Here at the home, our day starts early - the kids are up around 5:30 every morning, to shower, eat breakfast, do chores and get ready for school. Though that seems like a relatively short list of activities, it usually takes over two hours, so they're just ready for the rickshaw to take them to school at 8. From 8 until about 3:30, the directors, staff and volunteers have some "free time", usually spent running errands, cleaning up the house and, increasingly, spent on outreach activities in the slum. Two days a week, the kids have soccer practice after school until 6:30, otherwise they come barreling through the door at 3:30, sending the cats back to their hiding places and quickly filling the home to overflowing with their belongings and their voices. After school, they eat snack, do chores, do "English Study Time" (school homework with some supplementary lessons) and play outside until dinner at 7. After dinner, cleaning up is a group effort involving every child and adult, then the children get in their pajamas before doing bedtime reading with directors and volunteers and finally heading to bed by 9:30.
Day-to-day life in the home is definitely well-orchestrated chaos. Though the above schedule may look all-encompassing, the kids find time everywhere to play games, color, chase the cats (we have six!), listen to music or just be silly kids. Uno (the card game) is ever-present, and Risk ("The Game of Global Domination") is a special treat. We take outings to the park, play football in the driveway and watch movies on Saturday nights (Free Willy is currently the most-requested, and Harry Potter is "too scary" for a few of them). We teach computers at least once a week, working on typing, use of the Windows system and we will soon begin to introduce the concept of videoconferencing, so that they can share experiences with classes around the world (we already have a small network forming across four continents). In addition to these normal leisure activities, each volunteer is encouraged to bring their own project, and in the past the kids have learned about volcanoes, PhotoShop, classical Indian dance, gardening and collages. While every activity isn’t for every child, each will be quick to tell you of their favorites and show off their new talents.
The children have adjusted well to living in such a "unique" household, comprised of people from all over the world, spending anything from a couple weeks to their entire lives with the kids. They are quick to talk to new volunteers about their homes, sports in their countries (soccer/football is a favorite, and Manchester United seems to be the favored squad of late), their families and their schools. They also keep in touch with, and ask frequently about, former volunteers, learning about their lives through emails, postcards, pictures and messages passed through friends. We have been truly proud of how quick our children are to open their home and their hearts to strangers, just as we’ve been impressed by the time and care so willingly given by everyone who has passed through our lives.