Posts
Market Days:
For the last three days we've been shopping - or at least, trying to shop! Wednesday, when I last posted, we were supposed to purchase bales of clothes for the children at the orphanage and at the gate children (those that don't live at the orphanage, that come for food and often don't have parents).
But, they didn't have what we needed. So, we had to
go in on Thursday to a different town farther away (one and a half hour drive). John and I were in-charge of the money - a bit stressful carrying around so much money that wasn't ours! But, all was successful. It was a huge market spread out over a couple acres. The bales of clothes were close to the road and Maurice (pastor and director of the Hope for Children Orphanage) made the negotiations. We got 8 bales of clothes and each weighed at least 100 lbs! All of this got put on top of his Toyota Prado (lan
d cruiser). The poor roof was squeaking and sagging a bit. It had us all worried as we went down the rutted roads. We also picked up a bunch of medical supplies and I managed to spend all their money I had in my possession plus some.But...I wasn't able to do my shopping - the prices were too high. I wanted to pick up things for my kids and so that is why we're here today! So, on my list is: two mattresses, one iron box (for Boaz to store items in - Everline has one) and hopefully some balls. I'm looking forward to getting these things for them. We're going to see their mama, Grace, who is sick (we also support her) sometime this weekend and we'll take Boaz and Everline with us! Sure looking forward to meeting her.
Praying On The Road:
We got home safely yesterday - it took us 2 hours because we had to go so slow. Oh, and something else I forgot to mention about driving - the vehicles are all over the road as they try to avoid the deepest ruts. So sometimes we're driving on the right side and then when the driver sees someone approaching they scoot back over to their side. And then, there are the break-downs. This happens on almost every trip, which is not surprising considering the roads. Then we sit and pray. Every ride is a most excellent adventure! Ha ha!
Sunset & Silly Kids
Last night, even though we were exhausted from a long day in town, we went over to Good Samaritan orphanage, which is not far from Hope Center. What a greeting we got!! It just lifted our spirits as the children ran to us laughing and calling out greetings, giving us hugs and all of them shaking our hands at once! They sang for us - such beautiful voices! We did a quick tour of their place, taking pictures everywhere. They have a beautiful place, the dorms are clean with new sheets and curtains. The grounds are beautifully kept also. It's a small orphanage of about 56 kids so that makes it easier to keep things tidy.
We had a great time with the kids. They were all hamming it up as we were taking photos of them - it was almost impossible to make them stay STILL! We also had very little light because the sun was setting as we got started and was totally down before we finished so we had to use the flash on the camera. But I think we still got good pictures.Late Night Chats:
After we got home, we went to the school and sat with the secondary students who were studying by generator light. They love to have us spend time with them and they ask millions of questions about everything under the sun! Religion, science, age, skin color, music, relationships, marriage, health, education and many other such things. We really enjoyed our time with them and are looking forward to talking with them more tonight. We slept VERY well last night - we were TIRED!
Clothes Up To Our Noses!
We still have a lot to finish up before going on to the next (fourth) orphanage. Today all the clothes were sorted, counted and hauled to the assembly room. Today and tomorrow we will be distributing clothes to the children, supplies to teachers, finish the last minute interviews (there are ALWAYS last minute interviews - lol), visiting with the kids in the evening answering questions, visiting mama Grace and spending more time with my kids. We should be leaving to the next place on Monday....
Ok...better get off the Internet now, it's been 2 hours! And we need to get to shopping - hope Maurice shows up soon!!
Love, J&J