The Reason I am here

Ok I will start this blog with a picture which will leave most of you scratching your heads.

Yes sad to say the poor wee souls are covered in lice and don't get treatment for it mainly because given the conditions it's impossible to ever be clear of them . It's really awful. You will no doubt see some pictures of me looking particularly unattractive with my hair slashed back but I suspect no matter how hard I try the wee blighters will get me in the end. The children really don't seem to mind . I have heard though that a " barber " periodically turns up at the door , sets his stool up gets one of these scraper knife things and scrapes their heads clean taking nicks as he goes . Many of the children scream so I hope that doesn't happen while I am there. I am also told that most people here do this to the children until around the age of 5 in the belief that the hair will be thicker, a sign of beauty and health so it's not just done for cleanliness reasons.

As every day passes I learn about and notice many different situations most which I and the other girls are not happy about but then our approach is so completely different to that of the Indians.

I will try and give a typical day

This is what happens after we have fed the babies at 8 am. Feeding time is pretty harrowing as often the bottles aren't ready in time . So when it does come they are screaming with their mouths opening like baby birds do. It's terrible and all you want to do is cuddle and give them that precious contact time but there are so many mouths to feed it's always done in a hurry , I can't bare that bit. Then of course during all this the toddlers are running amock unsupervised as there isn't the staff to supervise, and because they have nothing to call their own any toys that they play with become theirs until some one comes along and snatches it from them and then starts wailing and that can go on for ages all understandably disturbed behaviour actually. The language barrier is a problem too at these times.

These are the wee tots lined up waiting to be stripped for bath time in the picture above.

I take it you have noticed the odd style " nappies " the outside tied bit is a triangular cloth and the thicker bit is a long ways folded dish towel for want of a better description. There is nothing to protect seepage so you can imagine the state they are in after at least 6 hrs !  And of course when they are actually changed there is no cleaning their bottoms  except if they are soiled even then no water is involved only the nappy. Quite a few have sores and get cream on but I am surprised there aren't more.

So once stripped this is what happens next

Elizabeth starts with the newborns. They quite unceremoniously get lathered in soap and sluiced down , not pleasant to watch no gentleness there at all. She then shouts for one of us to take the slippery baby 

onto the cot where we dry them off , pass them to the next bed where they are powdered and clothed. For some reason she has us all working at full speed when infact there is nothing to rush for !

So once that's over with the inbetweenies are given some sort of rice mix . She breaks off a bit puts some in a mouth and so on.

That's just how it is done.

So by this time it's about 10 and the tiny babies are usually asleep again, so we lay out mats and toys in the bigger room for the others. This is a pretty noisy affair so I put on a cd of children's songs I had brought with me and that worked a treat. There was a calmness about the room and many of the children were moving to the sound of the music. Don't think we will do it too often though as the novelty might ware off.

Health and safety would have a field day here . I am amazed there aren't more accidents but they are very hardy resilient children that have had to do a lot of fending for themselves .

There is one cheeky wee chap such a handsome boy who I am sure would be snapped up for adoption but because his mother is dead but his father is still alive he can't be put up . His father needs to come forward to sign the papers or he will be in institutions all his life. I think they are going to put out radio and paper requests to try and find him, and even if they do it will be over 3 yrs. for the completion of adoption papers it take place.

Another wee boy appeared from the bathroom looking all groomed  for appearance at the courts and it looks like they will be starting the passport process soon. His adoptive parents are in the States so that's where he will be headed but he is nearly 4 and the process has been under way since he was a baby. Seemingly a lot of prospective adopters are American.

I need to ask more questions about adoption process and I will let you know .

Anyway a bit of play time and then the feeding begins again, they don't get enough milk at each feed so are starving and once ageing the screaming begins   I did challenge Elizabeth about the quantity and she said  " but if we give more sometimes they don't take or they get diarhoea from too much " hmmm I am not so sure about that one. So then I asked if when one is still hungry can they not get some more she said " I do give sometimes" 

Once again we will watch this space .I have found an ally in a German girl so maybe we will collectively challenge once I have been there longer. I do believe Elizabeths heart is in the right place and does an ok job given the circumstances. It's not an easy job with such limited resources and staff.

After this round of feeds I leave for the auto ride home crossing this to get to and from the orphanage , stagnant foul smelling sludge,

and yes there are rats. One of the girls saw one in the orphanage and I wish she hadn't told me as we have to sit on the floor a lot !!! I am holding onto the fact that they are unlikely to be around while there is so much noise, but toilets are open holes on the ground and there are drains that flow openly outside . If I thought too much about all that I think I would be on the next plane home !!!

Having had a rest I jump back in the auto and off we go again, it's such an adventure every time you get into one of these things, you never know what you will see en route.

This 4-6 shift is a tough one , we arrive to complete chaos. There is only one nurse and a wee sweeping lady that quietly goes about shifting dirt from one place to the next using a small grass broom.The older children are back from school thank goodness because they often jump Into the cots and shove a bottle in a screaming , wet child's mouth and they make exactly the same shaking swirling motion with the bottle as the carers do .

The feeding takes a good hour and then the older ones get to go outside to play. There is a roundabout a slide and a few bikes. I wish I had taken a picture but I forgot to to show the view the children have of the outdoor world. The orphanage is situated below a big fly over and railway line , so all they see when they look up is passing bobbing heads and the top of buses / trains , very limited indeed.. Then it's back inside again And I head for home. I shudder to think what goes on at night in there but the other volunteers who live above hear crying all the time.

So there you have it a day in the life of a volunteer in the orphanage .

Next blog will be about the very colourful festival I visited today.