Orphanage building

Each Saturday a group of people from Mercy Ships travel an hour or two to a place in the bush where some ex Mercy Shippers are helping to buiild a school. The school is for children who are at an orphanage on the same site, and eventually they will have a new building to live in too. The two guys who work there are lovely and clearly hae a heart for the kids there. They sleep in a hut in the middle of the compund in mosquito nets, and have a traditional stove to cook on.
I went along with a group of 7 of us (mostly blokes) to go and help continue the building work.
We drove into the area and were quickly surrounded by many of the orphans, after lots of hugs and hi fives I was introduced to one of the guys David who is working there for another few weeks. We had barely got through the hello how are you, names etc before David asked me, 'are you a nurse by any chance?' My heart kind of skipped a beat, and with a nervous smile, yes I am actually. 'What can I do for you...?' I said, let's be honest with fear and trembling, again another leap out of my already stretcched comfort zone. An elated David sent one of the kids off to find Darling Boy, a boy about 6 or 7, he came to me with a raggy hanky wrapped around his leg. We ducked inside the hut and I grabbed the only set of medical supplies they had - a small first aid kit. Peeling off the hanky and plaster underneath I was faced with a cut that appeared to be devloping into an ulcer type wound. Ok, what now...? No running water, no dressings bigger than a plaster...hmmm.

At that moment I guess I felt quite a lot of pressure but at the same time,I was actually quite excited, my brain started ticking and the plan came together. A rinse with bottled water (no running water obviously), betadine and a patch up with non adherent dressing and tape later, I felt at least this was better than a hanky! A few instructions, and things to look out for in case it got worse, and with the promise of trying to send some more dressing supplies I set to work on helping paint.

We needed to undercoat the bare plastered walls, so after much debate about the consistency of the powdered paint, I set to work with one of the locals who was also helping with the project. We chatted and he explained to me that he was going to teach in the shool when it was finished, but right now he was trying to work so that he could go back to school and finish his education too. The more I talk to people the more it seems they take time off from school, to earn money to go back to school, the cycle repeating itself as time goes on. Some people at university will hold down night shift jobs alongside their studies, in fact, many of our translators are in that boat.
I have to say, my painting skills weren't as great as I hoped, the paint being virtually dry before my roller hit the wall, but it helped if only small small.

A little later we had our lunch (that was a difficult experience... the kids were all telling me how hungry they were when I came from out of the hut after my food. Pointing to their tummies and asking for bread. It's pretty heart breaking, but I made up for it by playing lots of games in the next hour or so. Lawrence one of the guys was able to cut up an apple and share it out to each of the kids which they loved. (They do actually get fed well by the people who run the orphanage by the way!!).
'Round and round the garden', 'This little piggy..' were the hit rhymes for the afternoon with lots of giggles and cheeky smiles as we played. Then stupidly I began twizzies, flinging the kids about, and completely exhausting myself but there was much hilarity and laughter and right then that was what counted.

The guys continued doing some other work while I went for a little walk with Shayla. She has been going to the orphanage quite regularly and so has got to know someof the mama's and families around. We had a little walk through a small group of houses. Tin roofs and mud roofs, all the houses focused around the main cooking area. They showed me how some of them made palm nut oil to sell at the markets, an arduos time consuming process. The nuts are 'shelled', mashed, and placed in an enormous pot, boiled and eventually what is separated on top of the water is scooped off, leaving the rich red oil for cooking. Those bottles of oil at the supermarket we don't even think about, here, someone has spent hours preparing.

Amidst the houses there are clothes on the line or placed on rocks drying, kids playing, babies feeding. The place was boiling hot, and the women working so hard round the massive fires. I noticed at that point though, despite everything, how peaceful it was here. In Monrovia, the city is bustling, the car horns never stop, even when I sleep there is the constant hum of the ship engines roaring. Here, it was just serene, quiet, almost eerie how different the feel of the place was.

Not long after that we played our final games and packed up. waving mad good byes to the kids we piled into the land rover.

Another adventure, another peek into a whole different world...