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There is still no sign of Benita: they said that she's going to the hospital every morning and will be fine. They said she might come in the afternoon for an hour but she never showed. I hope to see her Friday on the last day of camp.
The camp day ended with the girls getting the clothes we had brought for them. They were so excited and looked so good in nice new clothes. Dayone (my namesake and one of the smallest girls there,) looked absolutely adorable. Like that little girl at a wedding that everyone wants to pick up. And I did pick her up, it was actually the first time I picked up a child at the camp, a real breakthrough for me. For a second—and granted just a second—I wished I could take her back to the states with me. But then reality, life plans and current priorities, abilities and responsibilities set in. But at least I actually thought it for a second. I was thinking how much more "adoptable" the children looked dressed up in the nice, new, clean clothing. The girls are already adorable and so smart. It's so sad.
A lot of the girls have talked about how hard the last day will be and I honestly didn't think it would, but after today... I don't know, I think it might.
Another interesting story we learned about today was about a 22-year-old in my "hen" group. Apparently the men in charge wanted April to talk to her because they were concerned she might be selling her body on the side for money. Apparently her and her sister were the only ones in her family to survive the Genocide. Eight years after the Genocide, at age sixteen, she had a boy who his now at the orphanage as well. She lives with her sister and still attends the orphanage as a child, even though she is 22 and has her own child at the camp too, (some of the orphans still have one remaining parent.) When April discussed the situation with her, while the girl did not mention prostitution, she said that she doesn't have enough money to finish secondary school and provide for her son so April talked through with her her options and the girl refuses to work, saying that her sister will not let her work and that "God will provide." Now this brought up an interesting scenario for me to think about. Until I heard she was unwilling to help herself, I wanted to chip in and pay for her school. But then when I discovered that she just thinks these things will happen, I no longer wanted to. This is why programs like the Path to Peace are so important: hands up instead of handouts to teach responsibility. I applaud her deep faith, but also don't think she understands that God doesn't want to be tested either...
We went to the weaving center on the way back to the hotel to buy baskets. After freshening up, we had dinner at the hotel that the soccer people are staying at again and wished Willa fairwell, (she's leaving tomorrow.) The lights kept going off for extended periods of time because they were having issues with the electricity. After we waited it out and got our dinner, it was off to bed because we have an early day tomorrow: time for the SAFARI!!
