It was a bit of a struggle to get up this morning but Elaine was leaving at 7.30am so got up to say our goodbyes! Felt fine which was surprising after the amount of wine I had last night.

Today I was starting work at a baby orphanage, which is not too far from where we stay. It's a orphanage that was set up in 2007 by a lady called Joan. At present there are 6 babies and 4 toddlers, its not a public orphanage, because if it was there would be 60-80 orphans!

One little girl is only 7 weeks old, she was found in a rubbish bin at a health centre when she was only 1 week old! Two of the toddlers have mothers but they're in jail at present. All the kids have really sad stories but Joan's aim is to get them adopted safely from her orphanage. There's pictures and emails from orphans that have been successfully adopted to families in Holland and America.

While working at the health centre last Thursday I was told something that really shocked me. I forgot to put it in my blog but thought I'd add it in randomly. The nurse that delivered the baby, asked me what was the youngest age that I'd known a mother to be, my answer was 13! She just smiled and said I've delivered a baby to a mother aged 9 years old!! 9 can u believe it?! The mother had only just started her periods 2 months prior to falling pregnant and the baby was healthy and survived.

Ok so back to my day, there's two so called 'mammas' that look after all the children. It's not a lot really for 6 babies all under the age of 6months and 4 toddlers. We were there to try and make a difference to the service.

I was changing nappies (well actually they use terry nappies), bottle feeding 8 week old babies, burping them, feeding the toddlers, Just felt like a nanny really! Most of the children were on some form of medication, or had some medical diagnosis. It was a lovely change compared to the health centre, but heartbreaking. It was frustrating for me knowing that the toddlers have never been outside the orphanage since they arrived and the babies are kept in the same room 24hrs a day. They are very well cared for but theirs no mental stimulation for them. We aren't allowed to give the children cuddles or pick the babies up unless your feeding them as they don't have the staff to give them attention when we're not there. I found this quite hard.

We then walked back to Brackenhurst which took about 25mins, it's good to get some exercise but it was really hot. We walk past a little village or more a hamlet of corrugated iron houses on our way back, and all the children follow u and try to get into your bags for anything. They tried to take my watch too, so I've learned to take it off ha. It's really sad, there's children aged 6 or 7 carrying little babies on their backs, the parents are probably working in the tea fields and the children don't go to school.

Had a viber chat with Ashley when I got back from project, so had a good catch up. It then started raining about 5pm and it still hasn't stopped and it's 11.30pm. Spectacular thunder and lightening storms, certainly the best since I've been here. Think the rainy season is starting to pick up pace!

We have had 6 new house mates today, and I've got a new roomie from Holland! They all seem nice but since I've only got 5 nights left here, doesn't seem to be the same pressure to get to know them all.

Tonight's film was 'Adjustment Bureau' which was really good, then finished my day with a viber chat with Andrew :)

xxxxxx