Last night Mom, Lex and I spent hours sorting through the donated items to figure out what was going to the kids and staff here and what was going to bless others off site. At 9:30pm we were mentally and physically done so we poked the rest into the storage room so we could have the room ready for 7:30am devotions.
I missed a great photo op last evening! I heard TARANTULA and before I can get there with the camera it’s been killed. They’ve been informed that photo ops must happen before killing! I sure hope they find one for me before I go. This one was running across the lawn during the soccer match. Now I’m super freaked out that the kids often don’t have shoes on. The orphanage kids were not fazed in the least!
White Powder… At church today a few gals showed up with thick white circles of baby powder on their necks. It’s a status thing, it’s their way of showing they have enough money to buy powder. They use it on their underarms etc although the circle on the neck is not for sweating.
My Mom the Diva – so yesterday Alexa said ‘isn’t it amazing that your mom used to be a Diva and look at her now!’. Yes, my Mom the diva. That’s not the word I’d ever have used although it’s pretty accurate. When I grew up I remember my mom didn’t even own runners or jeans and even in the house wore high-heeled feather or fluff topped slippers. I remember coming home late as a teenager and she’d sit angrily rocking in her gold velour chair (throne), wearing her turquoise velour robe with the high ruffled collar. She’d scream when she saw the tiniest bug or spider. We had thick pile carpet that she vacuumed many x a day so there were no footsteps in it. Now she lives among bugs regularly and there are no high heels or carpets anywhere.
Many of you are asking about her hair. For those of you that missed it read back a couple blogs to catch up. Mom wouldn’t let me take a photo of the ‘interesting’ post perm results so we did a re-enactment photo with an item that looks as close to the actual hair that evening.
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| Re-enactment of hair post perm |
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| Hair after she fixed it |
Basic Stuff. I brought the kids 5 soccer balls, getting them from a Soccer supply store rather than the cheap walmart ones. Walmart ones work find at home although here I knew the surface would be a lot rougher. Today in the storage room I came across one of their balls.
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| Soccer Ball |
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| Soccer Field |
Sugar Cane. My kids have been wanting it since they got here. We’ve checked outside the gate a few times and the vendor wasn’t there. Mom told Luckner she was looking for some and the next thing we know a moto shows up at the gate with 2 long sugarcane pieces! My kids were very happy! It took me A LONG TIME to clean up a 4” piece of the sugar cane so they could eat it. Today Jacques, who is the Jack of all trades around her, cleaned up 12 feet of sugar cane (for all the kids) in the same amount of time that I cleaned 1.5 feet… The lesson here is that if someone else is better than you and it’s not an immediate necessity leave it for them to do!
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| Cane on Moto |
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| cane with kids |
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| Sugar Cane Machete |
Devotions. Today we did devotions at 7:30am. It doesn’t matter who you are, how tired you are or how late you’ve worked, EVERYONE is at Devotions at 7:30 M-F, including all staff before work starts at 8am. Everyone is in a big circle singing and clapping. Today was the first time I was able to see all the kids face on, in one place, in the light, without them moving around. It’s also the first time it’s not been 10+ huddled around our legs, or chasing a soccer ball or waving at you or running up for a hug as you’re on your way through the compound to do some work somewhere. As a result of this circle of non-moving children, I have now worked out a number of their names! Jofky is another of the babies, although since he’s not hanging onto Alexa and is chasing after the big boys I didn’t even know who he was until this morning. Now seeing the other girls faces I will no longer have to look for Leica’s hair band to know it’s her. I have also identified Josie, who at a quick glance is very similar to Leica. Then there is JJ (pronounced gg since it’s french) and Moise. Both boys are similar in size with shaved heads, one is 9 and the other is 10. The easiest way to see who is who is to check to see which one is being helpful and running around being a right hand. That’s JJ. He also lead devotions this morning. The one causing dezod (mischief/trouble) is Moise. Yesterday hitting Ti Luc with a big stick, today throwing rocks at a water pipe and breaking it. That leaves about 3 girls for me to identify. I think. Just asked my mom to write me out a list. She’s missing 2 on her list. Now I don’t feel so bad.
Sponsoring. I found out today that the kids in the Childrens home have 2 sponsors. 1 for schooling (which is what I sponsor Leica for) and 1 for their support in the home. The school is from Preschool to Grade 9 and has 248 kids. Today I am painting the school.
~Dana
