First Trip to Shangalia 5th/Oct/11

On the 5/Oct/11 all the people who are part of the service group in Global Issues Network went to Shangalia for the first time. We were all excited because we wanted to go and help out and to see how this place was like. When we got there it looked a bit like a compound where someone would live because there were clothes hanging and drying outside and then right in front of the door was a stage with a really nice drawing of people performing. They introduced us to some of the kids and they told us that Shangalia is a place where they take care of kids ages from 5 to 17 and they [provide the kids a place to stay and they teach them performing arts such as dancing and playing instruments.

            Before we went to Shangalia we all signed up for various activities that we would do with the kids and I choose to do library. So after the introduction we were split up and we went to our sections and I went to the library with Chloe and we got five kids in a small room packed with different types of books from educational books to picture books to novels.  Since it was our first time at  Shangalia we didn’t really know what to do with the kids so we decided to ask them to choose a book and read it, after about 10 minutes of them reading we decided that we should read the boosk together. So they put their favorite books in the middle and we choose a book to read together. Every person in the circle would take a turn reading a page.  It was only three of the kids who were 11 years or older who were participating while the other two kids were just looking at pictures and taking out all the books they found.

          I felt as if it was a bit disorganized because Chloe and I didn’t know what to do with all the kids so after about an hour of reading we decided to go outside and think of some games to play I think that the next time we go to Shangalia the first thing we should have done was play some games so that we could get to know each other and then we would go and start reading and doing the other activities. After we played outside for a few minutes we all gathered at the performing stage and the kids from Shangalia danced for us and then their band including one of our students from ISK also played the trumpet. Afterwards they asked Reggie from our school to break dance while the other kids watched. I could tell how excited they were to watch this. They were all so eager to learn how to do his moves. At the end of the day I really enjoyed playing with the kids, and even though our first trip wasn’t the most organized I still looked forwards to going again.