Jan. 2 - At the Orphanage

On Tuesday we went back to the orphanage for a formal tour. It’s a great place where the kids appear to be happy and well cared for, and the staff is extremely friendly and affectionate. We walk past the ladies doing the loads of laundry all by hand (for 150 children that’s a full time job for more than one). The staff called for Yabi and held him and kissed him. The toddlers have planned activities and the older children attend classes in the morning. A doctor is on the premise every morning. The children like to play soccer and basketball in the afternoons, and Seth and I joined them in some soccer a couple of times.

Tuesday night was a challenge as we were faced with a grieving child, as Yabi cried and fussed at bedtime, and we later realized more fully that it was related to his grief and not his cold and sickness. It’s hard to be faced with this knowing we’ve taken him from his comfortable surroundings and put him with people he can’t even understand yet. He spent most of the night sleeping on my chest as I lay on the couch, and he occasionally woke up and wimpered and fussed but we made it through nonetheless.