Week 3 Report

So what do you do there? That's what I know most of you are wondering. Well, my usual way of going about things -- planning, preparing, leading, etc. -- is out the window. They simply want volunteers to be with the kids, which has been frustrating to me at times -- who knew I was so Type A?

So my days are random and unplanned. I hold babies (I've accepted the fact that their diapers will leak and I will go home smelling like pee every day.) I play cards. I hold kids who want to more closely examine my frecked white skin and my long hair. I push swings and go down the slide in trains (never as the engine or caboose, though, because then only one kid would get to touch me and mass chaos would break out). And more than anything, I sing. I am the walking juke box. Kids follow me around, tugging on my clothes, saying, "Do this." Then they'll do the motions to the opening line of Pharaoh Pharoah, My Rock My Sword My Shield, The Hippo Song, or anything else that has silly actions. I go through my extensive repetoire at least four times a day, which honestly drives me insane some days, but how can I deny these kids something that makes them laugh when they have so little?

I'm not sure how I can express how little the children have here. Yes, they have the basics. They each have a bed to sleep in, but no pillows, blankies, or stuffed animals. They all have clothes, but most of them are ripped, have missing buttons, have broken zippers, or the elastic is gone (I can't count how many times a day I get mooned by a little brown butt!). And they have three meals a day, but nothing you or I would eat, just bowls of mush to fill their little bellies. At a prayer meeting last week, the older kids were praying for rice. Rice! Because that's so good compared to what they get if money is tight. There are no toys or extras of any kind. The older kids (middle school/high school age) are crazy about soccer, but most of them just have flip flops, so they will share a pair of tennis shoes, hiking boots, or whatever's been donated, running barefoot on one foot and kicking the ball with their right or left foot, whichever one is covered by the shoe.

So although the lack of order drives me crazy sometimes, I understand the ministry of presence . . . just giving my time and love to whatever kid wants it. The kids in the pictures are Abby & Kofi on top (their names are actually much longer, but I can only catch the first couple of syllables!) and Emmanuel on the bottom. They are some of my most fervent song requestors!!

So that's what I do. Thanks for you prayers and messages. I wish I could get to the internet more and stay longer!!

Tiffany

P.S. If you want to make a donation online, you can do so at www.adullamorphanage.org -- it goes through a church in Georgia. They send a group over every year. They were just here a few months ago and built a great playground!!