I think I may have found my new
favorite place in the world! Every Saturday a group from Mercy Ships goes to
an orphanage. We actually switch off between two different orphanages so we go
to each every other Saturday. The list to sign up to go on these outings fills
up so fast, and I just can’t say enough how wonderful it is to work and live among
a group of people who just want to continue serving on their days off! Where else
would the sign up list fill up as fast as getting tickets to a Bieber
concert?!? Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but not much! That list
fills up within an hour…and then people just keep writing names at the bottom
of the page to create a waiting list! This week my name was on the waiting list
(because I clearly didn’t get there within the first hour of when the list went
up) until last night when I got a coveted slot through the Mercy Ships black
market…don’t ask, I’d have to kill you! Just kidding! ;0)
This morning we all piled into the
two Mercy Ships vehicles and bumped along the back roads trying to avoid the
Conakry traffic for about an hour before reaching our destination. When we
arrived we could hear the kids singing before they even opened the gates. As we
stepped into the compound, little arms were flung around our waists and little
legs crawled up us so as to snuggle into our arms. We all got introduced as “Tante”
or “Tonton” plus our name (which means Auntie or Uncle plus our name) and for
those of us who have been before, the kids are incredible at remembering our
names! Usually the team from Mercy Ships shares a Bible story with the kids, we
sing and dance together, and we make a craft and play games.
But wait…it gets
even better! Before the story starts, they ask my favorite question:
Who would like to go upstairs to
the babies?”
My hand shoots up! We walk up the stairs where there are two
rooms. Turn left and you’ll find the room with the babies who are 3-12 months.
Turn right and you’ll find the babies who are 0-3 months. I turn right and walk
into a room of around fifteen tiny wooden beds (quite reminiscent of the dwarves
beds all lined up in a row in the cottage in Snow White). In each bed is a tiny
Guinean infant, sleeping on his/her tummy with his/her little rear up in the
air! There are five sets of twins (all the twins are dressed to match each
other)! We’re told that most of these babies had Mothers who died in childbirth
and whose Dads couldn’t take care of them yet. They stay at the orphanage until
they are around one year old and then they go home with their fathers or
extended family.
The aunties who work with the babies are so sweet and kind,
but I’m sure they’re so tired as well! They have fifteen infants ages 0-3 months!
It’s so impressive to watch them complete the continuous rounds of getting
everyone fed, changed, and getting everyone to sleep before repeating it all
again! Today I got to hold a set of twin girls in little lacy, white dresses
who were two months old. We chatted together about what it’s like to be a twin
and about how they need to look out for each other and how much God loves each
of them. When they started getting fussy I sang to them. “Oh Come Oh Come
Emmanuel” is what my Dad sang to me when I was scared at night, so that’s what
I sang to these darling girls too. They fell asleep, one on each of my
shoulders, facing each other, hands touching. It doesn’t get a whole lot better
than that for me! That’s my idea of Heaven…a baby on each shoulder, humming
them both to sleep. And there we sat. I placed them back in their crib after a
while when I heard a new friend getting fussy and wanting to be picked up.
It’s a continuous dance of picking
up whoever is feeling fussy, laying them back down, listening for whoever else
needs to be calmed, feeding multiple babies at a time, keeping track of who has
eaten and who hasn’t, who has been changed and who hasn’t, and these aunties do
it all so calmly and with such patience and joy, giving such attention and love
to each little one who passes through her arms or her lap. What sweetness to
get to sit there all morning and into the afternoon and just be a part of it.
