We started the process of orphan searching today; Esther's House currently has enough space to house 100 orphans but right now 2 twin boys, Issac and Precious, are the only ones residing there. There's an incredible number of hoops that have to be jumped through in order to legally obtain orphans, but we're praying that by Saturday we'll be able to bring 2 more into the residential program!

Today we went to the village of Khuzi; because it was a fairly large village it had 5 village heads, and getting them all together took quite a bit of time. While we were waiting the entire village crowded around us and just watched us. For many of the kids it was their first time seeing an "azungu" !

There was a nearby hut where the men were playing a game called "bao," so Ruthann, Cindy, and I watched and tried to figure out the rules of the game (still not sure what they are!), and Ruthann even tried to play a little.

Once the village heads arrived Bruce, one of the house parents at Esther's House and a translator, explained to the village heads why we were there and what Esther's House is. They then took us to the houses that had orphans; Bruce and Cindy then interviewed the families.

This little girl is a 5-year-old double orphan (a child who has lost both parents) who lives with her ago-go (grandma). Her name is Mphatso, which means "Gift."

As Bruce was explaining the orphan program to her grandma, Mphatso became very worried. I can only imagine how scary it must be for her to realize that she'll be leaving her home and her grandma and starting a new life alone in a foreign place. Bruce said that when Issac and Precious first entered the residential program they were very scared for the first few days, but they became much more comfortable after getting to know the house parents and making friends with the non-residential orphans.

Hopefully in the next few days we'll be able to bring Mphatso to Esther's House!

♥ S