Back to business

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With only five days left at the orphanage before I leave, and back to full strength, I'm keen to do as much as I can and tie up all the things I've started.

Before going into the orphanage after the new year break, I need to get my 30 day permit extended at the Immigration office for my last week in the country. Like most of the office set ups I've seen - the administration system is slow and disorderly. Looking through the bars to the desks behind there are papers and files everywhere. Something I have seen in every office and large shop is piles of paper and ink stamping. Even as you leave the big superstore 'Game' you must have your receipt stamped by an attendant.

As the geep bumps along through the village to the orphanage - children still point and shout 'Mazungu' (white person) and adults look on with interest. I wonder how many more months of volunteers coming out it will take before it becomes a little more 'normalised'. The villagers are friendly and smile and wave as the geep passes. It is sometimes exhausting after a long day at the oprhanage to wave at everyone you pass - but it is always a moving experience.

At the gates the children cluster and call my name: 'Mare-ree' (rolling the 'r' sound) and hold their arms out to touch me. It's great to see them again.

Not many infants have come in as their extended families had been told there would be a holiday break until 7 January. They are sitting in one of the small classrooms as the primary+ kids have taken over the hall. (Normally the older children arrive after they have attended the governemnt run primary schools but they are currently on holiday).

The hall is busy with children playing all sorts of games at once - skipping, football, netball, skittles, and groups of children sitting playing Bawo (traditional game with seeds and a wooden board). I am thrilled to see them using the Bawo sets I bought from my craftsman friend Godfrey. And clearly they love playing it and can play very fast. While two children play at each board, a little huddle of others sit around them awaiting their turn.

At lunch time the primary+ children sit in groups of about four or five and share one big bowl of Nsima (maize) and one bowl of beans. They love this food and eat up every last scrap. While they are eating I walk around sitting down with different children. It is the calmest I've seen them and so I use the opportunity to ask them questions about themselves. I ask what they want to be when they grow up - I hear: doctors, nurses, pilots, farmers, pastors, soldiers, teachers. Then I ask about their siblings; some have three or four others in the room and enjoy pointing them out to me. They tell me about some of the things they have to help out with at home - such as carrying water for the whole family to use. Children have very adult lives here. In the village it is a common sight to see small children carrying bricks on their heads and helping to build new houses.

While I am going around, one girl out of the blue says: "thank you so much for the school bag, sugar and soap. May God bless you for what you have done." I continue talking with her trying not to show the tears building in my eyes. I had also heard that one mother, who cares for four children, had been into the orphanage to thank the staff for the sugar, as she said it meant the family could add sugar to their tea and porriage over Christmas.

I speak with the project manager about the welcome book for UK volunteers I've been working on and we finalise how he will take things forward. I'm so pleased they will use it and that they think it will be helpful. We also spend time talking through how he can start up and keep a six monthly newsletter going, which I hope to give e-support to from London.

It is good to be back at the orphanage, but it is sinking in that I'm about to return home. Just as I'm getting into the swing of how things work and who does what it is time to be packing up and leaving. The staff keep saying I should stay till the end of 2008, and when I reply that I have to return to my job in the UK, they ask when I will be able to come back.

Having discussed the last current priorities that I can help with before I leave, I am off to the shops to buy mops, buckets, cloths, washing up liquid, detergent, brooms, dustpan and brushes, and two whiteboards with pens. I also pick up lollies and biscuits to give out tomorrow - despite the large containers - I know they won't last long!

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