We had a wonderful adventure the past couple of days. We hosted 2 Special Olympians from Afghanistan from Wednesday through Saturday. What a neat experience for our family! A few months ago in ward council they announced that our ward needed 2 families to volunteer to house some athletes coming to Boise for Special Olympic World Games. Immediately I volunteered, we have 2 bedrooms in our basement that we not even using and Special Olympics has a special place in my heart. Why wouldn't we volunteer for this experience?!!!
Kurt picked them up Wednesday and spent all day Thursday with them. They related better to the male figure.
Kurt was fabulous with them! It was a little bit of a let down for me because I didn't get to interact with them as much and I love that kind of stuff. But I'm glad Kurt did get that opportunity.
The minute the kids got to our house we showed them where they would be sleeping (the toy room), bathroom, etc.. and then all the kids (ours and the afghanies) went straight to the toy room and starting playing. The communication barrier was a very real issue all weekend but it didn't affect the kids. You don't need to talk to play with each other. Playing is the universal language of kids.
The opening ceremonies were today and we had tickets so the whole family went. The program was very, very long (4 HOURS!! I kept wondering who they planned it for because most of the athletes couldn't even understand English! They loved all the musical numbers though.) It was so moving to be in a huge stadium that was completely full and the entire floor was filled with Special Olympics from all around the world. These Olympians are so special, they bring so much pure joy to life and it was easy to feel in that huge stadium. And naturally I can't experience events like this without crying. Like when the USA team entered the stadium at 430 athletes strong. The crowd went crazy and the athletes beamed. It is so touching, these are the good, the important moments in life. This is what matters.
The torch is lit. Let the games begin!
A year ago they asked for blue and white scarves to be made for all the athletes and volunteers at the Special Olympic World games. My mom crocheted 2 along with other sisters from her Relief Society in Vienna, Virginia. At the Opening Ceremonies they did a video clip about these scarves. They received more than 55,000 scarves all crocheted or knitted by hand. The office would receive 2 shipments a day from FedEx bringing around 700 scarves each day. Many people included pictures and letters with their scarves. They shared a few. A lady with terminal cancer wanted to crochet a scarf as her dieing wish. She was able to crochet 2 scarves before she pasted away. One lady knitted 233 scarves all by herself. A brownie troop learned how to crochet, and so did a Special Olympic group in Tennessee that wasn't able to come to the games. All the while the video was playing the Olympians had taken off their scarves and were waving them back and forth in the air. They knew that each of the scarves had a story behind it and each was made in love for them. It was beautiful.
Waving the blue & white scarves!
I really want Kurt to share his experiences from the last few days with you...
These were some really neat kids that we got to keep. They were the youngest team at the games ranging fro 10 - 15. You could tell that some of them had had pretty tough lives, not only are they Special but they have also grown up in Afghanistan. A bus delivered them from the airport to an outlet mall where we were waiting for them. They got off the bus all huddled together like little sheep, scared and in a new world. After we got them in the vehicles they started to warm up. We just split them up and went our separate ways to our own homes. There was only one of the boys that spoke very, very limited English. His brother was an English teacher. I was lucky enough to have him in the pickup with us on our drive back to Vale. I was able to get out of him the occupations of their fathers. We had the sons of a butcher, a computer tech, a police officer, and a pizza restaurant owner. We dropped off two of the boys and brought the other two boys home with us.
As Rachel commented, communication was definitely an issue this weekend. Rachel went to mutual as soon as I got home. The kids played together a little while I got dinner ready. They wouldn't come eat with us so I fed the kids and got them ready for bed. I went back downstairs and they had packed their bags and put their coats and shoes on, they were ready to leave. I could tell they were scared and didn't know what was going on. I don't think they really knew they were going to be staying in different places. I finally called a coach, who we had to wake up, and he told them to go to sleep. I could tell he was not reassuring at all so I stayed with them. At 1:00 AM the first one finally fell asleep and the second one at 3:00 AM. They were up and at em at 7:00 with their bags packed and ready to go. They wouldn't eat breakfast (oatmeal, or bread) so I took them to the other family in town where the coach was. They eat eggs for breakfast! I guess we missed that memo. The coach then explained that they would be staying with us for a few days and then things started to lighten up.
Exhausted!
We took the team to an onion packing shed on Thursday and then they had practice. I really like floor hockey (played much different than you would think). I enjoyed interacting with them and getting to know the whole team. That night we took them to a Chili Feed at a local elementary school. Our little guy ate 5 bowls of chili. It was really the first thing they ate well since they arrived. They both fell asleep on the way home, 6:00 PM. I should have went to bed to but I went in and played church ball till late. They were up at 4:00 the next morning. I showed them that it was still dark outside and they just looked at me like I was dumb, so I stayed up.
At the chili feed - they loved Ruth!
Friday they went to Boise for an assessment of the team. Because of communication issues they weren't going to let them play. Something about wrong helmets and no numbers on their jerseys. So one of the other host argued with the refs and they let them play. They were actually not going to let them participate in the games after coming all this way! The host then went out and bought them helmets and jerseys so they are ready to go when they get to their first game. We met up with them that evening at a basketball game. They were suppose to be the half time entertainment but they were so exhausted that they just came onto the court before the game, took pictures and left 5 minutes later. Asleep at 9:00 and up at 4:00 again. I am really excited to sleep past 4:00 tonight!
The Afghanistan Floor Hockey Special Olympic team at the Nyssa/Vale Basketball game!
This has been a fun experience. The communication barrier has been really frustrating but the experience with the kids has been rewarding. They are such special spirits. You look at some of them and think of how hard this mortal existence would be to have the problems that they do. Contrast that with the reward that we know is promised to them in the life to come. They truly are chosen spirits and I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to rub shoulders with Our Heavenly Father's chosen.
The team in uniform - what a handsome bunch!
