What is a Playground?

Torn down house by our home

Our kids love playgrounds.  When we travel, its often one of their first questions.  Will there be playgrounds?  They’ve been to many a good playground and will probably find more good playgrounds in their future.

Unfortunately, there are virtually no playgrounds on the islands.  There is one on the big island, but as far as we know, there aren’t  any playgrounds here on Clove island.  This has made our kids really appreciative of even simple playgrounds and there’s something wonderful about that.  Many kids can easily take playgrounds for granted.  In some places there one is at every school, maybe even one on every block.  On the islands, schools may have open spaces (if they’re lucky), but no play structures.  It simply isn’t something valued by the culture.

But this doesn’t mean our kids never play outside. In fact recently we’ve been watching our kids creating their own play areas, and these days they have a favorite spot.

Gutted car by our home

Out our back door and up a flight of steps is our kids’ playground.  It consists of a half demolished house, an open area, a couple of busted old cars, some stairs, some railings, a pile of sand, a pile of rocks, and a few trees with low hanging branches.  As I watched my kids climbing over cars, hanging from branches, picking through rubble, it occurred to me — you know, this playground isn’t half bad.

We’ve been on vacation visiting with family (that is why there was no blog last week, sorry!).

Mini golf fun far from home

So the kids have gotten a taste again of not only playgrounds but many things we don’t have on the islands (real ice cream, pools, mini golf, theme parks with roller coasters and all kinds of edible goodies). And as much as we and our kids are enjoying our time, we hope they don’t lose the ability to take pleasure in the simple things of the islands. I wonder how many weeks of longing there will be for things like rollercoasters and ice cream once we’re home on Clove Island, but then I see our 5 year old pick up yet another  thrown-away scrap of plastic from the ground and entertain himself for most of the day with it and I think that perhaps we don’t beed to worry. These things are nice and we savor them, but we can live happily without them.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our teammate made it safely back home to the States.  Our teammates on Clove Island seem to be doing fine (even without us there!)  One of them just turned 30!  It sounds like she had a good birthday especially with her parents who are visiting.  We are thankful for a wonderful vacation time filled with seeing family and doing fun things as well as some quieter more restful moments. 

Rocket ride far from home

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our 8 year old son came down sick today. It has been pretty rough and it is hard to see him suffering when we are supposed to be vacationing. Pray for a quick recovery and that no one else will get sick. On Thursday we travel back to Africa.  Pray for our return travels. We will have a week in mainland Africa filled with doctor and dentist check-ups.  Remember our friends on the islands, for the light to shine in their lives and hearts. At the end of the month there is supposed to be a controversial referendum on the islands, continue to pray for the island’s stability and leadership leading up to that.