School was cancelled today because a big storm blew the roof off the building. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, in Mayumba this year, that actually happened!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a kid growing up in Central Africa? What would you do for fun? Who would your friends be? What would you eat? Where would you go to school? Would it be like this one, in the village of Yoyo?

To find out, keep reading! Below are a few stories from kids that live in Mayumba and the villages near Mayumba National Park.

My name is Arnaud and I am 9 years old. I go to Public School A in Mayumba and am in CP2, the second year in primary school. Mr. Jean is my teacher. Each day I walk to school and back two times, because we come home at mid-day for lunch. It's really far and I have to go up a big hill to get there. I don't like it when it rains because then I get really wet. But I walk with my friends so sometimes we play and it's fun.

I live in a neighborhood called l'Office where lots of fishermen live. My family is from Benin, which is in West Africa, but I was born here in Mayumba. My dad is a fisherman and my mom sells fish in the market. In Mayumba, kids work a lot. I help by washing dishes, sweeping, burning the trash, and doing yardwork. If an adult needs something from the store, they give me money and I go buy it for them and bring it back to the house.

For fun, I play. I like to play football (soccer), swim, and do karate. I play with Miss Aimee's cat, Peanut Butter. I like to play the cake lottery and sometimes I win a cake! I also play at school with my friends. My friends are Beaugar, Yao, Eddymo, Bertille, and Simon. Simon is my best friend and we like to play karate together.

I eat cake, fish, rice, cake, manioc, cookies, bread, ice cream, apples, bananas, meat, crab, lobster, clams, oysters, papaya, beans, oranges, grapefruit, soup, and macaroni. My favorite food is apples. In the morning, I drink warm, sweet milk and have bread with butter on it. For dinner, I usually eat fish with rice, because my dad goes out into the ocean in his boat and catches fish for us to eat.

This is a picture of my neighborhood. On the beach, you can see the boats that the fisherman take out into the Atlantic Ocean. If I could talk to a kid in another country, I would say, "Hi!" and then I would say, "come over and play with me!"

Living in Mayumba

By: Iden Theresa Massanga

I am ten years old and I go to the new school in L'Office. My school is right next door to my house. My favorite things to do at school are reading and writing. My friends are Fallie, Melisa, Angel, Aele, Tendresse, and Bennie. We like to play "la ronde", which is a game where we dance and clap. We also like to go to the beach to swim, dig holes to look for crabs, and build sand castles. It's fun!

I have one sister and four brothers. My mom stays at home and my dad is a elementary school teacher in Tchibanga. That's about 3 hours away from our house so he lives there most of the time.

I eat gazelle, fish, rice, manioc, and bananas. My favorite thing to eat is gazelle with manioc. I love it because it's yummy!

This picture of me was taken on Gabonese Independence Day, August 17th. I am Gabonese and I got to march in the parade with the National Park. It was fun but really hot because the sun was shining and we had to wait a long time before it started. I got to twirl the streamers during the parade.

If I could talk to a kid from another country, I'd say "Bonjour!" which means hello in French. If they asked me what there was to do in Mayumba, I'd say we could go to the beach, or go to town to see the shops. Hope I see you soon! Bye!