The Orphanage

The three arms of outreach of our church are education, medical, and spiritual needs.  The Shalom Orphan Center embraces all three of them.  At the end of the week, a number of us made a visit down the pot-holed road from our hostel to this small, privately-run orphanage, begun in 2004.  It started with a vision of helping the orphaned children of Karatu, many of them victims of AIDS,  poverty on the part of the parents, un-wed mothers shunned by their tribal community, and other reasons probably too numerous to mention.  There are over 55 children, from babies to teens.

Zac, our high-schooler with a big generous heart, contributed some of his own funds to buy bags of food for Shalom.  He and Mama Shirley went to town and brought the food.....

.....and some of us brought suitcases full of  donated toys and clothes....

While the school-aged children were at the local school, the younger ones were at the orphanage, where there is a small pre-school.  We saw the main meeting room where loving care-givers were holding babies and toddlers......and noticed not a toy in the place.  We were eager to hand out the beanie babies and dolls, and balls we had collected.

Many of them were shy at first, but they warmed up quickly and wanted to play, pose for pictures, see themselves in our cameras, and practice their English on us! 

 One little boy, about one year old, laid on his bed, whimpering and unable to move.  He broke my heart.  I asked why he couldn't get up and join the rest and was told he had "a broken back"....

The place is sparsely furnished, but they did have beds with mattresses, constructed and donated from previous volunteer groups. 

 The orphanage welcomes visitors and volunteers, of course, and the children are excited to have them come.  Many help with teaching, laundry, working in the gardens surrounding the orphanage, and just caring for the many little ones.  This helps in the Shalom's mission to clothe, feed, educate, and give medical care to these children.  They emphasize the teaching of English, feeling that that will not only help with adoption, but help them to better themselves in life.  They are totally dependent on donations.

This is the place where Mama Shirley, on a previous mission trip, brought two little brothers that she and Karashi found on the road, dying, malnourished, and full of sores infested with maggots.  Today, they are healthy and doing so well. It warmed her heart to see them again!

The time spent there was short, and we all wondered how we could have done more, of course.  So much to do, how do we ever do it all?  We can't, of course, but were happy to see that this is a locally-started project, even though it is heavily-dependent on foreign help.  The challenge remains with them to make it self-sustaining, and they are trying to figure out ways to do that.

I could do a slide show of the these beautiful children, their smiling faces full of hope and joy, just kids being kids, but here are just a few shots of so many......