Day 32 - On Dora and Oprah

Tuesday, April 12 - Day 32

This afternoon, I read Dora the Explorer’s A Surprise Party to Beauty and Ma. The small, cardboard-thick book was ostensibly for the little one; I knew that Ma, holding the book and turning the pages, was paying more attention to and getting more out of the reading experience. I made sure to follow the words with my finger on some pages and to point to pictures of key characters and items on other pages. Ma understands minimal English; she always communicates with the kids in Twi. I know minimal Twi; I communicate with them almost exclusively in English. I love that I’m able to assist her with the little ones in spite of our language barrier.

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It’s 8:30 PM and people are already starting to sleep - volunteer people, that is. There was a television at the orphanage from way back when so Zach got them a satellite antenna (if such a thing exists; otherwise something else) and the boys set it up today so they could all watch TV tonight. Close to fifty watched, a few sat scattered about chatting and such, most of the littlest ones slept, and George and Bismark stood at a radio immediately next to the television listening excitedly to a Manchester United game.

After I put already-sleeping Akofa and Kojo to bed on their respective floor mats, I had my highlight of the evening: singing Chicababy to sleep. She was watching television tiredly and came without pause when I beckoned to her (she’s three years old and still has school for two more days). Rather than risk a screaming child (unlikely but possible), I decided to get her to sleep before laying her down. She was out by the end of The Circle Game. I love camp songs for soothing children to sleep. It was the first time I had gotten to get Chica to sleep. That sassy little three-year-old, with her wiggling hips and baby strut, is destined to be the next Oprah. She’ll live big, d.v.

In exciting news, Marilyn, now back in the US from her visit, found a sponsor for Justice to attend Word of Faith! He’ll start at the end of the calendar year. Emily told him this afternoon and he was brimming with subdued ecstasy all evening at the news. Just this morning, he had come to hang out at the WoF bus stop - the only non-WoF kid there - and Sophie, Niki, and I proceeded to talk the entire way back to the house about how much we would love to see him on that bus rather than watching it pull away. He has the potential to flourish in that environment.