Pearl Market Adventure

Hi everyone
Today we went out shopping around the hotel and picked up laundry and pictures from a disposable camera. The pictures are not great but are a little snapshot of Samantha's life at the Foster Home.

We weren't out too long and Samantha melted down so I took her back to the hotel while everyone else shopped. She has been a crying mess today. Every little thing set her off. It is hard to distinguish naughtiness from confusion/grieving.

After a long nap we went on an excursion to the pearl market. We had to walk quite a while through several roads of markets. It was quite an incite into life in general here and what people will eat. We went past several beggars as well. Our guide told us that poor families from the country will send their disabled family members to the city were "bad men" employ them to beg on the streets. Some are without limbs and there are also disabled children on the streets as well. It is very sad especially considering the fact that the disabilities we saw were simple missing limbs. So correctable and unnecessary. Our guide said it is the best life they can have and "at least they have three meals a day. If they stayed home they would starve."

Here are some pictures from our day and our trip to the doctors for Samantha's exam yesterday.

Kim