Orphanage in Madagascar

Hello Everyone,
As the title says, a group of us were able to travel to an orphanage in Madagascar via a 3 hour boat ride along a river. The ride was quite an adventure and sight to be seen. Local villages and huts were located along the 3 hour voyage to which the residents would wave us a greeting as we passed. We passed local families cleaning their dishes, bathing, and/or swimming in the river! Here are some photos from the trip to the orphanage:

Upon arriving at the orphanage, the children were very excited to see the Mercy Ships crew as they knew games and songs were in the near future! They quickly swarmed those that they recognized from previous trips and most were not afraid to come and introduce themselves to newbies like myself. It was quite an experience. Now we had a bag of rice that needed to be transferred from the boat to the orphanage, so my friend Phildriche and I took it upon ourselves to help out and bring it there.... The method of transfer was not efficient whatsoever- it consisted of putting the bag on Phildriche's shoulders and switching ever so often. When we placed the bag down a couple meters from the orphanage Phildriche and I thought the transfer was complete, but we were wrong. About 5 minutes later we see a group of children no older than 10 carrying the bag of rice no problem with a far more efficient method. This method had them having the bag resting on a long stick held on the shoulders of 2 young men, and the bag was kept on the stick by the remaining children. It was no sweat... It was a great start to be out smarted by some children :)

When inside the orphanage we all played games that any child has played during their youth. Games like duck-duck goose, tug of war, musical chairs (a variation of the game was played), etc. It was so nice to see the children having a blast, and I think I may have had more fun than they did! All in all I had an amazing time with the children and could not have asked for a better time. After the games we all sat around a table to color and sing some songs in Malagasy, French, and English. It was a fantastic time!

Thank you all,
Jesse Spooner