Remar

Remember how I am Remar Mama?

We only get to go to Remar one time a week, and today was my third time going. It was amazing. Everytime we arrive in our bus all the ninos come running and screaming to meet us. And then for the rest of the time there are constantly little kids climbing all over my body and talking to me in a language I can barely understand and reply to.
When we arrived at the orphanage today most of the kids were not there. Come to find out they had climbed the mountain to go to what they would call a parque. When we got there I instantly realized it was definitely not a parque. It was a dirt parking lot with some cliffs that the kids were playing on. They had walked down the road quite a bit and climbed the steep mountain. We drove up and it was really bumpy and windy. I can not believe that there were little two and three year olds that had walked the whole way. They did not even have any toys to play with while they were there. There was one adult man watching about thirty kids. It was insane. Any of them could have disappeared without him even realizing. He was not even watching the kids. Once we arrived I had a little boy and a little girl who I had met past weeks run up and grab my neck, all the while I had about ten kids grabbing my legs. I have never met children that can love you so instantly and want so much attention and love. A little boy named Jonathon, whom I am assuming is about three, was constantly grabbing my face and telling me I was bonita and kissing me on the cheek. He did not want to be set down ever. He would latch onto my neck if he thought I was going to put him down.
Today we mostly just ran around with them and gave them affection. At the very end we give them a treat always. They all get so excited for a little piece of candy that I never even think twice about. They jump up and down a scream until they get one. It is so sad to realize that they never get any treats except from us.
Today as we were leaving the mountain we had bunches of little kids chase our bus down the mountain as we drove away and it was also starting to rain pretty hard. But we had one boy named Juan who is about twelve who chased us for about five minutes as we drove away. He would catch up to us when we had to slow down to go over bumps or turn sharp corners. He was running so fast. But eventually he got to exhausted to keep running so he threw up his hands and shrugged his shoulders to let us know he was giving up. And then he gave us a big smile and waved. We all stuck our arms and heads out the window to yell ciao and wave back.
One of my best friends here, Mckenzie and I turned to each other and she said that she had never seen anything so sad in her whole life. We both started to tear up and mostly sat in silence on the way home.
There are at most about three workers at a time at Remar taking care of more than fifty kids of all ages. They never get the love and attention that they need. The workers do not make sure that the kids are getting baths or any sort of hygiene. A lot of the kids have brown or rotting teeth. It is the most heart wrenching thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. So Mckenzie and I are going to try and get permission from the orphanage to let us go up and play with the kids at least one more time a week. We have asked before and they have said no. So please pray that we can get it approved! The kids need us!