Day One, New Life Nicaragua

Our first blog post since we landed! We are finally able to get internet, and so we will take a few moments to share with you what our Sunday looked like. We went to church today at "Verbos" church. The service began with no power (which means no worship or air conditioning) and continued with a generator and still no air conditioning. There was much singing and dancing and praying (and sweating), and a sermon that was translated from Spanish to English via headphones for us "gringos." After lunch, we went to New Life Nicaragua- an orphanage for children with special needs in Managua. There are currently 13 children living at New Life, with one additional child in foster care. These children found their way to New Life from various situations, including horrific sexual abuse from family members, abandonment at the hospital, & abuse at other orphanages. Pam, our Physical Therapist, spent her time assessing the three littlest babies, Patricia (2 months), Lelya (8 months), and Ismael (3 months). Trisha, our Rec therapist, assisted Pam, and Angie helped to interpret to the orphanage staff Pam's findings and suggestions. The rest of the team spent time getting to know the children as an initial assessment, and will do some more structured activities tomorrow. I know you are all dying to see some pictures, and we will do our best very soon. Please make sure to check our FB page for updates. Uploading photos can get tricky with spotty internet. Hasta Manana (hopefully)!