Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2006
The kids at St. Theresa’s Orphanage are back from their village visits. Fatima, Hanif and I made a visit last Friday. I was finally able to deliver the cards my nephew David and my niece Emily made for Josephat. Josephat and all the kids for that matter were thrilled to receive the cards. Thank you Emily and David!
I had arrived with sweets and thus was very popular. Now we had to figure out the best way to distribute to ensure everyone got a candy. Quite the feat with 40 pairs of small hands swarming me and reaching up! But ah the art of the queue…smallest to tallest …and we had order in no time. We played and I took pictures of the kids. I introduced them to a favourite game I play back home with my nieces and nephews: taking a picture on the digital camera and then showing them the picture. Remember these kids for the most part have not seen pictures of themselves… let alone on a digital camera. There was much excitement and squeals of joy…also many finger prints on the camera! They even had fun with my reflective sunglasses - seeing their faces looking back
at them. I was reminded that simple things often provide the most amusement.
Next I asked the children to show me their animals. They have rabbits, roosters and chickens. We first saw the rabbits and then I asked where the roosters were. All of a sudden I had 40 children - between the ages of 2 and 10, chasing and trying to pick up the birds to show me. It was chaos! And for fear of terrorizing the birds - we quickly changed the game to find Uncle Hanif!
The best gift that day was seeing Josephat laughing and smiling. His eyes are brighter and he looks so much better than the first day we met. His medicine is clearly working! As we left bolstered by the excitement, smiles and waves of 40 children, I had the wonderful feeling that we were indeed making a difference.
Well I have to run folks...am off to Nairobi for a couple of days to attend the Aga Khan University Graduation Ceremonies. Have a great few days! Cheers, Jan
Advertisement
Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0722s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Coffee Barb
non-member comment
Soak it all up Jan
Your comment: "I was reminded that simple things often provide the most amusement." It's so true Jan. I learned that when my kids were young, thanks for reminding me. Nothing like a day with kids to fill up your soul. I love how you're seeing joy and hope in all things and continually share it with us all. Thanks! Love Barb