Almost a week ...

---

Tomorrow it will be a week since we arrived to the orphanage. A week to go and neither of us can predict what leaving the children will be like.

We are slowly realising how emotionally taxing this work can be. Physically we do not do much, but we feel absolutely exhausted at the end of the day even though the children are at school until 4pm. They call us "akka" , meaning "sister" in Telgu, the mother tongue of most of the children at the orphanage. From the time children arrive from school to the time they go to bed, there's a chorus of "akka this" and "akka that", all of them wanting us to look at them, talk to them, sit with them, read to them, do homework with them ... and we don't want to miss anyone. Wander if this is the reason we are exhausted?! :-)

A few exciting developments to report on:

As we said in an earlier blog, the orphanage is run by tireless Pradeep and his wife Rebecca. They used to have a cook and another two people helping them, but the cook got sick and the other two volunteers moved onto paid jobs, which means that the logistics of buying groceries, cooking, paying bills, etc ... are taking most of Pradeep and Rebecca's time. Therefore, they are unable give individual attention and play with the children, which as we observed, is much needed.

So, the volunteers (Ingrid, Jill and I) sat down with Pradeep and brainstormed ways in which Pradeep can be supported and is therefore more able to meet the emotional needs of the children. We came up with a few ideas and are very excited about the possibility of buying a sewing machine and teaching older girls to sew, and hence generate some income in future to make the orphanage self-sustainable over time, as well as teach these young women a skill that may come handy to them in the future. We hope that the sewing machine and tutoring will be paid by the donations of our friends and family. Our fingers are crossed that we get enough. Another idea was employing a cook whose salary will be covered by sponsorship (AUD$100 per month which is an average monthly salary in India). This would definitely free up Pradeep's and some older children's time.

Howev er, it's not all "big picture" stuff at the moment. All three of us are experiencing a whole range of emotions in one day and on daily basis. We oscilate from sadness, to attachment, then followed by numbess, joy, fear and pain ... but that's a whole another blog.

Thank you to all people who commented, your comments and support is much appreciated.

---