ORPHANAGE VISIT

These two sisters were celebrating a birthday when we entered their classroom .

Have I mentioned I love kids?????

Today we went to an Internat (that is what they call the Orphanages) only this was more of a boarding school. The children were between the ages of 6-16. Most of them still have families of some kind. Some of them come from single parent homes, some from families with many children, and others from homes where parents have addiction problems. I asked if any of them are adopted and the director said, last year one child went to a foster home. She explained that many of the parents still have parental rights they just can't afford to take care of their children. When I asked if they get to see their families she said, "yes they can go home on Sundays if they want." Once again, we peered into the rooms that the children sleep in and there was absolutely nothing personal in the rooms. The picture above is one of about 8 sleeping rooms we saw. I am not going to say anymore about that. Except it is very sad to see. I mean look at these faces. They were so cute. We wandered into this classroom and they were having a birthday party for the twins in braids. I talked to the children in English while Olga translated and asked them if they could tell me their names in English. So one by one they eagerly raised their hands and said,

My name is Natasha

My name is Andre

My name is Julia

My name is Volva

My name is Nastia

Then I asked them to tell me how old they were and we went around the room again. They were so eager to stand a recite

I am six years old

and

I am seven years old

some of them would laugh or giggle afterward they spoke.

They loved it when we took a group picture and they could see themselves in the camera.

I had so much fun as usual I found myself wanting to ask, "can I come back and play tomorrow?"