Natalia

When you look up at the sky at night here, the stars are glitter that is sprinkled on the blue-gray canopy of night, some brighter than others. Constellations are so easy to point out.

This is my second stay with the Dominican Sisters in Zambia. My experience so far has been one filled with familiarity, exhaustion, joy, learning, and love.

Due to our busy schedule and also our repeated technological difficulties, we have not been able to blog as much as we would like to. However, we are very eager to share our stories and will continue to try our best to relay them to you.

On Sunday, we went to St. Anthony's Orphanage for the first time this year. We were all anxious with anticipation; mine stemming from the thought of seeing many of the beautiful children that I had connected with last year. There is faith, she is this beautiful little girl with a radiating and bright smile. She stays in the house with the disabled children, although she has no mental developmental problems. She was born with one leg that stops at the thigh and a foot attached to it that has little bone structure, mostly tissue. So, her green and black-checkered dress extends past the limbs of her body. Michael is four years old. One of the workers there told us that he has "soft bones," which is evident because both of his legs and one of his arms are slightly twisted. He usually waves with with his twisted arm; it's the most amazing thing. He lifts his arm up really high bending his wrist at a slanted 45 degree angle. With completely separated fingers, he waves it forward and backward instead of side-to-side. All the while sporting his signature grin that makes everyone melt with joy.

I could write on and on about each and every kid there; they're all so charming in their own ways. Getting to know them is difficult, knowing the kind of life they live. The lack of nurture in their daily routines, the fact that they have to be so independent and self-reliant at such a young age is heartbreaking. This is something that I greatly struggled with the last time I was here, and I continue to struggle with it. However, this year, I've begun to focus on straying away from pity and pain. These children would be dead or on the streets without this place. These children are human beings, just like you and I. They were born into a difficult life, but they experience happiness in the same capacity that I do. We long to take every single one of them home, but our longing doesn't help them. Our hugs, our smiles, and our companionship is what helps them. It's extremely hard, but after a year full of reflection and hope for returning to this amazing and life-changing place, I have become better at focusing on what I can do, rather than what I cannot do.

Quick update: tomorrow we will be traveling to Natwange to tour and help at a school for middle and upper-school students with physical and developmental disabilities. We will do our best to update the blog!

Much love from Team Mutomo