Day 15 (part 1): Shepherd's Field Children's Village

Our visit to Shepherd's Field went very well.  H. was calm and happy to be there and showed no anxiety or confusion.  It was exactly the kind of visit I had hoped for her.  After breakfast we gathered the donations we had brought and took them over to Pam Baker's office.  We were able to meet Pam and also the head ayi.

H. was very eager to head to the house that she lived in so that's where we went next.  Here she is with one of 'her' babies.

Then it was off to the classrooms to see her teacher and friends.  We had bought candy for H. to pass out.  We went to her former class first.

And then we went to the younger class.

H. particularly wanted a picture with her and her friend, Eric.

We seemed to create a lot of chaos when we were in the classrooms and I wondered if order was going to be restored.  Evidently it wasn't restored easily since a little later we saw the older class outside playing.

After H. played with her friends a bit, she wanted to visit the other houses.  We pretty much let H. take the lead and she visited each house and went to talk to each of the ayis and some of the children.

And A. and I got to hold babies!  This is Liam.  He is 10 months old and a little peanut due to needing heart surgery.  They are just waiting for a bed to open up at the hospital for him.  He is a cutie and I would have happily brought him home with me.  I tried to get a picture of his cute smile, but missed it each time.

This is Vincent whom A. took a shine to.  He is almost two and quite delayed.  He also has some sort of skin condition (allergy?) which is why his cheeks are so red.  This is a little boy who desperately needs the love of a family.  He is a little more delayed than K. was, but in some ways reminds me mightily of him.  Some babies just need the all-consuming love of a mother to flourish and I think this little guy is one of them.  You may be seeing more advocating for Vincent on my blog.  (He's on the shared list.)  Some will be self-defense.  A. has already started her campaign.

Amity was the other baby in the room.  She just had emergency heart surgery and is a cutie.  It doesn't come through very well in the picture but she has the most amazing hair.  It's red and stands straight up.

While A. and I were holding babies, J. took TM out to play on the playground.  Any orphanage-type environment makes TM nervous and being able to jump it off on the trampoline was a good thing for him.  A., H. and I joined them and A. jumped, too.

H. was content with something a little less energetic.

We had a great time and wished we could have spent longer.  But right after lunch it was time to leave for the airport.  It was time to come home.