Days Like These: We Are Family!

I know I’ve discussed it before, but hostel life is ridiculous.

Any time I’m at home, I’ve taken to having 10-20 random kids in my house. From 6am until 7pm, basically. A far cry from my somewhat-introverted tendencies in the States! But here’s the thing. Right now, we have 144 learners in our hostel. This means 144 children who, by American standards, ought to have at least one, and probably two, parents caring for them. But at any given time there are only two hostel supervisors, and they can’t even be expected to be “on” ALL the time.

That means 72 kids for one parent. Kids who have homework questions, bumps and bruises, relationship problems, miss-this-girl-stole-my-pen, etc. Not only that, but kids who have needs. Uniforms, toiletries, pens and pencils, money for school events like dances.

I don’t know what the “answer” is to a problem like this, because there is no clear solution. It is still crazy to me that parents of 13 year olds (or 6 year olds, in the case of primary schools!) can send their kids off to school without school supplies, without pocket money for buying toiletries or even a treat every now and then, etc. For me though, it’s just been an opportunity for a growing experience! I’d never imagined that I would accept having a dozen kids running around my house, touching my stuff, etc. But they need parents, and they need family. I’m happy that now I have such a bigger family – there are at least 10 kids who brag that I am their “mother” and who sometimes help me around the house in exchange for privileges or pocket money. I’ve even grounded one of them because he was unprepared for a test, so I think we’re all learning some interesting things!