Piles of trash, grass 3 feet tall, a wrecked and unusable playground, and kids with worn dirty clothes greeted us the first time we visited the orphanage in town. The kids were standoffish too. When we walked into the girls dorms, we saw piles of dirty wrinkled clothes everywhere, beds reeked of urine, and I won’t even attempt to describe the bathrooms. Lice are the least of the girls’ problems. And discipline? Ha, that’s unheard of!
Those were only the visible problems.
We felt a heavy heavy darkness inside any of the buildings. It was so thick. There aren’t words to describe it. Anyone could sense right away that something just wasn’t right. It was impossible to feel at peace or to feel any sense of happiness. It was like a veil fell over us the moment we entered. It showed in the kids too. They weren’t interested in spending time with us our first visit. They haven’t been very happy or joyful. They teased each other and didn’t have much respect for anyone else. There weren’t many smiles either. It’s a sad day when kids don’t smile and laugh.
Slowly, we began to get to know the kids there. A few of them began to tell me about other not-so-visible problems. There is a lack of food due to the money from the owner not getting to the orphanage or else kids are stealing food from the kitchen to sell outside. Their only water comes from the rain because the well has problems, the least of which was a bike someone shoved in it. Several boys beat up a few of the girls, and there are other concerns with how one of the boys treats several girls as well… In the past few years half of the kids have run away to live in the streets. We even met an autistic boy who spends his days in his wheelchair, which is tied to the window bars with an electric cord.
The women who actually work at the orphanage don’t have much power to change this. They’re also subject to the corruption of the owner and have very little resources (and energy) to work with.
Is your heart heavy yet? Are you angry yet? Because that’s how we felt. So we’ve taken a stand.
To be continued…
