Orphanage in Tanzania

This is the trip that changed my life forever. It was my first volunteer trip and I can say it made me a better person. My favorite story from this summer was about this little boy. He was the mean boy at the orphanage, he bit, he scratched, he punched. He was always so angry! Having a sister with autism I grew up learning behavioral therapies so I decided to try just a basic therapy with him. I asked my cousin to help me with it as well. We decided every time we saw him we would give him a hug. At first he hated it he would try to hurt us. As the days passed he finally just became tolerant of our hugs. Toward the end of our stay something incredible happened. Each morning as we entered the orphanage the kids would come running to hug us. All except this boy. Well one of our last days there tears swelled in my eyes as I saw the first of the group of kids running toward us to be this special little man I had grown to love! He came up and gave me a hug. It was then I knew if anything I was able to reach one little boy and he turned out to be the sweetest of them all, just wanting a little love never having gotten it before. The rest of our stay we hugged with him and told him we loved him and he returned the favor. I will never forget this amazing experience!