Meg in Rwanda

Hello All! I've landed safe and sound in the lovely Rwanda. After a day and a half of travel, I have no idea what time it is, but I know I stopped in Denver, DC (Thanks for the paperwork Sparks Family!), Rome, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and finally in Kigali, Rwanda around noon on Saturday.

Ned met me at the airport and after a quick pit-stop at our hotel, we went straight to the orphanage to see Josie and take a quick tour. OVERWHELMING is the only word I can come up with at this hour. Josie instantly picked Ned out of a group of volunteers, several sisters and me. It was amazing to see that she already had a connection with Ned and tried to play pattie-cake with him as he had done with her the day before. Smart little lady!

Her room was hot, although a quick toad-strangler (that's a super-hard, super-fast passing rainstorm for you city slickers!) had cooled the air a bit. Josie shared a crib with three other babies close to her age. But there must have been at least 25 babies under the age of one in her room - including a preemie that was about 4 lbs.

Sister Gratias took us from room to room after that and we were able to see the different age groups of children. One room was marked - no visitors - as it was the infirmary. The kitchen was purely base essentials; a couple huge, inground boiling pots and wood-fueled fires. If the orphanage has enough donations, then the children are able to eat meat on Sundays and Wednesdays. Preparations were being made of a side of beef - literally a volunteer was using an axe to chop apart half a cow on the concrete floor.

The most difficult area was the toddler area. We could tell by the looks on their faces that they had an idea of why we were there. At first they stayed seated on their little cement bench...but then one-by-one they got brave and came toward us for hugs. Sister Allison had one especially cute little girl holding her leg...she explained that this little one had been born in a toilet - the mother had cut the umbilical cord and left her there. How the heck are we supposed to get our brains and our hearts around that kind of information?!?!

With that, a small sprinkle started falling and Miss Josie was rubbing her eyes and yawning - nap time. So we took her back to her room and we'll go again tomorrow...