KELEMENT'S BIRTHDAY

"Happy Birthday Kelement!"

Kelement, the son of our catechist, turned 3 years old on November 23rd. I knew that Kelement's mother would not be able to bake a birthday cake, since she doesn't have an oven, so I invited the family to my home for a small celebration. Due to my inability to communicate well, I didn't realize our party would include many of the neighbor children. All of the children came dressed in their Sunday best, only an hour and a half later than planned, which is pretty common here.

Kelement received a rubber soccer ball from Fr. Tony, and I gave him a small blue ball which lights up when it's bounced. We knew how much Kelement loved to play with balls. Unfortunately, he spent most of his time trying to keep the balls away from the girls. Since I hadn't planned any games for the children, we sang "Happy Birthday" and Kelement blew out his candle. We cut the cake and all of the children sat on the floor to eat. I'm glad that's the way they are accustomed to eating since I didn't have enough seating for all of our guests.

Kelement feeds his sister

 It's traditional here for the guest of honor to feed all of the guests a piece of cake, but Kelement only fed his sister. I don't think he liked the idea of feeding all of Ana's friends.

The family thanked me again and again for hosting the party. They said it was the first time their family had ever celebrated either of the children's birthdays in this way. It always brings me joy to see how much happiness such a small gesture can bring. Ana turns 7 in January so I'll be better prepared with a couple of games for her party.

Bye! See you again in January!