Day 6: Making Bags

I am a little delayed in writing this post, but I want to document what we did! We were all very sad on our last day in the village. We wanted to spend the majority of our time with the kids. We spent time loving on the babies in the clinic (my favorite house!) but also made our rounds to House of Peace, House of Blessings, and Zachary House. After lunch we helped Dr. Ana put together "play bags". The staff has problems keeping toys in the house... they seem to disappear and the children are left with very little to play with. Dr. Ana had an idea... create tote bags of toys designed for toddlers and babies. A volunteer or intern can come check out a bag, then go around to the houses to play with the little ones. There is a checklist on the bag so the volunteer can know what goes back in the bag. When the volunteer is finished playing, the bag gets returned and checked by Dr. Ana. This way toys do not get lost. We thought it was a great idea! So, we made 7 toddler and 7 baby bags with labels. They were all developmentally appropriate.

We got to test out our work later in the afternoon. I took a toddler bag to Isabella. Jamie and Mitzi took a baby bag to entertain the babies. It was great! Isabella loved shaking the music instruments and I found that she loves puzzles. I imagine she had never seen a puzzle before. I showed her how to do it and she got the hang of it. She is a smart cookie!

Here is Isabella playing with the toys from her bag. When we were finished playing, the ayis let us take her on a walk. She had a busy and fun day!

This is sweet Melanie from Zachary House, born without arms or legs. She was amazing. She could crawl, turn the pages of a book, and grab toys. Sadly, we got news yesterday that she passed away suddenly. There is a chicken pox epidemic and they believe that her body could not handle the virus. Many people are grieving the loss of this special young lady, including her family in the US that was waiting to adopt her. 

The bags we created for Dr. Ana

Vincent and Isabella on a walk. 

Sweet Cindy from the clinic

Our last Chinese dinner 

We all shed some tears when we said good-bye to the children. What a sad day. I am thankful for a place like Shepherd's Field... it is one of the best places for an orphan to live. But at the end of the day, it is nothing compared to the love and care of a family. These kiddos need and deserve families just like millions of other kids around the world. It is eye-opening and heartbreaking to spend a week with orphans. I wish that everyone could experience this type of work and love.