Orphanage Visit

About two weeks ago the high school had a special day where each grade went to a different service project for the day. Different grades chose different locations to serve, such as a local elementary school, a home for disabled adults, or two different orphanages. I went with the seniors to the orphanage here in Tianjin. Most of the babies that are brought to the orphanage have disabilities such as cleft lip and palate. Their parents do not have the financial means to take care of children with disabilities since medical costs are quite expensive to most families here and insurance is rare. The children are taken care of and there is a school at the orphanage.

It was quite a moving time. I had been to the orphanage before, but I had worked with the babies. These children had personalities, some were shy, some were outgoing. They laughed, we read books together, we played and they laughed some more. We took a few to a pizza place and they thoroughly enjoyed eating ketchup (and they ate a LOT of ketchup off of their plates) but weren't too sure about the pizza (I think the cheese was a little strange for them). Our students did really well with them and it was a good day. I still think about those kids a lot - beautiful children.... Here's a few pictures.