We were invited by a couple other teachers to visit an orphanage about 45 minutes away. We were told that visiting hours were from 9-11 on Saturday so we arrived promptly at 9am. 30 minutes later we were told that the “sisters” were not there so we could not come in but we could go to a nearby church and speak to the sisters. The “sisters” turned out to be very nice nuns who allowed us to go to the orphanage and told us a little of its background. It has been around along time- at one point Mother Teresa came to visit. It houses 23 kids who right now are all under the age of 3 but can stay at the orphanage until age 6. After that they will either be adopted, the parents will return to get them in hopes they are no longer malnourished or they will be transferred to a different orphanage for older kids. I was prepared to be depressed by the circumstances of the kids but that was not at all the case. The building itself was very well taken care of and the children were all clean and clothed properly. The only thing that was painfully obvious was the lack of attention to the kids. I am positive that the workers loved the kids and did their best but there were 6 workers for 23 kids- including the cafeteria and cleaning lady. When we arrived the older kids attacked and flew into our arms. They knew we were there to play! The younger ones held back and took a few minutes to warm up but once they did, they were hungry for attention as well. We played, fed and rocked kids for about 2 hours. When it was time to go Tyler asked if we could go back next week because “those kids sure did like having someone to play with.” He has since asked several times to go back but we have not had the chance. Anyway, it was a great day and we will be going back as soon as we have a free weekend!
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