The Orphan Pact

Day 9
05/14/12

It's already Monday? Wow, as slow as some things might be here (cough, food, cough), my time being here is flying by fast. Today is a bank holiday, honoring the birthday of the first black president in Africa.
Well, more driving is in store for today, no surprise there. We will visit the Alleluya Orphanage Care Centre and St. Monica's Secondary School again. Instead of going through the government or other non-profit organizations, we're going through the Diocese of Mangochi.

Our first stop of the day was the Orphanage. We made a deal that if one of us had an orphan in their hands, everyone else would get pictures. That way, we wouldn't be messing with our cameras while trying to play with the kids. I rarely deal with kids, usually I try my best not to deal with kids, especially those that have diapers. It's not that I don't like kids, it's that I've never really had to deal with them. I do nanny in the summer, but most of the kids are at least 8 years old.

They grow most of their own foods, such as coconuts and bananas!

There was one orphan I fell in love with: Rafiki. He was so adorable. At first when the kids saw us they were crying, but once we brought out bubbles and other toys they were smiling and laughing!
We visited the infants next. They were crying as soon as they saw us. We found out that the only visitors they usually get are white doctors that give them shots :(
Once we broke out the toys, they finally warmed up to us. There was one little boy who was very quiet, my kind of kid. He was recovering from surgery, but I managed to get him to smile for a little bit. I was sad I didn't catch his name. Katy fell in love with a little girl named Agnes, and they looked very cute together! When everyone went to the newborn room, we stayed behind with our respected orphans.
I went into the newborn room eventually, and the babies were so cute! They needed a new diaper very badly though. As soon as the girls saw these babies, their motherly instincts kicked in. Danielle was holding twins, Lisa was making cute faces at the baby, etc. Even our bus driver Mike was starting to get attached to a kid! He wants 10 kids, and his wife just laughed when he told her. Maybe if they adopt and not all come from her Mike will have his family? He already has two girls, and he got the information to possibly adopt a little boy! It got me thinking more about working with kids. I mean, I don't want to become a teacher, but I don't mind working with them as much now. 
I'm not gonna lie: even for someone who isn't the biggest fan of kids, it was very hard to leave them. It got very emotional and it took all of our will power to leave. Lisa's and Katy's kids would cling to them so that they wouldn't leave, and when they did leave they started crying :'(

The day didn't get any better for Lisa, actually it got much worse. As she was going through her photos she accidentally deleted them all. We were speechless.
To kill some time before we visited the girl's school again, we went to the market. I got more material (no surprise) and watched everyone shop some more. Clement decided to visit us at the market while we were there. How does he find us? We also had another run-in with Constance (Candice, Constantine, Constantinople, etc.); none of us were too thrilled about that.....
After lunch we went to the girl's school one last time. We gave them soccer balls, hygiene products, and stationary to write to us! I'm truly going to miss these girls. Here's hoping I get a few letters from them!

At this point of the trip I was starting to get a little homesick. It didn't help that I had no contact with anyone in my family for the past week. I started to realize how much I like having the Internet and phone access to them. Usually I take it for granted, but when I get back to the States, I will truly appreciate being able to send my brother Mike a text in California or call my mom. It also got me thinking about how much I miss Mike; I haven't seen him since December when he moved out to California. When I get back, I'm hoping I can convince my mom to let me go out and see him in Oakland (which I found out that he'll be visiting Michigan in August!) either for Fall/Spring Break or for Christmas.Until then, I have a beautiful sunset to keep my mind off things, and remind me of the true beauty of this place :)