Shopping with the orphanage kids

All of the school age children at Insan Permata attend school and all of the schools require uniforms.  Orphans attending schools is not the norm because there are fees associated with going that make it hard to send them when meeting their food and clothing needs takes precedent.  Through donations and the director working out deals with various schools they have each child enrolled in a school.  This is a huge bonus for these kids as we all know how important an education is for their future. 

Paying for uniforms is a big cost as well, so one fun thing we got to do was take the orphans to Ramayana (think the Indonesian K-Mart) to shop for shoes and a few other goodies for their school uniforms.  Each of our team was paired up with a child and then went off with Rp. 200,000.  That is about $21.  They were tasked with finding black shoes first and then anything else they had left could be used for other items they needed or really wanted.  In fact many of our team spent their own spending money getting the orphans things they really wanted.  It was beautiful to see the servant hearts of our kids.

Now shopping in Ramayana is an experience in itself.  One thing you need to know about Indonesia is that shopping is a full on, all five senses experience.  Music blares through the speakers and the smells of food and sweat, and other unidetified smells mix together to make shopping here much more hectic than say, taking in the sale at Nordstrom.   Adding to this cacophony of over-stimulation, this  particular store rarely, if ever, sees any foreigners.  That meant that we were all on display like the baby panda's making their first appearance at the zoo.  Pictures and people wanting to practice their English followed them around like fan girls chasing down members of "One Direction."

The paparazzi aside, our team and the orphanage kids had a wonderful time bonding with each other and allowing them to be spoiled.  These kids so rarely get anything new from a store as most of what they have is donated.  That made this a really special trip because they got to pick out the items they received for themselves.  Some of them even cradled the bags as they went home because they were so excited.  In showing God's love to these children our team was able to see how many everyday blessings we have in our lives.  It was a real eye opener for our group!