Day 4 Morning recap

Today, thank the Lord, we got to sleep in a little longer and left the SCORE facility at 9AM to visit the La Romana orphanage.  The experience was heartbreaking and incredible at the same time, as we were immediately swarmed by flocks of kids who, for the first time in the trip, weren't just interested in what we had to give them but instead with our attention and affection.  The orphanage itself was really nice, with beautiful classrooms and a large playground on which the kids could run, play jump rope and hopscotch, climb in a treehouse, and play on other features.  The older kids wore uniforms and clearly were coming from their classes, and the younger kids wore other unmatched clothing.  It was more encouraging to see them being well taken care of, as all of their clothing was well kept instead of full of holes like that of the kids in the villages- plus they were all wearing pants, which was different from the village kids too.  I really can't convey properly just how happy the kids were to see us- they were escaping out of the orphanage gates to greet the bus and immediately took hold of whatever hands we had available, leading us to whatever their favorite feature of their home was.  I was greeted by two girls, Nicole, age 8, and Paola, age 9.  They spoke a little bit of English (thank you, please, nice to meet you, my name is, and basic colors) which they said they had learned from their escuela (school).  I thought that was a really great feature of the orphanage, as it made communicating in Spanglish just a little bit easier, as we could both communicate on and off in either language.  It's also a bit humbling to realize that an eight year old knows as much English as I do Spanish (even after 2 semesters of college Spanish..... sorry mom)!  Nicole, Paola, and I had a great time getting to know each other while I painted their nails ("pink, blue, pink, blue" by request) and then coloring together.  We drew pictures for each other and Nicole even made me a bracelet that I'm sure I won't take off for awhile.  Angie, Jean's new friend at the orphanage, colored a picture for Jean, folded it and slipped it into her backpack to keep :)  They were so precious.  The hardest part was not evenly distributing donations, but rather evenly distributing our attention.  I tended to just want to stay with Nicole and Paola and really get to know them personally, maybe getting a chance to make some sort of lasting memory for them, but there were so many kids there who needed so much love.  I heard a young child screaming and crying and after a little bit of looking, found a young boy (maybe 2 or 3 years old) abandoned in the dirt behind a pavilion.  I figured he was upset that the kids in the pavilion were coloring and he was not, so I handed him a crayon and some paper, but the crying persisted.  Thinking that maybe he was hungry or even hurt, I picked him up to find someone in charge, and immediately the crying stopped as he put his dirty thumb in his mouth and nestled into my neck.  I literally almost started crying myself.  I've read about all of the psychology experiments where monkeys are given wire "mothers" to compare behaviors with those who have cloth "mothers," and how the monkeys with the wire moms soon die, and about the old experiments where babies who aren't spoken to for a short number of months will die, and I couldn't help but think of that.  The kids there just need so much love, and my heart was breaking that we only had so much time to spend with them, and so many bodies to cradle them and hold them.  I definitely am not ready for kids any time soon myself, but I couldn't help but want to take that young boy home and just make sure he was loved forever.  I know that Coach Dana was dying to take a baby she had taken an attachment to home as well!  I think all of our eyes were really opened today at the orphanage.  We can only hope and pray that behind closed doors these kids are treated as nicely as they seemed to be today, although they certainly seemed eager for more love and attention.


We leave for clinics in about an hour, and I know that I am particularly nervous for the swimming portion.  Again, we were really under the impression that we were coming down here to actually RUN clinics and teach young kids the sport, but swimming has been placed with the major swim team in the nation and we're just a part of the practice, which doesn't really allow much time for testimony ("bubble bubble.. do you.. bubble bubble.. know Jesus?!")  Everyone in the practice in Santo Domingo is around our age (most are 15-21) from the wealthy area of the city, speaks English, and most go to school in the States, so it's a much different outreach than we'd been expecting and I think it's making most of us nervous since it's not what we were mentally prepared for (or really physically when it comes to the practice!!).  We just have to keep perspective that we came down here to spread the word with athletes, and that's what we are going to do, no matter if it seems awkward or not what we'd planned on.  Prayers would still be appreciated though!