Meeting the orphans was like a dream. They are so wonderful, just like Iimagined them. Their beautiful smiles are filled with warmth and joy. They had T-shirts that said "welcome Ryan." There were about 25 children in one little minivan type bus thing (like in Hotel Rwanda).

They immediately hugged me, and so did Madame Adzaba, who was dressed head totoe in her finest colorful African attire. Unfortunately, Ebere, the man who arranged all of this for me, was taken by an angry police officer at the airport. He is still being held there and nobody knows why. He is from Nigeria;perhaps it has something to do with that. I am very worried for him because of the police officer's brutal way of speaking to him.

A little later I looked in the van and saw a tiny little girl staring at me. She is probably about one year old. I completely overlooked her the whole time! "Oh yes, that is Julietta. She is new. She was abandoned and we left her in the van because she has no shoes on."

It is hard to describe the immense beauty and tenderness of this little baby girl. She was Afraid of me at first sight (most of the children have never seen a white person), but I extended my arms and she has been mine ever since. She could not find me this morning and they found her hitting my door and crying. I am in love and I have a feeling I will never be able to leave my petite Juliette.

We stayed in front of the airport for about an hour waiting for Ebere to be released, but he is still gone. It is awful.
The drive past INCREDIBLE scenery to the orphanage was unforgettable. I held the tiny "pygme" orphan who looks 3 but he is 7. He seems to be a bit of an outsider because of his tiny Pygme body type.

I have to go now, there is so much to do. The orphanage is literally about 10times more awful than I imagined. The Loreto orphanage in Ecuador is like a palace compared to this place.

They cook over a fire, they have no running water, and the level of filth iso verwhelming. The top of the dead fridge is covered in rat poo, and I saw a rat this morning. The kids eat primarily rice and bread, they are malnourished.

I already have so many medical things on a list to do for them. Patrick has a tumor on his wrist that looks horribly painful, and Glaudine does not smile because of horrible toothaches in her rotting molars.

The entire place is dirty, run down, and overwhelmingly under supplied and in need of EVERYTHING. I have a great work to do here, one thing at a time.

I see great potential for a beautiful center, but it will take a lot of time and a lot of money to get there.

This morning I taught the kids a dance which won me the adoration of the teenagers. They are so nice.

I put on the soundtrack of Out of Africa while we wrote down everyone's names and I carried Julietta on my back wrapped in a large cloth. I paused and realized that I was perfectly happy and perfectly at peace. I am where my heart and my destiny tell me I belong. Life is beautiful.

With all of Africa's love

Ryan