What do we do day-to-day?
In Tracy's words: Our home is an unofficial drop-in center and half-way house for youth who have left their orphanage. We believe our job is to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of these youth. This approach gives them confidence, a positive attitude and life skills to help them reach their full potential.
We tell the kids who come to us:
- We are not an orphanage.
- We are not a student dormitory.
- We are not a hotel.
How the house works:
Our house opens as a drop-in center Thursday to Monday from 2-10pm. We have up to 10 youth visiting each day for various periods of time. Dinner on an average night is between 15 - 25 people.
We encourage the kids to feel at home as part of our family. We have set up computers with limited internet access, a keyboard, movies and a stereo with karaoke. Our kitchen is open for coffee, toast, biscuits and evening meals. The laundry and bathroom is open for the kids to wash clothes and to shower. There are areas for the kids to sit and talk. We have a range of reading resources available to encourage personal development and further skills and education.
In addition, if they wish to participate, there are Bible studies at different times and a local church youth group every Wednesday night in the house.
Those living in the house
Those living at the house are required to contribute in order to help them take ownership and generate some personal real-world life skills. Each person goes on a roster for normal household duties. Peer pressure ensures standards of work are acceptable! At this stage there is very little financial contribution from the orphans - it is one step at a time for these guys.
All of those living in the house now have regular employment or are working towards further training at a vocational technical level. This is a result of meeting the young peoples' needs thereby giving them the internal resources to go and conquer the world!
Some fun and interesting statistics from our house
Kisses and hugs We hug and kiss a lot. When the children get up, leave and return from the house and as they are going to bed is the minimum quantity each child gets. This amounts to four per person each day x 14 people = 56 per day, 392 per week, 1568 per month 18,816 per year!
Washing A minimum of three loads of washing per day, 21 per week, 84 per month, 1008 per year.
Bread four loaves per day, 28 per week, 112 per month, 1344 loaves per year.
Potatoes Three kilograms of potatoes for one meal (four times a week), 48 kilograms per month, 576 kilograms per year. An average of 5200 potatoes to peel each year!
orphanshouse.org
