Dance Break!

I was on my way out of the orphanage to town to buy some more lumber with Mel, yes we thought the one time was enough but we were sadly mistaken and were now visiting the lumber yard once a day. But i walked past this classroom and i had my camera out. They also LOVE to dance while you are taking a picture and I kept trying to explain how that is for videos and pictures get blurry if you dance...um no they didn't care they just kept dancing and laughing. So as i walk by this first girl who LOVES her picture taken gets up and starts dancing in the doorway, picture 2 on here. Then they all get up and dance. The last picture is of them doing my favorite dance for me as i requested it. They have this great hip shaking dance to their version of the ABC song and it is great. Such entertainment. Come to find out their teacher was out and no one told us so we were helping in other classes while these kids had been sitting and working by themselves, doing i have no idea what, but regardless quietly working at their desks all morning. They are so appreciative of school and LOVE to learn that they will sit their for hours working on things they don't understand. So they very much enjoyed their dance break and i told them i would be back in the afternoon to teach them. They are so fun and loving life.

Children at Work

The children do all the work around the orphanage. They wash the classroom floors every night, get fire wood, sweep the grounds...yes they do sweep the dirt and it actually makes it look much cleaner. The children switch off doing the jobs but they never complain they just work....they might call it "child labor" or "chores" but either way they work way harder then children i know and still always happy!

Kids Part III

Here are some more random photos and as you can see they will pose in with anything, even in front of the dishes. They like to do silly poses and then see themselves in your camera afterwards.

Kids Part II

Random photos of kids at the orphanage. They just LOVE having their picture taken. All you hear once you break your camera out is "Teacher, teacher, picture here, picture here!!!"

Kids

Yes i do shower...i know it doesn't look like it but i do. This is a really sweet teen and I had to hold Abigail the baby so that the mom could take the picture. That is their uniform and this is outside the dorms. There is a picture of Brian, who is always a bit behind and he is figuring out some shoe situation. The other pictures of are some of the children during the day.

Ann- Diana's favorite kid

Here is Ann. She is generally a sweet, cute, attention needy little girl. But the flip side of Ann is that she is sensitive, cries a lot, and can get very mad at you for no reason. She is a very emotionally fragile child. This was Diana's favorite child and Diana unfortunately got the cold treatment from Ann when she was leaving but Ann asked about her for days afterwards. The last picture is of her making a piggy snorting noise. I taught her this and she would do it ALLLLL the time so that I or anyone would give her attention and laugh with her. She is very cute when she's happy but not very cute when she's mad.

Goodbye to Diana

We will miss Diana, who was the other volunteer there for a week when i was there. She was from the Isle of Man and she is one of the funniest, if not the funniest people i have ever met. She is a kind and generous person and i am so glad i got to meet her before she left. We also will miss her being our can opener...as you can see her stabbing the can with the knife...she is so strong. The first picture is of her goodbye ceremony the orphanage throws and then the group on the couch is Judith, the one who runs the program and her immediate family who always have a blessing and sign along the night before you leave. Then there is a picture of the white van taking Diana away from us and we were all really sad. I will miss her but for sure will keep in touch!