Today I woke up shivering. It has cooled down and poured all night. I also had my fan on full blast as I have woken up sweating in the past. It was an unusual, but welcome, start to my day.
I got up and Skyped my family, which brought on the waterworks again. It's just hard that they are so far away. However, that was the only serious cry I had today. And it wasn't even that serious. Things are getting better. I guess I'm realizing that I'm here for the long haul (August 27). I'm hoping to have more happy things to talk about when we Skype from now on. Only tears of happiness are permitted!
I then went for breakfast. I just had bread and butter. It's totally satisfying as it is fluffy, thick cut, white bread. (Sorry, mom!) I just can't handle rice and curry for breakfast. Or even every meal of the day. I'm trying to alternate and have mostly bread at breakfast, mostly fruit at lunch, and then the main meal deal at dinner. It's always rice and some kind of curry. Beet root, potato, lady finger, jackfruit, bean, lentil, you name it. It all starts tasting the same after a while. The fruit varies from watermelon to plantains to pineapple. I bought some apples and oranges at the store for snacks and when they only have plantains, as I'm not a huge fan of them.
I then went off to the Nutrition Center/Orphanage/Sarvodaya Suwasetha. I began my day with the kids about 1yr-3ys old. We played outside and tossed balls to each other, I pushed a girl on a little rolling dog scooter thing. They seemed to enjoy themselves. Then we went inside and all of the children get bathed. For this part, I help undress the kids and then dry them off post-bath. Someone else then dresses them. They have this system down pat. It's like a well oiled machine. The kids then play a bit inside, get fed lunch (today a meal was donated by a local family and they came to see the children) and then they have a nap until who knows when. I am sent home at this time and supposed to come back at 3, 'after nap'. But everyone is already up at that time, so maybe they wake up earlier than 3. The kids loved my skirt today, which has beads on it. Many of the beads are now barely hanging on from the touching and pulling. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. I went to the canteen for lunch with my new friend, Erandi (from USA) and Sauri (from Korea).
After lunch I talked to my adviser, Bandula, and got a task to do until 3:00. I definitely didn't want to stay idle. Since their computer crashed awhile back, they have me creating a spreadsheet of all volunteer information, like name, address, program, etc. starting from 2005. It's not the most outrageously fun work, but at least it's something to do and is much appreciated. I don't have a deadline to finish it by, but I just go to the office and work on it on my break. I'm happy to be in an office with other people, even if we aren't talking. But I have people in my sight lines!
At 3:00 I headed back to Suwasetha and got to work with the babies this time. They range from 6months to a year old (ish). I got to help undress the babies for their bath and put them in their cribs. I also got to bottle feed and attempt to burp a baby. I think I had a good one because it burped once and did not spit up anything. I say 'it' because the kids are just in diapers or gender-neutral clothing and all have little to no hair. The names of the children are Sinhalese, and I have no idea how to determine a girl's name from a boy's.
Then we fed the slightly older kids (about 1 year). This is done by hand using the Sri Lankan way of eating, which is mixing everything together with your fingers and rolling it into a ball and shoving it in the baby's mouth using your thumb. It's a little bizarre but I got the hang of portion size and actually getting the food into the baby's mouth. Next will be improving my speed. These kids were also bathed and changed and let out to play around.
Soon after I got invited out for tea and biscuits (cookies). I had milk tea again, no sugar. This is apparently super weird as the people here use no milk and a truck load of sugar. Don't really feel like rotting my teeth, so I'll stick to milk.
After this, we put the kids in their 'cots' or cribs and they napped for part of the afternoon again. Later, they were fed, changed, and put back in their cribs.
I learned a lot from the staff with their broken English. One of the babies was born premature and weighed only 700g at birth. The mother gave her away at 3 days old. She is 6months now, but looks like the size of a newborn. She is still quite small and skinny, but I now she will fill out soon and hopefully become big and strong.
Many of the babies in the children's home are apparently born of unmarried girls and women. To have a child out of wedlock here is very taboo and unfortunately happens a lot. It is not a rare occasion to have babies come in regularly. Orphanages are also very common. Many girls get married around 18 here, and even having a child at that age is ok, simply because they're married. I explained that in Canada many unwed women have babies and keep them. Also, people usually get married when they are older than 18 or 20. Also, I explained that we have few orphanages. I didn't explain fostering children, as I've only really thought about that now, but maybe I could try to tell them tomorrow.
There used to be 5 nurses on duty, but 4 got married. There is now one nurse who lives on-site and is working 24 hours a day and is responsible for 23 children. Many have sores, some have cuts, and a few have ear infections. Then there is the usual being-a-kid-injuries like scratched knees etc. This woman must be so tired. She seems to love the kids and they all love her.
I worked alongside a woman my age named Sajee. I also met a girl named Kumari and another girl..... Nadi? I forget her name, oops! Only Sajee speaks broken English, but enough to teach my some words and tell people I have a mom, dad and younger sister, as well as some other things. When they are together they all speak Sinhalese, and I know they're talking about me because they motion to my nose ring, my face, skirt, grandma's ring, etc. Then when our eyes meet we smile like we are acknowledging "Yes, we are talking about you, but it's all good stuff."
I left at 6:30pm and met Erandi at the common area in our section of the hostel (outside our rooms, which are beside each other). We caught up about our days and went for dinner. Before dinner, however, I got my room sprayed for ants because they were climbing up my walls and on/in my laptop. I have all my food put away, but they're on a mission for something. They are small, but there are a lot of them. Maybe 100? I'm still getting used to the wildlife here. Like the random lizard that appeared on my wall at night and the mysterious bug wings that end up on my arm or clothes. Mosquitoes are a frequent pestilence. As long as giant spiders stay away, I think I'm good with cockroaches, worms, and other bugs.
Tomorrow I tour the preschool in the morning where I may be teaching in the next week or two. I will be splitting my time between the orphanage and the school if I'd like. That's a good option and will help me to vary my schedule. I also have that spreadsheet work to do. I'm glad I haven't hopped straight in to village life because this transition has been hard. I am learning some Sinhalese which will hopefully help if I find myself in a situation where there are few or no English speakers. I am supposed to bring a note-pad and pen tomorrow so Sajee can help me when the babies are sleeping or playing.
One of the matrons has said I've lost weight (fine by me) and people ask if I am happy. I am now saying 'yes' and beginning to mean it. :)
I got up and Skyped my family, which brought on the waterworks again. It's just hard that they are so far away. However, that was the only serious cry I had today. And it wasn't even that serious. Things are getting better. I guess I'm realizing that I'm here for the long haul (August 27). I'm hoping to have more happy things to talk about when we Skype from now on. Only tears of happiness are permitted!
I then went for breakfast. I just had bread and butter. It's totally satisfying as it is fluffy, thick cut, white bread. (Sorry, mom!) I just can't handle rice and curry for breakfast. Or even every meal of the day. I'm trying to alternate and have mostly bread at breakfast, mostly fruit at lunch, and then the main meal deal at dinner. It's always rice and some kind of curry. Beet root, potato, lady finger, jackfruit, bean, lentil, you name it. It all starts tasting the same after a while. The fruit varies from watermelon to plantains to pineapple. I bought some apples and oranges at the store for snacks and when they only have plantains, as I'm not a huge fan of them.
I then went off to the Nutrition Center/Orphanage/Sarvodaya Suwasetha. I began my day with the kids about 1yr-3ys old. We played outside and tossed balls to each other, I pushed a girl on a little rolling dog scooter thing. They seemed to enjoy themselves. Then we went inside and all of the children get bathed. For this part, I help undress the kids and then dry them off post-bath. Someone else then dresses them. They have this system down pat. It's like a well oiled machine. The kids then play a bit inside, get fed lunch (today a meal was donated by a local family and they came to see the children) and then they have a nap until who knows when. I am sent home at this time and supposed to come back at 3, 'after nap'. But everyone is already up at that time, so maybe they wake up earlier than 3. The kids loved my skirt today, which has beads on it. Many of the beads are now barely hanging on from the touching and pulling. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. I went to the canteen for lunch with my new friend, Erandi (from USA) and Sauri (from Korea).
After lunch I talked to my adviser, Bandula, and got a task to do until 3:00. I definitely didn't want to stay idle. Since their computer crashed awhile back, they have me creating a spreadsheet of all volunteer information, like name, address, program, etc. starting from 2005. It's not the most outrageously fun work, but at least it's something to do and is much appreciated. I don't have a deadline to finish it by, but I just go to the office and work on it on my break. I'm happy to be in an office with other people, even if we aren't talking. But I have people in my sight lines!
At 3:00 I headed back to Suwasetha and got to work with the babies this time. They range from 6months to a year old (ish). I got to help undress the babies for their bath and put them in their cribs. I also got to bottle feed and attempt to burp a baby. I think I had a good one because it burped once and did not spit up anything. I say 'it' because the kids are just in diapers or gender-neutral clothing and all have little to no hair. The names of the children are Sinhalese, and I have no idea how to determine a girl's name from a boy's.
Then we fed the slightly older kids (about 1 year). This is done by hand using the Sri Lankan way of eating, which is mixing everything together with your fingers and rolling it into a ball and shoving it in the baby's mouth using your thumb. It's a little bizarre but I got the hang of portion size and actually getting the food into the baby's mouth. Next will be improving my speed. These kids were also bathed and changed and let out to play around.
Soon after I got invited out for tea and biscuits (cookies). I had milk tea again, no sugar. This is apparently super weird as the people here use no milk and a truck load of sugar. Don't really feel like rotting my teeth, so I'll stick to milk.
After this, we put the kids in their 'cots' or cribs and they napped for part of the afternoon again. Later, they were fed, changed, and put back in their cribs.
I learned a lot from the staff with their broken English. One of the babies was born premature and weighed only 700g at birth. The mother gave her away at 3 days old. She is 6months now, but looks like the size of a newborn. She is still quite small and skinny, but I now she will fill out soon and hopefully become big and strong.
Many of the babies in the children's home are apparently born of unmarried girls and women. To have a child out of wedlock here is very taboo and unfortunately happens a lot. It is not a rare occasion to have babies come in regularly. Orphanages are also very common. Many girls get married around 18 here, and even having a child at that age is ok, simply because they're married. I explained that in Canada many unwed women have babies and keep them. Also, people usually get married when they are older than 18 or 20. Also, I explained that we have few orphanages. I didn't explain fostering children, as I've only really thought about that now, but maybe I could try to tell them tomorrow.
There used to be 5 nurses on duty, but 4 got married. There is now one nurse who lives on-site and is working 24 hours a day and is responsible for 23 children. Many have sores, some have cuts, and a few have ear infections. Then there is the usual being-a-kid-injuries like scratched knees etc. This woman must be so tired. She seems to love the kids and they all love her.
I worked alongside a woman my age named Sajee. I also met a girl named Kumari and another girl..... Nadi? I forget her name, oops! Only Sajee speaks broken English, but enough to teach my some words and tell people I have a mom, dad and younger sister, as well as some other things. When they are together they all speak Sinhalese, and I know they're talking about me because they motion to my nose ring, my face, skirt, grandma's ring, etc. Then when our eyes meet we smile like we are acknowledging "Yes, we are talking about you, but it's all good stuff."
I left at 6:30pm and met Erandi at the common area in our section of the hostel (outside our rooms, which are beside each other). We caught up about our days and went for dinner. Before dinner, however, I got my room sprayed for ants because they were climbing up my walls and on/in my laptop. I have all my food put away, but they're on a mission for something. They are small, but there are a lot of them. Maybe 100? I'm still getting used to the wildlife here. Like the random lizard that appeared on my wall at night and the mysterious bug wings that end up on my arm or clothes. Mosquitoes are a frequent pestilence. As long as giant spiders stay away, I think I'm good with cockroaches, worms, and other bugs.
Tomorrow I tour the preschool in the morning where I may be teaching in the next week or two. I will be splitting my time between the orphanage and the school if I'd like. That's a good option and will help me to vary my schedule. I also have that spreadsheet work to do. I'm glad I haven't hopped straight in to village life because this transition has been hard. I am learning some Sinhalese which will hopefully help if I find myself in a situation where there are few or no English speakers. I am supposed to bring a note-pad and pen tomorrow so Sajee can help me when the babies are sleeping or playing.
One of the matrons has said I've lost weight (fine by me) and people ask if I am happy. I am now saying 'yes' and beginning to mean it. :)
.....and this is why I love you!!! xoxo mom
ReplyDeleteLaura I love following your journey. God is using you in such amazing ways! If only we could see that fully while we are on earth. Try to treat each experience as a gift. Remember, God doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called, keep walking with Him and you will soon find yourself in a pattern of awesomeness! Desiree
ReplyDeletePS: You should look into turning this blog into a book when you are done for yourself!
Thank you so much! I definitely want to make this blog into a book at the end. It will be an amazing story to re-read and show others once I'm home. I'm glad you're enjoying reading my blog. I appreciate your support and words of wisdom!
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