I am totally in love with the children at my orphanage. There are 30 of them in total ranging in ages from one month to five years. There are three in particular that I can’t get enough of – Moses, Mark and Silas - and would love to take them home.
We get there around eight and feed, bath and change the babies. That takes about an hour as there are about 12-15 infants that are unable to do any of it themselves. While we are doing that the Kenyan volunteers get the other kids ready to go. About nine we take them all out to the “cage,” which is a huge play pen that 30 kids and four or five adult volunteers cram into so they can get some sun. Today we didn’t bring the toys so the kids played with rocks and hit each other. We stay out there for till around one, when they are brought in for a second feeding and changing. We get to home for about two hours and then we come back to repeat the process at eight.
The children look well; although it is extremely hard to gage “well” in this country. We are unsure which children have AIDS and how exactly they came to be in the orphanage. We are hoping for more details.
The orphanage itself is relatively nice; although it is infected with cockroaches and smells like urine. The playground itself is very dangerous as it consists of rocks, broken glass and dilapidated equipment to play on. The kids are confined to a very small area where they can play together. I am taking notes on what I can buy for them to make life easier when I leave.
The home itself is a Christian atmosphere, and they are pretty hardcore on what we teach or do around the children. We got a little “quiz” slash interrogation regarding our personal beliefs and morals. Needless to say, even I was feeling frazzled. I really think this is something our organization should have discussed with us since it was a non-religious organization to begin with. Some other volunteers do not have a belief in God and were forced to lie to stay within the home. Of course they would not contradict what is being taught, but in my opinion if you are a Christian organization and you want Christians you should state that in your volunteer request form.
One of the Kenyan volunteers, Jarold, is fantastic. He is doing physical therapy with the kids for free. The men in Kenya are so loving and affectionate with everyone - brothers will hold hands, men will openly praise and hug their wives, they will play excessively with the children and love to handle the babies. It just sends a nice feeling of unity between the sexes that is sometimes missing at home. I will miss that a lot. Good thing I have such a loving and affectionate husband to compensate!
In the afternoon we took off to find a Cyber Café, hence the email. Finding anything that works in Kenya is an adventure it was nice to get out and meet the people in the process. Now I can email all the time!
Everyone here was to marry a white person with money. They literally offer themselves for the taking at any and every opportunity. Men here are very bold, especially with sweet cute little Tara. Even though I have a replacement wedding band that I brought – I didn’t want to bring my nice ones – they still offer to become husband number two. No thanks, spread the word!
It turns out that my placement rocks out. Some of the other volunteers have more difficult duties like taking children for AIDS tests and bringing very sick people to the hospital to die. That is something that would be heartbreaking to do and I am glad I was not assigned to those places.
When we got home for dinner there was no electricity again. The bill was not paid and so we put on our head torches and enjoyed dinner by candle light. At this point we always expect the unexpected.
Phoebe the live-in housecleaner came down with Malaria tonight. She is pretty sick and looked horrible. I gave her some of my medication that would help with achy muscles and stomach problems but she has to ride it out the hard way. Lucy didn’t offer to let her have time off so she is still cooking and cleaning.
She is my age and has been married for two years; however, since they are very poor they must live separately and only see each other on the weekend to make money. I cried thinking about how lonely and sad she must be, especially when she is feeling so sick. I try to sneak her extra food and other necessities whenever Lucy isn’t around.
Off I go into the dark for bed. Loves!
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