Village visits

We have had a marathon last couple of days finishing up our children interview/home visit/background information. Visited 25 children in 3 Sectors, put on over 250 km, over some very rough back roads and goat trails. Just my cup of tea. We have seen some of the most beautiful and dearest children you could ever hope to see. I regret that we can not bring them all to the village but some just do not meet the requirements. I think the picture might tell you more about our trip than anything I can say about the needs of these children and families.
Since we have been in Rwanda we both have many "wishes", one of them is that every one of you could have the opportunity to see these children for yourselves. To see the needs and feel the helplessness of not being able to do "something", "anything".
One little family we saw consists of 4 children, that's all, just the 4 children. The oldest is a beautiful girl of 13 taking care of her 3 young bothers and sister. Both parents died last year of HIV and she is left with raising a family of three child and she is only a child herself. They have no money, but that is not uncommon out in the bush. She is trying to make something grow in a garden that is dry and dusty. The house they live in is a very small round mud hut that is about to fall in. There is not one of us that would keep our animals in such a place. We were hoping to be able to possibly bring the youngest to the village, at least that would be one less mouth to feed and would give the child a fighting chance to get and education and good medical care but it was not to be. The child was a year older than our cut off limit and we had to walk away. Every family and home we have visited over the last few weeks have been in direr need of the most basic items; fresh water, enough food for at least one meal a day, a blanket to sleep on (while laying on a dirt floor), one set of clothes that was not in taters, or even the very basic of health care. But this little girl and her siblings, who was all smiles, was the hardest to walk away from.
God's blessings to you all.