Back with the Babies

Back with the Babies

Today was the first time since January that I went back to visit the babies from Ibadan's Motherless Children't Home. I went a little later in the morning, so that the toddlers would be off of their potties, and I could actually play with them.

There were some new faces as well as familiar faces missing(we were told that several of the kids went home to live with their fathers or relatives).

Obama

I especially wanted to see my little friend, Obama, but I was afraid that she wouldn't  recognize me.

I had nothing to fear. As soon as I called her name and held out my arms, she came running to me and wrapped her arms around me.

This is the little baby who looked warily at me 7 months ago and wouldn't get close. The child that I never saw smile.

Today, she couldn't get close enough to me. She kept snuggling into my lap and squeezing her arms around me, and laughing as I tickled her foot. For the next hour and a half, she would not let go of me.

She's rough with the other kids, often pushing them away so that she was the only one to sit on my lap, but she's never had an example of physical affection.

She watched me as I patted the back of a little boy who was crying and a minute later, she was also patting his back and whispering soft words to him. She then turned to me and buried her head in my shoulder as she patted my back.

I love this little one and wish there was a way that I could make a difference in her life.