why yesterday was long and tomorrow will be hard...

Both Bri and Julius have been sick since at least Saturday (Julius a little before that). Sarah and I (and basically the whole group) encouraged them to go to the hospital and just make sure it wasn't anything serious. So yesterday morning, the 4 of us (Sarah, Julius, Bri and I) all went to a Nairobi hospital. For some odd reason, they had to go to the casualty section which I couldn't understand why someone would go there if they were alive...doesn't casualty mean dead? Thankfully, they are both fine (Julius has a sinus infection and Bri only has an upper respiratory infection).

Once we arrived in Huruma, I went to go play with the toddlers. And I don't know what was in the water this weekend with them, but they have been feisty all week long. I was bit twice yesterday, once on the arm and once on the eye. And it did hurt.

After we finished up at the orphanage, we left for Dandora. Dandora is another slum in Nairobi where Julius grew up. We were greeted by the children of another orphanage through song and were able to present 70 children with portraits that were done by artist back in the states. They loved it. We were able to take a walking tour of Dandora and then I saw the most horrific site I've ever seen. Next to the apartment that Julius grew up in is by the far the largest dump I've ever seen in my life. And while my words will do no justice to the sight that I saw (kids playing next to it, people looking for things in it) my heart broke to know that the Kenyan government looks the other way while this continues on.

Once we left, we were stuck in traffic for over 2 hours. We finally got back to the house late last night and had to remind each other that we started off the day at the hospital.

Today wasn't anything out of the ordinary. We had the afternoon off and dinner is shortly. Tomorrow, though, is a different story. Tomorrow is our last day at the orphanage. Tomorrow is the last day I will have Collins tackle me as I walk through the doors, feed Aaron, walk 5 toddlers to school, hold Sheva in my arm and pinch her cheeks. Tomorrow I will walk away from the orphanage knowing that my life has been changed because of these kids. A doctor was in the infant room yesterday and saw all of us holding the babies and he told Jodi that we were doing the best thing for these kids. Even though they are malnourished and need sunlight and warm clothes, by our love, these kids are getting more than they could ever need.

We'll probably sit around tomorrow drinking Tusker and crying over these kids that we love and want to bring back. Thankfully we have an easy evening tomorrow too...I don't think any of us will be ready to jump back into anything quite yet.