I arrived at the Orphanage this morning at about 10:30 not quite soaked .The monsoon hasn't finished!
The children were all at home today.When I arrived all the girls and the preschool boys were in the middle of watching a film
and the older boys were busy with various activities so I took the opportunity to stock take the storage cupboard downstairs.
They have enough coloured pencils and wax crayons and colouring books for a very long time all taken out by previous volunteers.
They do however need some ordinary pencils so I will get some tomorrow.Hopefully tomorrow Shruti and I are going shopping for a few bits and pieces.
After lunch I spent about an hour with Nabina(the oldest girl in the home) and Hemma(a Didi- which means older sister of which there are 6 Hemma,Nena,Kusum,Rajkumarie,Kulpuna and Santi-they take care of the cooking,cleaning,washing,nursery and general care of the children-they work very hard and do a very good job).
I showed Nabina and Hemma how to play the ocarina so that when it comes to teaching the other school aged girls I will have some help.It was alot of fun.
For the last part of the afternoon I went in with the boys who were watching a Nepali version of Tarzan only he didn't have an affinity with monkeys but with snakes.It was different. The boys were very pleased that I sat through it with them though so it was worth it. This makes it sound as if the children's home is ideal.It isn't. There is alot that needs doing but alot has already been done by OCCED and previous volunteers .Having seen so many children on the streets these children are some of the luckier ones.They all have very sad histories but atleast ,due to the generosity of alot of people,like all of you,and to OCCED and the volunteer programme,these children have a brighter future.It would be easy to go into somewhere like the home with a critical eye and compare it with what we have but I think initially it is important to look at the positives,and there are alot! and I think the rest will follow in due course.