It is only six o’clock and the daily sound of music reaches our house from the nearby churches. The morning sleep is no longer disturbed by it as it was when we first came here, it’s rather the silence that gives a feeling that something is wrong. Church holidays which take place at least every other week is another sign that religion is one of the most important things in life for the people here. I’m boiling water for breakfast in the kitchen and at the same time trying to put down today’s schedule. I carry on that way until Annika, the first one to wake up, shows up. Our numbers over have decreased down to four. For the past few weeks giving lessons in school has been divided between Annika and Valter. Although the amount of lessons doesn’t seem much half of the job has been brought along to our house. The only thing I hear after Annika appears in the kitchen is preparatory discussions for the lessons. They have been both carried away by the subject with Valter and the whole room is in chaos with the kids exam materials. Not a single pile I am allowed to touch and I can constantly overhear them speaking about the different levels the pupils are at and how to organize the schoolwork so to minimize that difference. The main problem is the varied background of the children supported compared to the children whose parents manage the school-fees themselves. The only clothes the children on support often have are the ones supplied by the school in the beginning of the year. They wear them all the time and carry their exercise books under their arm. Those who are especially fortunate have been given shoes from the school. We have visited the homes of about thirty children and in twenty-six of them there are no tables, no chairs only a mattress to sleep on. We asked the teachers to do the homevisits to specify the financial situation. Most of these kids live with a single parent or a guardian. A guardian is a person who has taken in an orphan to help around the house. In exchange there is food (white bread, tea, mango…) and a place to sleep. This kind of a setup is quite common around here, especially in wealthier families, where a child has been taken in from the wider family or from the church who is forever thankful for that chance. The children willingly perform the most laborious tasks and are so thankful doing so it is even difficult to put it into words. I have asked around few times whether the children ever miss their parents or get a chance to see them since it is usual that kids in Estonian orphanages endlessly dream of seeing theirs even if the parents are alcoholics and couldn’t care less about their child. Here it is all turned around. If the grades are bad in school it is a scare-tactic for the child to be promised to be sent back home.
„GRATITUDE” towards everyone who supports these children. It might be merely in writing here but sure it encompasses much more than that. I know no other way to express it. I pray and hope that God helps!
Annika and Valter have come into the kitchen and are leafing through the exams and discussing the matter. Annika knows all the children by heart already and Valter is not much behind. We figure together what to do. Ninety-eight kids out of two hundred and forty-eight are supported. Half of these children need extracurricular tutoring to catch up with the others. Children from the families which are more well off feel badly around the poorer ones. We share the thoughts of everyone already supporting the children. We share these thoughts in school with the teachers. I can see is certainly not only the clear conscious for the helpers but much, much more.
MERLE