A day well spent...

On Saturday, the 27^th of April, we were privileged to be sharing some priceless moments with the children of an orphanage.  We were a group of 4, and were visiting the orphanage as part of community service from the team.  The orphanage situated in Sainbu-3, Lalitpur was called ‘Orphans Homes’ founded by Mrs. Rita Rai. The girls and boys of the orphanage lived in separate houses. Boy’s residence was called ‘Khusi Ghar’(Happy Home). The girl’s residence was where the contact office was and the chairperson lived.

Posing for a group photo.

It was a beautiful morning with glorious sunshine. We reached the boy’s orphanage first at around 9 am. When we reached there, some of the boys were inside their room, some were outside playing basketball. The boy’s were of various ages. We introduced ourselves; all of them were very welcoming and greeted us. We distributed chocolates we had brought for them and played basketball with them. All of us posed for a group photo. We clicked photos of the kids. The innocence on their face was very appealing. We then left the boy’s place for the girls’.

On reaching girl’s residence, we were greeted by the kids. All of them had bright smile on their face and were very happy to welcome us. We spend some time with the chairperson and talked with her, how she established the orphanage and how she is managing it. Here is her account on how she started the good work-

                ‘I once visited a village in Terai, and saw many children without clothes. I decided to donate some clothes myself. The happiness in kid’s face made me happy and got motivation to do something good for the kid’s. So I decided to establish an orphanage and this is how this all started.’

She shared with us how difficult it was to start and run the orphanage back then.  She did not have enough support when she started the work. It was not easy for her to involve others in the work. But she did not lose hope and got along with it. She sold some piece of land to build home for the kids.  She also sold some of her ornaments. Back then, she cared the kids on her own. Cooking food for them, washing their clothes, making the kid’s bath were all her responsibilities, and she fulfilled those with utmost satisfaction. As the kids are growing up, there are more difficulties. Financial problems are increasing, albeit all she wants is honest help. There are various campaigns that the children from the orphanage have done to raise funds in the past.

The girl’s on the orphanage were very sweet, very encouraging. After talking to Rita Rai, we looked around the orphanage to see the facilities. We handed over copies to Rai to help her support the education of the kids. We then gave chocolates to the girls. The feeling of happiness on their face was priceless. The girl’s then showed us their dancing and singing skills. Some of them recited poems ,rhymes and some told jokes. It was nice to see older ones helping out the younger ones. It was nice to see everyone being happy for each other. The girls seemed to be in good and healthy condition, which we often doubt when there are many children living in orphanage. Mrs. Rai had taken good care of their nutrition. She told us that she does not want her children to be seen as malnutrition. 

Handing over copies

As the years passed by, helping hands increased. She got the support from the family.  With the multi-talent Mrs. Rai had, she did not have to beg support from others. She tried everything she liked to run the orphanage. From horticulture and gardening to pig farming, from bee farming to running school, she tried and achieved success. She is now involved in handicraft. While the earning is good, most of that goes into running the orphanage and she is happy how things are moving on. She feels proud remembering how things have gone so far for her. She is however not merely taking care of the children, but contributing her skills to the small child. She claims that she wants her child to be independent and develop skills so that they can run their life in future. The girls seem to understand that. They were interested in helping out in household works. They knew which and when festivals are celebrated, what arrangements are needed. Mrs. Rai is now starting a bakery, and the girls are helping her in running the bakery. That would surely make them more confident and independent.

Chocolate.

I always thought I would feel sorry and low when I go to places like those. But that was certainly not the case. Right away when you entered the home, there were good feelings coming through. The greenery around the home and beautiful smiling face of the girl made it special.

What was more special for me was that the visit to orphanage was on my birthday. It felt very good to realize that I had done something good on my birthday and I suggest people reading this to try sharing their time with children like those. It was overall a day well spent.