The Denlinger's found a really nice hotel called the Caribbean Lodge and have been going there on Sunday's for the past few months to swim and have dinner. They have become friends with the owner and somehow they struck up a deal to let the kids from the girls and boys homes come to swim on Thursdays throughout the summer. The kids don't have school now, so it works out well.
It is basically a free-for-all, which is slightly crazy considering most of them have never even seen a pool before. Each group (girls and boys) has gone once before and I was warned that there really isn't much fear in the kids!! For that reason, we took as many AwakenHaiti staff as possible, even with only 7 boys to watch.
This is Loubenson (not sure about the spelling). He is one of the 3 year old twins, and as mentioned above, is quite fearless. Him and his brother would, at any moment, run and jump in the pool, with NO idea how to swim. It was so much fun watching and teaching them, yet a little nerve racking making sure they were being watched at all times.
I had just been holding him and trying to teach him to "Reach & Pull" when all of a sudden he just started repeating "Reach and Pull, Reach and Pull" having no idea what he was saying. It sounded more like "Reshenpo", "Reshenpo" when he said it! Keep in mind he is 3 years old and knows NO english...I was pretty impressed with him. Sorry for the overly loud "kid voice"...we were all just excited! He is so funny...
We taught some of the older boys to bring their arms out of the water, do handstands, and under-water flips. I even tried to teach one boy how to flip off the side...he back smacked the water pretty hard so I think the pain scared him, oops!
Next week we take the 13 younger girls, and then the following is the 13 older girls. What an adventure!
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