If At First You Don't Succeed...Push Harder

Children of various ages live at the orphanage, and, as so often happens, the children tend to stick together by age. The older children, especially, the girls, do a great job of helping out the younger children, but when it's time to play, it seems like the little ones want to play with people their own size.

Jhonny, the orphange director, refers to this group of youngest children as "los pequenitos." These children might be small, but they have tons of energy and more than enough creativity. Sometimes that combination is a good thing; sometimes it's not; and sometimes, well, sometimes it's a little difficult to pass judgment on the goodness or badness of what these little ones are up to.

Saturday was one of those days. There's a bit of construction going on at the site of the current orphanage. And, as with any construction site, there are plenty of tools around. The little ones really aren't allowed to go near the construction site, but Cameron, one of our SHIP volunteers, spotted a construction tool that seemed like it had some possibilites for fun.

The wheelbarrow.

That's right, folks. What could be more fun to play with than a wheelbarrow? If you're a little one, you can go for rides, and there's very little that's more fun than being pushed around in a wheelbarrow at break-neck speeds. Okay, so perhaps the wheelbarrow doesn't have the potential to break the sound barrier, but if you're six years old, a wheelbarrow ride seems pretty fast. And pretty fun.

The little ones enjoyed their rides for a while, but they had something better in mind. Their plan didn't get off to a very good start.


In fact, it looked like they would lose Cameron completely. Oh, and the kid with the tail? That's totally not his tail. But it is pretty funny.


As you can see from this next picture, they didn't lose Cameron. These little kids worked hard to keep him safe, and they wanted to give it another try. However, it seems like Alberto's faith in this endeavor might be flagging. He's the cutie in the purple shirt. Notice the look of despair on his little face. He looks like he might give up.

But then Alberto (and the rest of the little ones) are off!

These two watched the whole thing. And laughed.

But, even though it seemed like the little ones wouldn't get Cameron going, they finally did. And they had fun doing it.

Cameron will be here for two months, living at the orphanage and working at the construction site. He's been so great with the kids and has given more piggy-back rides in the last two days than any of us have given in our whole lives. The kids just love him, and we're so blessed to have him working here. Please keep him in your prayers.