A Quick Lunch and a Great Afternoon (August 3, 2010)

Today was a pretty "normal" day at the orphanage.  I arrived just in time to go to lunch (I really was working on stuff at home in the morning) with about 8 kids and a team from New Jersey that was down here with Bethel.  Today I got to walk without pushing a chair (kinda missed that!) and was able to help out the "new" folks with their kids. 

Going to Camperos really is a lot of work.  Dick had done most of the hard part by having all the permissions and signatures taken care of yesterday, but it really can be a bit overwhelming trying to take 8 wheelchairs across cobblestone streets and up curbs that are really not handicapped accessible.  Though almost everyone was new at the wheelchair game, the team did great.

It's always such fun to see the kids at Camperos.  Their excitement at eating "real" food (as opposed to the puree most of them are fed--healthy, but not appetizing) is worth every bit of the effort it takes to get them there.  Today I was smart enough to bring a special bottle with a straw for Bobbie, so we didn't have the "melt-down" we had a couple of weeks ago when he wanted to hold his own cup.  He couldn't then, because it was paper and would crush in an instant in his grasp.  Of course, today he was happy as a clam to let me hold the bottle for him.  Go figure (just like a man for you!).

 I was a bit disappointed that we didn't have time to play on the equipment today, and I'm sure the kids were, too.  The team had made an appointment to go zip-lining, and needed to leave by 1:00.  I'm not sure who I really felt badly for, though, the kids or the team.  The kids will have many more chances to play on the equipment, even though it was hard for them to leave today without doing so.  The team, on the other hand, missed the chance of a lifetime to see these "disabled" kids become amazingly "normal" the minute they get onto the playground.  And, I have to wonder if they ever got to go zip-lining, as, at least here in Antigua it was a downpour all afternoon.

Anyway, we got back to the orphanage, and none of the kids we took were put to bed today.  That was a real surprise and a treat. We did a lot of work at the table, and I'm finding I'm definitely gonna need a bigger table for all of the kids who want to work.  As much as the kids liked the trip to Camperos, I was please that, as soon as we walked through the gate to the children's area, Maynor immediately asked for "mesa" (table).  Now that we were back, he wanted to get down to business.

So while Dick worked on chairs, and I "refereed" tasks, the kids spent an afternoon engaged in activity, and for all the world looked perfectly "normal" to me!