January 16th, 2012
Today was my one-month anniversary of my return, and what a trying day it was. The kids returned to school last Tuesday, so this morning was their first Monday back at school and boy did it show. We got new volunteers yesterday so all 12 people living in the house wrangled ourselves out of bed at 5:45am this morning to show the newbies the ropes. Typically when we arrive at 6am things are underway, most children are awake and at least on the way to being ready for school. This morning we arrived to only the small children being awake, the entire boy’s room was filled with children still fast asleep. The night was a bit chillier than normal and the kids were wrapped in their winter jackets refusing to get up. When they were finally rallied and awoken one by one, we discovered that there was no water for them to bath with, which is a task they are required to complete before going to school each day. They have been using the small stream behind the house for cooking, bathing and washing water in recent months. Due to the fact that it’s currently the dry season…the dry weather suddenly and severely affected their water source. The river is dry. My guts wrenched with concern upon discovering this. How are we going to find water to bath, water, cook, clean clothes, and wash dishes for nearly 80 children on a daily basis?? I spoke to Sister Beatrice, our cook and a woman who helps at the orphanage, and she says for now they can venture further upstream to where the water still flows.
The last few weeks have been filled with many such worrisome events, causing my long absence in writing, for which I do apologize. Last Sunday, Mama Jane had a meeting with all the children telling them that if their behavior does not improve in 2 months (Bringing us to March 21st of this year) the doors will be closed and the children sent elsewhere. They are required to wash their clothes regularly, bathe daily and keep the home tidy and things have not been going as such. To some degree, I personally attribute this to the presence of the volunteers who often have a hard time refusing to cuddle with a child who hasn’t bathed because they are dealing with orphans. The fact of the matter is that we are here to be parents. Parents who give love without the discipline find themselves with terribly misbehaved children, which is a problem we find ourselves facing. It’s eternally frustrating to have such volunteers come to the program and show such an unwillingness to adjust to the rules and regulations of the already established organization and instead try to impose their own Western ideals upon a home not their own. People have a hard time relinquishing control sometimes, which I understand, but it’s a fairly vital part of being useful in a place like this. You have to be willing to put aside all the things you’re accustomed to and adjust your paradigms to meet the culture you’ve immersed yourself in.
Things have been rather improved since the meeting. There was a subsequent meeting discussing the importance of the children following the instructions given to them by the volunteer instead of following what the other children tell them, particularly when the two clash. We are here as unpaid employees of Mama Jane, but employees nonetheless. We are here as extensions of her ideals and her rules. That meeting was yesterday morning but things seem to have improved even in that small time. We’ll see how things go tomorrow when they need to wake up at 4am and get ready for school but I’m feeling rather optimistic.
The other baby was born this week. Thursday morning Patience went into labor and delivered a little girl, named Ya. Just three days later she has a full head of curly hair and happy little face. I walked into their room today to find Patience, Kwasi, and Ya all fast asleep. It’s a pretty miraculous thing to convince 2 of the children capable of listening to you to be silent simultaneously so I was rather impressed that the 2 newborns were completely silent at the same time. Seems a pretty significant miracle in itself.
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