Child Care: Orphanage is one of the popular programs in volunteering. VIN received nearly 20 volunteers in 2014 for this program. VIN has three different orphanages in the Kathmandu Valley as a partner organization where VIN places the volunteers to assist the care takers and help the children with home works, english language and other educational activities.
Lin Lovrenovic is one of the volunteer working for Child care: Orphanage program. She started from 1st of February; 2015. Here is a small experience of her in orphanage home.
“I have just completed by third week at Ganesh Himal. The past three weeks have been filled with new experiences, mental adjustment to immersion in a foreign culture, and the physical impact of a different climate/surrounding than experienced at home.
Ganesh Himal has 22 children, 2 adults, and 1 baby. Upon reaching my placement I was anxious to understand how such a small staff are able to manage one residential location with this number of children. I was unsure of what to expect of the children when I considered the past experiences that brought each of them to this center. I was worried that I may not be the right person to take on a project like this although it’s what I wanted. As an academic I am accustomed to entering most situations prepared but I felt like no amount of reading or conversation was going to be able to prepare me for something that was so unknown beyond the academic perspective.
Before beginning my placement a former volunteer from the center encouraged me to not put too much pressure on myself, enjoy the children, and remember that they are happy to have someone there. So as I entered the facility I was instantly welcomed, offered hospitality and mutual interest, as well as the space and privacy that I needed in order to adjust to all the new I was experiencing. Since the children are currently in school I have found the best way for me to volunteer at Ganesh Himal is to work with the children on their schedule and routine in an effort to reinforce and help with the actual reality that is their daily life. Ultimately I am aware that I am not going to directly change anything about their lives but if I can help them while I am there and show as much positive adult interest as possible in their lives and what they are doing then I am hopefully making a lasting impact on their view of adults, themselves, and maybe even my home country to an extent. So far I have enjoyed taking group and individual photographs that I hope to leave on the USB key for future volunteers. Maybe then they can manage to learn their names easier if they already have a resource to match a name with a face—along with some personalized personality information.
My days at Ganesh Himal are structured and routine (as much as they can be when working with children—they are always full of surprises themselves). Almost as soon as I exit my room in the morning I am offered tea and biscuits for breakfast while the children are usually doing chores and/or getting ready for school. My day begins with walking seven of the children to school, coming back for twelve more children to walk to school, and waiting at the school for the first three to finish before returning to the orphanage. At this time I enjoy lunch with the three children and take a small break for myself (either resting after the four miles of walking to and from school or taking another walk to the VIN office to use wifi and spend time with other volunteers). On the days that I do not go to the office I make time to enjoy some cartoons with the three children. This not only gives them a chance to see cinema in English but it’s important for me personally to be able to offer them a small chance to sit down and just be children for a little while amidst all the responsibility and care taking they undertake on a daily basis.
Around 4pm it is time to go retrieve the 19 children from school. I usually find them all walking together just down the road from their school so I join them for the walk back. When they return I wait while they change out of their school uniforms and prepare themselves to begin homework. I join them for homework time and continue to get more children interested in me helping them with their homework. The subjects where my help has been needed most is mathematics and English. Eventually the children let me know it is time to begin their prayers and I began just by observing these rituals before they invited me to join with them to the best of my ability. This has become one of my favorite moments of the day. After prayers the children read some more while they wait for dinner to be ready. It’s nice to sit with the children while they are eating, but I usually end up eating outside by myself or with the parents. The children are very quick eaters therefore most of them are finished and moving on by the time I actually begin eating dinner myself.
After dinner varies a little bit daily depending on what activities the children are up to. Sometimes they go back to homework, reading, or drawing. Other times some go to watch Hindi television with the mother and baby and I will be invited to join them in the tv/office room. At this point I usually continue with whatever I am doing until either the natural bedtime comes (usually 7:30-8pm) or the power cuts out and the kids make their way to bed anyways since there is no light left to use except candles and headlamps.
Since the arrival of another volunteer it has helped give me ideas and opportunities of other ways to get involved. For example if my colleague is helping with homework I have time to help some of the other children with their chores including vegetable prep, water fetching, holding Lewis, and various tasks the kids are given around the orphanage. Also having someone there and being able to observe the different activities she jumps into helps expand my own ideas of what I can comfortably get involved with without risk of potentially offending or upsetting someone. Hesitation and fear of being intrusive has been a challenge for these first three weeks and I look forward to continue moving past them over the next seven weeks I have there and continuing to take on new and different activities with the children. I enjoy them all and have been nothing less than impressed with the attitudes and personalities of them all. They have difficult pasts but have found something positive in their lives for the present. I sincerely hope the work and time of Manoj, Kaushila, VIN, and all the volunteers resonates with them as they continue to grow and helps guide them and reaffirm positive life directions.”
Published on: 15 Mar 2015
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