A rip your heart out kind of day.

Wednesday Jan 08, 09 A gut wrenching day. It started like all the rest. Rooster crowing around 5:30, babies starting to stir, kids giggling and running around. A bit of rain. A day of hope. Then 3 young girls arrived to become part of our family at New Hope Homes. Anastacia around 6 (we never really know), Grace about 5ish and Florence around 2 or 3. They could not have been cuter. They were all dressed in the same outfits and arrived with 2 Nuns. Their mother had been dying of Aids for quite some time and finally passed about a month or so ago. The Anasticia had been acting as the Child Head of Household that so many of our kids do. They were living near some nuns who care for mentally and physically handicapped kids and started to keep an eye on them. When their Mom died, they took them in but knew that as healthy kids they needed to be with other similar kids and tried to find a place for them. They called SOS a large local orphanage and then they contacted Chantal. When the arrived they did not have all the proper paperwork so they had to return later in the afternoon. Initially the kids thought our home was great fun. The Aunties played with them and the little kids came out and said hi. But after the proper paperwork was in place the Nuns explained that they would be staying here. The kids got really quiet and the oldest one was sad beyond words. She was so scared and sad, I don’t have words to describe what pain was written on her face. She tried to go with the nuns but they told her the younger kids would be staying and that was enough…..she knew she wanted to be with them. Chantal, the Mommie and the Aunties did everything humanly possible to make them feel welcome. The youngest began to see that it would be ok, the middle was warming to the idea but the eldest would have no part in it. She just hung her head and wouldn’t speak. If she did it was in whispers. She finally asked if she could have her shoes that she brought with her. Little plastic throngs. We gave them to her she eased a bit, but was certainly not comfortable. We fed them, gave them milk, hugged them, etc etc. Not much progress. Then we brought them to the classroom to meet the other kids. The teacher was amazing. She had the kids introduce themselves, then sang a welcome song to each child. Then she asked the 3 new kids to each pick a best friend from amongst these strangers who would quickly become part of their family. As each picked one, that child immediately took the new childs hand and walked them to the table to sit on the a bright chair next to them or share their chair. These kids are remarkable. They now the routine and are so beautiful in welcoming each new sister or brother to their family. Then the teacher asked the kids if they knew any songs? Eventually each of the 3 new sisters came to the side of the teacher and sany a little song. Turns out each was a praise song to God. As you can imagine, I spent a good portion of that experience sobbing like a baby. In 24 to 48 hours I hope to be writing you that they are happy and already adjusted. They are sleeping at the 1st home so I don’t know how they are getting along tonight. It rained this afternoon like a furry. I swear if I were in the Midwest I knew we were about to be blown away by a tornado, if in other areas I would guess a Monsoon…but here in Rwanda…it’s envoora…rain ….and they need it badly. So we celebrated and hoped the roof would stay attached which it did. A little rain in on the floors through the walls, but all in all, just fine. This evening I brought out the XO computer that Don Kvam had bought for the kids. Their VERY own computer. You would have thought it was precious gold. The older kids loved it. They quickly got the hang of how to push the various keys to do things. They will bring it proudly to school tomorrow to show their teacher if it’s not raining. I am thankful to now have a mosquito net for my bed. Those nastly little mosquitos are responsible for the death of many people in this country in the form of malaria. And I have good friend at IPG who’s sister died just a few years ago when she was finishing up her tour here due to Malaria. It’s nothing to be messed with. My net is a fancy poweder blue one. I remember my 1st trip where we couldn’t really get it to hang from the ceiling so I was basically lying under it like I was a fish trapped in a net and it sure inspired some crazy dreams. We presented the kids from the 1st home with their big bags tonight (shoes, socks, undies etc) as they were not here when we did the 2nd and 3rd homes yesterday. We had to take photos inside due to the rain and then the darkness, so they aren’t quite as lovely as the ones that night before but you sure can see the pure joy in their faces. I’ve been working on photos for an updated website etc. Each night I download the hundreds that I shot that day and organize them by kid as I am still trying to remember all 30 names, plus the Mommies, Aunties, cooks, guards etc. And with names like Mbasi and Nishemewe etc etc…it ‘s hard to keep straight. Tonight I showed my “selects” to some of the kids that were sitting around. After 4 days of shooting I have about 2-5 shots that I liked of each child. I asked them to pick their favorite shot of themself. One by one…you guessed it…they picked the photo where they had their new clothes on even if it wasn’t the best shot. The simple pride that can come from a new pair of underwear or shoes. God is good and I am turning in feeling very blessed to be on this journey.