Day 2.... I must get more creative with my titles...

Hi Everyone,

What a first day. First of all, I’m absolutely exhausted so I may not make any sense whatsoever! Besides feeling like I’m about to fall into a deep sleep, all is well!!

We had orientation today and covered everything from not putting toilet paper in the toilet, safety precautions in the medina (outside shopping area), and more about our work at the orphanage. Here are some interesting tidbits about Lala Maryem Center for Abandoned Children:

• There are 210 kids, which are then broken down into three groups. The first is ages 0-2, the second 2-6, and the third are mentally and physically disabled children ages 6-26.

• If a child (without a disability) turns six and is still not adopted, they move to another orphanage where they can provide them with schooling and care until a boy turns 18 or a girl becomes married.

• If they are disabled they will stay at the orphanage for the rest of their lives, as no one adopts children with special needs here. The average lifespan of a disabled child at the orphanage is only 26 years old…

• Most of these children are not orphans and without parents, but children who were given up due to the woman becoming pregnant out of wedlock, rape, etc. Society is very against single mothers in any form unless they were a result of divorce or have become widowed.

• These children are mostly found by garbage cans, hospitals, mosques, etc. The women try to find a place where the children will be found, but they won’t be caught leaving them, as it is illegal and they will be imprisoned.

Sounds exciting, eh?! It should be quite interesting. I have signed up to work with the children with disabilities next week and from there I will decide if it’s still a good fit. Everyone says it’s very hard yet very rewarding.

After orientation we had lunch and then our first Arabic lesson. My lack of uvula is causing havoc on my Arabic!!!!! (Editor’s Note: For those of you that don’t know, the doctor “accidently” nicked my uvula during my tonsillectomy when I was younger, and decided to take the whole thing out). There’s this one noise that is an “H” sound, but kind of sounds like you’re coughing up a logy. I can’t make the noise to save my life, but I’m working on it.

It’s unlikely all of my blog posts will be as long as the last few. It’s all so new right now, and I want to make sure that I capture everything before I lose it! Below are some photos of today. Have a good Sunday!

Front Entrance of HomeBase

Gray, it is so!!!!!

Laila, working on dinner

For my Microsoft friends... :)

Tea Time

Mohamed pouring tea Moroccan style!

Our Dinner

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