Ahhh.... orphanage life! Well as you can see form the latest batch of photos my little guys have been keeping me amused.... this is Raj being a rabbit! The past few days however has seen the confessions of girlfriends! My boys aren't little boys anymore but aspiring young Romeos!! Some of them deny having girlfriends but then they are grassed up by the others who can provide names, looks and tell me of the love letters they write each other! Mingmar (11)has admitted he has a girlfriend who lives near his Auntie and he plans to marry her, although I've not to worry because I am his best miss!! Speaking of marriage the boys were confused as to why I am 21 and not married yet, and would I like a Nepali husband?! Like I said, been having a few laughs with them over the past few days!! Even my Nepali friends have love lives that read like a Bollywood movie script. Matters of the heart aside, we took the kids to the playing fields at Charity on saturday, ( I almost stole one of the Charity boys Barrot because he is absolutely adorable even with a snotty face but WyeLuke were having none of it....damm) its good to get the boys out the orphanage as they have nowhere to play in there and are practically on top of each other which leads to alot of fights. Also since the kids now have a t.v. (which i'm not too happy about) we have to keep them motivated to get some physical activity as I worry about them becoming spoiled, although so far they are fine when I tell them it's time to switch the t.v. off. Helen, we still have music time which is awesome although some of the instruments are a bit worse for wear but it is beneficial for the shy ones of the group as they participate a bit more and come out their shell a little. So before bedtime they get to scream their lungs out, bash the instruments and dance until they drop (its also my secret weapon for tiring them out as they have me up at 5am everyday!) So thats the kids, they are pretty sound, lice, scabies and possible TB aside! Still some instances of bedwetting that need to be addressed as for the past few days in a row I've had to wash various forms of human waste out of sheets, blankets and trousers, Dettol has become my best friend! I on the other hand... well I move out of the orphanage on friday. It is not fit for volunteers to live in, showering and toileting is a problem, although Joe (NZ) is going to move in as he has seen what it is like. The problem is that GPPM actually NEED someone to live in but the conditions are just not stable or reasonable enough. One main problem I have is having to fight with the dal bhat uncle everyday to get him to feed me.... he doesn't like me much after I told him he wasn't to sleep over in the orphanage or bring friends round to stay over, so he doesn't put out dal bhat for me and seeing as I only eat twice a day it begins to grate on you when you know you have to go through the same routine every day just to get fed, thats what I'm paying rent money for! Also there are problems with the kids Kajaa sometimes, so if they dont eat, I dont eat. Also the way the house has been built means that it always smells of the charpi. Upstairs where the volunteers are supposed to sleep and where the older boys also sleep is the worst. There is a gap in the lovely concrete stairs (had a few scraped legs on them) have a gap at one side and so whoever has done the toilet downstairs, the smell floats upstairs and some mornings you just want to scream. It has been quite bad recently I actually thought someone had soiled themselves upstairs, it was only when I went downstairs where the stench was even stronger that I found the source.... pleasent indeed! I know all orphanages in general smell but this is a bit too far and thats saying a lot from me considering the toilet situation last year, although at least it was outside! Managed to take out some of my frustrations yesterday when a board member turned up at the house. It was just Joe and myself in fixing some clothes (Joe took over the sewing of rips as I am appalling, felt sorry for Mane after I fixed his trousers, he was probably better off before I 'sewed' them) when he turned up expecting other to be there. He is the vice-chairman of the board but also, interestingly, their ex-principle, i.e. the very man who kicked them out of their old school. Needless to say he didn't get off lightly and set himself up when he asked if Laxman (the passive, lazy chairman) had bought a sack of rice. Big mistake. The board only have to really pay for 3 things: Rice, Dal and chiyaa (tea). The boys are supposed to have chiyaa as it is their only source of calcium but I have yet to see them have tea in their new house. Also we have twice ran out of dal since I moved in only 5/6 days ago resulting in me pestering the dal bhat uncle into finding it from somewhere, anywhere, I wasn't bothered as long as he returned with some( this is one of his responsibilities so I dont think I am being unreasonable asking him to fulfill it). I reminded Bishnu of the 3 relatively inexpensive things the board had to supply and were failing to do so and I wanted to know why. Thats when the excuses started however I've been there before with Ram last year so they don't wash with me, such as (1) 'I pay 60,000 rupees rent' which he doesn't as rent is paid for by an old volunteer, (2) 'I thought Laxman has bought rice' Laxman buys nothing and bizzarely (3) 'Oh the boys are moving to Keric (their old school, the one he threw them out of) next year'. Lies. It seems to me that the only people who buy anythign are the women; Gita, Amaa and Rupa. I would prefer another way of dealing with things such as sititng down and discussing the issues but past experience has taught me that nipping, pestering and frequent chasing up is the only way to get some action from orphanage managers. Unfortunately inaction is the norm across the spectrum of orphanage managers and boards. Things turn into a game of chicken as they use the kids to extort money or food form the volunteers, they are content to let them starve to avoid paying for food if they think a volunteer will buy it which isn't our responsiblity. We're there to provide support or look after health issues, we immunise the orphanages using our own money yet it is never enough and greed inevitably seeps through. Although I think that is enough about the darker side of a volunteers job, on a brighter note tonight is the party!! Remember 1905? Well it's back, so we're all looking forward to a few cheap beers and unwinding before heading back out to do it all over again the next day! So I'm off to get ready for that as we are meeting up for dinner before it and it's be nice to get out of grubby shorts and t-shirts and into a vest and skirt. Take care everyone Much love (and a lot of dancing) Lauren xxxxxxx p.s. Anne, the boys have the photos of Laura-Amy and Emily stuck into one of their scrapbooks, it is so sweet and they were asking about them so I was filling them all in!