Galooper, Galoper, Galooper, Woooo!!!! Wooooo!!!!

The community we have been working in all week feels completely different after nightfall. No electricity or hardly. Little gas lamps here of there. People standing on the street playing cards or dominoes. It has just gotten dark and we are told to get out of there quick. On our drive out I see one of the kids from our workshop sharing the rest of his meal (the hot meals we eat are always in big styrofoam take out containers that get added to the piles of garbage all over the place) with his dad, or maybe his grandpa?

The kids were so hyper on the bus ride home after our first show today. They sang the entire time. Over an hour of non-stop singing...."Pedaler Pedaaler Pedaler woo woo!! Galoper Galooper Galoper woo woo!" "Meli Melo! something something something Meli Melo! something something something..." "I said a Boom Chicka Boom!!" then "Okay Okay? Okay! Si....Lence!!!" we think for 2 seconds we will have a couple minutes of quiet, but, nope: "Un elephant...qui se balader...tout doucement...dans la forêt..."


It's great, the kids are flying. Having spent the afternoon as stars performing in another community - in the countryside - it was a trek to get to: we had to shuttle up to hill, piling everyone into our 2 4x4s for the 20 min ride up a super bumpy ravine like road. then we had to wait at the top for the second round.



This time we made a conscience effort to work the animateurs (workshop leaders we have been training) into the show. Not only did it give them the chance to shine on stage too, but we gave them more responsibility in the show creation. I think this group will come away from the experience better able to create shows than the last group.

This show was a much more integrated weave of kids, animateurs, trainers, and us 3 clowns all of us together on stage.






At the end of the long day, when we sat down to eat in the dusk lighting back in Cité Delma, one of the girls put my hand on her neck to feel how sweaty she was from dancing when we arrived back there. Still hyper, giggly, running around through dinner. I wonder now that it's dark where the kids will be able to wash and in what kind of water. It's only 7:30 but I myself am ready for bed, back at the hotel I take a shower and carefully set up my mosquito net.