Today we where at out volunteering again. I was really trying to se te positive things that the sisters and the mazis where doing. There are many things even though the negatives are so much easier to notice. The main thing is tha theese children are alive, they LIVE. Only that is a big thing. Without the missionaries of charity this children wouldn't have been. They live and honestly, the most children are smiling.

When the sisters put volonteers at Daya Dan they say that it is importan that there are only volunteers who have planed to tay for a month or longer. The sisters are aware of the childrens need of consistency. Almost every child at Daya Dan suffers from autism. But you can't say that they are treated as autism chldren. There are notes on the walls with the childrens names and all of their needs and "no needs".

They write for example :
Hi my name is Manu, I am 9 years old and i have autism. When you are taking care of me, pleas do not carry me arround, as I just learned to walk and it is good for me to practise. I am of diaper but i need to be reminded to go t the bathroom. If i wet my self, pleas dont scream at me, just change my clothes.

When i am happy I use to do clicking sounds, pleas learn me other easy ways of comunicating by repeating easy sounds. I love to be kissed on the chin, you will se when I ask you for one.

theese notes are writen with so much care and it makes me happy to read them. It say what the kids likes to do, what they don't like. What they need to practise and what they can manage on their own.

It felt good to find theese papers as the day yesterday really made me wonder what i can do here.

I will unfortunately have to say that they didnt make much of a good first impression. I am in a bit of a chock and when we left I was about to cry! How can people treat children like this. These children have lived lifes that have caused them more disabilities than the ones they where born with from the start. Many of them has become blind because of lack of nutrition, others are stunted in growth due to the same reason. All of the children at Dya Dan has some sort of physical handicap as well as a mental handicap. There are children from the age of 6 up to 19 at the moment and all of them are just wonderful. I just met them and I can alredy tell that they have all got talent. There is one of the boys who is such a good singer. Annother one of the boys is so caring, he cant talk at all but as soon as another child gets upset he is there to comfort them.

The first thing we did in the morning was to do the laundry. All volonteers was standing there while the sisters and the mazis (that is what they call the permanent staff there) was giving the boys showers. And it was so painful to watch. They where so hard on them, many of the children where screaming. The mazis didnt show the boys any respect at all, they shampooed them as if they where a rug that needed to be deep cleaned. The children they had shampoo everywhere. They left the boys all wet and naked with soap all over their face to get another one and to give them the same treatment. When they had a bunch of boys covered in soap from head to toe, then they sarted to rinse of the soap, all at once. They usd cold water and the boys are where screaming.

When they brushed the teeth they put a stick under the chin and they pulled their mouth opened, ofcourse the boys where screaming, I would have screamed too.

And how they fed the boys, I can't described how it looked. they where just pushing spoonful into their mouths and most of the children they didn't chew at all, they just swallowed. Why don't they show theese children respect? I just don't get it.

As I said, im in chok. I hope tommorow will be a better day. Their must be something good that they do!