It was a fairly cold day so when we arrived at the refugee camp everyone was inside.  Everyone except one little girl.  When she saw us coming she ran to alert the others.  By the time we parked our vehicles the whole crew was out to meet us.  This time they were armed with lots of handmade items to sell.  We came armed with plenty of DM to buy them.  By the way, if you like handmade sweaters, vests, slippers, or doilies, ask your soldier to get something for you.  You get a nice gift and it helps them earn some money.  LTC Kelly and I spoke with the camp leader, while the other soldiers interacted with the children.  Afterwards I went outside to see what was going on.

Everyone was just standing around.  I’m thinking snow, lots of kids.  How hard can it be to have some fun?  So, I initiated something.  I threw a snowball at the children.  Several hundred snowballs, 2 snowmen, and an hour later, we were wet, exhausted, and grinning from ear to ear.  The interpreters tried to stay out of the line of fire but the kids would have nothing of it.  LTC Kelly got the worst of it.  By the time we called a cease fire he was covered with snow.  I would say that a good time was had by all.

On a side note, in an upstairs living area, I tried to speak with two little girls that were sisters.  I asked their names, ages, and about school.  The elder sister was the spokesperson.  She told me that her sister, 6 did not go to school yet.  So I asked if she read to her little sister.  She said yes.  Then I asked about the kinds of books she read to her.  She kept showing me her schoolbooks.  I thought we were having a language barrier challenge and attempted to describe fables, fairy tales, etc.  Finally I asked here to show me all their books.  All they owned were the textbooks they get from school.  As I thought of the hundreds of storybooks that we own and have read, I stared at them in disbelief.  It took me a second to snap out of it.