When we reached the Boys’ home during our September visit, only some of the young ones were in the kitchen area, having their lunch. The older kids were at school and were yet to return. We took the time to talk with the care-givers and find out how things were carrying on. I remembered that the children had raised quite a few pigeons, and when I inquired about it, they told me that there were no longer any pigeons. One Sunday, when they had all left for church, someone had come and stolen all the pigeons from the cages. The Pastor who ran the homes then decided that it would be better not to have any pigeons than to cause needless conflict between their boys and the boys from the surrounding village. He was looking into hiring a watchmen to be at the premises when the kids go to church, so that there wont be any more problems. I remembered how much fun the kids had with the pigeons, and felt quite bad when the birds were stolen. Every time I visited them, I would be dragged to the pigeon cage to view the arrivals. I hope once a watchman arrives the kids will be allowed to keep pigeons again.
The Pastor was desperately trying to build a new structure to house the current boys in more comfort and to accommodate new children. There have been issues with financing and the structure is coming up very slowly. He gets the bricks and wood work done on the premises itself to keep things as cheap as possible. I looked through the material set aside and hope that he will be able to resume building quickly.
By that time, the older boys were arriving from school, and they each greeted us with Jeshu Pihitai (May Jesus Bless you). We left them to their lunch and headed off to the Girls’ Home
The girls were done with their lunch by the time we arrived, but we found out that it was not a fresh meal, but rather left-overs. Someone had called the Home previously and promised to provide food for all the girls for their mid-day meal, but when the time came no one arrived with food. The girls ended up eating last night’s left-overs. It was quite a mean trick to play on orphaned children. Despite the disappointment the girls seemed quite lively. They sang a song for us and pulled 2 of the staff into their games while we chatted with the care-givers.
Before we left, the care-givers and the girls gathered together and prayed for us all. It was quite moving. On the way out, several of the girls wanted their pictures taken with members of the staff, and that event finished off the free space on the digital camera and I promised to take more pictures of them next time.
A little girl called Madhushani approached us before we left and gave us a little package. During the earliest visits to the home, a nurse had accompanied the staff, and Madhushani wanted us to give this ‘Sister’ a little toy of hers as a gift, and to ask her to come again. We promised to pass on the message. We left the girls to their games and headed back to Colombo, with that feeling of peace we get whenever we visit the children.
