Friday, January 9, 2009 day 49

amanda and gift

When I went to bed tonight in my toddler bunk bed on my toddler mattress... I looked at the five other sweet people in my room. Five people from different countries and languages and walks of life who have given up their time, and their money, not to just travel with and spend on themselves, but to volunteer.

To give, to be patient, to be uncomfortable, to grow, to learn, to experience, and to enrich their lives. They are writing their own legacies to share with others. There isnt one luxury to this part of volunteering and here we are, serving others.

It made me feel warm inside and I smiled knowing that we were in this together on toddler bunks, united in a purpose to try to do good in the world, asking nothing in return.

The day was long again and 30 out of 40 kids have diarrhea. This is hard, and character building, and absolutely exhausting. We all sleep whenever we have time off just to give our bodies rest so that they can fight off all this sickness while we are awake.

If this orphanage was absent of volunteers, the children would still be fed and bathed, but that is about it. We spoon feed them, we hold the babies and move their stiff arms and legs, we make them smile, we hold up the toddlers and help them build up muscle in their little legs, we hold their little hands and try to teach them to walk, we hug them when they cry, we comfort them when they are tired of being sick, we tickle them to make them laugh and for one second forget about how hard their little lives are.

Thank God for volunteers.
-amy