Forever Angels.

Really making me miss my own back home, Meaghan, Alison and I spent the afternoon volunteering our time with the children at the Forever Angels orphanage in Mwanza.

The orphanage is currently home to 20 children under the age of three, and is being expanded to house double that number.  Many of the children came from families where the parents died from disease, or were simply left on the orphanage’s doorstep.  One boy we met had been beaten so badly, and left at the gate, that he needed to be resuscitated in hospital.  Others had had their growth stunted by severe malnutrition.  Most of them just wanted some love and some attention – just like any other child.

It was funny to see just how little difference there often is children, regardless of where they are from – much like my previous experience, it seem inevitable that if you build a sandcastle, a child will get the biggest kick out of squashing it.  And then asking, amid peels of laughter, to have it rebuilt.  We played in the sandbox, gave piggyback rides, sat with the children during snack time, played catch and participated in other children’s games.  One of the boys, Joseph, was really interested in my camera and wanted me to put Alison’s sunglasses on so that he could take a photo.  Then, he wanted to take a picture of his friend.  He was quite pleased with the results of his pressing the button releasing the shutter and capturing the moment for himself.

It was also a little funny to hear them sing the Bob the Builder theme song – or some variation thereof.  Like kids everywhere, they’re good mimics.

Posted by Douglas Keddy on October 19, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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Comments

DK:

Hey, good to see things going well. It's nice to have photos to go along with the stories. I like the one of the boy with the bag over his shoulder. I'd say keep enjoying yourself, but that goes without saying. Looking forward to more stories and images.

Walewander

Posted by: Walewander | Oct 22, 2007 4:47:30 PM

DK - great blog ... I'm trying to reach you in a few places as I need to touch base with you on doing some photography for the campaign as we discussed. Please see email I sent to your western account and let's connect as soon as possilbe.

Thanks

Posted by: Dave Arland | Oct 23, 2007 2:49:18 PM