More kids and haircuts

Jan 7, 2008

So it appears that our last entry was about New Year’s Eve. Well it has been relatively quiet since then and we have not had any lizards in our bed since then either. Thank you Lord. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn’t believe how quiet it really was. I thought maybe I was back in the states instead of Malawi.
Most of the children are not at the orphanage at the present time. Most of them have been sent home for “holiday” and are supposed to start returning any time now.

However, there are now two more new children at the orphanage --Joseph is 12 and his sister Agness is 8. Their mother left them originally in the care of their 14 year old sister. The mother is very sick. The 14 year old is now pregnant so the dropped Joseph and Agness off with an auntie so she could go die in peace. The children have different fathers and both fathers died of HIV/AIDS. The auntie could not keep the children as she has a family of 12 herself – 8 of those are orphans she is caring for. So her husband kicked her out of the home because of these two additional children. She came to the orphanage with one of Esther’s friends, begging for them to be allowed to stay at the orphanage. After some discussion, Stephano agreed and now there are two additional children at the orphanage.
With time I am sure they will adjust. Joseph was crying the day after they arrived and seemed to be a bit scared. Agness was isolated when she was at home with her mother and seemed to isolate herself at the orphanage too. It will take time for them to adjust. They both have been assigned a “friend”, a partner to help them learn the ropes of the orphanage. Maybe after more of the kids return, they will be more comfortable.

I forgot to mention that we got our 2nd Malawi haircuts since we’ve been here. Oh -- what can I say. Ray says that I miss the food from the US and he misses a good haircut that looks like it got cut with something other than hedge clippers. His first haircut was much better than the second one. My second one is much better than the first. We are trying different places until we find one that either we both like or is adequate until we get home. Esther has a barber come with his clippers to the orphanage periodically and both Ray & I have considered sitting down in his chair and having him shave our heads like the kids. Well, Ray has considered this more than me, actually. All I can say is that right now, it’s a good thing we can’t post pictures, huh?