BABIES!!!!!!!

This morning we had our first seminar (though everything is pretty informal in terms of "class work"). We each chose a healthcare topic and discussed the challenges it faces in Kenya and why. I chose maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH). After our discussions, we went to the house where Isaiah had a "make your own panini" station!! (That was for you, Dad, and in case you're wondering, we had burritos for dinner tonight).
After lunch we went to the New Life Home Trust (http://www.newlifehometrust.org/about.html) and played with babies for 3 hours. Needless to say, it may have been 3 of the BEST hours of my life. Words seriously can't even begin to explain how incredible it was to be there. Basically, New Life Home is an adoption center that takes in abandoned/unwanted babies, brings them back to good health, socializes them, and (hopefully) sends them off with loving families. Most of the kids were either brought by their mothers, left by them in hospitals after birth, or found abandoned in the slums in dumpsters, on the side of the road, etc. I could've thrown up it made me so upset. They brought us through each of the different rooms; we went to the Nursing Room, the Crawling Room, the Feeding Room, the Potty Room, the Sleeping Rooms, and the outdoor Playroom. The babies were absolutely precious; the first one we saw was actually brought in today by someone who found her abandoned... she was soooooooo tiny (4 pounds) and was in an incubator where they would keep her until she gained enough weight to be considered healthy. Then, she would move in with the rest of the babies. When we went upstairs and walked in on the CUTEST thing ever; about 12 babies in the same room sitting on little potties with 3 nurses potty training them. I almost died it was so adorable. They were all holding hands and scooting around on their potties and singing and laughing and AHHH words won't do it justice. Then we got to go down to the play room and hold the babies and play with them and basically, just love them. The program is designed so that any volunteers are welcome to come in whenever they want to simply hold the babies. They thrive off the human contact and soak up the love. Not only does it improve their health/well being, but they hope that it prepares them for adoption and helps them to make more of a connection with prospective parents. We also discussed the adoption trends; about 1/3 of the babies brought in are girls and 2/3 are boys, but most of the actual adoptees are girls (in Kenya, at least, for international parents, it's usually more boys). This is because in Kenya, girls are seen as a way of bringing in money to the family (through bride wealth) while boys take over the family farms/homes and there is a stigma with regards to bringing in a boy from outside the family who will one day take it over/carry it on. Anyway, after playing with the little little babies inside, we went outside to play with the toddlers and then brought them back in to feed them. I fell in love, just like I did with little Moses the other day haha. They literally had to pry the babies out of my hands...I didn't want to leave them. I want to bring them all home with me. Since it would literally be impossible to describe how much fun it was to play with them, I've posted a lot of pictures. Enjoy:)

The group with our beebeeees

Sweetpea

:):):):)

smiley boyyyy

sweepy babyyy