Coloring Days

Our house is an endless source of entertainment and fun for the neighborhood children. They love looking at the books, especially Tintin, and they also have lots of fun over a deck of cards, coloring pictures, or building a puzzle. The little girls are always asking me to “tell a story” with one of the books. Since I can’t read French with proper pronunciation, I usually choose one of the French children’s books and tell the story in Lingala. I know the basic story of every picture book we own, so I can tell the story while they enjoy looking at the pictures. 

When it comes to the books and coloring, I have to be a careful monitor. This usually involves keeping the children from snatching things from each other, making sure one child is not hoarding all the crayons, helping them learn to take turns, and teaching them how to turn the pages of books properly. They tend to just grab a handful of page and turn - wrinkling every page of every book. Afternoons with the children are full of energy, fun and quite a bit of noise. When they head home I have to check and make sure they don’t leave with books or toys. They are allowed to take the pictures they colored home with them but nothing else. Otherwise we would soon be completely out of all our crayons and books, and the fun at “Maison Mokouenza” would be over.