Babies!

We spent an afternoon at an orphanage. I have to tell you that this was my first time to do this. I was a bit apprehensive - I usually try to avoid situations where I am surrounded by children! There were about 30 babies and toddlers under the age of four spread out in four rooms, with one or two women per room. I went into the room for the sick kids. Five little ones with high fevers and head colds - I held them and tried to play a little though they weren't very active. I also tried to talk with the woman that was taking care of them. Her English, while light years better than my Nepali, was not good enough for us to cover much ground. I could see that she was very concerned about a couple of the sickest kids; she took their temperatures and showed me - 102 degrees. Our friend Ellen offered to pay for the doctor to come and check on the babies.
















We had collected a huge suitcase full of clothing and cloth diapers to take with us. It was really fun to get the kids into clean outfits. A cultural note - gender specific clothing is not such a big deal in this type of situation. We were surprised more than once when changing a baby to discover that this cute little girl was actually a boy! Pink and blue are not the indicators that we have come to expect. I had kind of forgotten how fun it is to dress up the little girls.









The kids were not really very responsive. With few exceptions, they did not smile much or reach for things. These women are working so hard but it seems that there are too many babies to give each one the interaction that they need early on. Even when they are being silly - this little girl put a toy on her head and ran around to show everyone - they don't smile or laugh much.