Back from Africa

We got back from Sierra Leone on November 21st, but our flights were delayed from London and we missed our flight from Chicago to OKC so we had to spend the night in Chicago, fly in to Tulsa the next day and rent a car to OKC (but it was definitely worth it). This was my (Kevin) 2nd time to visit and it was Andrea's 3rd time. The first trip I took to the Wellington Orphanage was unforgetable, but it seemed very short and as soon as I started getting to know some of the kids it was already time to leave. This trip was much different. From the night we pulled into the orphanage, more of the kids knew my name than I knew theirs and I had been studying their names for weeks because I didn't learn very many on the 1st trip. We drove up to the orphanage late the 1st night we arrived and were told that all of the children were in bed so we were sad we wouldn't see them that night. However, as we got closer to the orphanage we noticed the children had lined both sides of the path and were jumping and cheering and high-fiving us through the car windows just as if their favorite team had won the national championship. When we got out of the car, they just swarmed around us and hugged us and grabbed all of our luggage.
Our team included a Physician Assistant who did an amazing job and many others with medical experience. We were able to do 5 separate medical clinics in different areas of the country while we were there and treated over 800 people. Most of the clinics were done in very rural villages, amputee villages, and polio camps. These people have no band-aids, tylenol, vitamins or anything to treat their medical problems. People were treated for everything from head aches to severe wounds, and 10-15 people were sent to the hospital for surgery. I got a little sick the week I came back and had more appreciation for doctors' visits, insurance, and medication than I ever have before. Sometimes I catch myself complaining about the system in the U.S. but at least we have access to treatment unlike most of the world's population.
Aside from the medical clinics we were able to spend a lot of time with the kids, which is my favorite part of the trip. I think on my first trip I was so impressed by how happy, joyful, disciplined, etc. the kids were that at times I would actually forget the war they suffered through which took their parents lives and put them in the situation they are in today. The orphanage they live in is great and and they are very blessed to have the staff who lives there and the 4-Him organization supporting them, but I still have to remember many of these kids watched there parents die which would have a tremendous effect on any child. The kids are obviously still dealing with the past and what they experienced, but the joy that I see in each of them when they smile or close their eyes and just sing to God is proof that God still performs miracles and changes hearts and lives. These children are living proof of that.
Andrea and I were also able to spend a lot of time with the girl (Bintu) that was living in very poor conditions when we met her in March 2008, but was moved to the orphanage a couple weeks after our trip. I wasn't even sure if she would remember us because of the situation she was in when we met her the first time, but she knew both of our names and somehow knows that we were able to be a part of her being moved to the orphanage. She has a completely different attitude and outlook on life than when we met her in March. She sat down with me one night and went through her Bible showing me all of her favorite verses. She was reading Matthew 4 where Jesus was being tempted by Satan to turn the stone into bread and I asked her how Jesus responded. She looked at me and quoted word for word, "man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God". I was shocked that she would already know this much about the Bible in such a short time. It was also very exciting just to watch her interact with her 84 brothers and sisters at the orphanage.
Lastly for now, my birthday actually occured while we were in Africa. The kids gradually started hearing this, so for 2 days they would remind me my birthday was coming. On my birthday, Andrea and 2 of the girls brought me a card, a painting, and some birthday balloons. Later that night, a couple people on our team bought cheese balls for all the kids to celebrate my birthday. One of the older boys has learned to play the guitar so he led the kids in singing Happy Birthday to me. Then one of the girls had written a short speach from the children to me and she presented that. I also received birthday cards and pictures from many of the kids.
I think I came home from my first trip very excited, but also missing the kids and wondering if I would ever get to return and see them again. This time I feel like it is not as much missing all of the kids (which I do), but it is realizing more about their needs and what resources would be most beneficial to them and trying to determine what I can do to help support them.