Report by Orphanage staff and Mrs Catherine Oreta
There are 33 orphans (eleven of which are boys) being kept at St Nicholas’ Village, all of whose parents died of AIDS related diseases. The children’s ages range from 15 years to 11 months.
The activities at the orphanage are run like in a home set-up with the help of four workers: three females and one male. The three female workers play the role of the mother, aunt and grandmother, while the male worker plays the role of uncle and father.
Mrs Judy Passmore plays the role of a grandmother and mother. She is the Orphanage Supervisor. She reports for work every morning at 07:30 hrs and knocks of at 17:00 hrs. She also attends to the sick children, taking them to hospital, like in the case of Mutinta who is always sickly, and ensuring that necessary medication is obtained, and visiting the sick children like in the case of the late Mirriam Tembo who died in hospital. She also ensures the school requirements are in place. She receives orphanage visitors and co-ordinates between the orphanage and the main office, mends clothes and sews new ones if there is material.
Mary Chininga and Grace Phiri play the role of mother and aunt. They live within the orphanage with the children.
Activities at the orphanage start as early as 05:00 hrs when everyone wakes up to start the day with prayers led by Grace Phiri and then go to assigned duties on the rota. Porridge preparation is done right away for the children’s breakfast. The children who go to school in the morning session are also prepared so that they can have their breakfast early enough. Cleaning and tidying of the dormitories, washing and ironing is done right away too with the help of the older orphan girls. Buns for the Tea Break are then prepared with the help of the older orphan girls at 10:00 hrs.
Lunch preparation starts around 10:00 hrs. The other children reporting to school in the afternoon session are also prepared so that they are not late. Lunch is served at 13:00 hrs
The children’s meals may include nshima, vegetables, beef, chicken, beans, eggs, tea, buns and milk.
In the afternoon, preparations for the evening meal start. The children are helped with homework and bathed. All this is done with the help of the big orphan girls.
The children go to sleep at around 20:00 hours after their evening prayers led by Grace Phiri.
Mr. Alfred Mulenga, who plays the role of an uncle and father, also helps with the maintenance. He keeps the outside surrounding tidy, planting and watering the flowers with the help of both girl and boy orphans. He also helps the children with their homework. He stays within the Centre but not at the Orphanage. He reports for work at 07:00hrs and knocks of at 17:00 hrs. The two Dutch volunteer girls, Mary Rose and Karen, and Mr Sandy Adam, another volunteer, help the children who have problems with school work with additional tuition.
Most children are involved in some working activity as a way of imparting knowledge and responsibility on them for their own future.
The children are generally happy although many of them have suffered serious trauma. The group is like a large family with the adults and children having a loving relationship. The older girls compete over who will carry the babies on their backs.
There is a great lack of toys, books, and simple sports articles, and the children are sometimes a little bored. A television set and VCR and children’s entertainment and educational video tapes would be a most welcome addition to their daily lives.
