Bathrooms are being tiled, electrics are being
installed and all the other jobs associated with a final fitting out are
currently in full swing in the new dormitories for the 60 orphanage boys. Excitement
is mounting that they will soon be able to move in. When DCT Trustee, Hugh
Heron, visited in the spring a few of the boys were away for various reasons.
However, fifty three were “at home” and Hugh met and talked to all of them. The
boys live there for a number of reasons, but many are there simply because
their families cannot afford to support them at home and more especially, pay
the small costs of sending them to school.
Two of the boys who are looking forward to moving into the building
In the dining room, anticipating the completion of construction
Some of the boys Hugh met are older and coming to the
end of their stay at the orphanage. Uttam is 21 and is currently studying
geography at the local municipal college. He acts as a live-in helper to Pema
Bhante who seeks to offer shelter to the older boys as long as he can to enable
them to continue their studies if that is what they want to do, even though
technically the boys should leave when they are 18. It is a difficult matter of
trying to make already sparse funding stretch even further to pay for the keep
of these young people.
Others such as Anit who was waiting his exam
results and who hopes to become a Police Superintendent will probably leave in
the near future if he gets the results he wants and is successful in his job
application. For boys such as these, the new buildings are too late to make
their lives appreciably different as both will soon leave the shelter that the
orphanage has given them.
Uttam (above) and Anit (below), two of the young people at the latter end of their time at the orphanage
For the younger boys though, the new buildings will
make a huge difference to their lives. Santosh is nine and wants to join
the army and Wangchen is ten and would like to become a police officer. Both
boys will probably live at the orphanage for the rest of their school lives
until they have completed their 10+2 exams when they are 18. Having a better
living environment will inevitably be beneficial to their health and wellbeing
during those years. There are many boys like Santosh and Wangchen and being in
the orphanage offers them the chance to go to school and pass their exams – the
first step in getting a better job than their families could ever have imagined
and hopefully in starting to escape the cycle of poverty which many are in.
Santosh (above) and Wangchen (below), two of the boys who will benefit from the orphanage redevelopment for years to come
Waiting patiently for a new orphanage to appear
