I went by the orphanage today. Blessing seems to be doing better and is getting more and more alert every day. He was a little sick earlier today though. Probably because the nurse tends to give him milk that has gone sour in the heat, but other than that...he's doing just fine. I got stranded there in another thunder storm today. The older children were still in school so I just helped out Emily in the kitchen with the little ones, fixing bottles and such. We talked about how many things need to be improved at the orphanage. I had to change Dadum's diaper and I couldn't find any baby wipes. So Emily went in the closet next to the kitchen to get toilet paper. She slowly opened the door and took a long look around before dodging in there and snatching a roll of toilet paper off the shelf. I started laughing and she told me that last time she went in there a huge rat ran out from the closet. I've seen rats there too, as well as cock roaches. These rats are probably the only fat things in Ghana. I'm pretty sure both the rats and the cock roaches are shooting some roids. Fat and ugly.
I'm going to try to come back here next summer, armed with a lot more fundraiser money. I would like to rebuild the kitchen (shack) out back as well as repair the kitchen inside the orphanage. It could use better sealed doors, new cabinets, etc. There are a lot of other things I would like to do to improve their condition, so hopefully this return trip will happen. I am also hoping to get a medical student or two interested in going so that the kids can have check-ups. The hospitals here are not very sanity, practical, or useful. I learned that during the 4-5 trips I took to take care of Blessing. Emily weighed them this week and found that the majority of them were very under-weight and malnourished. She told me that if she asks the house mothers if the children have eaten at night (when she's trying to figure out who still needs to eat)...they never know. The older kids usually end up taking care of the younger ones. It's a miracle [some] of them have made it past infancy. They have big malnourished bellies and I would guess most of them have worms. I entertained the idea of taking some of them to the hospital for check-ups, but there's no way. The hospitals around here almost always make you stay the night, even when it isn't necessary. You're more likely to pick up some sort of illness while at the hospital trying to get better. Anyway, stay posted for more fundraiser information for my trip next year. I will have to raise a rather substantial amount of money to do all of the things I need to do. I may end up having to use some of it to cover my flight. Flights here run anywhere around $2,000 and I doubt I will be able to raise that much with school and all. I'll see what I can do though. Thanks everyone for your support so far!
I'm going to try to come back here next summer, armed with a lot more fundraiser money. I would like to rebuild the kitchen (shack) out back as well as repair the kitchen inside the orphanage. It could use better sealed doors, new cabinets, etc. There are a lot of other things I would like to do to improve their condition, so hopefully this return trip will happen. I am also hoping to get a medical student or two interested in going so that the kids can have check-ups. The hospitals here are not very sanity, practical, or useful. I learned that during the 4-5 trips I took to take care of Blessing. Emily weighed them this week and found that the majority of them were very under-weight and malnourished. She told me that if she asks the house mothers if the children have eaten at night (when she's trying to figure out who still needs to eat)...they never know. The older kids usually end up taking care of the younger ones. It's a miracle [some] of them have made it past infancy. They have big malnourished bellies and I would guess most of them have worms. I entertained the idea of taking some of them to the hospital for check-ups, but there's no way. The hospitals around here almost always make you stay the night, even when it isn't necessary. You're more likely to pick up some sort of illness while at the hospital trying to get better. Anyway, stay posted for more fundraiser information for my trip next year. I will have to raise a rather substantial amount of money to do all of the things I need to do. I may end up having to use some of it to cover my flight. Flights here run anywhere around $2,000 and I doubt I will be able to raise that much with school and all. I'll see what I can do though. Thanks everyone for your support so far!
No comments:
Post a Comment