Our First Day at The Haven

5/16/14 @5:41pm

Well we made it through the treacherous night. Last night we saw more spiders that I can count. We were prepared for spiders but there were quite a few more than I expected. They are quite large, the biggest one that we saw was about the size of the palm of your hand. Needless to say falling asleep last night was a struggle. However once asleep I was out, our beds are so comfortable! 

Our first day at The Haven is complete. I am so excited! I fell in love with so many children, many of whom I do not know the name of. Don't worry I'm sure by the end of this trip I will be able to spout off each of their names and why they are so important. In the morning I snuggled and played with Ezekiel until he fell asleep on me. Then in the afternoon I fed a bottle and changed (a cloth diaper mind you!) a little baby. We were there from about 9:00-4:00 with about an hour and a half lunch break. We walked to The Haven in the morning and it was the first time that I really felt like I was walking through Africa. Tall grass on either side, it was picturesque to say the least. Some of the pictures that I share today will be of the walk, the haven and where I am staying. As I said before, no pictures of the children were taken today. Meagan, who is in charge of The Haven has a policy about not taking pictures of the babies. After today I totally understand why! Where I would be concerned with getting everyone's picture and capturing every moment, I got to sit and observe. Actually interact and feel what I needed to feel as a newcomer. 

Now, the aunties are a whole different story. Today was mostly about watching them and what they do. We asked to help where appropriate, and for the most part they let us help and taught us. The woman who taught be to change a diaper was very patient and understanding. She demonstrated, and then let me try it. Another at the beginning of the day just started passing out babies to make us feel welcome. It was such a sweet and humbling gesture. I think the point of the whole "exercise" is to not be ignorant Americans, which I know we all can be. To come into the situation, immediately think that we know better and assume that everything else is wrong. We are there to learn from the aunties and maybe demonstrate them a little bit too in the end. We are not here to take children from them to do therapy and then give them back when we are done. I think we still have a long way to go to earn their trust but I know that it is going to be a rewarding experience to do so! 

We were given a tour of The Haven when we first arrived in the morning. There are three houses: Haven 1, Haven 2, and Haven 3. Haven 1 and Haven 2 are for different age groups, Haven 2 is for the older children. Haven 3 is for the medically fragile children. The children range from 2 months to 5 years. They have so many toys and a playground out in the field that is between the buildings. I will take pictures of the layout once we are able to take pictures there. They also have a building that is the language room, and it is where we will have our language group. It is such a nice room, and will be very conducive for therapy. At the end of tour we were taken to the graveyard/memorial garden for the babies that have passed while at The Haven. In Zambia apparently dogs are a problem with the buried, and so they have a safe place to bury them with a legitimate fence that dogs cannot enter. It is a restful place with a big tree in the middle to shade the area. At each of the burial plots there is a poinsettia tree, which is the most extraordinary tree here in Zambia. (I will post a picture) Meagan took us there to explain to us how important it is to remember that while to us, a cold is a cold to these babies it can be life and death. It was also a reminder to us that these children matter to a lot of people and they are each  remembered. Overall I don't know what I was expecting to happen on the tour but my heart melted. I was overwhelmed, scared, a little shy and emotionally exhausted but it didn't stop those children from crawling into my heart. They are all so sweet and precious! If this happened on day 1, I can't imagine 6 weeks from now!

Food here has been really delicious! They made us pancakes for breakfast, chicken and rice for lunch and grilled cheese for dinner. No complaints about food and I am feeling pretty good about that! Traditionally in Zambia, lunch is the biggest meal for the day and we are following that to a "T." Lunch was so huge, I wasn't even hungry for dinner today. For the most part we will be having American food but on every Thursday for lunch we will have a traditional Zambian meal. I am excited for next week to try it! 

Tonight we are going to the Merritts (sp?) to have a singing night, and tomorrow we are going into town on our day off and going to go shopping!! Woohoo!! So for now that is all :) More to follow tomorrow I am sure!