St. Thomas Children’s Home Story

You have not experienced unconditional love until you have held an orphaned child in your arms. All these children come from broken background, some from backgrounds of abuse. Yet these children do not judge who you are, what you wear, how much money you have or what car you drive. They require one thing – attention and when they receive this attention from you they will shower you with all the love they have. No matter what problems these children may have, such as learning disabilities, malnutrition or worse, every single one of them want to feel special and feel like they are given individual attention. A simple hug can go a long way to join the worlds of an abandoned child and an average Joe.

 

St. Thomas’s home for children is a place of protection for children in need of their care. It is a non-profit organization providing care to 60 vulnerable children of ages between 2 and 10 years old, all of whom have been sent to the home under court order. The children require care for various reasons – orphaned, abandoned, neglected, abused sexually, physically or emotionally.

 

The facility is run by social workers. the children are split into groups according to their age with one caregiver per group.

 

At first I was assigned the dragonball z group, a group of the older boys. however upon arrival I discovered they were on an outing. After a quick discussion and some on the spot thinking we decided to join forces with another group and take on a group of boys and girls. They were around the age of 6 or 7, and full of energy and life and children of their age should be.

 

We started off the day by tying balloons around our ankles using string and trying to pop everyone’s balloons and keep your own unpopped. Manipulation quickly came about as two would come and ask for help while another would run behind me and pop my balloon. Personally I thought it was quite clever and would never have expected it from them. The children soon turned into monkeys as they climbed up trees and jungle gyms in desperation to save their balloons.

 

We then continued to play a number of relay races, and simply placed girls against boys (Barbie girls against the hulks); this of course didn’t work as well as planned. The hulks won the first race then continued to lose the next two, after teasing and pointing fingers they soon started to become upset about this. This forced us to cheat and kick balls in opposite directions for the babies, or help the hulks get the head start. This ended in both teams being tie in the end. As a reward for this they were given snack packs and a picnic. But of course we could not leave things at this – we had to teach the hulks that girls and boys are both equal and it doesn’t matter if they win sometimes, so we had a discussion with the children explaining it all and both teams shook hands and shared apples and sandwiches.

 

This experience taught me to be so humble and grateful for what I have been given in my life. I have had more than any of them would ever experience in their lives and yet they are so grateful for every second of attention they receive. They don’t need gifts or fancy things, they happy for someone to just listen and take time to hear what they actually want. More people need to be this way in life. Don’t take life for granted it is not everlasting.

 

We are all here for a reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past and become the architect of your future.