June 15th, 2016

Hello all! This is Lea Groebe. I had the amazing opportunity to go on the trip last year and it feels great to be back in Zambia again. The trip has been fantastic so far and the team has been keeping very busy! A lot has happened in the last week, so I will not be able to cover everything, but I will talk about the highlights of my trip thus far. Last year, one of my favorite experiences was going to St. Anthony's Orphanage. I was extremely eager to go back this year and see some of the kids I had bonded with last year. When we pulled up for the first time, the kids all ran to us with so much excitement as usual. Some of the kids I was especially excited to see were Michael and Gunda. They are two children from the disabled house and I was so happy to see that they were doing well. It is always sad to see the situation they are living in, but they are always so happy to play with us. It was so amazing to be able to see how much some of the kids have grown and how they have developed over the course of one year. The orphanage as a whole was great, but I was heartbroken to see a little boy named Emmanuel there. Last year, I spent a lot of time with him and learned that he was only a few weeks away from getting adopted by a woman from Zambia. When I got to the orphanage this year, I was extremely shocked to see him. I barely even recognized him. It never even crossed my mind that he could still be there. It was nice to see him again because I did bond with him, but it was very heartbreaking at the same time because I was excited to see somebody from St. Anthony's get adopted. Another highlight of the trip for me was painting at the clinic. At the clinic, there are rooms where children are sometimes kept overnight because they are sick. The rooms are very dark and boring. We decided to paint the rooms and lighten them up a bit. We painted the alphabet with matching pictures for each letter and we also drew flowers and numbers. Although this was not direct contact with people, I especially loved this because I could think about what good it would do for the children there. It would make their stay at the hospital a little bit more enjoyable. It felt really good to be able to leave my mark on the clinic and knowing just how important that will be to many kids made it so worth it. Overall the trip has been great. I have had some experiences very similar, but also very different to my last trip to Zambia. I have loved seeing new things and spending time with new people! I look forward to what's to come! Much love from Team Mutomo!