Kourtni: 27 June 2011

This morning when we got up I knew it would be a busy but a little sad day since all the big kids are going back to their school. I had a couple of activities I wanted to do with all the kids but knew that they had to do their chores first so I tried to brib them with a surprise to do their jobs quickly- totally a selfish reason but I wanted to do stuff with them and play with them before they had to go. While the older kids were busy I played with Simon, Volume, Little Rat, Jump, Dee-Dee and Drama ( although the last two were supposed to be cleaning as well).

Finally the oldest kids were done so I had Mr. GQ, Doc, Secret, Tech, BB, The quiet one, Lips, Braids, Baby, Dancer and Tude come up to our flat and make the paper braclets that I brought, it was actually kind of challenging but still fun. BB and Doc were the only two that actually finished theirs. Baby Giggles was up here as well and I was playing with him and got him to smile and giggle, it was the cutest thing! I tell myself it was the first time he has ever laughed even tho I don't really know if it was :). Then Rock, Mana, Futbol, and Obama came in and we did puzzles and played with the ball. I then got called away to help AP with somethings- there is always drama of one kind or another.

Then we got Hands, Hips, Rock, Mana, The Thinker, Mr. Leech, Futbol, Obama, Froggy, Queen, Dee-Dee, Chicken, Baby, Butterfly, Abraham and Clown to come put these little pill things into water they grow to like 100 times their size, they thought it was the coolest, most fun thing to watch. Then it was lunch time and time for the older kids to get ready to go. I am not happy about seeing them leave I really enjoyed having all the kids with us, it's how it is supposed to be! As we were loading them up Baby and Butterfly started crying and got really upset, they finally told S that they were getting abused at school and that they didn't want to go back- it was so sad and upsetting so we made the executive desicion and the girls will not be going back until we know for sure what is going on. ( Baby and Butterfly are sisters who are both mentally disabled so it is hard to believe that they could be making up these stories- so heart breaking! Finally we said our good byes to Doc, The Quiet One, Teach and BB ( I'll tell the story of Secret in a moment). We waved our goodbyes as they drove away - so sad!!

Then I was playing with Simon, Baby Girl, Butterfly, Queen, Dee-Dee and Drama when F and Lips came over, we were all talking about hair among other things and the next thing I know F and Lips are braiding my hair, they made me into an "African Women" it was cute cuz they braided my hair then pulled them all back like they do to their hair here.

I then took two of the workers down the wells to fill two drums up with water of course as they were working to put the drums of water back into the truck I was playing with the well- dropping the bucket in and filling it up with water- dropping a rock to see if I could hear it drop. I think it would be so cool to go into a well and have someone pull me up but I am not willing to go down until I know for sure I could get back up.

I then came back up here and played with the kids Froggy, Chicken, Little Rat, Baby Girl, Simon and Jump built a playhouse by tying blankets around their playground- it was cute to see them playing house. I then took pictures and of course when the camera comes out the kids come out so all the other kids came over and were doing things that they wanted me to take pictures and videos of.

As I was walking away Futbol came up to me and said that Mr. GQ wasn't here I asked him where he went and he wasn't sure so I asked Tude if she knew and of course she did. SO I made her get in and the car and go with me to get him ( luckily he was really close to MCH walking back) I have no clue what time he left or how long he had been gone for. I told him that we would talk to Scar when Scar got back but I thought about it and Scar hasn't punished Tude and it's been almost a week since her incident so I decided I would take charge and displine them both tonight. A big bucket of laundry still needed to be ironed so I seperated it out between the two them, talked to them and told them both why they were being punished, told them I still love them and put them to work.

While they were doing that Mana came up to me with a big cut on his toe so I had to be nurse and take care of it. We then had a couple of visitors come and play and do puzzles with us, more kids kept on coming it was so much fun! We had almost every child up here, we had 3 puzzles going, they were playing with magnets on the medicine cabniet, they were fascinated with putting an earring in my ear and of course taking pictures with Timon's camera. Then it was dinner time so we all went down for rice and beans- YUMMY!

As they were doing devotional I came up here to try to clean a little and take care of a couple of the days issues. Scar and Zazu got back so we discussed their day what happened and our day and what happened. Then it was time to wind down and time for bed! I feel like I am forgetting everything that has happened today but I am so tired I cannot keep writing, if I think of anything I will add it on tomorrow. Goodnight! I would still love to have my dream of fostering a house of teens but man am I seeing they require a whole new set of love, patience and disicpline!

Ok so here is Secret's story: We got rumor that her little sister got married, she was really upset cuz her sister is only 13 and the legal age to get married here is 14 so of course AP freaked out and sent Scar, Zazu and Secret to find out what is going on and possibly get the cops involved, bring the girl here, that sort of thing. Turns out things are fine the girl is not married yet- the mom asked him to wait cuz she wants her daughter to finish 7th grade first. While they were out doing this AP heard from one of the kids that Secret's uncle is coming to visit her at school- we don't know what uncle or if this is even an uncle so I had to talk to Secret tonight when she got back tonight. She said it is her dad's brother a "good" uncle ( one of them raped her that is why she is at MCH) and that he just comes to visit and bring food and stuff. We are still investigating that to make sure it is not a boyfriend or something.

Tude and Mr GQ doing thier "punishment"