A day at the orphanage

The drive to the orphanage is bumpy, dusty and long. I ask Bernardo to follow the neighbor’s car. He is from Benguela and usually doesn’t know the directions outside the city. Even now it was difficult for him to follow. He is obviously not used to the heavy and chaotic traffic in Luanda. Once at the orphanage we get immediately surrounded by many curious children of all ages, boys and girls.

A lady is doing laundry outside in a little courtyard. There are clotheslines out there with kid’s clothes drying in the hot sun. The children seem happy to see my bags with oranges and apples. I softly address them and they cautiously approach me full of curiosity and gently touch my arms. When they see my smile a girl grabs my hand and tells me her name is Nela. I tell her mine and she gives me a tight hug.

Together with my neighbor Lisa, who’s been here before, we proceed to the “emergency room”. Only an examination bed, table and small cupboard fit in this tiny room. There is not much space left as there are many children trying to get inside right now. Some are obviously in pain. Outside is a little boy sitting on the ground. He looks quite sick. It’s Joaquim who came here recently. As his behavior reflects, in his 4 years of age he has already been through the most traumatic experience that one can't even imagine. Right now he is fighting with some older girls who are trying to bring him into the emergency room. He probably has malaria but it’s not up to me to diagnose him. I’d prefer if a doctor would examine him. Also a dentist is highly needed at this orphanage. Crater big cavities, tears in their eyes, the children suffer quietly. Tiny Tete says she can’t sleep during the night because of the pain. Lisa gives her painkiller and I feel bad we can’t help her properly. I understand a doctor and a dentist visit the orphanage but I doubt they come here on a regular basis. One boy has scabies so I put some lotions on his skin which should relieve the itching. But same here. He should be treated by a doctor. Besides I can’t pull his T-shirt up to apply the salve. It’s impossible to get his head through the neck opening. He obviously never takes his T-shirt off and now his clothes got tight as he grew bigger. Many children have infected wounds that need to be cleaned. We do our best to help them but I think their personal hygiene in general should be improved. I need to cut a pill in half so Mia takes me to the kitchen.

There are women sitting on the floor cleaning fish. When I ask for a knife one of the ladies hands me hers covered with fish scales. It needs to be cleaned so they wet a piece of clothe in a huge green barrel. Later we need drinking water for a sick child. The kitchen lady grabs a cup from a pile of dirty dishes and rinses it in the green barrel. I ask for drinking water and again it’s from the same source. It seems the children are also quite thirsty. I hope they get enough water! The climate here is so warm, they are all sweating so they can easily become dehydrated. .

I break my head to think how to help those children in a natural way by using herbs instead of painkillers. I hope to cure the inflammation with garlic and decrease the infection and relieve the tooth ache with cloves. Unfortunately the only herb I can find in the kitchen is aloe vera. The lady cook asks me to follow her to the garden and asks me how to cure her skin allergies to meat and fish. I have no idea and promise to look it up for herI wish I had the skills and knowledge to help them all! Later that day the children are showing us around while playing with our cameras and taking pictures of each other. Mia and Nela would hug me and held on to me as we walked everywhere together. I ask them if they are hungry but they say no. They seem to be happy but they are obviously in need for someone to hold them, put their arm around them and give them the needed attention. And there is Susie, a little girl just 3 years old, she would follow us everywhere smiling all the time similar way like the Elmo’s face on her T-shirt. When I pick her up she snuggles right into my neck and repeats everything I say. So cute!

When it’s time for us to leave there are still children chasing our car, waving goodbye. It’s hard. Back at home my stomach hurts and I feel like I need to throw up. Must be the bumpy road…