I'm back!

The trip was nothing short of amazing, and despite all that I saw - lions and elephants, the Cape of Good Hope - the orphanage was definitely the highlight. Although going into this I was well aware that these children lived in poverty, there was no way I could have comprehended what that meant for their day to day life untill I saw it for myself.
Before I began this project, I thought of a township as some sort of variation of a suburb, never imagining that they are actually communties of shacks; vestiges of aparteid where most of the population lives in conditions we would consider below the poverty line. The Orlindi Orphanage is in the Katatura township, and is a small green building with four rooms: a small common room, 3 bedrooms and a patio. Of the 30 or so kids who live there, most are divided between two of the bedrooms with the babies in the third.
Whe we first arrived the children were unusually quiet, but as soon as we passed out some oranges and began playing with them, they perked right up!
After we met all the children, I put out all the clothing, baby food, toys and books I brought for the kids for the house mother. Seeing how excited she, and even the kids, were over these simple items made the difficutly of carrying everything over - and being repeatedly searched by the TSA - completely worthwhile. My hope is to send more books and toddler clothing in the future. With so many children, I can't imagine everything lasting very long.
Later on we got a chance to really play with kids, which was incredibly fun! And though it is a contradiction, it was In a way a little bit sad at the same time: All they wanted was to be picked up and held, which broke my heart, because I realized how little one-on-one attention they get. Once they were in your arms, they did anything they could not to be put down. Eventually I just sat on the ground to play with them, and let the kids climb all over me
Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon, since so many of them are not on my camera.
A huge thatnk you to all who donated their time, clothing and money to help me make this donation possible. In the coming weeks I'll post more about the orphange so that any one who wants to make a private donation can. Thank you again!!!!