With Love, From Neema: The perfect day... well almost

Yesterday morning got very interesting pretty quickly… I went inside after feeding Pendo and the other dogs and decided that I was going to do some laundry. The other day when we were in town, we bought this laundry soap.. it’s a long bar of soap about 2 feet long and it looks like it is already precut so I took Tyler’s knife which I brought with me from America and tried to cut it… I wasn’t paying attention and was cutting towards my body and the soap slipped and I cut directly into my thumb… so much pain and blood :( I called my friend Musa crying and he came and picked me up and took me to the hospital. They cleaned my hand up which hurt terribly and then stitched/bandaged me up and told me I couldn’t get my hand wet for a week—which sucks big time. But I am glad they were able to get me taken care of and that I had my tetanus shot in America!! Musa drove me back home and the kids were all waiting anxiously for me to see if I was okay. They are so considerate—especially at such a young age! The kids and I decided to go into my room and play some games. I taught Jonas and Lucky how to play “Sorry!” and we had so much fun. They kept saying “now I know why the game box calls this game ‘the game of sweet revenge’ !!” Then some of the other orphans came and joined us. We played sorry, bingo, and looked at ISpy books. One of the orphans Yusta, who is only 15, is always busy working and I have never really seen her be a kid and have fun. She came and played with us and it made me so happy to see her laugh. While I was playing with Pendo, the boys took out the toy cars and made their own game. Seeing them play like this was new to me because they are always busy with their many responsibilities so it was awesome to see them having fun and laughing together. After a while, all the older kids returned home from school and played with the water guns for a little. We had to put the guns away thought because there weren’t enough for everyone and Ericki threw a temper tantrum.. this is nothing new. We all went and did laundry together and gave Pendo a bath. The kids had to help me a lot because I only could use one hand, which they thought was pretty amusing because I was completely dysfunctional. The children then prepared for their hotel performance they have on Saturday and they practiced their songs and dances. I love lying in my bed and listening to the sounds of their voices--There is no feeling like it. I got to talk with Mom and Dad today again which was great! The kids brought me dinner in my room around 7 and then I got ready for bed. Pendo nuzzled up next to me and cuddled by my side. She stayed with me for a couple of hours and then jumped down to the floor. She decided to pee and poop on the floor and not in my bed, which I was very thankful for. I will need to figure out a way to potty train her. All and all, with the exception of my hospital experience, it was a great day.