Third week in!

School has been shut for the past few days due to the flood and recovery. This has meant occupying the kiddies. I have spent my days playing board games with the older ones and imaginary games of kitchen, schools, families, parties and superheroes with the nursery kids.



(my nursery kiddies)

I have moved into my new room! It’s very roomy and much closer to the girls. I get visitors every night which is nice, exhausting at times though. I have a dresser with a mirror, a desk, a bed and a chair in my room. To make it feel more like home I have placed clothes onto every surface area I could find. :P My bathroom is complete with bird bath shower and western toilet that I manually flush with a bucket. Like in every room of the mission my room is always visited by little frogs and lizards with whom I graciously live at one. The mozzies however, are another story!

It is VERY loud where I am. My room is in the main courtyard of the girls section of the farm. I am right next to the nursery so the noise starts very early. The girls have a 5:30 prayer meeting, which includes singing, in the room the other side of me. Then at 6:15 when the music starts to play (amplified through the whole farm) the speakers are directly outside my door so there is NO missing the wakeup call!!





(Picture: Top-the outisde of my room, Middle- my bathroom, bottom-the kids playing around in my room)

The routine of a normal school day is as such:

5:30-girls wake up to do their shores (baking, washing clothes, cooking breakfast, getting the nursery kids ready)
6:15-music alarm
6:45-breakfast
7:30-school starts
10:00-morning tea
10:30- school
1:00-lunch time (school finishes at 12:45)
1:30-4:00-rest/chores/playtime
4:00-afternoon tea
4:30-6- computers/reading time
7:30- Karna (food) time.
9:30- lauren goes to bed.


Yesterday was Brothers day. Although it is a Hindu Festival it is still celebrated on the mission because of the meaning behind it. On brothers day girls will tie a bracelet around the wrist of their brother (or for the orphanage it is the boys they adopt as their brothers) sybolising the commitment the sisters give their brothers to take leadership from them (sort of like the commitment the bride makes to her hubby when she gets married), and if the boys accept then they will return with their promise to protect their sisters and give a sweet or some money in recognition of this. With the status of women not being quite so equal here as in Australia, you can understand why having a brother to protect and cherish them is so important. It is also a great time for the girls here to get rid of unwanted pursuers by inviting those boys to become their brothers instead.


It has been raining all day, mostly every day, for the last week and a bit. I absolutely love it, however I am praying there are no more floods! School went back today because it is exam time for all the year levels except 10 and 12. Today I was in the little class (yes, even the 4-8 year olds get exams) and I was marking their rhyme recitals which were rather entertaining. They were supposed to have a drawing exam also, but the electricity was off so they were unable to print all the exams (they used the generator to print the older kids exams). Instead I sat and read them about 10 story books which they seemed to enjoy, however some of the books I would start reading then realize that they didn’t understand the content (like if the character goes for a picnic, and they don’t know what a picnic is).

There is never a lack of entertainment in the younger classes. Most kids in the reception class are outside children, so unlike the two farm children in the class (Debbie and Rajesh), they do not speak very good English. A number of times I have had to call on Debbie or Rajesh (who have excellent English because they speak it at home) to translate for me which they do mostly well. The other day I had a laugh though when I told all the kids to put their bags under their tables, a few were obedient but most were just staring blankly at me, and I asked Rajesh and Debbie to translate for me into Hindi. They nodded obediently, turned around and started yelling- “everyone put your bags under your table, put your bags under the table”…..thanks, I could have done that!



(Little 4 y/o Kevin giving me one of my many daily pecks :P)

These kids are really growing on me. I make sure I get a cuddle and a kiss from each of the littlies every morning which makes me nice and cheery to face the day ahead! They really are the most adorable creatures, even if they are climbing on you at every angle, fighting over who sits in your lap, screaming in your face and pulling your hair. The older girls are lovely, inviting me to join them for rest time, showing me their photo albums and showing me the diaries they make. I’m pretty sure I have become the unofficial typist for each of them who wants to write emails to past volunteers. There really is so much love here. Such simplicity, but so much happiness! We can all learn a lesson from that I think.

Well that’s all for now! Hope you are all keeping well, I miss you!


All my love.

Lauren xox