what the heck, at least we're all having fun!
We usually take a group of between 5 and 15 young kids (ages 2-6) to enjoy about an hour of splashing about in the 'big' swimming pool. These kids are pretty young and there's a bunch of them and the tias (women that care for the kids) at the orphanage are pretty paranoid (usually for good reason), so all of the kids are required to wear life jackets when playing in the 'big' pool. We do our best to give a couple quick lessons (blowing bubbles, kicking, etc), but the majority of the time is spent giving 'dragon rides' and loving on the kids and doing our best to help avoid any major injuries (only one split lip so far (-: ). The most challenging part of the whole ordeal is getting the kids in and out of their swim suits... it takes a while!
It's been so great to have this opportunity at the orphanage. For one, it gets Steph and I out of the office for a couple hours! But it's also such a blessing to hang out with the kids, get to know them, and hopefully show them a little bit of the love of Christ! And although the kids may not be expert swimmers, they are however leaps and bounds beyond the majority of Costa Ricans that have never learned how to swim! And based on the fact that a few of the kids used to be incredibly scared of water (even taking a bath!), I'd say they're doing pretty well! Enjoy the pics!
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