This weekend has been my first getaway from the orphanage. A family who has a cottage on the beachfront graciously let me use it for free to get some rest and relaxation. But it has been a great time by myself to reflect on the first 4 months of my job.
Two boys who I really have struggled to connect with brought be to the cottage and I felt for the first time that they really respected me. It was a great feeling.
There is this deep love for these kids, that has always been in my heart, but now it beats more than ever and I find myself really unable to go back to life without them. How can I just end this time after a year and not be in their lives?

One of the huge obstacles for the kids, especially the teenagers, is education. They schools they have are TERRIBLE. I have teenagers coming to me, saying please take us out of school! I cannot work there! I want to learn! Home school us if you have to!! The hard part is to see teenagers who really care and work really hard fail their classes, even when we have done as much tutoring as we can.
As you can see, here are a few photos of the local school and some kids in the courtyard.

This is Thathu, the youth pastor, here at our orphanage and he is GREAT! He is such a jokester and connects with the teenagers so much. He has such a great balance between being a "clown" and yet being very serious when needed. The kids have matured so much from him. It been a pleasure to work with him.

Now a days the kids are so burdened by the brokenness of their surrounding community that I am helping them organize some community outreach projects. That is AWESOME!!!!