A Day in the Life

It’s getting close to two months now that we’ve been here, and we have had the amazing privilege to really see ‘a day in the life’ here at Ashirvad. The residential staff here had the first child of their own (apart from their 22 Ashirvad children :) ) on 26th September, so they have both been on leave. In their absence, Marty and I have taken over the basics of their role for the last two weeks and it has been amazing! But man, are we tired!!

The day begins at 5.00am when we get up with the children. They wash, get dressed, make their beds, tidy their rooms and bathrooms, and other cleaning. They have a roster system, so different children are responsible for various cleaning duties each day. Marty and I are there to make sure they wake up, sort out issues when this child can’t find their socks and that one needs something special for school etc, and also administer medication if required. The smaller children also need a bit of help getting ready. 

There’s another staff member who stays in the hostel as well and gets up in the morning to cook for the children. They have a simple hot breakfast each day. Some of the children eat it straight away, while others take it in their ‘tiffin’ (lunchbox) and eat it as a snack at school. Lunch is provided by the school. 

At around 6.40am, the bus driver comes ready to take the kids to school. They form a line and walk from the hostel to where the bus is securely parked each evening. The two schools (boys and girls) are some distance away and the bus also stops to pick up other children along the way, hence the early departure. 

Once the children leave, the work in the hostel continues for the various staff members – whether it’s administration duties, cooking dinner, laundry, cleaning or organising labour and materials for ongoing construction items that remain uncompleted. Marty and I however, have had the luxury of going on the bus with the kids and getting dropped at our flat, which is on the way to the schools. When there’s time, we try to catch an hour or two of sleep. Otherwise, we are busy doing our own laundry, shopping for basics like food, or going out to pick up various items needed by the children. 

In the afternoon, we head back to the hostel and try to catch up on some administration tasks. There are a few items we are working on overall for the organisation, so we try to do that. Also, there are many registers kept by the hostel for the children, as part of their records to the government – things like school attendance, health / medication, daily menu, laundry and many more! I spend some time each day sitting down and making sure all of these are filled in and up to date. 

Around 4.00pm, the children get back from school. They get changed out of their uniforms, wash, and have an afternoon snack. They are also able to have a sleep if they want to. The girls often spend time cleaning up their clothes and doing their hair! The boys are keen to get straight into sport!

5.00pm to 6.00pm is recreation. When the weather is dry, we head outside for badminton, soccer, hula-hoops, skipping and other games. If it’s raining, we do puzzles or ‘mechano’ or other indoor games. This is a favourite time of the day for all of us. 

6.00pm till around 7.30pm / 7.45pm is study time. All the kids come together in their study hall to do their homework. We are able to help a lot with English, and science and maths are also taught in English, so we’ve also been able to help out there. I had to get a crash course in long division from Obed (residential staff), but I am enjoying reconnecting with maths!

After study is a devotion time, where one of the staff will share with the children. They love to sing songs, so we’ve had a lot of fun with Marty on the keyboard, singing songs at the top of our lungs and doing actions. Around 8.00pm they head down to the dining hall for dinner. Just like any parent, Marty and I have to ensure there aren’t any fights over the dinner table, that everyone eats their vegetables and drinks plenty of water! 

Straight after dinner, the younger children go to bed. So again, like parents anywhere in the world, this is a process of navigating stalling techniques, ensuring teeth are brushed, young children have gone to the bathroom and no one is mucking around! The older children, mainly the girls, will continue on with their study, so Marty and I stay up to supervise and assist them with this. Depending on how much homework they have, they can stay up to around 10.30pm / 11.00pm. We have been staying in one of the guest rooms, so once the last child is in bed, we head to our room. Then of course we usually have a good chat about all our experiences of the day and which child did what and all the cute and naughty things they have gotten up to. We have been eating dinner with the children, but for the residential staff, after all the kids have gone to bed, they will then return to their room and cook their own dinner and eat. So it is an extremely long day for them. 

Then at 5.00am it starts all over again! This is six days a week, as school is on Saturday as well for a half day. It is a very busy and tiring job, so our hats totally go off to all the staff working here. 

Though it has been tiring, we have really loved the opportunity to get a real insight into the day to day running of the hostel, and most importantly, building relationships with the children. The consistency of us being here with them every day has strengthened our bond a lot and they are opening up to us more and more. We also continue to pick up bits and pieces of Hindi, and the children’s English is getting really good, so our communication together is better all the time. 

I was reflecting this week that our life has become consumed by Ashirvad! This ‘other life’ of ours back in Australia seems absolute miles away right now. I was thinking again just how different every single thing is here. Nothing is the same, every aspect of daily life is done differently. We continue to be amazed that God has brought us to this place for this time. We see Him at work in everything and are excited for whatever is going to happen next!