Sunday Outing and Art

Today was a fun day, full of activities to delight us all!

First we took the girls to the market with Galya (our facilitator) to shop for parting gifts from the girls to those they will leave behind at the orphanage. They started the trip with definite ideas about what they wanted to give those on their lists, but as good shoppers sometimes must do, they were flexible in their thinking when something better came up, or the object they had in mind wasn't to be found. They bought two group gifts for the children, one being a photo ablum and the other a globe. It turns out that many of the children have loose photos but no album to place them in and so this will be a shared book, used by both boys and girls, carefully chosen so as to be enjoyed by all:)

There are many adults they want to give gifts to, and they made many clever choices, but they became a bit overwhelmed by all the decision making. Thus they decided the best thing to do was upon return to the orphanage, to catalog the gifts purchased so far, then decide who they would be given to, and re-evaluate additional needs. Very sensible thought Mama and Papa (and thank goodness - now we can go eat!!!)

The girls voted clearly for a repeat of pizza from two weeks ago and we thought that a fine choice. We enjoyed having Galya there to translate questions for us to the girls and of course enjoyed her lovely company too! After the pizza we took a walk out on the pier and strolled along the beautiful water and views and soaked up some more fantastic sunshine.

When back at the orphanage the fun continued as Galya had another great art project afternoon planned for the children, complete with exciting new supplies and a return visit from last week's artist. The children flocked to the room and quickly grabbed a seat at the table eager to see what was put before them. Today they were given an assortment of white ceramic plates and bowls, black line drawings, and carbon paper to transfer a drawing to their chosen object. Then with delicate paintbrushes and colorful paints they filled in the designs. More than once the concentration was so wonderfully astute you could have heard a pin drop in the room. It is such a pleasure to see their attention and enjoyment and hat's off to Galya and her organization for making such an important and beautiful contribution to these kids lives.