Thank God for Quick-Dry Pants

So, day 2 of my internship! And 3 while I’m at it. I learned how to put on the kids’ leg braces on Tuesday, which is actually pretty hard. Walking them around is so much fun though :) I also learned how to change their diapers. I've been changing diapers since probably about 6^th or 7^th grade, but this was a bit different. I guess because of the sheer number of kids, they use these small rectangular or square blankets, fold the top into a triangle, lay that over the front, tuck the rest of it behind, bring the corners around, tie them off well, and tuck the triangle around the knot. No rubber pants or liner or whatever that’s called though. Whenever the kids go to the bathroom, it leaks onto their pants. You usually discover that they need to be changed the hard way—picking them up or feeling a damp spot appear on your lap :P Hence thank god for quick-dry pants—Mom, I am getting some good use out of these things. They’re also helpful for when you accidently sit in a puddle of what I’ll assume was water. The morning routine was pretty much the same as it was Monday, and I feel like it’s going to be the same way every day. Life at the orphanage just seems to be a life of maintenance and survival—feed and change the kids, exercise them (not exorcize, though this is a Catholic place), change them, tend to them when they cry, play, repeat. I’m sure they sleep somewhere in there too. It seems like simply keeping these kids alive and well is all the sisters and workers have time for. At least the workers. I don’t see the sisters too often. Maybe a couple of times a day. They’re in and out. I’m not sure what they do, but I’m sure I’ll find out eventually. There just seems like there’s so much need here—so many kids with disabilities that could probably be much better off and given better therapy were they adopted, so many babies screaming and crying (and volunteers aren't allowed to be with the babies because the babies get so used to being held that when the volunteers go home, they cry and the nuns are left to handle them on their own), so many kids that just need someone to hold them…I just wish they could all be adopted. But apparently the disabled ones aren't likely to be adopted, which is sad. If I could, there are two that I definitely have my eye on :) But apparently the Rwandan government (along with many other governments) is making international adoptions more difficult. To adopt a kid from Rwanda, you have to live in Rwanda for 3 years with the child.

Anyway, so the morning was about the same, as was the afternoon—more feeding, playing, and changing. It didn’t take long for me to feel like I’ve got the hang of things here. I haven’t entirely figured out how the whole place works, but I know they have a section for the toddlers, a section for the babies, a section for the older kids and adults, and a couple of older random able bodied kids running around—I know they have some that go to school up the road, but I don’t know the full story behind them. They also have a bunch of guys who chop wood there—I assume for cooking fuel—which the nuns handed out to people with cards from the neighborhood on Wednesday. They also have a sewing class/workshop up near the gate for women from the nearby villages, which I guess is there to teach them profitable skills. There are so many questions I have about this place that hopefully either the English speaking volunteers who have been here for a while or the nuns can answer for me. Eventually. I’m sure I’ll get this all figured out soon.

Also, I met two more volunteers—one from the US and one from…France, maybe? I forget. Either way, these are going to be some seriously multicultural babies.