First two days

Hello Everyone,
I have arrived safely and been immediately at work at the orphanage. I thought I would have more availability to the internet but that's not the case. I will probably post twice a week.
Anyway, it's beauitful here and I can't begin to tell you how the climate and the landscape reminds me of California. It is absolutely gorgeous. The volunteer house is about a 10 minute bus ride and a 25 minute walk, but there is a huge division of where we live as volunteers and where the kids are located. The socioeconomic gap is huge and as I have driven through the area I have gone through pockets of really nice manicured green lawns (white) to more crowded not so "nice" (black) areas. But all seems to be really safe. I walked home last night with one of the volunteers and it was so quiet and peaceful. Thankfully, we had a huge full moon to light our way - the sun dropped faster than we anticipated. It's becoming winter so the days are hot and then by 4pm it cools down a bit...but it is nothing like NYC.
I live with 4 Dutch women: Sandra, Diana, Verona, and the last one I can't spell off the top of my head. They are all really wonderful. Except for Sandra, who arrived the same day as I did, they have all been here a lot longer. I spend 90% of my day with them and cook our evening meals together. In the past two days, I've learned some Dutch so that's been a bonus.
As for the kids - the real juice of this story...they are truly magnificent.
I have never been hugged more and been warmly accepted by so many little ones. Tessa, our coordinator, doesn't tell us which kids are actually HIV positive because they don't want us to discriminate against the kids. If the kids get cut badly, the 4 "Aunties" take care of the child. The kids are really resilent and run around barefooted with broken glass every where.
The most shocking thing is the children's living conditions. The conditions are deplorable. I didn't expect the orphanage to be in such a poor condition. For over a year and a half, the structural conditions are worse than usual due to the fire. There are 3 metal containers that have been created as the childrens' homes. The little ones - 1- 7 live there with one "Auntie", the boys from the ages of 8-15 live in another, and the girls from 8-15 live in the third. The windows to the containers are mostly broken off their hinges or then the actual glass is shattered.
There were new building built, but the job was given to a bad contractor and so most of the new building are inhabitable. Recently, the architect who designed the new world cup stadium for 2010 has donated his time to redraw plans and has offered a more reliable constructor. Hopefully, by Christmas, the kids will be living in the new cottages. They have been incredible troopers.
My first day, I was just overwhelmed by everything at the Agape Center and some considerable jet lag. Thanks to some Ambien given to me...I have been back on my legs. The biggest challenge I am coming across is remembering and being able to pronounce all the kids names. They are really difficult. For once, I have come across more difficult names than my own. The kids taunt me that I don't know theirs and they know mine. I am against a tough smart crowd of kids.
Yesterday, my day started out with a little one promply sitting on my lap, and as we sang some songs this little one proceeded to wet her "nappy" (diaper) and me all in one go. That was a great welcome. With Diana, we spent the rest of the day deciding how to restructure/ repaint one of the new classrooms the children can safely use. We headed to a hardware store in the nearby town and on the way we picked up the 15 children from school - ages ranging from 6-15.
"Bob" - there always seems to be a "Bob" somewhere - said I was worth 50,000 cows...Not exactly priceless but I thought it wasn't too bad considering he said each cow goes for about 5,000. Later, I learned that 5,000 was in Rand and so I am much further away from priceless. In general, girls' doweries go for 11,000 cows. Asked about being considered priceless and Bob just laughed so I think that's a no. So on my second day I was peed on within 10 minutes of getting to the Agape center and then by the end of the day was bartered for 50,000 cows...not bad huh? All good work done in one day.
I could keep on going...but I should post some pics for you all to meet a few of the kids. I wish I knew their names, but I probably won't know them until I leave. I got 3 down right now. Remember this is my first posting so not sure how this will all turn out.
Miss you all and thank you for your support.
Cheers,
a

p.s. only could post one photo

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