Day 2
Yesterday was our first full day at the orphanage, our first day we got to ride in a tuk tuk instead of a van, and our first day of physical labor. When we first arrived we got to play with the kids for about twenty to thirty minutes, then it was time for five of us (including me) to head to the garden and start upturning the hard, dry soil where the orphanage plants their vegetables, the other two would stay with the kids a little longer. Hot sun plus fire ants plus bent over shoveling dirt equals the Niagra Falls pouring from you. This job wasn't to be taken lightly considering this is where the orphanage grows all their vegetables, if we didn't do a good job on this, the kids don't get the amount of food that they really need.
After our work was done it was time to play with the kids again, meaning we had a war of sorts. It started off as everyone drawing in the coloring books and a few kids playing with these little slingshot guns, then a few crayons started flying and Alex became an insane army general, who kept ordering the little kids to shoot crayons at the rest of the volunteers.
Soon after calling a cease fire, we had the idea to start a limbo party. As more and more kids arrived from school, more and more kids began laughing and tripping beneath the limbo bar. We finally had to leave and all the kids were saying, "Good bye, I will see you tomorrow!" and as we drove away some of the kids would run with us until they couldn't anymore.
Day 3
The thing that stuck with me from today was this, you never truly know the definition of the word "slum" until you walk through the scrap metal shacks, the skin and bone chickens, the gray and green trash filled water that slithers its way through the streets, and the children playing by its shore. We walked through the streets of the slum where most of the children at the orphanage grow up. Foul smells and horrid sights reminded me of what I'm working for, and why I'm here. But even in all the darkness, there were still blossoms of light. Small homes are being donated so families can have better living conditions, even with the little they have people will smile huge smiles as you walk by, and there is not only an English school but a library for kids. At the end of our trip we visited the school, where my new sister Srey Tok looked positively joyous to see me. There are three classes that the kids are put in, class one is for a low English level, level two is for medium, and three of course is for high (this class was two). After sitting through the end of class with them, the kids brought us over to the library and read to us. Not understanding a word I just smiled and said, "Good job!" when Srey Tok looked at me for confirmation. We finished our trip and headed back to the orphanage where the new garden was neatly planted, and where we started a new game where two kids would hit two long sticks on the ground together in a beat, the two people next to the sticks would have to step between them without getting their feet smashed. Our game ended and the kids practiced their songs for performances, and Srey Tok fell asleep in my lap. As the kids finished a faint patter began to sound on the roof, and than it got faster, and faster, and faster. But let me tell you, when it rains it pours. Despite the dumping rain everyone ran out into the down falling water and slid and fell around in the mud, then when we went to the well to wash off the dirty spots, the kids threw buckets of water at us. It was an amazing day, and as each day passes, the kids there steal another part of my heart.
