Restoration of the soul...

Something about a couple of kids on your lap after their dinner, snuggled in tight, as you read to them that fills and repairs the spirit.

I went to SOS last night and it began with the marimba band practice, still fantastic. They are amazing, have innate rhythm, and play faster than my tired eyes could follow. We were oriented by the head the orphanage, Bikia, a man in his thirties. There are 24 “homes” staffed by “aunties” and housing 8-12 kids. The adolescents live autonomously within a budget and learn to purchase food and necessities, cook, and clean their home. Their home is a happy mess but they are well fed and fantastically well socialized. Other younger kids live two or more to a room and are cared for by the auntie. The campus is home to kids who are orphaned from HIV, destitution, or abandonment. Once there, they are rarely adopted out and frankly that’s a good thing. The extended “family” they have and the life skills they are taught are extraordinary.

So I was sitting down with a child on each side and one on my lap reading nursery rhymes, something we rarely read to our own kids as they are dated and not a little racist and sexist. The kids lapped it up. I have cut my hair very short so the boy on my lap sucked his thumb and wuzzed my hair because he liked the texture. It was a dead heat as to who would fall asleep first. The other boys felt the hair on my arms as I have become rather hairy now that I’m not in the pool.

We read then wrestled then read some more. Then time to go home with hugs all around and “when are you coming back?” Each week for sure. This is where the Penn students should spend more time. I was introduced to there by Caitlin, a student headed for family medicine and I think they’d all love it. I know the kids would.