Volunteering time is drawing to a close

Here I am and my volunteering time is almost over for this trip.

The past week at the orphanage has been a hard one. Last friday I met with Sister Jacinta to get some clarification on a few things. One of the things that I asked her was if the portable potties were supposed to not go out and that the little ones were to walk to the bathroom instead. (Most of the nannies went on holidays and things are different with the new ones.) Sister Jacinta assured me that every time the little ones were outside the potties were also supposed to be outside. The potties have not been coming outside and Sister Jacinta said it was because the young nannies were lazy and did not want to clean them. Needless to say, without a handy place to go to the bathroom the kids are either wetting themselves or just pulling their pants down and going on the playground in the dirt. When they pee themselves the young nannies have said they are not to be changed until either lunchtime or bathtime at 4:00pm. When I took the potties out last friday the youngest nanny basically told me that you brought it out you clean it. I said okay, that I didn't have a problem with that. The next time I took the potties out, one of the nannies took them right back in. When a child then proceeded to pee on the playground he was punished.
The kids are not as well looked after by this group as by the regular group of nannies. A lot of the children have white stuff in their hair or on their heads now. I think it is probably some kind of head fungus. One of the little girls has ringworm on her face, but they still use only one or two facecloths when wiping their faces after lunch. It has been hard as I feel that my hands are tied. All I can do is love the kids and play with them. I have felt that there have been giant steps taken backwards this week. Please pray for them all!

We have 6 new volunteers at the house now. Two are baby doctors and the others are a family of 4 - mom, dad, daughter 14 and son 11. The two doctors are working at the local hospital. Yesterday was their first day and when the came home they said that a 6 month old baby boy who had been admitted the night before had died. They said that they heard wailing (from the mother) as they were on their way to check on the boy when they were informed that he had died. When they got to his room the one doctor said she felt a weak pulse and the other doctor said she heard his heart weakly beating with the stethoscope. He had already been declared dead at this point in time, they started chest compressions and mouth to mouth but to no avail. They said that they thought that if that baby been admitted to a hospital in the USA it would never have died. It was very sad. Please remember his family at this difficult time.

The family is volunteering in the same orphanage as me and they have determined that it is too much of a culture shock and that it is too draining to spend the whole day at the orphanage. They are only going to work in the morning until the little ones go for their nap and then they are going to go home. They are a very nice family from Regina. They are travelling for ten months on a world trip. They are a great family and I really like them. They left this morning for safari. The same one I did. I lent them my binoculars and a rain jacket. I am sure they will have a wonderful time.

Tomorrow Colton, Sarah and Shelley are leaving. Sarah and Colton are going home and Shelley is going to volunteer with the women's project for a week before she too goes home. I was going to go and help with the women's project but decided to stay at the orphanage instead.

Shelley went to the Aids/HIV centre and said that she didn't have anything to do. She said that she just sat in the office and that the people that worked their talked to her a bit but not much. She said that when she went on the home visits she was asked if she wanted to buy a wheelchair for the person that they had just visited. She only went there for three days and said that she would not go back.

My last day at the orphanage is this tuesday. On wednesday I will be flying to Zanzibar for a few days before I come home on Dec 1st. I am looking forward to my time in Zanzibar exploring and playing in the Indian Ocean. I am hoping to go scuba diving while there. Others from the house have gone there and done some diving and said that it was amazing. I can't wait.

I managed to lose all the pictures that I had on my camera. There was pictures from my trip here, the orphanage, Marangu and the hike on the base of Kilimanjaro, some of my safari pictures, as well as my pictures from Kenya. Tom from the internet cafe is trying to restore them for me and I am praying that he is successful. It would be a shame to not be able to share them with you all when I get home.

Prayers: Praise item - Fredrick's car is fixed. They basically had to rebuild the engine but it is done! Praise God.

Hannah - is not feeling well. She may be getting the cold that Fredrick had. It was not a nice cold at all.

Fredrick and Hannah's children will be coming sometime next week for their Christmas break. Please pray for travel mercies and that God will enable them to live as a family under one roof in the near future.

Travel mercies for all the volunteers that will be heading home soon and that their hearts have been changed.

For the children at the orphanage - that people that care for them may really love them.

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming..