Easter in Salajwe

Our little friend Kgosi turned eight years old on April 21, the week before Easter. Lucas and I offered to throw a birthday party for him and his friends. Kgosi lives with his grandmother who is a teacher at the primary school.

Lucas and I decided to share a little bit of America by hosting an Easter eggs hunt and piñata. Lucas hard-boiled 11 eggs. Since we didn’t have food dye, we decorated the eggs with markers. I soaked strips of newspaper in a water/flour mixture and wrapped around a balloon to make a piñata. We filled the piñata with candy and toys, and sewed a string threw the sides so that it could hang from a clothes line.

We met with Kgosi’s grandmother so that she could explain the rules of the egg hunt while we hid the eggs. Kgosi’s grandmother lives in a small, square compound on the primary school grounds. There are no bushes, no grass. We struggled to find hiding places. We slid some in random bricks laying in the yard, in window sills, and holes in the ground. It seemed pretty obvious where eggs where hiding but for kids who have never played, it was a bit difficult. The kids would move as a group rather than spreading out. When one egg was found, the rest would dig in the ground like dogs looking for the rest. When an egg was found, the child would peel the egg and gobble it down. There were enough eggs that every child got at least one. It was a big hit.

Lucas and I passed out cake and watermelon and gave Kgosi a gift. He is a huge fan of match box cars. So we wrapped up five cars that had never been used and gave them to him as a birthday gift.

For the final game, we taught kids how a piñata works. Lucas would tie a bandana around a kid’s eyes, spin him around a few times, hand him a broken broom handle and give him three swings. I was surprised most of the children were reluctant to try. In fact one kid waited until he was finished being spun around and just pulled off his bandana without taking any swings.

When the piñata was finally knocked down, there was a stunned silence instead of the normal chaos of American children rushing to collect candy. I picked up the piñata and poured all the goodies on the ground. Then they got the idea. Even the grandmother was collecting some candy.

The next day Lucas and I left to meet up with some Peace Corps volunteers who had friends visiting from Spain. Their friends offered to cook an authentic Spanish meal for everyone. The next morning those who were interested ran a 6-mile “Easter Bunny Fun Run.” I hadn’t run since the 4-mile “Turkey Day Fun Run” at Thanksgiving. But I still gave it a go.

I had been suffering from a head cold for almost a week so Lucas and I called it an early weekend and traveled back to Salajwe. Before heading back, we gave each other a P100 budget (~$14) to give each other an Easter basket. We exchanged the Easter baskets in our family’s traditional way. Lucas’ basket was waiting for him in the morning prepared in a mixing bowl with a scarf as “grass.” Lucas hid my basket. Very fun but I am horrible at hiding games. I was never really good at Easter egg hunts…