SURPRISE EASTER PARTY FOR THE CHILDREN The Administrator’s wife sur­prised me with a late after­noon vis­it on Wednes­day, last week. She request­ed that we set up for an East­er Sun­day par­ty, and she would bring all the food! (She owns a restau­rant). On Sun­day, they arrived with mul­ti­ple cars, and lots of food (rice, beans, beef, chick­en, and French fries). To top it off, a large BIRTHDAY CAKE was deliv­ered by her dri­ver! That’s when we found out that this was the Administrator’s wife’s birthday!

Our chil­dren help­ing the Birth­day Lady to cut her cake.(Bonus! Watch and lis­ten to us sing the Por­tuguese ver­sion of Hap­py Birth­day at the link, below!) https://youtube.com/shorts/7vH0bd5zBkM?si=PG0v3205H4IpigwK

She gave our kids a par­ty to cel­e­brate her spe­cial day!The kids had a blast, eat­ing all they want­ed, and there was enough left over to feed all the moth­ers who stayed in the hous­es to guard the babies. This gen­er­ous woman then hand­ed out 48 spe­cial Woman’s Day Caplanas (cot­ton cloth used as a skirt). This is a very cher­ished gift by the women and all our moth­ers and female staff received one!

The moth­ers who came to the par­ty were the first to receive the spe­cial Wom­en’s Day caplana.

Moth­ers from the 3 infant hous­es receive their caplanas.

Ostrich House moth­ers where the 15 2 year olds live.

Vic­to­ry Rab­bit House AND Gazelle House moth­ers where school age kids live.

We are very grate­ful for the gen­eros­i­ty shown our big fam­i­ly, as it was no small feat to orga­nize all of this. All we did was set up tables and orga­nize the chil­dren. TUESDAY, APRIL 7, NATIONAL WOMAN’S DAY Some of you have asked how many moth­ers it takes to care for 47 lit­tle ones under 5 years old. Most of the moth­ers live here, but some of them are “day moth­ers”.  The 8 “day moth­ers” come in at 6 a.m. to wash clothes and help clean the house and dish­es, so the 29 “live in” moth­ers can care for the chil­dren (dress­ing, bathing, chang­ing dia­pers, etc). So today, we hon­or these women who live and work with us so that these orphans can have a “moth­er” and a future. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO PRAY AND GIVE FOR YOUR HELP IS INVALUABLE. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF