I am a native in this world And think in it as a native thinks

Friday, April 13, 2012

Orphanage


(Thanks to Ron Adler for letting me post his pictures of the orphanage as his were much better than mine.)





There are 18 million orphans in Africa because of AIDS, an entire generation of parents decimated, so I imagine that most villages of any size have an orphanage like this one. Some people in the village have taken in orphans to raise along with their own children; it's hard to imagine how people who are already struggling can take on this great burden, all these children to feed and clothe and educate, but all of the children in this village seem happy and well-taken care of -- the little girls who fought over who got to hold my hand and thought it was great giggling fun leading me in circles in the cornfield so that I got to the orphanage late could have been children anywhere.


I arrived just as the children were singing a song for us and everyone was crowded around the doors so I couldn't see much. We sang America the Beautiful as our song for them.

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