12th Report

Tuesday – Last day; I decided to sleep at the Orphanage to get the true experience. They prepared a bed, including a cover sheet made out of recycled plastic to kept the mosquitoes off; they do like my white skin!   The children are already asleep when I arrive, lying on their worn mattresses on the floor. They huddle together wrapped in blankets looking contented with 25 little bodies to a dormitory.  It is winter here, although it is like a hot summer’s day in the UK, but it does cool down in the evening. I take a little footage for the documentary, keen not to intrude too much and keeping to the two boy’s rooms.  Next morning, the Cockerels wake me at 4.30! The children sleep a little longer before Prayers, sang and danced with their normal enthusiasm, although looking a little weary and wearing the same clothes as yesterday. I realize that they had worn these all night to keep warm. I was pleased that tooth cleaning was next; the children emerging from their rooms clutching their worn brushes and sharing toothpaste. Then, time for a wash, some had changed, boys wearing sarongs, girls still in their ball gowns. Showering is a matter of pouring water from the outside taps over themselves using a jug, a bar of soap and drip dry. One young child had wet himself during the night and with a couple of friends was dragging the mattress up some stairs to the roof where it could dry out in the sun. His clothes were hung up on the metal bars protruding through the roof structure.

As the day progresses I play more cricket, showing them a few new games and teach ‘Word’ on the computers to a group of older boys and girls. Two teachers are also keen to learn, so I proceed to instruct, but more importantly encourage them to persevere and pass on their new skills. I have had a few more donations for the computer fund and I will send, from the UK, some children’s textbooks and more Indian Curriculum software.

A special chicken dinner has been prepared for the children today and I eat with them. I am quickly reminded that it may be too hot/spicy for me, but I insist if it is good enough for them, it is good enough for me. ‘Go and fetch him some water’, is the cry, as the steam emerges from my ears. Actually, it was not too hot, but a little over reaction amuses the children, and perhaps that’s my role.

Soon, it is time to leave, a moment I was not looking forward to. This was not going to be easy. There was Anji, Ganesh, Suman, Shiva, Javeed and lots more that have had such an impact on me. Pastor Samson has assembled all the children, now in the dark, and performed a ‘Honouring’ ceremony presenting me with a garland of flowers and colourful shawl. The children chant and clap and then I was swept away swiftly, to my relief, waving from the 4X4.  Oh my, what an experience. My goodbyes continued to all the good people who had looked after me; Samson, Grace, John, Ranjit and more, not ever forgetting Ladu, my faithful 13-year-old and assistant Cameraman.