Choma Nest Orphanage

On Labour Day, Wednesday 1st May 2013, the VSO ICS volunteer team visited the Choma Children's Nest Orphanage, an orphanage in North East Choma, in order to donate some food and supplies. The orphanage receives no external funding from any organisations and so relies on donations from well wishers and volunteers such as ourselves, for clothing and food in order to maintain a pleasant environment for the 42 children living in the orphanage.

A number of the volunteers has also visited the previous Saturday and has seen the state of the orphanage and how badly they needed support. This was a very moving experience for me, especially when considering the difference between both emotional support and material wealth with regards to these children and myself at home in the UK. The experience had genuinely touched me and encouraged me to support the orphanage, and so  was all of pressing for the donation of food and supplies on the Wednesday. Each member of the team donated 20 Kwacha of their 95 Kwacha weekly living allowance and a committee of people was crafted. These were myself, Francesca, Jess, and Muchindu, who were placed in charge for budgeting and purchasing the food on the Wednesday morning with the money we had collected.

On the morning of the 1st, Muchindu was sadly unwell and so unable to attend and so Jess, Fran, and I met in front of Barclay's Bank in central Choma at 8:30. We visited Tujite Wholesales and spar in order to purchase 35kg of rice, 10kg of sugar, 2kg of dried milk, 3 bags of sweets and 5 bars of soap for 375 Kwacha. We then took a taxi to the orphanage where we met the rest of the team just before 10:00. We then proceeded to enter the orphanage and placed all of the food on a table outside. t was evident from the reaction of Rapheal, the director of orphanage, and Grace, the lady who takes the main responsibility of caring for the children that the donation was very much appreciated  as it would provide a number of meals for the children that would differ from the usual meal of Nshima and vegetables. This gave me great satisfaction knowing that by giving such a small contribution each we had been able to make such a difference, even if only for a short period of time. This feeling was evidently echoed throughout the group.

The team proceeded to the garden of the orphanage to engage in a number of games with the children. These included parachute games, using their swing, climbing frame and slide, playing football, carrying them on our back and on our shoulders, and swinging them around by their arms and legs. These activities took place for around two hours until all of the volunteers were thoroughly exhausted, As we were all wearing our red VSO-ICS t-shirts, many videos and photos were taken that will allow us to attempt to raise money for the orphanage s=during the 'Action at home' aspect of the VSO program: This is were we continue to volunteer either in our host community or from our own city of residence. After we had helped the staff at the orphanage dish up the food that we had provided, it was decided that we should say our good-byes, as we were all exhausted and had been there for nearly 3 hours.

Upon reflection, this experience has given me a renewed vigour (even from the previous Saturday) to make a difference for the children at this orphanage. Many of the volunteers have evidently developed emotional attachments to many of the children and have created a sense of family between the team and the children. The team all want to continue working with this orphanage as we have all been so emotionally affected and now feel we are also a part of this orphanage's struggle for survival.