October 3

So the other day, we had unexpected visitors. The ladies at the Infa were talking to us during lunch and telling us that there were Americans coming today. I was super excited because when we’re at the Infa, no one speaks English. I can’t explain how refreshing it is to actually understand what someone is trying to say to you. They were here to check out the Infa and see if there were small projects they could send a church down to help with. They took pictures and they asked us to take individual pictures of the kids that go to school so they could try and find people to sponsor them. It really excited me because these kids definitely need it. They seemed honestly concerned and I really hope that they send help to build on to the Infa so more kids who need help can stay there. They also left us a first aid which we definitely needed. Later that day, we had to make the kids brush their teeth and I noticed that there was one boy who was still in the bathroom. I asked him what he was doing and then I saw him spit up blood. It’s normal to see some of the kids spit up blood because the ones that don’t come every day don’t have toothbrushes or toothpaste at home. But Kevin kept spitting up blood. It wasn’t just because he hadn’t brushed in a while… it was because a tooth was gone. Well, I can’t say it was completely gone. It was so rotten that most of it had just come off. I saw some of the tooth still in the gum, but the rest was gone. I had no idea what to do. He looked like he was in a looot of pain. I don’t know anything about teeth or anything about anything and so I went into the first aid and I grabbed the gauze and some pain killers. Kevin is a boy that is usually smiling and extremely hyper (he likes to jump on my back when I least expect it), but he just sat in a corner looking down. It broke my heart. I made him take the medicine and had him bite down on the gauze. I really wish I could do more to help these kids.

There were also three other unexpected people who came the Infa that day… but these were kids. There were three siblings named Lourdes, Noe, and Angel. Nelson visited today and he said that their mother had left them and their father doesn’t know what to do because he goes to work and can’t take care of the kids. They don’t go to school… I’ve been trying to find out why, but I can’t figure it out. These kids were super shy at first. The eldest, Lourdes, didn’t talk very much, but now she jumps on me whenever she sees me… which gets very tiring after a while because it’s contagious. As soon as one person thinks, “wow, that looks like fun!” then there’s no end to the jumping. I kept feeling like I was going to fall over. Anyways, I’m glad that these kids warmed up to us fast. The kids looked like they hadn’t showered in a very long time. Two days later Tarynn and I noticed that they were wearing the same dirty clothes everyday. We took them to the back and we hand washed their clothes. Thankfully there was a person before us who bought a bag of soap. It’s not what I’m used to at home (a nice big bottle of good smelling goodness that you put into a convenient machine). It’s just a stick of soap that we have to scrub onto the clothes. Some of the other kids saw that we were washing their clothes and so they gave us theirs too. One of the boys had mold all over his shirt and his brother’s shirt smelled soooo bad that he doesn’t wear it. I rarely see this boy wearing a shirt… and I wouldn’t blame him. If I were a boy and my shirt smelled like something died, I wouldn’t wear it either. I haven’t smelled clean clothes in a long time. Don’t worry folks… I do clean my clothes. It’s just that nothing feels or smells completely clean to me. It’s okay though. I keep reminding myself that no one notices because everyone else smells just as lovely as I do!