This month has been busy for the children as there have been many visitors who came to see them.
*Several of the children’s extended relatives showed up this month to visit them and see how their progress was. There was certainly mixed responses from the children in seeing their relatives, mostly they were afraid that they were going to be taken away from us. Once they were assured that was not happening they were much calmer and became excited to show the relatives their crafts, schoolwork, and some belongings. The relatives were also amazed at their state of health, education progress and mostly their behaviour. It was wonderful to hear outside reports in recognition of their positive progress.
*We had retired Military General D come and visit them twice, bring treats for both the children and staff. He is a strong support for us in the work we are doing. His visits encourage the staff and excite the children, as well as he sees first hand how our progress is and passes that information on.
*The Nigerian Youth Corpers (NYC’s), who are posted in Isuikwuato and to the humanitarian efforts in the area, came and visited the home. They brought supplies to the house, mops, buckets, notebooks, pencils, a clock, plates, and some food. They also spent time singing and playing with the kids. They loved it.
*Also, this month we had our first birthday. Chinomso, our oldest boy, turned nine years old. He has never had a birthday ‘party’ before so it was quite an experience. The other children have not had birthday celebrations before either, so there was lots of explaining to do surrounding how a birthday and gifts work. In our home there is struggle surrounding sharing and everything HAVING to be equal.
*We had a visit from another Military General’s son, who came to spend his birthday with the children. This is a common practice over here, that individuals will spend their birthday with the less privileged, such as in orphanages, hospitals, motherless babies homes, ect. So he came with some friends, with bags of rice, yams and other supplies, as well as pre-cooked food, to play with the kids, eat dinner with us and have cake (which I made in a pot on the stove) ☺