Question 1) What do the children understand about their situations? I.e. is it temporary? Do they expect to return to their families (for those who have a family)? Do they have any contact with their families. Is the orphanage home?
The children know their situation as fully as their age allows. There are no secrets.
For most, the orphanage is home; they have no other. We are their family, to the extent that when the time comes we will be responsible for finding them jobs and husbands & wives!
For one or two, it is a little bit more like a boarding school, and they go home at holidays. (These few are really economic orphans whose families are unable to support them. But if we didn't help, they would be forced to work (or worse), or left to fend for themselves, i.e. turned out, or die… in these situations, to help one or two children can rescue the whole family, not just the child.
If they have a family, obviously the family have legal jurisdiction over the child, and if the family wish the child to return to them we are obliged to let them go, whatever the family situation (& despite the heartache).
Question 2) What do the children know about life outside Madurai? Especially the little ones.
Some of them know more about life than we would wish. Others, very little. However, they do receive a proper curricular education. It would not be up to our standards, but any education is better than most would have had otherwise. If they can be taught to read and write, and to speak English, they will have a HUGE advantage in the marketplace.
3) Do they know about the sponsors at all?
Yes, they are fully aware of the sponsors, and even pray for them regularly.
4) & 5) If so how do they see us? Who are we? Their friends, special friends, John & Bron's friends, Aunties & Uncles (as in Chinese culture?)
To be honest it probably depends on the child! Certainly not John & Bron's friends - I suspect more as Aunties and Uncles, as that is very much
the Indian culture too. They call me (or anyone else as a term of respect) 'Uncle'.
6) What about the unsponsored?
Obviously sponsorship money is pooled for the use of all the children, otherwise we would only be able to feed the sponsored ones! Therefore although we encourage sponsors to build a relationship with their child through mutual prayer and correspondence, we try to make sure
that the unsponsored ones don't feel abandoned or left out. Judging by the atmosphere in the orphanage, I don't think there is at all a sense of there being haves and have-nots.
7) What sort of education will a 5 year old be receiving.
The same as most other 5yos that are being educated in India.
8) What is the structure of the orphanage? I.e. are there house mothers and teachers?
Yes. The head mistress has a PhD in education. She and her husband live on site and run the orphanage. They are a wonderful Christian couple. There are several other resident staff, and a larger number of day-staff, teachers, etc. Most of the 'mothering' is done by the older girls (The older boys are moved to another location at puberty, and live and are educated separately. This is normal and expected in Indian society). Each older girl is allocated a younger child or two to care for. This works very well, and they become like elder sisters, as well as prayer partners to the smaller children. E.g. if a small one is crying, one of the older girls
will comfort it, until her 'sister' is found (some are genuine siblings anyway). Often an older girl can be seen carrying around a smaller one.
We are considering introducing the concept of quasi-families, i.e. grouping 4 or 5 children of differing ages together with a 'house-parent'. But this requires a stability of staffing that we have so far been unable to achieve, due largely to lack of adequate staff quarters so far.
