Out Exploring

This entry was supposed to go out Saturday, but time just slipped away.



Moving past the computer fiasco (looks like about 20 or so are gone) we finally went out and explored the area a bit. Joni, our Samaritan's Purse leader, took us out to see a few sights in Yekepa.

We first stopped at a nearby orphanage. Man, talk about humbling, seeing what little these kids had. The orphanage was a collection of all the orphans in the county, from toddler age to 16 years old. As soon as we got out of the car the kids instantly ran up and started shaking our hands and hugging us. They then took us on a tour of their facilities, including a newly built living area, the local school building, and the church where they worship. Our hearts break seeing these kids bantering for our attention. The most heartbreaking was the older kids who, you could tell, don't get the attention that the younger kids get from visitors. We could almost see the tension in their eyes how they so wanted love and affection, but at the same time were so guarded, as though they'd been hardened over all the years in the orphanage.



Afterwards, we went to a plot of land the contractor who had helped with the rebuilding of ABC last year had purchased for all the workers that had worked with him. He bought it with the expectation that the workers would use the skills they had learned working on ABC to build their own little town, start their own shops, and start practicing their trades. Pretty amazing. I never met the guy but everyone here has high praise for him.

We then went to an abandoned train yard that the mining company had used before the civil war. Man it was incredible. I could have spent a month there taking pictures. It was so surreal seeing all those locomotives stripped down and abandoned. I guess they were all only a year old when the civil war broke out. Once I get back I will have a whole series of shots from this place, I am sure.