Two worlds living next door to each other

Friday: This weekend was Iza's birthday and the kids had a blast making "human sundaes," which is basically an adults worst nightmare: children running everywhere, covered in whipped cream and flavored syrup, hyped up on cupcakes and soda, begging for water balloons to throw at one another.

Upper left: Simona's super sweet smile
Upper center: Chris hosing off the "human sundaes"
Upper right: Samu managed to get frosting on his nose before biting into his cupcake for the first time
Left top middle: Abel, David, Samu and Simona pose for a picture before the waterfight begins
Left bottom middle: Sarah and the AMAZING zebra cupcake "cocktails"
Bottom left: Kaleena pretends she didn't get a cupcake, but the frostin on her face tells a different story
Bottom right: The kids spontaneously toast to Iza's tenth birthday "La multi ani!"

That same day, Sar and I accompanied Stephanie and Chris to the village to drop off medicine. (The villagers will go to the doctor, who basically prescribes anything you ask for, then give their prescriptions to Chris and Stephanie.  They then run the prescriptions by Moni, who trained as a nurse here and who weeds out the unnecessary medications.  Chris and Stephanie then take the appropriate prescriptions to the drug store, pay for the medicine, and deliver it to the village where they then get to be chastised for not paying for all the unnecessary medicines as well.  Some things never change, regardless of the continent you're on.)

Upper left: Stephanie talks to a few of the mothers, while a man bathes in the space between huts
Top middle: Antița (Ahn-TEE-tsa) fixes her daughter hair
Top right: Another adorable little girl in the village
Left middle: One of the main streets in the village
Bottom far left: Alessia (Ah-LEE-see-ah) running around by herself, naked, at two years old
Bottom left: Sara is pretty much the cutest thing ever
Bottom middle: Chris is a magnet for adorable baby hugs (with Sara and Daneesia)
Bottom right: Stephanie gives Alessia a present from the ministry for her 2nd birthday

The contrast between where the children live, and the life they get to have at the Isaiah Center and Rachel's house is amazing.  You can tell the different programs are working, though: the parents associated with the ministry seem to be more attentive and caring toward their children, and the kids seem happy and loving.