First I am going to blame any and all spelling mistakes to come on the fact that the computer I am using, the backspace key sticks. All of the keys stick a little bit, but the backspace is by far the worst. THat is my disclaimer for the day.
Now onto Life stories. My life story.
I am adjusting to life here fairly well so far. It never ceases to amaze me that I have not even been here a week yet, really its only day 4 or so. I feel as though I have been here for months already. It is as if the life here, the system, the schedule, the work, has been something I've done all my life. WHen really, I have yet to have a full 8 hours with my kids. Strange how that may be.
So far I am surviving without an issue. I am eating the food, trying things that normally I wouldn't go near. Papitas (a dried out and salted banana slice), meliton(some vegetabl;e), acra(a root... I think it is a vegetable but i told them to let me thing it is just a root so that I wont admit I quite enjoyed my fried acra), and lots of rice are the first things to pop into my mind.
The accomadations are pretty well as well. I am staying at the 'toddler house'. There are two rooms for volunteers there, one has 5 beds, the other 4(they are bunks). Then a bathroom to share and the living room which consists of a couch, love seat, and chair along with a tv and a computer(for which the internet does not work unfortanately). The 'main house' is about a 20 minute walk down the mountain, or a 8 minute jeep ride. The roads are steep, poorly paved at best, and riddled with potholes, so walking or driving, it is always an adventrure.
I have 8 kids assigned to me. They range in ages from 2 months to nearly 3 years. A mixture of boys and girl;s and all levels of development. I have a couple that will require a little more work. One is about 4 months old and is quite possible smaller than my niece (who is about 6 weeks). He came in malnourished within the last couple months and is one of the tiniest babies I've ever seen. So I am to do alot of work with him in an attempt to strengthen his skinny little legs and his wobbly little neck.
The otherone that will require some extra work and time on my behalf is about 2 and a half or so and has been here for only a couple of weeks as well. When he got here, he had thrush around his mouth and because of it he wouldn't eat or drink anything. Also, his being admitted here was very hard for him and he has sunk into a depression. When I first met him on Friday, he was on an IV to get nutrients because he wouldn't touch food.He was listless and hardly moved when I picked him up. I could do nothing but sit for an hour with him, right next to his crib, and the whole time is just lay there, like a wet noodle, with little to no realization that he ws being held. I talked to him, sang to him, and my heart broke a little more each time I looked into his sad little eyes. I've decided my goal while I am here is to get a smile out of him. Well, yesterday, I guess the nurses had enough and they simply told him that he could either start eating or they would haev to put a tube down his throat so that he could start gaining weight, and he ate! He has come off the IV and is moving around mroe already. I took him for almost three hours today and while he doesn't the energy of your average kid, he did roll the ball with me, and cuddle on his own and play with a truck. I am absolutely thrilled and can't wait to keep working with him and am already more hopefull about getting him to smile!
Otherwise things are going really well. My kids are, of coures, absolutely adorable. I am allowed to post pictures after all, just no names, so eventualy I will put up a few photos, or a link to photos. I've almst been spit up on a time or two, and I am pretty sure today I got peed on, but all things considering thats not too bad. This morning we took picture updates at the toddler house and that required getting 75 kids changed, washed, redressed, given a sucker, and out of the room in little gourps and it was a gong show! But we made it through, with just three volunteers(Two are down with heat stroke from the beach yesterday, and the other 2 were already at the main house). So that was interesting.
I have struggled a little bit with homesickness, but nothing to bad yet. I am getting along with the other volunteers alright and making sure I can depend on myself as well as the girls who are there, three of them leave next week. I would expect that after a little more time here, especially if it continues to take so long for a day to pass and I keep the feeling that I have been here for ages, the homesickness will come. I', praying for otherwise, but wont be surprised either way.
I will try to post a little mroe frequently so that they wont be so long next time. But hopefully my thrilling dialogue meant you didn't even notice it was long =)
If I can add to my prayer requests, I wonder if you could pray for my 8 kids. I can't give you names, but you can call them whatever you want. In particular, I wonder if you could pray for the two little boys who are going to need that bit of extra, the malnourished, undersized boy, and the depressed, barely eating(but he is eating that is what counts), listless and lacking in energy boy. I already love the little guys and really hope that my being here will have an impact on their thus far short lives.
God Bless. Talk to you soon.
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