A trip to the park

I started going to the local orphanage (run by a fellow missionary) about a month ago. I am working with the girls between the ages of 6 and 11. I am teaching them how to do hand puppets. A friend of mine is donating 5 puppets, I should have them in the next couple weeks. When I have good pictures of that, I will post again and give more details.

On Saturday, I took these girls, 11 in all, (I had help, don't worry) to the park. We had a good time. They all have different stories about how and why they came to the orphanage. Some of them are not soo easy to love and others are as sweet as sweet can be. After some time in the park, we went for ice cream.

The orphanage is run by a missionary who started when she lived in Quito. She took in 2 foster children with disabilities, she moved herself and these 2 children, after some time, to Shell and opened up her home to other children that needed her as well. She now has 47 children, some with disabilities, some without. She has about 30 Ecuadorian women workers. She has another missionary couple working with her to build a new orphanage with houses and common areas. The description of the new place reminded me of church camp with cabins, recreation areas, eating area, self contained. It is going to be awesome. Before this orphanage existed, disabled children were just left to die, sometimes their families would feed them but they would get no other stimulation, sometimes they would literally be thrown in the river, or left somewhere for someone else to find. Now there is a place in Shell for these handicapped children to live and receive the care and stimulation they need.