I was woken by Anne when they got back from the fish market this morning, quick shower and I was dropped off at Vajira Home where I helped with the 3 and 4 yrs olds in their school class. They are so sweet they very quickly got used to me being there, I sat with them at their tables and they kept touching my arm then squeezing it and looking at my fingers in great detail, it was so unusual for them to see a white person they had to ensure I was real. We did colouring and reading then it was singing time, this is when the louder ones came into their own. They knew round and round the garden but they form a line then follow each other around in a circle before tickling the child in front of them at the end. We sang incy wincy spider, twinkle twinkle and several others.
At around 12.30 school finished for this age so we walked back to their home which is adjacent to the other orphanage. We walked into a small room, there were four members of staff already there, I guess they had been caring for the babies.......I hope, anyway the tv was on (I have to say at this point childrens tv if it exists was never on) two of the staff were doing each others hair, one was laying on the floor with the remote control in her hand and the other seated on a chair, she got up to greet me and invited me to take a seat. The children all wandered into the room and sat on the floor, they are generally very quiet, they looked up at the tv. A llittle girl who has a bandaged hand was crying inconsolably, gradually I managed to get near to her and she allowed me to pick her up onto me and I cuddled her but she still cried, I asked them why was it her hand they said yes, however the same dressing was on as had been the other day when we visited. Suddenly they took her from me saying she had to have her wash, when she returned she was in a clean dress and no longer crying but her dressing still had not been changed.!
It was time to wash all the children, the little ones had several bowls of water thrown over them followed by the bar of soap again, washing their hair and body, then rinsed off with, you guessed it, many further bowls of water. The bigger ones, around 5 to 7 yrs old had their wash down which was not to include their head or hair but just from neck down and no soap. They dried with my help when I could get to them in time and dressed. It is all done so quickly. It was then time for lunch and off they went to collect their plates before going to the kitchen for food to be loaded onto them. Back in to the room with the tv, seated on the floor they eat their lunch, at no point were any of them offered a drink. They tend to drink the shower water and after they wash their plate in the sink I have seen them fill the plate with water from the tap that constantly runs and tip that into their mouth. We then played, it was the first time I have seen them play as such and judging by the appearance of the dolls it was their first time too! We had fun stacking the dolls one on top of the other and allowing them to fall, some of the girls sat holding the dolls whilst gazing at the tv screen, others started to undress them until a staff member decided to sew the dress done up at the back! We then had to move room as the staff were sweeping up, we went into a smaller room and played ring o ring of roses, they loved that and were familiar with the song. They laughed a lot. Next it was afternoon sleep time. The children collected a pillow and sometimes a mat, taking them into the small room arranged them on the floor and laid down. One little girl was not wanting to sleep and persisted in running from the room, a staff member asked me to get her to lie down, whilst coaxing me to force the child to do as she was told she was saying a word several times to the little one. Just at this point Anne arrived and the staff returned to their 'show' of being over friendly, the children were allowed to get up and mess about and after a little while we left for the area that houses the older children.
I asked what that word meant and was told it means 'swallows'. I leave you to guess at what that little girl was being told about me!
We collected Arajuna to take him to the hospital. This young man had cut his foot in water in January, presumed to be done by glass. He had stitches which were removed on the 6th Feb, he is still unable to weightbear. I noticed this yesterday and asked him if I could have a look at the wound, when I examined it he was so very tender I felt he may still have some glass in the wound so we decided to drive him to hospital for a poss x ray. Before we were able to leave the orphanage another young man jumped in the car also requiring hospital, he said a friend had accidentally poked his finger into his left eye that morning and it really hurt him. We travelled to
South Colombo Teaching Hospital (Kalubowila) well that was an experience I shall never forget! We walked into the A and E to be told he needs the outpatients dept, meanwhile Rohan (whom we found out was in fact a victim of a stone throw not a finger)had taken himself to the eye dept, we found the outpatients where we had to register his name, we then had to negotiate a queue of approx 30 people in order to get a stamp put on the slip of paper we had been given. Yes I did mean a stamp! ...needless to say the 'stamper' was not at the assigned small table with an ink pad sitting on it, so we went in search of this VIP. We found our way to an office, staffed by several administrators, one of whom agreed to stand in as the official 'stamper'. That done we were able to skip that huge queue of first timers and go directly to the doctor. She listened and looked at his face and said they had to admit him then under local anesthetic have a look at it.We decided to take him to the private doctor instead. On arrival there were so very many nurses I feared the bill would be enormous to cover their salaries. We were immediately ushered towards the doctor who said he needed to go to the examination room to enable her to examine the wound. The small cubbyhole was the examination room, we were told very severely to stay outside and the nurses would call one of us in when the doctor came in. Poor Ajaruna we couldn't leave him alone with them! ( it was like one of those films where they all lean over the victim.....sorry I mean patient...)we protested loudly which was met by a grunted and begrudged 'Come' the door was then locked to prevent any further episodes. Ajaruna was allowed home with us following a particularly painful proceedure.
I have to close now so I will skip the hours we spent back at the orphanage dropping them off, the other child presenting with a fever possibly chest infection or worse, the 'heads shoulders knees and toes' sang repeatedly with the 11 / 12 yrs olds and the wonderful walk along the sea front to the look out 'pier' interupted only by several ID checks.
From Sri Lanka..goodnight xx
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