Letters From Jill: village visit.

some of the kids at the centre have lost both parents.
some of the kids at the centre have lost one parent.
but their living parent cannot provide the means for them to eat, go to school, and live healthy lives.

Arbre de Vie conducts surveys on children who are candidates for placement at the orphanage and then accepts them to live at the centre as deemed necessary.

the children at the orphanage are loved. taken care of. fed warm meals. provided with means for an education. they receive school supplies. and they are guaranteed laughter every single day!

since the kids were on a break last week, some of them went to their home villages to stay with their living parent for a few days. doussou corresponded with his mother and on thursday, ashley and jon drove him out to his mother's home in a village about 45 minutes away. this is the first time he has been to her house since he started living at the centre years ago. he was anxious to spend time with her over the weekend.

friday night when ashley and i were driving home from dropping the girls off to spend the weekend at mama jacquelyn's house, doussou called his mama. he wanted to come home. it was late. and dark by this time and the road to doussou's home village was difficult to maneuver in the daylight when jon and ashley dropped him off. so his mama promised to pick him up saturday. he assured her that he was okay, and he would be fine to spend one more night at his mother's house. i thought about him so much after i got home from the orphanage friday night.

he missed his home.
he missed his brothers.
he missed his sisters.
he missed his dogs.
he missed his room full of a dozen other boys.
he missed his mama.
he missed his papa.
he missed his life.

saturday morning, ashley and i loaded up with 10 of the other boys and headed out to pick up their brother. cosmo jumped in the car with us (of course) and wanted to sit up front on my lap. i looked over at ashley and said, "is this okay?", as he was already comfortably positioned on my knees. she laughed and said, "ummm, yes. we're in Africa." i laughed and laughed.

doussou was definitely happy to see a car full of his brothers, his mama and his tata pull up in front of his mother's clothing shop. his mother graciously offered us all some cookies and cold water. we visited for a little bit and then we were off on our next adventure!

(the boys & i in front of doussou's mother's shop)

(ashley with doussou's mother)

david's home village is near doussou's. so we told him that we would drive to his village after picking up doussou. ashley had never been to his village since she's been here and jon has only been there with him one. his village is on a river that swells during rainy season making it nearly impossible to get to. when jon came last year, the roads were non-existent and he had to take a boat to david's house. the road was insanely crazy! ashley handled it all like a rockstar and we bumped along until david told us we had arrived.

(the drive to david's village)

(this knucklehead created quite the road block)

(mangoes anyone??!)

(the river)

(david's village)

david briskly marched all of us through many curves to his brother's home. we created quite the scene...pulling up in our big SUV, unloading 10 boys and then 2 white girls following behind them all. people quickly caught wind that we had arrived!! children surrounded us, everyone greeted us and david's mother was quickly informed that her son was there. she came running up from her house to her older son's house where we had congregated. the look of joy on her face is something i will never forget! she greeted ashley with such affection and gratitude. it was obvious that she is eternally grateful for the chance that Arbre de Vie has provided her son. it was also obvious that she is eternally grateful to ashley and jon for loving her son. david's brother works in the fields down the river from his home. his wife invited us into their home and soon we had a huge plate full of bananas in front of us and we were all seated in their mud hut. but, this was all after i made the mistake of taking one picture of the children who had crowded around us. ashley and the boys were escorted into the home, and i was stuck behind a mob of children...laughing with them, taking their pictures, showing them their sweet faces on my camera...i am certain i could have stayed there all day but seraphin came to my rescue and brought me into the home for some bananas! all the children gathered at the door, staring at the white girls.

(walking to david's brother's house)

(louis & david)

(surrounded by village children)

(hubert)

(cosmo. when you gotta go, you gotta go, right?)

(ashley with her boys)

(village baby)

(yummy. yummy.)

(sweetness)

(goofiness)

(beautiful)

(her sad eyes break my heart)

(the children in the doorway)

(outside of david's brother's house)

louis and david went with david's brother's wife to get him from the field. they took a boat down the river. we waited for them to all return and played with the kids and talked with david's mother. they finally returned and it was obvious that david's brother loves him so much! he was so proud of how well he was doing in school and excited to see him. they escorted us back into their home and insisted on feeding us again. we graciously accepted some yummy fry bread and then made our way back to our car. david said his goodbyes to his family and we were back off to the orphanage with our car full of boys!