New Kids On The Block

No, we didn’t organise an 80’s nostalgia night, we’re talking about 5 new kids that have arrived here at the orphanage since we’ve been here. Four boys - Shivam (5), Rampal (6), Vishal (6), Ankit (8) and a girl, Jyoti (9, 2nd from right). Surprisingly these children have fitted right in here without any hesitation or concern. The biggest hurdle for them right now will be to learn English as it is spoken widely here at the orphanage and attached school. 

Of the children here, most have at least one parent alive but due to family situations and poverty, they cannot look after the children properly and bring them here. The standard of living, education and future prospects are much improved by coming here and those who have parents can see them during scheduled “Parent Days”. Each of those shown above have their own unique personalities - Shivam (sweet), Rampal (rambunctious), Vishal (softie), Johti (story teller) and Ankit (after only 1 day here I'd say "determined to learn to swim"). The other children rally around them, showing them the ropes and helping them integrate.  

My how they've grown

To give some perspective on how the kids (and us) have changed – here’s a few before and afters from our previous visit (2009-10) and now.

In sickness and in health

Back in 2009/2010 we spent 8 months here at the orphanage with a hardly a hint of illness. This time however, both of us have had a bout of diarrhoea (Brad 1 day, Miriam 3) and Brad has just been out of action 3 days with a flu/fever illness. The staff and children have also been stricken by similar illnesses, every day it seems there’s someone missing from meal time or school. To combat this, the staff have decided to install a large water purification system - called a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system. This system, installed in the dining room, will provide enough clean drinking water for all the children’s needs and better yet (from the children’s perspective) the water is then chilled in a cooling system, an excellent way to “beat the heat”. Miriam and I spoke with the staff about the cost of the system and it coincided with the amount that Miriam’s grandfather and Brad’s uncle provided us before leaving Australia – so a big thank you to them!

Kind of related to health is our weight which was at an all time high when we left Australia but thanks to India, we've both dropped a considerable amount (B 5-6kg, M 4kg). So if you're after a rapid weight loss regime we can recommend a dose of illness combined with low-energy food.

Swimmers are winners

With the mercury hovering around the 38C-40C mark, the kids have been enjoying their daily swims in the pool. Whilst not quite as refined as the pools in Australia (no filtering or chlorine) it is still wet and a great way to cool off from the ever increasing heat. To prevent algal build up, the pool is emptied, scrubbed and refilled every 3 days, with the old water pumped out to the fields.

Brad has been joining them, justifying his extended time in the pool by teaching a crude form of water polo. In addition to the afternoon “free-time” swims, Brad has also been teaching a more formal swimming program during school time – this is primarily aimed at the “outside” kids, that is those who attend the school but are not part of the orphanage. These children mostly have never seen a pool before and unlike the orphanage kids that seem to be able to breathe underwater, need a fair bit of coaxing to gain the skills necessary to pass the course. He even has a whistle that makes him feel very important.

I have some questions that someone out there might be able to help with (I'm talking to you SA Water colleagues and fellow combat engineers): How can I extend the life of the water in the pool? It's quite arduous to clean the pool every 3 days. I'm concerned about adding salt or chlorine into the water as the water is sent into the fields and could have a long-term impact on yields (would this happen with chlorine?). Does anyone know how I could set up a low-cost, natural filtering system (I'm thinking activated charcoal and sand). I have access to decent pumps.....

India

It’s great to be back here at the orphanage – the kids have all grown up a lot in the last 3 years and many of the older ones have spread their wings and moved away, either working or going on to further study. It’s like we never left and most of the names and even Hindi phrases have returned to us quite easily.

The day starts with a 6:45 breakfast, taken with everyone in the main dining room, then work starts after  7:30am and knock-off is at 5:30 – there’s a fair few breaks in the day which is good since the temperature is hovering around 38 degrees most days.

The new school being built here is almost completed, and my brother Ash and I have been spending our days working on the security system as well as some manual labour preparing the bathrooms for plumbing and tiling. Miriam has been working in the office and in the kitchen, assisting in the preparation of meals.

The biggest changes from our perspective is the number of western volunteers here at the moment – far more than we experienced before with 2 families (with kids) staying for at least a year and also 3 others from Australia (excluding us) on short term visits.The evening meal is taken with the Shipway family, single staff members and volunteers making it a very full room at dinner. The other big change

is the quality of the meals here – when we were here last it was primarily vegetarian and quite bland, but there has been a concerted effort to lift the standard of meals and the children now receive 2 meat meals a week, more fruit and the flavours and variety has improved also.

R & R

From Melbourne we headed to Phuket for a bit of R & R, much needed after our hectic last 2 months.

After staying two nights in Karon, we escaped to a quieter spot at the top of a hill for the remaining 6 nights.  It’s amazing how fast time can fly, reading a book or looking out at beautiful tropical, coastal views from your infinity pool and restaurant...  Just what the doctor ordered.

Half a day was spent in Patong (way too much time for Miriam), and Brad escaped the pool 1 day for a fishing charter (not a great deal was caught, but many interesting characters met).

We met Brad’s brother Ash in Singapore and spent 1 ½ days sightseeing his chosen top sites, Botanic Gardens, Chinatown, Hawkers Centres, Marina Bay Sands, S.E.A. Aquarium.

We arrived in India late Sunday evening.

Family, Farming, Fishing & Friends

To those faithful enough to keep watch on this blog for signs of life – here’s what we’ve been up to so far:

The day after finishing up at our jobs, we set off to Mt Gambier to catch up with family before leaving the country for an unspecified amount of time. Miriam’s dad, Peter, had us working hard from day one and we inexpertly assisted in taking down and rebuilding a 300m line of fencing. This involved Brad getting behind the wheel of a couple of tractors and the handlebars of a motorbike (to herd cattle). After Peter had made us work for our keep, Brad’s family got us to chop and cart about 4 ton of firewood – talk about child labour!

Easter was spent with both families, with all our siblings coming down from Adelaide as well. After this we spent some time with Brad’s family with a few days fishing at Nelson, Victoria. Miriam was ecstatic to learn that the boat could only hold 4 and courageously opted to spend her days reading in the sun, back at the cabin.

We were then off to Melbourne to catch up with Julie and family, with Miriam gaining a “shadow” in the form of a doting 3 year old named Annabelle. Our last day in Australia (for some time) was spent having a BBQ on the banks of the Yarra in superb weather and even better company.

We’re soaking up the sunshine (and the rain) in Phuket currently - but we’ll write about that later. On Friday we head to Singapore, then we're off to India.