The Orphanage

Next time you have to take a trip to visit a friend, perhaps just 40 miles away from you, be thankful for the roads on which you travel! I never used to think how lucky I was that I could hop on the freeway and choose between four lanes in which to drive. I would usually just complain that there was traffic! That is, until I went to visit an orphanage just 40 miles from us. We load into army trucks with benches along the edges -this one even has a back so you don’t fall out- and off we go. Luckily, a veteran told me to grab a pillow to sit on. (In fact, the girl who told me this is Emily. She has been coming here for years. She heard about my sad flip flop story and how I didn’t bring long comfy pants for night time-and she just gave me her stuff! She is the one who I mentioned earlier that wanted to go to the brothels and made goody bags for them)It’s a bone jarring, butt bumping, sun scorching ride for a solid three hours. And the reason they use these types of trucks is because the roads are terrible-they have gapping holes the size of cars, puddles, rocks and rivers we have to cross regularly. In fact, during some times of the year, you cannot go out west because the rivers are too high to drive through. But, it sure is beautiful out in the country. A lot of it looked like home. Fallbrook even! Rolling green hills mixed with trees, some dry sections too. The population is more sparse out there, since water is very hard to come by. We arrived covered in dust, but so excited to play with the kids. There are about 120 orphans there, ranging in ages from just potty trained to about 15.  Right away I found a friend, Jonathon. He is 8yrs old. We were buddies and hung out all afternoon together. It’s fun to see how many games and things you can do with someone when you don’t speak the same language. We only had a few hours there before we had to pack up and make the trek home before it was dark. It was sad to leave those beautiful smiling faces.