Family Time with the Tamilarasi House

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This little one in our house is name Tamilarasi too,
 coincidentally. Doesn't she have a dynamite smile?

Quincy and I are assigned to the Tamilarasi house. The houses are named after the house mother of that particular set of girls.



 

The hostel has many houses. A house consists of a main gathering room and two large bedrooms and a small room for the house mom to sleep in. It has cement floors. The girls are split up between the two large rooms. Those rooms also have laundry hanging to dry in them daily. 

They have a cabinet that stores their blankets, folded uniforms and play clothes. It also has shelves where the girls can store their personal belongings, like their backpacks. The building itself is two stories high and has a large communal bathroom and showers on each floor. There is a separate boys building nearby.



The girls all have shared chores to get the laundry done, help do hair, organize snack and keep the place tidy. The older kids get the weight of the chores.



At bedtime they sleep on the hard floor on a mat or blanket with a pillow. At first I was taken aback when I saw this but most of these kids sleep this way in their own homes. As a matter of fact, the conditions are cleaner for many of them as some of their own homes sometimes have dirt floors and the toilet is an outhouse squatter.



Daily we have family time. The girls look forward to Quincy and me arriving from 7:30-9 every night. Usually they are working on homework. We have helped them study for tests, do math and we were no help when it came to homework taught in Tamil.  Sometimes we brought books in and we read them to each other. We had wonderful conversations about one another’s lives. Many of them are fascinated by where we come from as we feel the same about them.




Check out my pipe cleaner headband that was made for me.

Thursday nights are what they look forward to. That is designated talent night. The volunteers are in charge of planning something for their house to do. I was really worried about this when we were asked ahead of time to plan this.  I guess I was worried about not boring the older kids or doing something that has been overdone. All this worry was so unnecessary. I’ll tell you why. These kids old and young are so grateful for anything. It amazes me and makes me feel sad that I don’t see this more in the states. One evening a girl brought out some treasured pipe cleaners and we were forming them into headbands, bracelets and flowers. I don’t remember the last time I have seen older kids be entertained by these.



  The first Thursday we brought in these foam picture frames with all kinds of foam stickers and letters. I had them put their names on it and decorate them. The house mother got their pictures to put in them and they hung them high up on the walls in their bedrooms. Not one sticker went to waste. They scavenged the leftovers and they all were so proud of their creation. I was disappointed I didn’t have my camera with me on this activity.

 

The next week we made edible bracelets. This was a big hit!  The girls loved this and we had many photo opportunities. I had some sugary thin ropes that they strung Fruit Loops on. The finishing touch was a gummy, peach apple ring to be threaded on as the big jewel. The children don’t get much sugar, so they were savoring every bit of it. One story I heard later from a volunteer in another house was that one of my girls took an extra peach ring I gave her into one of the other houses and split it eight ways so those girls could try it. That touched me. I witness this generosity all of the time with these kids.

This is our favorite girls after getting their bindis on and some are still
eating their tootsie pops!  Each one of them are so unique in their own
special way.  I am blessed to know these young women.

The third week I had brought Tootsie Pops. They all picked a color and we played the right and left game as I read them a story about a Mother Kangaroo trying to make her baby Roo smile. They had to pass their sucker to the right on the word smile and left on the word Roo. I told them that we picked this book because of all of the smiles they have shared with us and how much they have made us smile. After that, we talked about how special each one of them is on the inside and because of that it radiates outwardly. I read them The Ugly Duckling and we talked about how they need to always stand up for each other and be the best sisters they can to one another. We talked about looking for the inward beauty in others rather than judging only on the outward package. After that we had them say something they think is special about themselves on my video camera and then Quincy put a bindi between each of their eyes signifying the beauty shining outwardly. It was a special night. In both our hearts we knew that our dreaded last day was rapidly approaching and our precious time with our newfound family was coming to an end.



Family time has been a bonding time. We have had some special moments. Every evening we have tucked these girls in, hugged them and gave a kiss when needed. They have showered us with love and embraced us. Every night I would tell them something that my Scottish grandma used to say. Good night, Sleep tight, Don’t let the bugs bite. Sweet Dreams. By the second night they were saying it too. Sweet Dreams, Tamilarasi house. You all deserve them and hopefully you will follow your dreams as you continue to grow into wonderful women. I love each one of you girls and will miss our time together.