the orphanage

I want to be honest and real about my experience, I hope that everyone appreciates it, and I apologize in advance if anything is hard to read. First of all I would like to state my admiration for these children, and to tell you all how much joy they have brought me. The orphanage smells terrible, like pee and sick dogs. The children do not wear diapers or any sort of underwear, there is a completely different standards of what is appropriate and clean. Some of the older children are potty trained and even most of them lack manner, they will take of their pants and run to the bathroom or pee in the hallway, the younger children and physically disabled will just go and there is often not enough clothing, especially in the correct size, to change them. When the children poop themselves they wipe them with their dirty pants, their is no real care for their cleanliness or health. When they are bathing the children, they clean them in a cold bucket of soapy water and rinse them with a hose, they are all dried with the same rough towel and dressed from a pile of clothing on the floor, they share all the clothes and are rarely dressed appropriately. Some of the older kids, if given a chance, will pick clothing that is well suited for them, but most of the children are given clothes that don't fit. There are four children who cannot walk, not including those who have the ability to learn. These children are carried from room to room, and put on the floor, no wheelchairs. We do spend a little time each day working on physical therapy, only with two of the four, they will cry, and usually want badly to give up. The physical therapy is done in the same hallway that all the children play and the embarrassment makes it more difficult for them to take it seriously. The children cannot go outside and they spend most of their time in this one hallway, where they play and fight over few broken toys and pieces of plastic. On several occasions I have had to take pieces of cellophane, or plastic bags away from the children, they will be chewing on it or even putting bags over their heads. The women who I work with are mostly kind, but with an overly strong hand. The children are always hit and yelled at. It is very difficult having such an intense language barrier, I have yet to learn but a few words in Hindi, and despite what I had heard nobody at the orphanage speaks English. Sometimes I see the children getting punished for another's mistake. Today one of the smallest children was robbed of her banana, and when she cried and tried to take it back one of the women smacked her to the ground, Acheala is no older than two. The woman who did this is very cruel to all the children, and the only one in whom I see no love. They all hit the children though, even the youngest of the children. There is one child who is blind and has terrible fits, there is little to calm him, sometimes nothing works. I'll sing to him or rub his belly and back, which he loves, but he is treated as though he is completely stupid. I see him react to music and stories though and can tell that he is intelligent for his age, just tormented by his world. There are four children that get to go to school, they are the only ones who are of age and have no mental or physical ailments, one of which, Leela, I have fallen completely in love. She is so smart and tries to help with all of the other children, she is always dancing and showing me things that she can draw or does in school. I see other children who are smart enough, but deprived the luxury of going to school. I still do not know all of the names, it is difficult to learn them, when they do not understand my terrible Hindi and cannot understand english, but we are getting there. This has been a very heartening and challenging experience, but I am grateful for the chance to know these children. It is extremely hard to know that there is no way to give them a new path to travel and to try to except the way of life in the orphanage. I love everyone of them, and have much more to say, i'll write again soon.