Finding Seven More Orphans

A few days ago we went on a survey trip to see seven deaf orphans in villages around a hour and a half drive away from Kisii, where LDO is located.  It really opened our eyes on the problem of deaf orphans and parents with AIDS.  It also made us realize how blessed the orphans at LDO is with a place to call home and a language to sign.

The morning started with a visit to LDO's director, Daniel Ogembo and his wife's home.  

Tea and pastries.  

Kat, Alexa, and Alex went.  The other four stayed with the orphans at LDO.

The first village that we visited.

Roads aren't easy on the cars.  We had to stop and walk around while the wagon raced across the ditch!  

The first orphan that we met.  He is ten years old and his parents died of AIDS.  He had no language whatsoever and couldn't even say a word.  He only looked at us and gave us a few facial expressions.  

We walked to the site where the boy's parents were buried.

Parents are buried in the area.  This hut belongs to a friend of the boy and is where the boy stays at.  The man on the left is the interpreter for our trip and he knows the area.

Inside of the hut, we saw a few children in the dark, huddled around a fire.  They did not look healthy - ironic since there is so much food growing everywhere outside.  I still don't "get it" why there is such poverty with so much food growing.  I believe government corruption is a big problem.

Alexa gave him a lollipop and he liked it!  Still no words by this time.  

The second orphan that we met.  She is around 7 years old and we immediately knew she had Down's Syndrome.  She is very sweet and was very curious of us visitors!    

Both children are from the same village.  Both could not even say a word.  Both just looked at us and accepted the lollipops we gave them.

This girl was afraid of the car, but enjoyed the car ride!

The third orphan that we met.  We really felt bad for her as she had nothing on other than the shirt she was wearing.  No underwear, no pants, no shorts, nothing.  She was terrified of us and held on to her mother.  No language.  She is around 5 years old.

Daniel tried to "communicate" with her, but it was difficult to do so.  

Alex finally could have a little relationship with the boy with a magic trick.  

What would most ten-year old kids in USA be doing?  How much has this boy missed out on?  It is not too late to give him a language and an education.

Alex gave him his hat.

Finally, a smile!

The fourth orphan that we met, just down the road from the first three.  This is a cute girl who parents died of AIDS.  (ALL of the orphans that we met that day were orphaned by AIDS, and it was always BOTH parents who died.)

She, like the other three orphans, had no expressions and no language.  She was not responsive to any of our gestures -sshe only looked at us with the same blank expression - like a newborn baby. 

Kat and the girl.  In the background is her grandmother - which is often the ones who take care of the orphans.  They mean well, but they do not simulate the deaf children's knowledge - they probably assume that because they are deaf, they can't communicate at all.  That's why the orphans need to come to a place like LDO. 

After around 30 minutes of driving, we came to a beautiful area on the top of a big hill.  There, we would meet two more deaf orphans.

This is a hearing school.

The fifth orphan of that day.  She, like all the other orphans, had NO expressions and looked at us blankly.  

This is the sixth orphan of the day.  This is a very cute boy, also around 10 years old - he was responsive to our guestures with strong facial expressions and he was very shy and often giggled.  We think that this boy has a great chance to pick up on an education and a language.  As responsive as this boy was, he still had no words and did not know how to sign at all.  

Kat, Daniel, Alex, and Winston talking with the caretakers of the two orphans at that village.  Alexa is the one who took the picture, obviously.

The last orphan that we met.  She is the oldest of them all - 14 years of age, and probably the most saddest case - as she had NO language and NO words whatsoever.  She could only look at us with a shy expression.  This is so sad because she is supposed to be enjoying her teenage years, being close to graduation, and thinking of boys or finding a job.  But she is punished only because she is deaf and has no parents, and the village has no information that deaf people CAN communicate with a language of their own.

You can see how tall she is!  It was about to start pouring rain, so we had to leave fast as the road was already very muddy and if we waited any more, we would be stuck there overnight!



That wraps up our day.  It was an eye-opening experience for the three of us and for the ODO team.  We learned that all of the orphans at LDO was once the same as the seven we met today - expressionless and without a language.  LDO might not have much or a wonderful school, but it is so much more than what these orphans in the villages have.

And we were assured that there are MANY, MANY more orphans like the seven we met in Kenya, especially West Kenya.

ODO would love to help out LDO with sponsoring the cost to adopt these seven kids and bring them to LDO.  This is now a goal of ODO, and we will have to wait for the staff at LDO to come up with an estimate of how much it will cost and we will inform all of our financial supporters and of course, through our blog.    

Week Three in Kenya

Movie night!  William, the interpreter in the middle, loves to watch movies.  He brought a laptop and the kids was completely fascinated by it - since they've never seen movies before!  It was very cute to see their expressions as they watched the scenes unfold.

Elphas, one of the teachers.  He is 22 years old and is a very gentle guy.

Alex with John.  The kids will never resist any form of love!

Javier and Japheth

Playing tug-of-war.  Alex is challenging the whole group of orphans!  Of course, the kids won!  

Downtown Kisii.  It is a congested city full of people!  We were on our bus waiting to go to Mombasa at the time for our weekend "vacation" since we were at LDO for two weeks straight.  

In Mombasa (Kenyan coast).  This nice African climbed a palm tree and cut us coconuts!  They were delicious.

Eatin' lunch in Mombasa.  It was a great two nights for us all, as we all were able to just swim in the pool and relax and reflect on all we did in the two weeks at LDO and discuss on what we'd do during the final two weeks.  We also finally were able to take a shower and sit on toilets!  Next blog will tell you exactly how we lived at LDO.

Back from Mombasa - Kat taught class about Jonah and the big fish!

Javier looks like a circus tout with all the balloons!  We used them to play tag in which the objective was to pop the balloon tied on the backs of people.

Dallas is stalking someone!

An alliance is formed.  But maybe Kevin will break it?

Crafts.  The kids made cut-outs of a big fish.

Pick your color!

Kevin and Mike, brothers

Makin' bubbles.  

Felix

Another game - three-legged foot race.  We wanted to promote teammwork, and used it as an illustration of Joseph and Mary being pregnant with Jesus and therefore are "now three-legged"!

Leah and Pauline struggled to get their sync together!

A candid shot of the girls around the "water cooler" - literally!  I love this picture because they look so tough while they are actually very sweet!

Alexa playin' with trucks with the boys.  The kids do not have ANY toys at all so the donated toys was naturally a big hit and still is a favorite of the boys and the girls.

English class

Which one would you like to live in?  

Another hot day!

Playing duck, duck, geese - but the Kenyan version is cat and mouse.  I think it makes more sense.

Teaching class about the birth of Jesus

Yet another lorry!  Kristina and Kat went to town to get more wood to build another rabbit pen and a table for the cooks.

Crafts - we made lion masks out of paper plates.  

We were absolutely terrified to see lions in the orphanage.  

Another project - dig up and prepare a small garden.  This was harder than we thought, but it is good, hard work!  We built a fence around it to prevent chickens or people from walking into it.

Alexa teaching the kids a new song to sing.  She did it in a pep-rally style.

More bubbles!  The kids love to immediately destroy any bubble!

Back to the garden.  We are digging trenches around the garden and putting rocks in it so rats or small animals will be unable to burrow through.

We had many angry and displaced ants.  These were not the kind we wanted to mess around with!  They looked like hammerhead sharks and they can bite like one!  

Winston and William.  We can't imagine coming to LDO without their leadership and help!  

Winston brought his projector from his church in Nairobi and the kids were crazy about the big screen experience!  Look at their focused, movie faces.

We watched "George of the Jungle".  

Moises and Kristina cleaning his wound.  

Mike had a cut on his leg and then an infection of some kind developed and it was swollen.  Moises and Kristina took him to the hospital and with the help of donations from people like you, we were able to pay for his doctor visit and for him to get treatment.  Many of the kids have minor health problems, but there is no way to treat them.  We believe LDO would benefit greatly if there was at least one staff with training in basic first aid and proper equipment.  LDO does not even have bandages.  This is one of the many ways in which we hope to be able to support LDO with.

Mike at the hospital.

Javier teaching math!  

Can you find Alex in this picture?  Hopefully by now, you will be able to identify some of the children!

John with a pattern!  The kids' expressions when they found out that they created the patterns were priceless.

Cutting patterns.

Alexa teaching class about Jesus feeding 5,000 people.  

William turning over the soil in the garden.

Put your back to it, Dallas!  No mercy!  No tractors here!

Another activity - "Guess What It Is" - we blindfolded the kids and made them feel and taste things.  It was very funny to watch and the kids enjoyed it!

We put a big goop of peanut butter in their mouths at the end, and they all were shocked and would be perplexed at what this thing could be.  Eventually, they all liked it and wanted more!

Moises and Erick.

Heating up the jikos!