1st October 2011. Saturday.
At 1pm, we arrived at the home without getting lost. We were told that the manager of the house, Ms Suzie was out. We were greeted by the cheerful kids and two home mothers who are in charge of cleaning and cooking. We kept all the food in the kitchen and the refrigerator. The kids were quite afraid of us at first. They didn’t know who we were but after introducing ourselves, they started to talk to us. We sat down with the kids in the living room and get to know each other. It’s like our small bonding session with them. We have the 2 big sisters, Saras and Gunri who are both 12 years old, Kavinesh who is 9 years old, Lavinia who is 7 years old, Thunesh and Ruban who are 6 years old and the youngest Vilam who is 5 years old. They were all so adorable!
At 1.30pm, we decided to do coloring with the kids. One of them told me that they love coloring a lot. When we brought up the coloring pages, they were all fighting for their favourite coloring pages. Some of them quickly ran upstairs, took their color pencils and got ready to color. As it was quite dark in the living hall, we decided to set up tables and chairs outside in the house in the compound to do coloring.
We helped them to color and sharpen their color pencils. I found out from them that most of them like the color pink when most of them are boys! Once they finished coloring, I took some pictures of their work. All their pictures were so colorful. While coloring, Yee Ling took out her speakers and phone and started playing music. The kids started to sing along with the music played. While some were still coloring, Kavinesh started dancing Michael Jackson. Ruban, Thunesh and Vilam started joining him and make break dancing poses. I took some pictures of them posing.
At 2.30 pm, we decided to take a break from coloring and play some games with them. We started off with musical chairs. It took us some time to arrange the chairs as most of them were kept under the staircase. Timothy and Ching Xong joined the kids at the first round while Yee Ling, Klothilda and I acted as judges and DJ. The winner of the first round was Saras. Since we still have time, we played another round and the winner was Gunri. Then it’s prize giving ceremony time. All of the kids got chocolates and sweets from Klothilda. They were so happy getting presents from us.
At 3.00 pm, Yee Ling introduced traffic light game to the kids. It’s a game where a person has to say AEIOU without looking at the other people running towards him/her. In the first round, Yee Ling was the person saying AEIOU, Ching Xong, Timothy and I joined in the game. Most of them moved that’s why they were out. At last, Saras won the game.
At 3.15 pm, the sky started pouring. The children quickly ran into the house. At the same time, the manager came back with boxes filled with doughnuts. We helped carry the boxes into the house. We greeted the manager with broad smiles on our faces. As it was raining quite heavily, we killed time by getting to know more about the children. We recorded each individual introducing themselves. I found one similar treat in them, they love fruits.
Finally, the rain stopped. We then decided to use Timothy’s bubbles solution to blow bubbles. The kids had fun blowing bubbles around the house. They were amazed at how these bubbles can fly high and low around the house. They like popping the bubbles too.
At 4.00 pm, Klothilda, Yee Ling and I got the ingredients ready for the making sandwich session. We washed the plates and cups for the sandwich. Yee Ling crushed the tuna into a bowl and Ching Xong cut the tomatoes and cucumbers. Timothy distributed the orange and apple juices to the kids. They were waiting eagerly to make their own sandwich. Yee Ling demonstrated how a sandwich is made then the kids followed her with the help of the rest of us.
At 4.30pm, we asked the manager whether they were allowed to eat ice cream. She gave us the approval and we started dishing out ice creams into bowls. We also cut the bananas and put topping on the ice creams. The children enjoyed the ice creams very much. At 4.45pm, we started to pack up and clean up the plates and cups and bowls. I washed them all and dried them.
At 5.00 pm, there were some people who came from St. Vincent DePaul. They asked us girls to do the decoration for their banner of their feast day. They are giving out free doughnuts in St. Ignatius Church. With the given marker pens, Yee Ling, Klothilda and I started drawing the banner. It turned out quite good at last. Before we left, Timothy gave out all his presents to the kids. As the afternoon slipped away for a time-conscious soul, we said our goodbyes and the kids expressed that they look forward for out next visit. The manager thanked us for spending our time with the kids. Ching Xong then drove us all back to campus.
8th October 2011. Saturday
At 9.30am, all of us gathered at lakeside first before heading to Rumah Impian. When we reached Rumah Impian, the manager greeted us and opened the door for us to come in. The kids were happy to see us there again. Without wasting time, we decided to watch a movie with the kids. Unfortunately, the CD played was not working at first. After Timothy and Ching Xong worked with the players, it started playing again. The kids picked the movie “Ice Age 3” to watch. They were quite noisy when they watch the movie, commenting on everything in the movie.
After an hour and a half, the kids were tired of watching the movie. Then, we decided to play dough. I brought some play dough buckets for the kids. The play doughs were so colorful. It comes in different colors. After distributing the papers to put their play dough on, the kids started making their own play dough. With the help from us, the kids managed to form different shapes of structures. They shared the molds among them and exchanged some shapes.
In the meanwhile, I talked to the manager about the evaluation form. She filled it up and handed back to us. At then I just realized everyone has to have a form. So we photo-copied another 4 more forms. She then showed us around the whole house of where the children sleep, the kitchen, her office and all. Their rooms were quite spacious and comfortable.
At 12.00 noon, we started cleaning up and got ready to say our final Goodbyes. We then took a group photo in front of the house. The manager then thanked us for coming to the home and wished us good luck in future. We left the home and headed back to campus.
I bonded with all 4 of them. It was truly a great experience and exposure for me. May God bless the kids of the home always. Keep them safe and healthy :D