All In a Days Work

Happy Korean New Years Everyone!

I believe I wrote a brief synopsis of our daily schedule when I first arrived here, but the work load has increased tenfold since I became the go-to volunteer for the kids.  

My morning starts around 6:30 am, when I roll out of bed and head to the orphanage with toothbrushes, toothpaste, super glue, and ringworm cream. Usually about two of us volunteers are enough to handle the morning time. We have all of the kids brush their teeth, help the little ones to find their shoes and uniforms and put them on, and make sure everyone gets to school on time.

 We eat breakfast at eight (taking turn doing dishes with laundry detergent in stagnant water), then head over to the orphanage to see what needs to be done.  Usually we wash laundry (by hand) for the younger boys and girls in the morning and hang it up to dry in the hot African sun throughout the day.  Lately we’ve been painting the orphanage, changing it from a green color to a light peach, which Mama Sarah picked out, but painting in Ghana is a significantly different experience from painting in the First World.  When we tried to clean the walls before painting it came off like chalk on our hands, so we abandoned that tactic and thought we would just use primer until we couldn’t find it anywhere in town.  We ended up painting a light pink over this pastel green from five years ago and so far, it looks surprisingly good! I promise to upload a picture of the final product.

 After our morning of work we head home for lunch at 1:00 pm, and I like to take some time for myself afterwards. In that time I usually will take a nap, go into town, read, journal, or listen to Harry Potter on audiobook.  The kids are usually out of school by 3:00pm and we hit the ground running once again.  Providing coloring materials, getting the younger ones to do their homework, doing puzzles, or going to watch our boys practice soccer on the field nearby.  If I go running, this is the time of day to do it: while the sun is setting and it’s not too hot out.  We eat around 6:00pm, then head back over to the house bearing stories, soap, toothbrushes, our left overs, and as much energy as we can muster.

 We help with homework, find uniforms for the next morning, and go with the little ones to brush their teeth and go to the toilet. Around 8:00 pm we start trying to get the kids to head to bed and I begin “The Story Rotation”.  Each night I bring over 5-7 books to read to the kids.  The little ones get stories first, and then the girls and boys rooms in turn depending on which had their teeth brushed first. By the end of the night I have read between 15 and 25 stories and am ready to crash.  If I’ve gotten nothing else out of my time here, I can recite The Giving Tree and Dora the Explorer: The Birthday Dance Party by memory (and have needed to, multiple times, when I forget to bring books over).  At the end of the day (usually 9:30pm) we traipse back to the volunteer house and I have enough consciousness to listen to about 10 minutes of Harry Potter on audiobook before passing out so I can wake up at 5:45 am the next morning and do it all again.

 While this rant may hold an exasperated note, I am glad to be here and I would rather end each day with fatigue and fulfillment than energy and boredom. 

Everyone stay warm and safe back home! Feel free to leave comments and questions!