The Kids (3-5-12)

So a lot of people have been asking me what's up with the kids...if I'm still seeing them every day, what's going on with the orphanage, etc.  I figured I should devote a blog to them to fill you all in :)

First of all, yes, we are still seeing kids every day (except Saturdays and Sundays).  I know some people have been asking about the orphanage, and why I'm not seeing them all the time anymore.  Well, this is quite a long story and something I'd rather not try to explain via blog post.  Essentially, we had some issues with people who set that up for us.  It all ended with someone making us both cry (which Amare and Dundee found shocking) and us being totally bummed for a day or two.  But all is well now!  I'm not trying to be one of those "I want to be mysterious so I'm going to hint at the fact that there's a story I could tell and then refuse to tell you" people...those people annoy me.  I just think the explanation is too confusing to write on here.  If you're curious, I'll tell you all about it in another four weeks and six days, when I return to America.

So anyways, that's why you haven't heard much about the orphanage from me.  Still, we have been going to the after school program for the street kids every day, Monday through Friday.  The kids are between about 6 and 13 years old, and they all live in our neighborhood.   The program gives them something to do after they finish school, instead of walking around the streets.  There are about 70 kids on an average day, and they all squish into one tiny room and sit on the floor.  I enjoy working with them a lot.  The kids are all fantastic, and they love being there.  They get excited to see us, and always look forward to coming back the next day.  I'm going to miss them a lot when we leave! 

For the after school program, we do things like tutoring, art projects, and games.  We took them to the children's theater one weekend, which I wrote about in another blog.  We also have a lot of time to just hang out and talk with them or play outside together.  Today, we had some down time and were talking with a few of the older kids...around 12 or 13 years old, maybe.  They were asking us all about America.  They wanted to know about our houses, our cars, our family, friends, all kinds of things.  One boy asked how many siblings I have, and told me he didn't have any.  He asked if I would be his sister, so I now have an Ethiopian brother.  His name is Solomon, and he made me promise to bring my camera tomorrow so we can take a brother/sister picture.  Love these kids.

Since the afrer school program is in the afternoon, we had mornings free.  Today we were able to start volunteering at a day care in our neighborhood.  The day care is for children up to three or four years old who live on the streets or are very, very poor.  The day care was opened to provide care for those children of mothers or families that live on the streets and need the day to try to find work, or who cannot afford day care but need a place for their kids to go while they work.  The kids get breakfast and lunch there, and occasionally a bath.  They come in very dirty, and get changed into clean clothes right after breakfast.  After that, they get to do a lot of playing.  We played with the kids all morning, and loved it.  They are so cute, even if they don't smell particularly fantastic :)  There are 60 kids there, so there was plenty for us to do.  We still have quite a few toys in our suitcases that were donated, and we'll be bringing them over soon for the kids.

Hopefully this helps for some of you that had questions.  I'm sorry if I don't talk about the kids every time, but sometimes I think that people might get bored always reading about the same thing...I don't know.  I feel like most days we do the same things with the kids, and I don't want to be too repetative.  That being said, if there's something you want to hear about or anything like that, just let me know and I'll do my best to fill you in!