Orphanage Month: Those We Left Behind

Now that I’m off the continent, here is the first thing I want to talk about: my "illegal" activities in Zimbabwe, otherwise known as “my orphanage work.”  It’s true.  It was actually illegal for me to set foot in an orphanage in Zim according to my visa, let alone to adopt a Zimbabwean child of my own. I won't go into the country's ridiculousness about visas and unwillingness to welcome volunteers to provide aid, but let's just say that my husband Kurt dodged a bullet for now, since we would be taking about fifteen new children with us had our circumstances been different!   I tiptoed into this system nervously at first, and then more and more confidently as the needs around me became more and more apparent.

From my wonderful learning experiences in the orphanage system of Zim, I have gotten to feel like Santa Claus every time I walk into my orphanages with a bag full of bananas and see the kids go, well… bananas.  I have spent hours reading to little ones who didn’t speak my language but wanted to sit on my lap and hear my voice.  I have watched in horror as some of my kids have stolen the handful of stickers my visitor timidly clutched and run off to hide.  I have learned not to play beauty parlor with seven year olds, lest I get a hair brush stuck in my hair.  I fought for a baby that eventually died, who I will admit I possibly could have saved had I done things differently and a piece of my heart remains broken.  I have been peed on.  Pooped on.  Vomited on.  I have had rushing thoughts of HIV fly through my head as I dealt with split lips and bloody noses.  I have seen the anarchy that a hundred unsupervised children can reek.  I have bathed babies while their caregivers looked on.  And I have watched the mother-less mother each other.  

If you want to know where I learned the most in Africa, look no farther than the orphanage. You have heard me mention some of my orphanage experiences, and I consider the time I’ve spent in them to be some of the biggest gifts I will ever receive.  Stick with me.  This month I’d like to introduce you to some of the most amazing souls I got to meet in Zim, each with their own story, and their own tiny hope.  These were truly the hardest people to leave behind.