When they first got there, we just ate breakfast at the house. Afterwards, a group came to help out at the school and another group stayed to help prepare meals. At the school, some people played futbol with a group of kids, and another group of us played parachute games. We then did puzzles, flash cards and other games. Each kid was so eager and excited to learn, it made it a lot of fun. We left school early that day, went back to the house and had lunch all together. The kids loved it--so many people to play with/give them attention. It was a lot of fun.
City of Refuge also got a new orphan, Princess. She's 10 months and has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a disease that causes her head to be about twice the size of her body due to excess fluids. She can't roll over, although physically able, because of the weight and pain in her head. She has to get surgeries to drain the fluids out, and while at her last procedure, her parents abandoned her at the hospital which is how she ended up with Stacy and John. Although this is extremely sad, other than having a loving family to take care of her, she couldn't be in a better place. And with 20 extra people there, she got even extra attention and love that day.
Meanwhile, we were putting meals of rice, sauce and eggs together in to go boxes. The plan for the afternoon was to go into a small fishing town, Tema Newtown and bring 1200 meals to the children there. Once all the boxes were filled, rubber-banded and spooned (not cuddled, but given a plastic spoon), it was time to load them in the van. I set up an assembly line, but packing 1200 boxes in a van, no matter how productive your assembly line is, takes a while and a fair amount of spacial planning. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the boxes before they were put in the van. 1200 meals, is a massive number.
Once the van was finally loaded, it was time to head to the village! We drove about 40 minutes away and when we got there, all the children were already assembled. John and Stacy had told me that in past years, the process has been less than smooth. There aren't enough meals for everyone, so we make them just for the young kids and apparently older people have been known to get violently aggressive, throwing things and attacking volunteers trying to feed young, innocent children. Obviously no one person is more deserving of a meal than another, but we're just people too, and can't physically help everyone, as much as we may want to and try.
I'm not sure his exact position, but there was a man from Tema Newtown who was organizing the kids and translating instructions from John saying the kids needed to be in line if they wanted food, and each child only got one meal and once he or she got it, they must leave and not come back for more. With 1200 impatient and extremely hungry kids, it's not very easy to get them in lines. Anyone who's worked with children knows it can be hard to get 5 young kids to get in a line. We had a line of volunteers in front of a mob of children that was partially in lines in front of us and we began passing out the boxes of food.
Some people stood by the van and handed the boxes out, we had to quickly pass them down and out simultaneously. The kids were all reaching and grabbing and getting out of order fast. The goal was to feed the ones who were waiting patiently, but it gets really difficult when there are over 20 arms waving in front of you and grabbing at you. Very quickly, faces became familiar. Children were sneaking around and trying to get multiple meals and the smallest children who were hidden by the crowd, often were getting looked passed, or would have if their huge, sad eyes weren't so reflective. It was hard to tell some children no, when they looked so hungry and desperate for food, but it was equally sad to not give food to everyone.
This clip is one of the calmer moments, we had to reorganize the children several times, and there were more heartbreaking moments than I can count. The kids weren't allowed to get food if they came from behind but the smallest little girl I've ever seen was pulling at my shirt and she would have gotten demolished in the mob of people. I eventually gave her a box of food, but that probably caused more chaos than I accounted for.
Forty minutes flew by with a rush of spoons, 1200 styrofoam boxes and small arms. Unfortunately, by the time the food was gone, many of the children hadn't been fed. It was nearly impossible to keep track of who had received food and who hadn't. Although there should have been enough for each kid to get a meal, many were left unfed. Although this is extremely sad, most of the children who got multiple boxes, were harvesting them to bring home to their families so everyone could eat. The food did not go to waste in any sense of the word, but it was devastating to have to tell some children there was none left when they'd been waiting for their meals.
This was truly one of the most moving and incredible experiences of my life, I'm really glad I was able to partake in helping out. Helping feed this village opened my eyes to something that I never would have understood without experiencing it.
I didn't spend too much effort on the video, because I was working on passing out food but it seemed something important to document. I hope it gives you a little bit of a feel for the experience. I know I've been saying this a lot, but I hope it doesn't lose it's meaning, cause I mean it just as much every time but it was really one of the best days of my life. Every day, I further grasp the reality of how far a little bit can go, and how much of a difference one person can make. The amount of weight on each meal, the importance of a small bit of attention at the orphanage--just the impact of every action amazes me.
When just $800 can feed a village, a little bit can go quite a long way. We also visited the land that day (where they're planning to build the new site) and discovered they still don't have adequate funding and are currently building out of prayer and hope and do not intend to stop the process and hope the funds eventually come through. If you want to donate to City of Refuge, use the online donation at http://www.cityofrefugeoutreach.com/. Thanks!!
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