In loving memory of our most smiley baby, Patrick

Trip Start Sep 22, 2008
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Trip End Nov 30, 2008


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Flag of Malawi  ,
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Hello everyone.  Things are going fine here, but sadly, on Sunday, we lost another baby. Patrick was 8 months old and was one of the sweetest, happiest babies here.  He died at Open Arms in the arms of one of the caregivers and it was really shocking because we didn't realize he was that sick.  I had just given him kisses and was holding his hand a few hours before, so I was completely shocked when I heard the news.  That's 2 babies now within a week and a half that died because of diarreaha. 

We went to the other orphanage Monday which is Orphan Care Malawi.  It is in Blantyre on the outskirts of the city in the center of a very poor village.  It's hard to get to because the roads are so bad.  They have absolutly nothing there at the orphanage, so whatever they do with the kids, they need to be very creative and use whatever resources they have, like rocks, sticks, potato sacks, etc.  There are no toys, there's no furnature, hardly enough food...just one big empty room with a desk in it for the teachers.  One of our friends, Gena, who is a volunteer there, set up a program for the kids because when she arrived 5 weeks ago, the kids were just playing or sitting around and there was no structure at all, no activites, no learning...nothing.   Now they begin their day with exercises, then the national anthem, then they do songs and greet each other in English, then they have school where they have all of the different subjects and they learn one subject each day.  After that, they have an hour of free play, then songs and games, then lunch, nap, and more activities in the afternoon.  If anyone would like to make donations, here is the contact information....Please e-mail them and double check the mailing address to be sure.

Orphan Care Malawi
PO Box 60342
Blantyre 6
Malawi

E-mail is timothy@orphancaremalawi.com
www.orphancaremalawi.com

Please try to spread the word, because they can really, really use the help.  Thanks!
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