New House for the Orphanage!

We came into the orphanage in the morning to find the director teaching the children a lesson on how to clean as he was also making a game plan with them on how they were going to tackle cleaning their new house. The older kids, myself, the director and another volunteer walked a few blocks to their new house to prepare it for moving day. Jeremy was super kind and stayed home with the younger children. MOC (the orphanage) recently received a new sponsor which granted them more money to put towards rent, allowing them to move into a new, larger house and hopefully expand their program. Currently MOC has 45 children and together they all share 2 bedrooms, one for the girls and one for the boys and they all share 1 bathroom!! Together everyone either carried either a broom, dust pan, mop, bucket, rags or detergent to the new place. It was so cute! It looked like the Cambodian version of the chimney sweepers off the movie Mary Poppins!

When we arrived, none of the kids has yet seen the inside of the place. As we waited for the doors to be unlocked and opened, the buzz in the air and excitement of the children was so fun! When they got inside they were screaming and jumping up and down just like it was Christmas morning, if not better! They're reaction reminded me of the same reactions people have on Extreme Home Makeover! They ran through the entire house the same way, some crying, others laughing... except the only difference was their house was empty, with nothing in it, and they still couldn't believe this was going to be their house. As they ran through each floor they discovered that there wasn't just one bathroom, but FOUR! The bathroom were each shared between two rooms, with each room having their own entry into it. They lost their minds over this! We all joined hands in a line and ran through one room, through the bathroom, into the next room, and back again in a circle over and over again! There is nothing better then seeing children be sooooo excited and happy! This was definitely a pearl'd moment! After they somewhat calmed down, everyone got straight to work and the place was cleaned in no time. No fighting, arguing, or uneven work loads. The cooperation between the kids was astounding! Almost better than a group of adults I'd say!
The next day everything was packed up and moved and now they are unpacking and settling into their new home.
-Kendal