Plaster House Pictures

It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission, so I'm posting the pictures of these kids :) I've been back to the Plaster House yesterday (Tues) and today (Wed), and it's been both both refreshing and exhausting all at the same time. It's funny...I was telling Alesha today that my standard for cleanliness has dramatically changed since I've been here. But when you see these kids, no matter how dirty and smelly they are, no matter that they're bandages are falling off and wounds oozing, it's impossible not to let your guard down and let them crawl all over you. The little ones also don't wear diapers. There's one in particular (Baraka) who is notorious for peeing on anyone who holds him, but thankfully, he hasn't used the bathroom on me yet. I've been trying to learn more Swahili so that I can say a few things. I've learned how to greet, ask their names and a few other questions, and how to say random colors/numbers/animals. Many of the kids actually don't even know Swahili and just speak their tribal language (many are Masai children), so that makes communication even more difficult. Thankfully though, you can smile, hug, hold, and laugh and it is the same no matter where you come from or what you speak.

(Side note: I'll get Nate to post some pictures if he was able to take some today of the surgeries he's been doing - some on his own - on these kids. He took the camera today, so we'll see what he's got.)

Both of these children are usually sitting by themselves. The one in the foreground (a girl I believe) has difficulty walking. The boy in the back (Tumaini) is so sweet and timid...more about him later.

This child is post-surgery believe it or not. I tried to figure out what he had before, but the best I could understand is that he had a protrusion from his head. He is very clingy and gets very jealous when I pay other kids attention, but I think he has had to learn to "fight" to get things.

These are two of the older girls. The one in the foreground is "Helena" and is very sweet. Both of these girls are some of the ones who colored their nails pink with a marker when they saw my nails. They are so beautiful!

Helena again...Here, she's holding Malachi, the 11 month old son of our friend Janelle. Janelle is taking me to and from the Plaster House with her. The kids call her "Mama Ma-lack-key" b/c they can't say Malachi. It's so funny. As much as the Tanzanians love to see white adults, they love even more to see a white baby!

Tumaini - This kid is so special. He's almost always sitting by himself, not doing anything. There are times when he is sitting very still with his eyes closed. I think he sometimes is sleeping while sitting straight up or maybe he's just trying to shut out the world...not sure. I've only seen him get up once when he needed to go to the bathroom. When I go and sit by him, he's usually very timid at first. I hadn't seen him smile until I took a picture of him and then showed it to him. I tried saying a few things in Swahili to him. Eventually he told me his name (so quietly...I had to get another kid to help me understand). Tumaini means "hope" in Swahili. Today, we colored a little together and he finally greeted me back!

The boy on the left also gets very jealous if I let someone else sit on my lap. He was not around today, so I'm guessing he went to have surgery. There's Tumaini again next to me...that's about the biggest smile I've seen on him.

These are some of the older boys. The one on the right is Jonasi, the one in the middle is Nicolasi (?), and the one on the left if Lazaro. Lazaro holds a special place in my heart. He has some kind of skeletal deformity and is probably much older than his height portrays. He seems very smart and is probably the kid that talks to me the most. He knows a tiny bit of English. He calls me "Ray-boo-kah" (with a rolled "r"). I love it. He helps me learn people's names.