Awakened: Watato Wa Africa Orphanage

A highlight at the end of our day in Buswela was an unplanned trip to a local orphanage, after clinic was finished. The woman who runs that orphanage, Rosemary, brought 9 of the children to clinic today and four of them have symptoms of TB. Marilyn has a lot of experience with TB, having seen it in Haiti and other countries so, wonderfully, she was the one to consult all these children.

For those of you who don't know, TB is a very contagious disease and is airborne - so when the child coughs, the organism is spread through the sputum. So...this is potentially devestating for the health of every child in that orphanage. These kids need to be treated, but the cost of treating is huge. Rosemary has 108 kids in the orphanage that she and her husband run. Most of these children have lost both parents - in many cases due to HIV/AIDS. In other cases, children have been neglected or mistreated and were living on the street. 48 of these kids are sponsored through various programs and the only financial support the orphanage receives from abroad is from the UK. They have no running water at the orphange, but there are wells in the community where the children go to collect water. They have two dormitories where the children sleep 2 to a bed. The children appear to be well cared for and loved, but my goodness! the challenges of raising 108 children and working hard to ensure they receive education and nutrition. It is amazing they have done what they have. At the same time...they are in great need of resources. And...this TB issue is huge from a health perspective in the orphanage.

What fun it was to visit with these kids!!! They just loved seeing us there. Here are a few highlights from the time...

a boy about 7 years old with hydrocephalus - I'm so glad he has a home here where he is loved and cared for.
Soccer balls - what they are is a bunch of plastic bags tied up together and held by string. Oh! I can only imagine what they would do with a real soccer ball! I got to play a bit of soccer with the boys. It wasn't until I was playing with them that I noticed the one boy with a soccer shoe on his right foot (with cleats). His left foot though, was bare. I'm still feeling shaken by that - moved by it. He just had one - one soccer shoe, for one foot. How he played though! and no doubt he treasures that one shoe like nothing else.
Happiness (this is a common name here!...beautiful!). Happiness was a fire cracker! She is about 5 and let me tell you, if given the opportunity, this little girl is going to go places in this world! She was so funny - she was pointing at a scrape on another boy's face and I said (with actions), "Did he go boom?" and then she kept walking around saying, "He go boom! He go boom!" Ha!

Our visit to the orphanage struck each of us deeply. This is a tremendous work this woman and her husband are doing, with extremely limited resources. The children are as clean as they can be, with playing in the dirt all the time! They have mosquito nets for all, which is great! They have a garden and some chickens for eggs. They need much more though. We are hoping to leave lots of children's vitamins for them and are looking into what else we can do from a resource stand point on this end. I can't wait for you to see some pictures of all these great kids!!!

These eyes are getting tired, so I should close off. My biggest prayer request today would be that I can stay in the present and not be looking ahead too much. I want to truly breathe in these last few days of clinics. It's my turn to break free of the Pharmacy and I am SO looking forward to being amongst the people more - truly reaching out and touching them.

O, God, give us continued strength and health, wisdom and joy.