Charity jogathon

 We had the opportunity to participate in the 5th Annual Charity Jogathon at the kids' school.  They were raising money for the "Casa das Criancas," which means House of the Children or The Childrens' House.  It's an orphanage in a nearby province.  The school worked on collecting running shoes for the orphans before the race so they could run with the school kids as well.  Briant and I were grateful for this opportunity (being parents), because despite being in Africa and surrounded by poverty, the kids, being kids, forget how blessed they are and need to be reminded to think of others.

On our drive to the school, we took a few pics.  I love this one below because of the lone fisherman out in the calm waters, fishing in front of the purple, green, yellow and gray concrete and cinder block houses.  And I love the landscaped grass and plants.  A rare sight in Luanda.  This was in front of a really nice gas station, meaning it was clean and felt safe; free of vendors trying to get you to buy things while you're sitting at the pump which allowed us to relax a little.  There's nothing like having to have your guard up (windows up, doors locked, wallets, cameras, phones, bags, purses, boxes, etc. out of sight) when vendors walk up to your windows and look in, and stubbornly refuse to go away.  

And some close ups of the houses on the water.  Definitely not the million dollar waterfront houses we have back in the states.

And below, is a major landmark on the way to school.  It's what the embassy kids call, "Trash mountain."  Appropriately named because of the trash piled up in the crevasses of the "mountain."  We always know we're going the right way when we pass it.

 The kids played on the trees and playground before the race started:

 The mascot for LIS, the Lion!

Before the race started, a member of the LIS staff led the children in some warm-up exercises.  We definitely have some natural born athletes.  :)

 And they're off...

 The kids had a goal of how many laps they wanted to run.  Thomas wanted to do 10 while Savannah and Rhea wanted to do 5.  I got to run with each of them on their last lap as they were pooping out, to keep them motivated to finish their goal.  They did a great job!  Surprisingly, after about a 15-20 minute break, Rhea got a second wind and ran another 7 laps!

 The orphanage arrived about 45 minutes late due to traffic, but it was great for the kids to see them participating as well.  We noticed that the boys all had "Mud Masters" shirts on, and all of the kids had the shoes that were donated to them.

 A fun experience that we would love to repeat again next year!