20070319 African orphans make special visit by KVolkmann

African orphans make special visit

Mar 19, 2007

by Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner

Photo credit: (Kristine Buls/Baltimore Examiner) Nicky Berego, 13, of Namibia, Africa, rides Bucky next to volunteer Caroline Babylon at Petticoat’s Advance, a farm in Hampstead in Carroll County. Nicky is part of a group of orphans touring Md.

Bel Air, Md. - They watched Disney on Ice, shopped at a mall and rode escalators for the first time.

Maryland, after all, is far away from the girls’ home in Namibia, Africa the Children of Mount Zion Village, an orphanage established by Mount Zion United Methodist Church in Bel Air and still operating thanks to donations and volunteers from churches throughout the state.

“It’s a lot for them to take in,” said Sarah Dorrance, a seminary student and missionary advocate at Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, one of the orphanage’s sponsors.

But the girls appeared at ease recently while riding horses at Petticoat’s Advance, a farm in Hampstead in Carroll County.

Mary Shunk, an instructor with the 4-H Therapeutic Riding Program of Carroll County, praised the teenagers for their riding skills.

[…]

Dorrance volunteered at the orphanage last summer and plans to go back in July.

In Africa, “we played with the kids,” she said, “taught, cooked and just gave them some attention.”

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com

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