Views from Green Forest

We wanted to share some views of Nazar's home for the past three years. Green Forest Orphanage is home to approximately 130 children, ages birth to seven. Children that live at this orphanage can be typically developing or have various disabilities. These special needs could include crossed eyes, cleft palate, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. There is also a building for children born with HIV/Aids.

When you drive down the long, pot-hole-laden road to get to the orphanage, you notice from a distance that the entire compound is surrounded by this colorful fence.
There are five buildings housing children. There is also an administration building, kitchen house, and a laundry building. Levi Nazar lived in the largest two-story building, pictured in the first photo with the fence.

The building next to where he lived was being
prepared for some much-needed repairs as seen to the right.

When we walked on the dirt path to go visit Nazar, we passed this shed full of old windows, boards, and building supplies.

This is the trail to Nazar.

The gray building in the background appeared to be the laundry facility.

The path, although nice for us to walk on, did not seem to take into account the needs of many of the non-ambulatory children that live on the premises.

At various locations on the orphanage grounds there are small vegetable plots with crops like lettuce, beets, and amaranth. This plot was adjacent to his building.

Right outside Nazar's building is this playground. Children enjoyed it on the weekends. Since it is cooler out, Nazar's groupa was not allowed outside to use it, for fear of the children getting sick.

This is the hallway that led to Nazar. Even though we know there are many children living in this building, on most visits we did not see or hear any children. To enter where his groupa is, you take the first door on the left. Inside is a small eating room, playroom, restroom, and bedroom. The bedroom consisted of seven cribs/beds lining the walls.

At meal times the caretakers walk from the kitchen to the various groupas, carrying the food in these cloth bags. Inside each is a metal pot typically filled with porridge in the morning and soup and bread for lunch.

One day, there was a lot of unusual action. We were invited to watch a "dress rehearsal" of a program some children at the orphanage were preparing for upcoming visitors. They were very proud of their performance!

During some of our visits we would see children raking leaves or helping to care for the orphanage donkey.

We took this photo just before leaving the orphanage on Friday. It was bittersweet to know that we were finally taking him home with us and that we may never again visit the children and the people who work here.