Happy Birthday Lusanda

One of the ladies that we work with at Ithemba told us a few weeks ago that she never had a birthday party.  On Wednesday night we realized that her birthday was on Thursday.  Automatically we started planning a birthday party that would be special for her and fun for the kids.  We baked 90 cupcakes, made a banner made play dough, filed water balloons, and planned a few games.  Two of the girls took her out to lunch while the rest of us set up the room for a birthday party, sort of like the ones that we have in America.  They arrived with Lusanda just at the time when the kids were sitting down to pray before lunch, and we had them sing happy birthday to Maga Aya (Lusanda’s formal name in Xhosa).  She had such a big smile on her face, and it was only going to get better.  We had a water balloon toss, which f course turned into a fight, we played our own African version of pin the tail on the donkey, and then there was a limbo contest.  Lusanda had such a blast and she said that the day could not get any better.  She told us that no one had ever planned anything for her birthday, and we really made the day special.  The day was such a blast and I went home wet from the many water balloons that hit me.