Work Day—Pictures.
- planting grass and burning rubbish
- slashing grass at compound
- Mark cleaning a boy’s toilet
- a cleaned toilet
We had a full day of work at the orphanage. The entire compound was first cleaned of the trash. Afterwards, the older boys slashed the grass, hoed the weeds, and burned the rubbish. We transplanted some grass in large areas of dirt. Hopefully, it will live until we get rain.
The younger boys, girls and I SPOTLESSLY cleaned the toilets( pit latrines) and the bath rooms. Cisterns are empty, so they had to haul water.
Bath rooms are simply a small concrete space with walls and a drain, no roof. Children bathe out of their basins. Twigs and leaves can block up the drain causing the water to pack up and smell if it stands too long. The bathroom floors were scrubbed cleaned with a cleaner like Comet. The children were so proud of their work and they received an abundance of hugs and lots of praise. We even hung a solid deodorizer in each of the four toilets. I AM provided all of the hoes, slashers, brushes and all cleaning supplies. Older boys pitched in well with the more difficult work.
January, who is in charge of all the gardens told me tonight that I was a good worker. He said, “You work like an African man.” Maybe they don’t see many Americans cleaning their pit latrines! I must confess I used my Playtex yellow rubber gloves. I had gone in to tackle it on my own ( I won’t describe what a messy job this can be)but immediately several of the kids came to see what I was doing and quickly took over. Must have been the gloves—they all wore them at one time or another during the cleaning. I left there at 5:45 and we were all proud of the accomplishments of the day.
These children have been living unsupervised since I arrived in January, but a matron has been hired and is supposed to start on Monday. Please pray that she will be caring and compassionate, but also a watchful disciplinarian and teacher. These children can learn to be responsible with guidance, teaching, supervision, and LOVE!
Great efforts; you got everyone involved, so they can feel proud and invested in keeping things nice. What a sparkle you all put on that toilet! And I thought it was nice that you provided a treat and turned the whole effort into a celebration!