For those of you who may not be
social media users, the above title is in reference to Twitter. It came
up in conversation this morning at breakfast and we briefly considered doing an
entire blog post using hash-tags (#) but figured this may be slightly confusing
for those not familiar with this form of communication....
Today we had the chance to go
visit an orphanage that is strictly for children under the age of three.
There are not many orphanages in Arusha which take babies because they are
expensive to care for. This orphanage was started about a year and a half
ago by a retired American couple. They take in abandoned children
and their goal is either to return the children to extended family members
or adopt them out. In stark contrast to many of the orphanages we have
seen, this one was in a very affluent area of Arusha. When we arrived,
the youngest toddlers were napping so we said a quick hello to the babies
who were awake and then went into the large backyard to see some of
the older toddlers. There were several nannies and a few volunteers
in the backyard. It is clear that the children are well bonded with
their nannies as they ran to them for comfort when they saw strangers
(us). It took them a bit to warm up to us but eventually they
started interacting with us. Soon the younger toddlers joined us in the
backyard so we all had one to hold onto. One of the guys who is
living with us came along and initially he was nervous about going to
the orphanage but even he found a toddler that he just couldn't put
down. They were all so cute! One little guy had the chubbiest
little cheeks and although we knew his real name we just couldn't help calling
him "Cheeks". He was quite the little charmer, crawling around
from lap to lap, babbling and smiling away.
We stayed and helped feed the
children (although it was tricky because some of them weren't sure about taking
food from strangers). After lunch, a lot of the toddlers just wanted to
cuddle up in a lap, especially since some of them were sick. We were
starting to feel like we were ready for a nap when the nannies told us it was
time for the toddlers to go nap. We helped with a mass diaper change and
then it was off to bed for the children. While we waited for our ride back
home, we spent time in the baby room cuddling those who were awake. I don't
think I'd be lying if I said several people in our group really wanted to go
home with a baby.
After we got back from the
orphanage, some of us went to get measured to get clothing made out
of African-print fabric that we bought. Can't wait to show off our
new threads when we get back home!
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