June 27, 2007

I don’t really feel like I’ve talked that much about the orphanage and the kids. I thought I’d take some time and do that so you can know what its all about.
Our orphanage is in a rural slum in the city of Rongai, southwest of Nairobi. It’s not a very busy place at all. We live very close to the Maasai land, so we’re actually in the area between the city and the historic land. We’ve got a little less than 50 kids at the orphanage, and I think the majority of them are less than 10. Margaret told us that the oldest boy there was 14, but I’ve also heard that Joseph, one of the young boys, is 18. We’ve got a few babies, Esther, new baby Sarah, Moses and Charlotte, and they’re always there in the mornings when we get there. We’ve also got a trio of siblings, Eric, Rose and Njeri, who don’t go to school yet because they’re not officially orphans. Their mother is in jail for robbery and they’re awaiting trial or some sort of conclusion to see whether or not she’s coming back for them. If she won’t be able to care for them, I’m assuming they’ll eventually go to school with the rest of the elementary age kids. There’s Tabitha who is 9 years old but looks like she’s four. Before coming to the orphanage, her mother left her locked in a room all by herself for four years, so she has no communicative or social skills and never speaks. She makes noises and moves her feet and hands a lot, but she has no real way to communicate with anyone. Hers is a very sad story and because of her disability, she’ll never be able to go to school with the kids now.

Many of our kids go to school until 1 PM every day. These are our younger elementary kids (5-9 yrs, I think) and we spend the most time with them in the afternoons because they’re always ready to play and be outside doing things. The older kids, what would be our junior high students, come home in the evenings. We don’t get to spend much time with them which is unfortunate, because I think they’d need a mentor more than the younger kids. Most of the older kids can speak English pretty well, so it’s also unfortunate that they don’t get to practice on us. Many of them have chores when they get home because I always see them washing their clothes while we’re outside with the little ones.

I don’t want to pick favorites, but there are those that you love to see every day. There’s Lucy, a cute little girl who loves to play games just like one of the little boys. She’s very active and just as good as them (most of the time), but she’s extra cute since she’s a little girl. She’s missing her two front teeth like many of the kids are and she has no hair, like all of the kids. Sometimes its hard to determine who’s a boy and who’s a girl. But then there’s that one day where the little boy you were playing with the previous day is wearing a dress, and you realize you’ve made a mistake. So Lucy is one of my favorites and she’s probably 6 or 7 years old. I also really like a little boy named Peter (missing his front teeth, also) who’s probably 8 years old. He’s not very bossy or pushy and just likes to play, and that’s nice. He’s not over competitive or anything, but still very good at sports and always active. We found broken plates one day and they turned into fantastic Frisbees. Peter, John (a boy I like very much with crazy teeth, very similar to Peter) and I played Frisbee for two hours and couldn’t get enough of it. I thought they were pretty sweet too, so that was a good afternoon of play time. Then there are the babies. Esther is about 7 months old and has the biggest eyes. She’s got a regular baby body, but these big, beautiful eyes that just suck you in. I love looking at her and when she smiles its so fantastic because her eyes light up a little bit and it’s like the room illuminates. You don’t need a flashlight when you’ve got her around. She doesn’t cry often either which is very nice. Moses is our little old man. He’s about 2 ½ years old and I think a little behind his time. He’s always got great t-shirts on (“Millennium Kid,” “It’s all about Me”) and has been spotted wearing pink stretchy pants and pink warm up pants. And he’s always got a pee stain running down his leg. He usually always walks with his hands behind his back like an old, English man would do, and sometimes he’ll move one in front and stretch out as if he wants to shake your hand, but then he’ll utter something like “Duey” which we think means “Mizuri” or “good” in Swahili. He’s so funny and very fun to watch. Sometimes I think he’s bi-polar because he’ll be smiling and happy one second, but if you make a wrong move around him he’ll start screaming and crying and there’s no way to stop it. It’s very violent sounding and I think would scare away any burglar.