Day 5 (Thursday)

Today at the Food Bank, we sorted through boxes to organize the items into “dry goods,” “drinks,” “condiments,” and “cans.” A large pile of boxes towered over us when we arrived. After two hours and forty minutes, we finished all of the boxes! We were so proud of ourselves! We enjoyed an early lunch break and then headed over to Chicora (the school) to park and nap for an hour before the start of WINGS.

After an amazing nap, we went in for our last day with the kids. “This is it.” I walked in knowing that today I would give it my all. This whole week, I had been giving it my best, but I wanted to top “my best” and do even better. My goal for the week had been to communicate love—one of the MAB/ASB principles—and today, I wanted those girls to really know how much I loved them. We hugged, held hands, danced, twirled, and jumped.

During academic center, I made hearts for all of the girls and wrote their names on each heart along with the message, “Thank you for a great week! Follow your heart, never give up.” The girls did an amazing job reading the words on their own and all of them held on to their cut-out hearts. I asked them if they would remember me, and they said yes. We also talked about what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most of them wanted to be nurses or teachers. I encouraged them to follow that goal because I knew they would all be great at it. Two girls made me hearts. Perhaps the best one was the one from Talajah. She wrote, “Ms. Ashley, I will miss you. I love you. Talajah.” I could almost cry!

Since there is no WINGS tomorrow, we had “Wild WINGS” today, which in essence, is a “free day” Friday of sorts—lots of games and playing. We enjoyed Red Rover and a shark game. After this, we went in for dinner where we experienced a delightful surprise. The WINGS leaders made us Certificates of Appreciation. They called up eleven kids and revealed the certificates to us. I was so shocked! I could not stop smiling!

Dinner was enjoyable. We held a naenae dance contest. The “naenae” is a popular song and there is a dance that goes with it. The kids are in love with it and so, we had a contest between a WINGS kids, a WINGS leader, and one of us Mizzou volunteers. It was downright hilarious because Zach went up for us and was so, unbelievably “white” as he did the naenae. We loved it.

We came home for a delightful dinner—parmesan chicken, green beans, and mac and cheese. After we chowed down, we went outside for a bonfire and s’mores, reflection and Heads Up. At one point, Kristen wanted to run inside to get her notebook, but the door was locked. Nick reached into his pocket and suddenly his eyes widened with an “oh shit” look. The key to get inside was not in his pocket! Alana went over to the church, asking if anyone knew Henry who would be able to let us in. No one knew him. We called a number hoping it was Henry’s personal number, however it was just the church number. Nick then took charge and went scavenging through the church. Soon enough, he came back with someone following him.

Nick said he walked into the church gym and saw the janitor sitting at a chair. He asked him if he had a key for the mission house and he said that he had a master key. Saved! The real kicker was that the janitor told Nick that he was literally about to leave in two minutes. Perfect. Timing.

We all went inside then and played Game of Things. Sharing a bunch of laughs, we played late into the night. Friday is coming all too soon and I’m not ready to say goodbye to Charleston. I have to come back here someday and soak up more of this amazing city and culture.