Today I woke up super early to help pick up the school children whom we invited to come stay with us at Chimfunshi.  It was a long, adventurous ride in the truck, passing by the farm and going down the old Chimfunshi road.  We picked up the kids from three different schools.  They brought drums with them and we all sat in the back of the truck together while they played some amazing music and sang and clapped for the entire ride back to Chimfunshi.  We took them straight up to the chimps and they got to see them being fed and learn different things about them.  When we brought them back to camp, they enjoyed some lunch before we broke off into groups to do different activities.  We had a super fun name game, the human knot, a memory game, a place for them to look at insects under a microscope and a place for them to draw a picture of their families.  After all these fun activities, the kids went on a walk through the ravine and we met them in the dambo.  There they got to interact with the local children and play football.  Once we got back, and amazing meal was made for everyone that included nshima, rice, and chicken stew.  But the festivities were not yet over.  Once dinner was over, we had a huge shana shana party.  They put on an amazing show, the singing and dancing were incredible.  All they people from the local village came as well, and I eventually got pulled in to start dancing.  It was a fabulous end to a great day.  The next morning, we all made friendship bracelets in hope that we would never forget about each other.  It was sad to see them leave, but it was such an amazing experience to see them have a fabulous time with us at Chimfunshi.

Love,

Lauren