finally we are off to the orphanage for the party we've been planning. i know it wasn't the reason for this trip - but this was hands down my favorite part of this adventure.
we arrive at the gates and see many of the kids in the yard to welcome us - we open the vans and quickly have many helpers to unload our bounty... we get everything inside and clear the kids from the courtyard so we can decorate and set up - i think we are as excited as they are! balloons strung from the rooftops, chalk drawings, hopscotch, more jump ropes, hula hoops. soccer balls. inside we have a coloring extravaganza set up, 10 2 liter bottles of Coke and Fanta, chips, popcorn and some sort or puffed chip, a huge bowl of candy and tons of tootsie pops.
we let the kids in and hand them party hats and noise makers as they enter - oh my gosh, the noise! - it was a constant honking of horns and we were all cracking up! we quickly get them all their own cups and begin ruining their dinner with junk food - each kid has a full glass of Fanta and a fist full of candy & chips - it's awesome. a bunch of kids are circled around the coloring table - which is set up with markers, crayons and many pages of coloring books, but no one has touched a thing... i ask 'do you guys want to color?!' and they all nod - i said ' go ahead! it's all for you!' and they all get busy - they were waiting until someone told them they could touch it - incredible manners.... i was blown away.
mark grabbed me and asked me to go look at one of the rooms near the back of the orphanage. i had seen where these kids sleep and knew how bleak and dirty the rooms were - cold cement floors, metal bunk beds, dark rooms - looked more like a prison than anything else. what he wanted to show me was that the kids had hung all the coloring book pages they had colored on our last visit up on the walls of their rooms. i lost it. it took my breath away and i could not stop crying. first, it sucked that this was their childhood room - think about yours. i know mine had a rainbow mural and every plastic horse ever made. second, i was so sad that something so small as a page from a coloring book was so important to them that they kept them ALL and hung them up - it was very hard for me. i was happy that they liked them so much, but sad that they didn't have things like this in their lives every day. they are great kids and deserve better. it makes me mad. it's hard to do something from this far away but i plan on trying.
all in all i think they all had a great time and probably a pretty serious belly ache. one little boy asked Mark if we were coming back again the following week. Mark said no, we had to go back home... the response was 'well, i had a really good time today.' we all had a really good time that day. i will never forget it and i will never forget them. i have the address and contact for these kids if anyone ever wants to send them anything... i will pay for the shipping as it can go with the things i plan on sending them whenever i can.
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