"I will not leave you as orphans..."

Here is a photo from the Kichene Study Center we visited in Addis Ababa.I was actually holding two girls and just loving it...but this image only catured the one girl. They LOVE to be held and love so much affection and attention.

We visited orphans at a Mother Theresa orphanage in Addis. There was an autistic toddler boy that ran up to me as soon as he saw he and jumped up and down until I held him. Once I held him, he would not let me put him down! If i tried to, he would cry uncontrollably and throw himself down with his head hitting the concrete floor... I carried him until my arms gave out and it was so hard to finally just have to walk away from him. He had all these knots on the back of his head, I guess from where he's done this before..I still have the image of him throwing himself down and his head hitting that concrete so hard..he seemed completely oblivious to the pain of hitting the floor...only conscious of the pain of not being held anymore.
At another orphanage, a little 4 year old girl would run up to you to be held. She had learned to wrap her legs around you so that when you tried to put her down, she would so contort her legs and feet so that she had you in a wedge and you had to have someone else literally pull her off of you. They are so hungry for love and affection. It's a basic need in everyone... they want so desperately to be held...