Right now I am waiting at the Ministry of Women's Affairs office hoping to meet with the woman who can provide me with the documents needed to complete my report. This is the most important office in regards to orphan welfare and so far the employees have been welcoming.

I taking advantage of this downtime to write an entry has I have finished reading all the documents I had brought with me to keep me 'busy.'

This entry is about my visits to two state-run orphanages yesterday. My first visit was to Kechene Children's Home, an orphanage that houses infants and toddlers of both sexes and also girl youth. I had visited the facility before, my intent with this visit was to inform the Director that we will be delivering 50 computers by the end of April. To say the least, the Director was shocked and thanks me profusely for the offer because as a government run facility, they were not often presented with offers of donations as man of the private orphanages are. Until two years ago, they didn't even have a single computer. Until now, they have had to function with a single computer in which the children do not have access to as it is for administrative purposes.

Lukas knew how excited the girls would be to hear the news and so he told me that I had to inform them myself of the donation. As you may be able to imagine, the same room filled with more than 50 girls went into an uproar when Lukas' translation was completed. Clapping and giggling and chatter filled the small living room.

The impact these computers will have on these children is immense. Almost all of the youth study computer science, from a textbook, many never actually having had access to an actual computer to apply their training. Additionally, the younger children will have access to developmentally appropriate games which is especially important for institutionalized children. (So if anyone has children's games they would like to donate, please just email me and we can make an arrangement for them to get installed on their computers!!!! Please!!)

Well, that was the uplifting part of the entry, the second part of the entry is not so upbeat. Just a warning.

As I was concluding my visit with the Director, I asked if I could visit the infant ward of the facility and he was more than happy to oblige. The ward had moved into a newer building on the compound, one that was brightly painted and had larger windows allowing the children access to the Ethiopian sunshine. However, what was evident almost immediately was the silence in the room. A room filled with 20 or some children under the age of 2 years. A few were sleeping, but most simply laid on their backs looking at the ceiling. For the 20 children there was only one caretaker. The babies were wet from head to toe and wrapped in warm clothes, clearly cared for, as the staff was extremely kind to them and interacted with them when possible, but limited in their capacity to staff the ward properly.

The children were beautiful and a few destined to Gabon, the US, and Finland, the rest were awaiting their forever families. When I spoke to them they beamed with smiles. When I offered them my finger to hold they grabbed tightly, refusing to let go. One girl was strong enough to stand and she wanted me to bring her out of her crib. But of course I couldn't at the time. I wanted to bring all the children outside into the beautiful summer day and prop them in the sunshine with a bundle of toys to play with. But none of the children were offered that opportunity, they couldn't go outside, there was no staff to watch them. They couldn't play outside because there was no children's area. They couldn't be surrounded by toys because there were none.

However, there is hope. I will be volunteering in the infant ward every Saturday for the entire day. Playing with them and making sure they are allowed to play outside. And with donations of money I received before my departure, I will purchase some much needed toys and reuseable diapers. And thanks to the support from home, I'm going to be able to make the facilility a bit more child-friendly including giving the children art supplies so they can decorate the walls with bright colors and make their home their own, as many of the children older than 2 will never be adopted, as they are not of an 'adoptable age.' Most foreigners want infants and the rest will call the orphanage home until they are pushed to the streets when they reach 18.