Well. Today was the first day at the orphanage. I set my alarm for 5:30. I woke up at 6:30 to Jennie yelling and banging at the door. Breakfast was from 6:30 to 7:30, and at 7:30 we loaded the bus. I threw on a cut off, some old basketball shorts, and an old, stained up sweatshirt. I scarfed down some breakfast and three cups of coffee (YUM) and we loaded up the bus. The bus ride was….exciting. Ask me about it later. But yeah, Joseph (pronounced Joe or hoe-seff) (who Rayann refers to an a teenage girl) taught me a SUPER cool patty-cake hand slappy thinggy. Let’s just say, after a few rounds, I was dominating over him at his own game. We got to the orphanage, used the baños, and headed to work.
First, I hiked up to see Leah’s House, and it was beautiful! It’s so close to being done, and at first I didn’t believe that that is the same house that I was laying on my stomach laying bricks for only a year ago. God is so good!
I trekked down the hill to sift sand with a bunch of other people. Rayann and I picked up a sifter and let Dr. C throw sand into our sifter. Being family, we were bickering. “Move back!” “I have sand in my shoes!” “Yeah well you’re totally missin the wheelbarrow, smart one” “Dude! Pick your arms up!” “Put YOURS DOWN! My shoulders hurt!” After an hour or so, you would have been very impressed by our progress. Most everyone else had fell back into other jobs, but Rayann, Katie, Amanda and I had an amazing system going on and were filling bags with sand by the minute. After a few hours of that, Wayne, our trusty skidster (sp?!) driver, nicely asked us to stop because the boys at the other house (idk what it’s called… the one that needed mortar and WASN’T Leah’s House) were way backed up with sand. After a water and shade break, and reapplying sunscreen for like the HUNDRETH time, we went to assist the boys.
I learned some mortar skills and was coined the “water girl”. After a good while at that, we were asked to stop making mortar because they team (I think Texas) using it had too much. I came to the conclusion that no one here can keep up with us South Dakotans. It felt really good to do lots of hard work and be appreciated for it though! The boys making the mortar asked us to run around and take pictures because they never have pictures of people working, because we’re all working! And no one believes that they actually DO WORK down here! So I was happy to have been given that responsibility! I took a few pictures, then did some more shifting, then being almost lunch time (1 pm), I went back down to the feeding center and washed my hands. The medical team was sorting out medicine and putting a month’s supply in a baggie. I was happy to jump in and help. After Rayann and I made an assembly line, again, everyone was seated. We found some places to sit and enjoyed an AMAZING meal! We had fish again, but it was WAY different than last night! It was so amazing! I sat next to Kent and Toni, which was quite enjoyable. I really enjoyed my conversation with Kent.
After lunch, I had a hard time finding work to do, so I sifted for quite a while, then I sorted drugs again. Thirty in a bag. I was the motrin girl. Motrin. Thirty in a bag. It was tedious, but it was a lot of fun. I did that alllll afternoon till we were done! It felt great! We had a little bit of time left before we had to load up the busses, and there were four little girls sitting on the steps of their house. I went over to them and said hello, and somehow we got into doing those little patty-cake hand thinggies, and the one that Joe taught me JUST this morning, they wanted to do! IT WAS SO AWESOME! I totally dominated! They tried to teach me some new ones, but I was slow to learn. The language barrier didn’t matter anymore, but it was so awesome. Rayann and I rode home on the bus with the Texas and Virginia (?) team, and their accents entertained me the whole way home. Supper was decent, and so were devotions, and Alejandro seems to have devised a plan that includes playing pool?! But I can’t understand him and he left super early. But I need to go to bed and Brent wants the computer, so GOOD NIGHT! I shall drift to sleep hearing “shish-swoosh, swish-swoosh” (the sound of sifting sand) and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, (the sound of counting pills).
GOOD NIGHT.
No comments:
Post a Comment