the orphanage

Yesterday I went to the Salvation Army Orphanage with the Moss’ to assess the needs. I dragged the Moss’ into this because I learned that to access the Church’s Humanitarian Aid, if you have no humanitarian missionaries, there has to be a request from the mission president. The biggest need is for food, and milk is at the top of their list. When Uncle Bruce and Aunt Bev and Uncle John and Aunt Lynn served as humanitarian missionaries the Church provided 50Lb bags of powdered milk to the orphanages in Mongolia and Mozambique where they served. Hopefully, we can get that help here. I was very impressed with the director, Ana Maria Alcocer. She and her husband live there with the children (their own family is grown). There are five other helpers, two or three of which also live at the home.
I learned some interesting facts such as:
1) This is a “Children’s Home” not a true orphanage because these children can’t be adopted. All of these children have at least one relative, that person is just not able to care for the child because of poverty.
2) Abandoned and abused children who are able to be adopted are cared for by the government which has resources to cover expenses. This Salvation Army Children’s Home is funded by charity donations.
3) There are 22 boys and 16 girls from 5 months to 12 years of age. I asked what happens to them after they are 12 and she said they are old enough to work and if they have learned “obedience and respect” they are returned to their relative (it is enough to make a child not want to learn either principle).*
4) The school age children attend a local elementary school, where they do wear uniforms (you can see some of them wearing them in the pictures). There is a Woman’s Aid Society in Virginia which provides the uniforms and one pair of shoes for each child every year.
5) Although food is what is needed most, there is a need for pillows and bedspreads, toys and clothing. Any donations are welcome and what they can’t use themselves they sell at a bazaar and the money earned goes to buy food.
6) I was happy to see that things were clean and the rooms were painted and cheerful.

The children are darling and they loved having their picture taken. Enjoy the pictures (The picture of the sun I’m standing in front of was painted by the Mormon family that came last Christmas and we had for Christmas Eve overnight.

* Dad and I went downtown today to the big market. We stopped at Burger King to buy an ice cream cone. While Dad was ordering, a disheveled boy of about 12 or 13 came up to me and asked me for money to buy something to eat. His one eye was clouded and it looked like he couldn’t see out of it. His dusty face was tear stained. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a boy who had been turned out onto the street to fend for himself. We bought him a $9.00 whopper meal.