Sarah, Helene and Hallie spent an evening making two cakes, one for the girls and one for the boys. The next afternoon all the children dressed in their swimsuits came up from water sliding to celebrate William’s (who turned 4), Nathan’s (who’s now 3), Elijah’s (who turned 3), Isabella’s (who’s now 3), Brian’s (who turned 2), Jason’s (who ‘s celebrating his 7th), and Alima’s (who’s now 2)birthdays. The seven of them had their birthdays in the months of November, December and January.
The Dora decoration was out, the birthday hats were on, the balloons were finally blown and hanging. We turned on the music to dance to the groove. The 24 children were loving the Disney themed songs we had chosen to play for the celebration. Standing outside on the sunlit grass the kids, the Aunties and the Mamas were all dancing to the beat. Isabella, who’s 3, was moving her hips while Matthew, who’s 3 and ½, was getting into the head bobbing moves. “Seeing Mathew move his little body to dance was my favorite,” exclaimed Auntie Helene.
During the songs Auntie Simon and Auntie Helene began splashing the children with water to cool them off from the afternoon sun. Their giggles and squeals could be heard throughout most of the compound. Many of the kids loved the refreshing cooling feeling but then there were those little ones, like Emily, 1 ½ , who would rather have stayed dry. After the water and dancing excitement all of the children gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to the seven birthday children. The seven stood up in front of the blue and bright pink birthday cakes, their birthday hats were on, and their faces lit with big grins. They knew that today was their special day. They had the attention all of it and they were basking in it. After the song closed the Aunties began to pass out the brightly colored pieces of cake the children’s eyes grew big with joy “sweeties” they proclaimed.
Written by: Rachel Seigneur (volunteer Jan.-Feb. 2011)
