Today was our teams first time to
visit Life is Wealth orphanage. I have
been very excited to go back and see how many faces I recognized and have a
chance to play with the children. The
children were the highlight of my trip last time and I was hoping it would be
again. When we first arrived I expected
the kids to swarm us as they did last time.
However, it was a slow start this time.
There was not too much interaction at first. I did noticed a boy from last time right
away. We used to call him “bare-bottom-Berlondo.” First thing I noticed was he had pants
on! I suppose people change from a year
and half to 3 years old. We soon took
out some jump ropes and Frisbees and the fun began. We played hand games, tickled and held hands
for hours with these kids. They really are
models at heart; give them your phone for a few minutes and you will get it
back with 101 pictures and at least 10 videos.
We
needed to conduct interviews with the newer children to be able to tell others
about them if they were interested in sponsoring them. The girls told us things like their favorite
color and subject, but it also got very personal. A girl was brought to the orphanage because
her mom had been murdered by her dad and she did not have any family to take
her in after her dad ran off with her siblings.
We asked her how she was doing with losing her mom and not being able to
attend her funeral. She said she cries
sometimes. This stuck out to me because
I lost my mom about a year ago and not to the circumstances she had to. I can begin to understand what she is going
through, but never be able to fully understand all her trauma. While the girl was speaking with Crystal I
loved seeing the interaction and really asking about her feelings. You could see how much she cared and the look
in the girls eyes reminded me of how I feel when I talk about my mom; sad, but
still trying to get the words out. I
feel as if people become so numb to stories such as these because they are so
prevalent here. It was heart- warming to
see the genuine love and concern that was displayed.
Chasta
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