This was the 'head sister', Sister Lutgarda(unsure of the real spelling). When she walked out I immediately thought of my JoJo who passed away about 7 years ago. My sister and my dad thought so too! The way she carried herself, her sweetness....everything! This woman was born in Malta and now lives in Ethiopia running this orphanage. They take any of the children that the govt feels isn't healthy. There are lots of older kids, kids with HIV/AIDS, abused children, who just want homes. In fact we were told that we would probably be asked by these kids if they could come live with us. The answer we gave is that we would pray for them to get a family soon. It was hard to look into their eyes and say that because I wanted them to believe it! You could tell that people come in and out of their lives all of the time. They are used to saying goodbye. In fact they even had a song they sang to us at the end of our time with them. It was to the tune "This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made...."
It went:
This is the day, this is the day that we say goodbye, that we say goodbye.
We are so sad, we are so sad that it makes us cry, that it makes us cry.
We honestly didn't know what to say at the end of it. We looked around at each other with big eyes and then hugged them goodbye. What else were we to do? However, later that night as we were debriefing again many of us voiced what we were all thinking..."Its so sad that they actually have a song that they sing to say goodbye. They do it all of the time". And what was very evident in these kids is that even though this is their "home" and they are happy there...they know what they are missing. They're missing a family. They LONG for a family. And on this day...my heart broke.
Chelsea and some sweet girls...
These boys thought I was quite funny as I tried to play basketball with them! I was trying to "get up in their business" and did a little "shake and bake" with them but all it did was make them laugh! We had a good time and I realized quickly that the next time I go to Africa I need to do some two-a-days to get ready!
Tara always draws a crowd! Beautiful red head with face paint...who could resist?
One of the sisters in the baby room. I got the privilege of going with our group leader, Frank, into the orphanage first to get a little tour of the place so we could tell our team how best to spread out. When we got to the baby room they informed us that many of the babies had woken up with chicken pox that morning. We chose not to spend any time in there only because we were trying not to spread it to any other kids we came in contact with. It was sad because there were MANY babies we wanted to love on! You could tell that these sisters really loved these kids and wanted to do the very best for them!
Sara painting something fabulous!
Taylor and her crew!
Jason never stopped playing ball with these kids!
My dad enjoyed visiting with this young girl who is leaving for nursing school in Germany soon! Her heart was so tender!
We also were able to do a VBS and craft with the kids there. You could tell they had a good time and knew exactly what they wanted their pages to look like.
Billy with two sisters.
This little boy is being adopted and his parents will be coming soon for him!
This sweet little girl would walk up to me all day and say "photo"! She loved posing for me!
This is Shitaye...she was one of those girls who knew exactly what she was missing..a mom and a dad. Such a sweet spirit she had!
Ok, so maybe Jason did sit down for a minute. But only for a minute with his buddy!!
I love this homemade weight!
So our time was short here but the impact they made on ME was deep. Look at these sweet smiles...doing what I said I would do and praying they find families soon.
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