What a bit of candy & nail polish can do

Day 4....We're starting to get the hang of the routine and the girls that work their are definitely opening up and becoming friendlier.  Their work is so hard. The language barrier is so hard.  Chloe has been a great sport about it because they speak in their kinyrundi (African) language with a bit of French and we have no idea what they were saying.  When we just started to coming to the orphanage, the girls (ranging in 18-23yrs and a few older) wouldn't respond, even if we were making hand gestures to ask them what to do or where to get something.  Sometimes they would laugh or they just looked away & ignored us.  Chloe was such a trooper through it all. We just did what they did & eventually we found our way and they started to respond. Some look pretty mean but they have such a hard life and all have stories of their own. So we thought we would "kill them with kindness". So we brought candy...yes, simple candy (butterscotch, fruit) is a huge luxury here and is considered a very nice gesture. Chloe & I bring candy wherever we go.  We greet the girls first thing with candy & say good bye with candy. There was still one girl who was so hard & cold and would never make eye contact with me. So when it was the children's nap time,  I offered to paint her nails.  Her eyes lit up! I don't think she was ever worn nail polish before, much less afford to buy any. And that was the beginning of her opening up to us. She finally told us her name...Angelica.  Although soon I ended up painting the toes of most the girls that work there!....lol. Angelica ended up showing me how to tie these babies to their backs, which I just find amazing. It is very common to see very small infants on the backs of mothers hitching a ride on a motorcycle or bicycle.  The ladies that wash clothes ALL day by hand, have their infants on their backs most of the time as well.



PS: Sorry....had trouble posting pics last night!