I had seen a lot on this trip but this afternoon’s stop at the orphanage was the most moving stop of all. The orphanage was an all boys orphanage. We went in and met the children while they were at school. The children sang song for us and we took pictures. They loved seeing their pictures on our cameras. They were able to speak some basic english and we were able to ask them their age, their names and to show us their books.
Not all of them were parentless – some of them had parents that couldn’t afford to take care of them for various reasons. We didn’t get all of the stories but we were told some of them will go back to their families at some point.
The tour guides translated a lot of the conversations that was going on and there was something about looking at these kids and they were laughing and talking about their friends and their bunkmates. Here they were with very little earthly possessions and family yet they were typical boys.
Don and Betty were two other passengers on the cruise. They were school teachers and all along noticed that they knew how to interact with the kids. I realized that no matter where you go, kids will be kids! Tom played counting games with them and showed them hand tricks. Their eyes lit up as they played along learning how to count in English.
They had books and back packs decorated with Angry Birds. You don’t see a lot of cell phones, had these kids even played Angry Birds?
I do see a lot of the more economically disadvantaged people smile and laugh more than those that have money.