Day - 10,11,12 At The Orphanage

Days 10, 11, and 12 serving at working for children.

These days were long but so much fun. We served over 600 villagers here. The orphanage was literally in the boonies. The ride there was about 90 minutes long and extremely bumpy because the road was small, filled with pot holes, and was made of red dirt. Sometimes our bus bottomed out and we had to reverse to continue on. Our first adventure out to the orphanage was longer since we got lost and completely passed the turnoff point by at least 30 minutes... we made it eventually.
My favorite part of the whole trip was adjusting this cute little girl. She looked like she was only 3 years old but in fact she was 8! Her mother said that she had problems walking but there was much more going on. She had a positive babinski reflex on both feet. She had almost no facial expression and her eyes were fixed and unable to track at all. If she wanted to see anything she would turn her whole head without any eye movement. The first time I adjusted her I lifted her body onto the table where she laid there limp and expressionless. I palpated her cervicals and was unable to really feel what was going on because she was so spasmed. I sat there and waited until she relaxed and I could get a grasp of where to put input into her nervous system. I only had a split second to deliver the adjustment so I waited patiently for the right moment. After adjusting her she laid there stunned, her toes fanned upwards once again showing the babinski reflex. Soon she started moving her legs around and smiled at me with her rotted teeth. I didn't expect anything to happen on her first visit and told her mother to bring her back the next day. When she showed up again her mother said that she was able to sleep a few hours through the night which was a first for her. I adjusted her once more this time, it was L5 with atlas and that really set things in motion. Hung got excited and started doing some therapy with her using a red squishy ball. We spent almost an hour playing catch. One thing that was odd is that her eyes still weren't tracking with the ball. She would blindly stick her hands out just hoping to find the ball in her hand. We told her mother to continue this therapy everyday to help her development. The last time that I was able to see her I once again adjusted L5 and atlas, this time she stayed there motionless on the table. I just sat and waited for some form of life to come through... That's when it happened, her eyes started moving side to side independantly of her head. I moved to the side and they followed me back and forth back and forth. I got her mother and showed her what was going on with her daughter and she was extremely excited. It was like a real person was released from inside of her. This was a moment that I will never forget. It just proves how when there is interference in the nervous system and the proper stimuli is given to that system, the body is able to function optimally.
The orphanage was well organized. There were 35 children who learned many skills there. On top of getting an education they learned music, volleyball, dance, and farming. The director has been able to make this orphanage self sustaining with food. They are able to grow everything themselves. This past year however they lost 200 chickens, all their fish, and most of their rice due to a flood during monsoon season. They have been working hard trying to make it back and luckily with donations they have been. The director is very young but very bright. He teaches English to the children of the people in the village in exchange for help on his farm. So when we were there the classroom would fill up throughout the day an upon exiting the children would come over and get adjusted. These kids were so tiny. No joke they looked 6 or 7 and when asked their age it would often be 7 years older then what we thought. The great part is that They were all so well behaved too. We not only adjusted the orphans but the villagers would also come by on their bicycles or scooters packed with their family. They were all so friendly and open to receiving care. We saw some interesting cases like a orphan with polio, a child who had a failed femur surgery, and a child with an arm about 10x's it's normal size.
During breaks we would play shuttlecock, a game much like hacky sack but with a birdy like object that you can kick or hit with your hands. Sometimes the orphans would join in. The orphanage also has baby kittens walking about and four week old puppies which were so fun to play with. Our last day at the orphanage the children put on a kmer show for us with music and dancing. They were really really good! We were all blown away by their talent which was close to matching the professional show that we had watched at dinner.
During these three days, we celebrated nicks birthday for two of them. Once on his Kmer birthday a day early and once on his American birthday. The girls found a chocolate cake and vanilla icecream which we devoured after dinner. The food here has been pretty good. One of the restaurants we ate at was disgusting because there were so many bugs. We then found out why...It was because the fans were on high and when the bugs would go up to the lights they would get hit out of the air landing in our mouths and on our faces... Yuck. Once we moved and turned off the fans our dinner was delicious... I'm glad we figured that out. These three days had a huge imput on all of our lives. I know in the future I will donate what I can to help the orphans at working for children orphanage. Who knows where these kids would be without help. Many of the girls are sold into the sex trade at ages as young as 8. It's quite gross. I know Dr. Khauv will post an amazon link that will have free shipping as well as a way to send money. I'll keep you posted.