The title of my blog post kind of says it all. I want to describe to you how exciting and funny the first part of my day was and how sad and hard the end of my was. So here it goes!!
Day 7 started off with some de-lousing and greetings from all of the children. The children like I said have so much lice in their heads, but their hugs are the best so it is kind of hard to resist. We then moved on and headed to the other side of the orphanage. This is where the pig pen that we helped build, the garden that we planted, and now the new clothes lines for all the children are located. There it is, clothes line for the orphanage was the project of the day. I know that some of you might say that putting in a clothes line isn't really that hard and doesn't take much labor. Just rope, two poles at the end, land, and some clothes. Hypothetically yes, but here in Cambodia it is so much more intense and I love every second of it!!!!
Lisa-Marie and I spotted out the area in which we wanted to build and then gave the gave plan to the rest of the group. We couldn't just grab the poles and rope and put it into the ground. Our group had to mow the lawn. Mowing the lawn in Cambodia means using a machete. Yes a machete. Another one of those things that I really did not have on my bucket list but today I put it on the bucket list and crossed it off. Ha!
My group really worked hard throughout this long, hot day! We were surrounded by many interesting insects who all seemed to love our sweet skin. Boots would have come in handy considering all of the bites we have on our bodies. I am very happy to tell you though that despite all of the bites and sweat that we all encountered, we finished the clothes line area. There is very little grass around the area now, and we created four nice clothes lines for the orphanage. The best news out of it all is the children are using it instead of hanging their clothes on the broken fence! This might not sound like much of an accomplishment but this is huge. The area that we cleaned like I said before was all grass and weeds covered with many unknown insects. They treated it poorly by throwing their trash and other belonging that had no value to them there. We cleaned the spot entirely of trash and made sure that we cut all of the grass so that it was just dirt. The reasoning behind this is that the children will walk on the dirt realizing that they have a distinctive area to put all of their clothes to dry and continue doing so. This has already been put into use and the before and after pictures are great and everything that we wished for!
Later in the day, Lisa-Marie wanted to take myself and her friend Johnny to the slums again. For those of you who have not heard Johnny is a long time friend of LM's and is a doctor from Florida. The three of us traveled to the slums for two specific reasons. One to give the rest of the donated school supplies to the library and school that the children we are working with attend. Two, to talk to Yoma's and Lili's mother who is HIV positive. Visiting the school is always exciting. Only a few days ago we gave the orphanage a small amount of supplies. All of them are now in use. So coming back to give them more and feeling so appreciated by the teachers and students is a great feeling. It always makes me think how lucky I am to be able to go to school and receive and education with the neccessary resources to succeed. That was awesome!
And then we take about five steps and we are at Yoma and LiLi's mothers house. Yoma had walked with us to the slums holding my hand and laughing the entire way, making me feel as though he had my back even though he is tiny. Ha! As I walked into the home, a huge wave of emotions seemed to take over my body. I think this was because Johnny, Lisa-Marie, and I were there to ask the mother something very important yet at the same time, her children are two of a few children who I have become close with over the past couple weeks. We were there to ask her about the medication she is taking for her HIV. (We did have an incredible translator with us. Her name is Sod Ti. Thanks!!) The medication that she should be taking helps to surpress the symptoms, control the growth, and help help help to not give it to her children. She is taking the medicine, and both of her children that I know have been tested and are negative. Huge deep breath! We went deeper into her story and about the HIV and the other things that go along with it. It took me everything to not breakdown and cry. I mean everything. Having Yoma right next to me and looking down at his face, his hands especially, everything is identical to his mom. Ugh! Such an amazing boy with so much happy around him at the orphanage that seeing this just kills me. I got through the end of my day fighting every emotion. I am grateful and appreciative of my mom and her support and my dad for taking care of his girls the way he should! I love you both so very very much! Thank you thank you!
More later! Love!
Anna
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