June 18th

Danika with Irene and Julius 

Brooke with Brian and Cliff

Today, we went to an orphanage. There was one couple, Moses and Eunice, with 12 children, only two of them are their own. Ranging from ages 2 to 9, we had a lot on our hands for the afternoon. When we got there, we first talked with Moses about some of the kids' backgrounds, and how he got involved in being a parent to them. He told us stories of the kids being left on the streets, or a mother going to the market leaving her child with someone and never coming back. Some had different stories, but most were similar to these cases. There was a pair of twins, and one other set of siblings, not counting the two biological kids of Moses and Eunice. Their house had three rooms, their bedroom, and then a room for the girls and a room for the boys. There were bunk beds in the kids' rooms, and the girls' room was all pink, and the boys' all blue. It was really cute. They had a cow, goats, rabbits, and a bunch of chickens. They lived on a 9 acre plot with fields surrounding the house. Some of the crops grown they sold, and the rest was their main food source. They are currently looking for another person to come help them with the orphanage so they can rescue more kids, because their house is already full enough. 
Anyways, Moses introduced us to the kids, and we gathered them all to play some games. We taught them duck duck goose first (except we said bata, bata, kuku, which is duck duck chicken). Some of the younger ones didn't quite understand, but everyone seemed to really enjoy it. After that, we played Simeon Says, and then a game they play in Kenya. It was about which animals are edible, and if it is, you jump, and if its not and you jump, you're out. Me and Brooke kind of sucked at this one because it was all in Swahili, but it was still fun. Then we went in for a water break, and then the kids colored. One little girl, about 4, Jen, drew a bunch of circles, and then started counting them. She wasn't too bad, until she got to 11, because then it went 19, 22, 25, 50. Others drew pictures of houses, or people, and labeled them "house" or "girl". One boy, the oldest, drew the Kenyan flag. When we went back outside, a little girl was holding my hand, and I looked down and there were burn marks along her hands, and up her wrists. I asked Moses what had happened, and he told me that when she was a baby she fell in boiling water, and then removed her sweater to show the burn marks all along her arms, and across her chest. He told he they even had to remove some fat from other parts of her body to put in one of her arms. Her name was Irene, in the first picture. 
We went out a played a little more with them, and then it was lunch time. All 12 of them piled into the dining room, around a table with 14 chairs. Eunice and one of her helpers brought bowls of food in, and after everyone got their food, a little boy said "Let us pray." Moses and Eunice weren't even in the room to tell him to, he just did it willingly and immediately. He may have been the oldest, (age 9), but I couldn't tell who it was. He prayed, and all the others closed their eyes and clasped their hands. After, they ate and within no time they were all outside again, fighting over the 2 bikes, or squealing on the tire swings. We ate after them, with Moses Eunice and the lady that was helping Eunice. After we ate, we went back outside and played some more. They were all interested in our cameras, and there was always at least one trying to hold our hands. We taught them Red Rover, except they weren't too good at it, so we just pushed them on swings and let them play with each other. One little girl, Lucy, wanted to take pictures, so I let her have my camera. She was older, probably 7 or so, so the pictures weren't of like the grass or a blurry hand. She took a lot, and had fun doing it. One little boy, Julius, (in first picture) always wanted me to pick him up, or was holding my hand. After one of the many times I put him down, I realized he peed on me.. Haha. 
After a while, Moses came out and said it was bath time. So all the kids went to the other side of the yard, and the smaller ones started undressing. Eunice and her helper washed them one after the other, with buckets of soapy water. When they were done, the ones that were big enough to be independent dried off, then went inside and got dressed. The younger ones just sat on a towel on the porch and hung out. Brooke brought them some necklaces she had made, so Moses handed them out to them after their baths. They swung them around their necks, chewed on them, and one girl was twirling hers and accidentally broke it. But they really seemed to like them. Pretty soon Randy came to get us, so we had to say our goodbyes. Many of the kids gave us hugs, and we were on our way. 
It was a wonderful day :)