Underpants!

Yesterday, because of a generous gift from one of Ashley's friends, Osseh and I went to the "outdoor mall" in Freetown and bought the children new underwear. I had so much fun! As you can imagine, buying underwear for 80 children is not an easy assignment. Especially when they come in 2 sizes and you are not entirely sure how many children are what size! But that comes later…So, first we found a man who was selling underwear from his table and he told us that we could buy a bale of underwear with all kinds of sizes…800 pairs at once! Then he took us to his "shop" by leading us through a maze of small walkways, in between what seemed like hundreds of stalls filled with purses and shoes and clothes, until we came to a little concrete building filled with bales of underwear! It was so hot in there and I was sure that we might never make it back out to the street. We decided to wait on the bale at that time and went back out to the street (Osseh has a good sense of directionJ) and found someone who was selling underwear a dozen at a time instead of hundreds. We bought the underwear…it was hard because they didn't have enough size selection and I don't know the numbers of kids in each age/size yet but we got some!

I wrote all of that because today we got to be there when they passed out the underwear to the kids. The girls were so excited to receive 2 pairs! It was as if we had given them the greatest gift! I have never seen anything sweeter than that. Who would have thought that underwear could bring such joy. The boys were excited too but more so for the plastic bags the underwear came in than for the underwear. Many of them have not had underwear to wear. The caregivers told me today that for many of the kids they've had to start with the basics…they aren't used to wearing clothes or shoes or sleeping in a bed or using a toilet…so underwear is yet another thing to learn and remember for these little ones who I am sure and confused about so much.

Ok, so I never in my wildest imagination thought I'd be blogging about underwear. But there are just some things that are too precious for words. It reminds me to be thankful for all the things that God has blessed me with. Sam (14) told me today that he and his sister Betty (11) are fasting for us from midnight to noon so that God might bless us and take care of us. Wow! Such strength and passion for the Lord and others from children is amazing. I fight back tears every time the children pray for us and thank the Lord for all He has given them. What a joy it is to be working with them!

Oh, and here's a picture of the little boy I wrote about on Monday, Maligie. He decided to give his bear a bath today! We are so excited because we received the funds to get the treatment he needs from the doctor! Praise God! I hope and pray he'll be well soon.