The past 26 days have been leading to this, my first day of actual missions work. I have been through hours of worship, hours of sermons, and hours upon hours of training. Training on security that will keep me safe. Training to get my body ready for the physical toll this year will take. Training to get me spiritually prepared for what the devil had in store for me. But none of this training could prepare my heart for my first day.
My first day.
I almost don’t even know how to write about it but I know I need to, so here it goes.
Today started like most days, with more training. But today would be different because we would start working at our afternoon mission, working with kids at a local orphanage. We were told we would head to the orphanage to get things set up. We were pretty stoked to get to see these kids.
We got to the orphanage and met the woman in charge who was so thankful to have us come and assist for the next few weeks. She came out to give us a little speech about how much these babies need love. She told us of a little blind boy who is paralyzed and all he wants is for someone to touch his face and talk to him. She told us of another boy who is blind and just wants anyone to love him. As she told us of different childrens stories there was a buzz at the door. Another woman went to answer it and when she opened it there was a man that looked like a doctor coming in. I didn’t think this was anything as the orphanage is right near the hospital and here this woman is telling us stories of children in need of medical attention. Then a woman came in right behind him carrying a blanket close to her chest.
This is where the woman in charge stopped talking to us and began to speak to the man. The woman in charge then turns to tell us that the police have just found an abandoned baby and the man, who was an ambulance driver, was bringing it to her with a neonatal nurse. WAIT! A WHAT?!? An abandoned baby? Right now? As tears began to build the woman in charge seemed not to be phased at all. She let us know we could walk around and went to talk to the ambulance driver.
Still in complete shock that this baby had just been left, tears still in our eyes, and in some cases still wet on our faces we were expected to just move on to tour the facility. This just didn’t seem real.
We went to the infant and young children area. You could hear the babies as we ascended the stairs. It was feeding time and as babies are they let you know they were ready to eat. Erin didn’t even take a second to look around. She went straight to the closest crying baby and next thing you know she is cooing and calming him. Emily wasn’t far behind her.
A few of us stayed behind from the rest of the tour to spend time with the babies. We were moved into what is equivalent to the 1 year old room. This room had cribs lining two walls and an area in the middle with a flat screen TV playing music. We were told that the babies in this room will be fed and changed and then put into this room in their cribs and then the nurses turn up the TV and leave them until the next feeding time.
The kids sit in their cribs and watch TV all day. When we tried to play with some of them they were more interested in staring up at the pop music playing. And this pop music isn’t even really pop music. It’s music that teaches them about the Muslim faith. So, for hours every day they sit in their cribs and the most enrichment that they get is a flat screen TV teaching them to be good Muslims.
When we would let the nurses know that any child had a dirty diaper they would just take them from us and place them in a car seat to sit until they were ready to change them. One child was in a car seat almost the entire time we were up in the nursery section of the orphanage (over an hour and 30 minutes).
Once we were done upstairs we moved down to the older kids. Here is were we would be with every child that had any physical issues. Here is where John-Morgan sat with tears in his eyes as he held the little blind boy and just listened to him laugh. Here is where Kevin wheeled around or held a little girl with a mental illness for hours. Here is where Allie stroked the face of a paralyzed child that could not see. Here is where Josh was reading to a smart little boy looking for a father figure in his world that has none. Here is where Destiny sat holding a little girl just loving on her with everything she had. Here is where we would be loving for the next few weeks.
Each child needs so much love. Each child deserves so much love.
My heart may have been broken to start my time with these beautiful children but the joy on there faces as we love them is the best remedy to fix it.
