2 weeks to go

Last Tuesday, 8 of us split up and went to three orphanages here in Choma. The one I was at houses 21 kids from 7 weeks - 12 years. The children are allowed to stay until they are 18. Most of them are not orphans in the sense that we normally think. Most have had one parent die and the remaining parent is unable to care for them. Most of the kids are between 1 and 3 years. When we arrived, they ran to us with their arms up, wanting to be held. It was very sad to see what they go through, but it was wonderful to hold and comfort the sick ones and play with the well ones. Wana, the girl pictured above, is two years old. I would have guessed her to be about 8 months. She is unable to sit up, and she cannot use her legs or her left arm. She scoots around by using her right forearm and pulls the rest of her body behind her. She grinds her teeth so much that she only has little stubs left and can only eat baby foods. She goes to physical therapy once every two weeks, but there are just not enough resources to get her the help she needs.

Wednesday, we traveled to Lusaka, the capitol city. We stayed in a catholic guesthouse, which is run like a hotel and it was very nice. It was great to not have to worry about spiders or sleeping with a mosquito net! It was like a mini vacation of sorts, because the city life had more things that made it feel closer to home for us.

Yesterday, three of us went back to the same orphanage. This time, I knew what to expect, so it was a better experience than the first week. Hopefully, we will have another opportunity to see these kids again sometime this week.

This morning I woke up at 6 am to a storm! I laid there for a long time just listening to it, then I got up and sat on the porch to watch it. I was even cold enough for a sweatshirt! My feelings about rainy season have changed since this morning, though. We have had literally THOUSANDS of bugs in our house. There are gnats, termites, moths, flying ants, and some other kind of flying thing that are all looking for shelter from the rain and they are choosing our bathrooms and kitchen. I don't typically have freak out moments, but when we were in the middle of killing all the termites taking over, the electricity went out and the generator ran out of fuel. We were in the dark with all the bugs and it was not my finest moment.

Thank you to all who sent me encouragement notes and get well cards! I just received them all today. It was great to open seven letters from seven people when I wasn't expecting to have any more mail while being here!