Beautiful Kids!

This is a picture I took as I was sitting on the ground in the village of Chimwang'ombe today. The kids just stare at me. I look away from them, turn back and their gaze has not shifted once. They all giggle when I show them their picture too. They just can't believe that they can see it right away. Village children are some of the happiest children I have ever seen, but why wouldn't they be? Look at the kids they have to play with everyday.

We went to rescue a baby from this village this afternoon. He had lost his mother 1 month ago. The situation was not a typical one, as the grandmother had been trying to care for the baby and later realized she didn't have the means to give him all he needed. So we were contacted and then set out on this 1 1/2 hour journey down the worst dirt road you have ever layed eyes upon. At one point my head hit the ceiling of the truck. I count trips like this as my ab workout. Anyway...we arrived to take the baby and shortly before the aunt of the baby had arrived too. She was to attend a funeral in this particular village. She heard we would be taking the baby to care for it until he was out of his infancy stage. She voiced strong opposition which caused quite a bit of division between her and the grandmother. Needless to say, there was a lot of quarrelling going on, most of which I could not understand. The aunt would be there for only a month and then leave again, which would leave the grandmother to care for the baby. They paid almost $10 USD to get 1 tin of formula (this included transportation costs). I know that is probably more than they make in a month, so I am not sure how they will continue on with this. We were rather upset just for the welfare of the baby. The aunt acted as if she was worried they would not get the baby back, but I understand really what she wanted was us to give them things. So, the director of the nursery was very firm and said basically it is now or never because we will not waste our time, fuel, and resources if you call us again. We are happy to take the baby, give it good care, clothes, a bath, a diaper, none of which this baby had. Still said "NO". So we left without taking the baby. It was their decision... what else could we do but head back down the same bumpy road for another 1 1/2 hours?