We have fallen in love with the children of Africa. They are so cute and innocent. They seem a lot less inhibited and less afraid than children in America. Total strangers will come up to us and sit on our laps. We consider it a tender mercy that helps compensate for being away from our own grandchildren.
Jan holding a new baby in her blessing outfit.
We were at a catholic church for a wedding of one of our member’s brothers, and this little girl was sitting with her parents across the isle from us. She came right over and climbed up on my lap and stayed there for about 15 minutes taking things out of my shirt pocket.
This is our branch president’s new little baby. His name is Moroni.
This is DiaBell Dim, our good friend and one of her nieces at a wedding.
The children love touching our hair. They say we have kitty hair because it is softer than theirs. I love to pat them on the heads and feel theirs too.
Jan in her African Caba dress and a darling baby.
Three of the children who are members in our BonaBeri branch. They had the primary program and little 6 year old kids were taking turns leading the songs without a piano. They would sing the first line and then say 1,2,3 sing and the others would join in. It was so cute.
Children getting water for their mothers out of the community well.
I’m not sure she wanted her picture taken. This is on the steps to her home.
It wasn’t this little boy, but one of the member's little sons came up to us and told us he had asked him mother if he could go to America with us and she said yes.
This little girl, a child herself, carries her little brother on her back. All the women carry their children on their backs so they can do their work. There are a lot of bow legged adults here, probably from being carried this way when their bones were still soft.
There aren’t any nice parks or yards for the children to play in, so they mostly play in the streets.
There are some sad things in Africa. This is an intersection close to our apartment. Every time we stop at the light these children come up to our windows and beg for food or money. Their faces are so sad. Their moms, some of who are crippled, sit on the island between the lanes of traffic and send their children out into the streets to beg.
At another intersection we always see these children begging. We sometimes give them a little money or cookies or bread. As soon as we roll our window down there will be 10 other children come out of nowhere.
I’m afraid, for some, begging becomes a way of life. This girl is probably 12 and still on the streets begging.
