Afternoon at an orphanage

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Grace Children’s Home

Saturday afternoon, September 23 Shubha and I drove out to Grace Children’s Home, a small orphanage located here in Eldoret a short drive from our apartment along a red dirt road. The owners Miriam and Joshua have two children and used to be teachers at a local boarding school but became disenfranchised and struck out on their own to open an orphanage caring for HIV positive and negative orphans. At the time of our visit there were eleven kids ranging in ages from nine months to nine years. Two sisters had just joined them a couple days before but otherwise it was the same group who was there last time Shubha visited.

Steven, the oldest, greeted us when we arrived, after greeting some of the other older kids playing outside we stepped inside the nursery and a room full kids who within less then two minutes of our sitting on the floor were draped all over us, aching for attention. I do not want to give the impression that they are not well taken care of because they are, they are loved and have many people caring for them but they are still orphans and do not get the constant individual attention that they may want.

After awhile in the nursery Miriam poured us some tea and served chocolate cake while we visited and then her husband joined us, as did some of the kids who slowly ventured in to quietly sit on our laps as we visited. Miriam introduced us to their two newest girls Ruth and Ann, sisters whose mother recently passed away from HIV related illness and whose grandmother was too old to care for them, they had only been there for two days when we arrived. At first they were shy and a but cautious but after a few minutes Ann was in Shubha’s lap while I had both Nancy (another girl who has been living there for awhile) and Ruth in my lap, one on each knee. After tea we took a tour of their farm where they grow much of their own fruits and vegetables for the children to eat.

Shubha brought her Polaroid camera, which as a side note I have to say is the best idea ever! Because taking picture of people is one of the best ways to capture memories while travelling but being able to provide copies is almost impossible especially in cases when you are meeting someone who will ikely never cross your path again. So as Shubha snapped Polaroids to leave with the kids, I snapped away with my digital camera, which kids love because they can look at the picture after it’s taken. The best part was how excited the kids were, after each picture they erupted into furious clapping and shrieks some even jumped up and down. Kennedy was the ringleader and after she did this for a few pictures everyone chimed in. Bill was one of my favourites even though I would be hard pressed to pick one, since they are all so stinking cute but he was particularly special and hung on to me like crazy most of the time I was there.

It was interesting because I learned how even though they have the small children tested regularly you cannot be assured that a child is going to remain negative or positive until after they turn two years old. One of their kids, Kennedy, was positive when she arrived but now at four years of age has tested negative her past few tests. Then there are kids like Paul who are positive, less than two years old and came in with a CD4 count of well below 200 and with a healthy diet and different environment have improved dramatically, grown significantly and are lively otherwise healthy kids. It’s really difficult to play with these kids knowing you are leaving to not return for weeks even though once you drive away all you can think about is the next time you are going to go and visit and play. These are very lucky children considering their circumstances because they have access to food and life-extending drugs even though they lost their parents, most all to HIV related illnesses. I’ve posted some pics, I took may more but there were so excitable many came out blurry because no one could hold still.

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Photos

Me with the Kids
From left to right there is Bill, Kennedy, me, Paul and Johnson

Paul
I took this picture of Paul as he ran out of the house in the middle of dinner because he wanted to have his picture taken, you can still see some food on his cheek.

Kennedy & Johnson
As we took more and more pictures the kids became more and more excited and this is a picture of Kennedy and Johnson mid-scream.

I am so excited
Kennedy leading the screaming with Ruth joining in in the background.

Ruth & Ann
They are sisters who arrived a the orphanage two days before our visit.

Paul
Paul getting very excited.