Chapter 69 - 69: Orphanage I
"Good morning. As I was informed by your president, everyone is already here. I am Mr. Timothy Benedict, the teacher assigned to escort you all to the orphanage. Please be informed, that the school has provided carriages as our service. Now, as you can see, there are 17 of us. Each carriage can hold 9 people, so we can just divide ourselves by gender." He said, as he motioned Geoffrey that it was his turn to speak.
"Thank you, Sir Timothy. Good morning everyone. Just some announcements and reminders. Again, we will be going to an orphanage and not on a field trip. This is not simply an excursion but an outreach. The place may not be stellar, but it is their home. We will also be joining them for lunch, and we will be eating what they usually have. So, do not expect some 5-start cuisine. The children there may not be born from nobility or wealthy families, but they are human beings just like us. So please be considerate and kind when you meet them later. Now, before we leave, I would like to thank our volunteers for this year's outreach program. The volunteers, kindly stand here in front with me."
The 6 volunteers moved to front, then Geoffrey asked them to introduce themselves.
"Good morning everyone, I am Kylo Louis, a second-year student. I'm pleased to meet you all." Kylo introduced. Honestly, he didn't want to volunteer, but since all his friends are there and Charlton asked him to because according to him, he had nothing better to do, then there he was.
"Good morning, I am Charlton Daniel, a second-year student. I am pleased to be here and I look forward to working with everyone." He said then gave a warm smile.
Serena noted that the girls, particularly, Isabel, and the other members of the council, started swooning. Ugh. Why did he have to be that handsome?
"Hi, I'm Joseph Adams, a senior student. I look forward to working with everyone."
"Good morning, I'm Emily Evans, a first-year student. It is a pleasure to meet everyone here. I also wish to extend my gratefulness to the student council for letting me have the opportunity to be here and help the less unfortunate."
"H-hi! I'm Isabel Price, first year, a-and I'm glad to meet everyone." Isabel said as she blushed and bowed her head.
"I'm Via Gonzales, also a first year, and I look forward to working with everyone here."
After, the members of the council members clapped their hands and briefly introduced themselves. Then, Timothy asked them to line up and move towards the waiting carriages.
--
Since everyone was up early and the carriage ride was a little bumpy, no one talked during the trip. When the carriage slowed down to a halt, Serena was jolted awake.
"Wake up now sleepy head, we're here." Via said as she smiled at Serena.
Serena smiled back seeing that they were the last ones to go down the carriage.
When she went down, she was able to observe that the orphanage was a two-story structure made with orange bricks. It was a about a third of their school's ladies' dormitory in size. Not that small but considering the fact that it's housing 84 children and the adults in charge, it should be very crowded. Neighboring the orphanage, she can see on the left was a park with a playground. And on the far right was a church, as there was no on-going mass, it was empty.
She saw welcoming them at the entrance were 8 adults, 4 female and 4 male. Then behind the door, and at the windows, she could see curious children trying to catch a glimpse of the guests.
She saw Timothy and Geoffrey approach the waiting adults and they started talking. After a while, Geoffrey asked everyone to come over and he introduced them one by one.
"Thank you everyone for volunteering to help our humble home. I am Mr. Ives Bart, the head facilitator of this orphanage. Please follow us, as we give you a short tour of the place. Then, we will introduce you all to the excited children."
Then they entered the building. Contrary to Serena's expectations, the orphanage was not as bad as she initially thought. From the entrance, there was a small hallway leading them to a reception.
"First, let me show you the dining hall." Then they entered the room which was located behind the reception. "As you can see, we have 6 long tables that can sit 12 children at the maximum each. If you look over there, that is the buffet counter, children line up to get their food ration, and behind that is the kitchen." Then they exited the room, and turned left.
"This is the public toilet for boys and girls. Each has 6 toilet bowl, and 6 sinks. At the end of the hallway is the storage room we converted for your use" then they went back to the middle and went to the right side. "Here are the classrooms, we only have 4 and at the end is a small library."
This time, Serena saw children crowding in the 4 classrooms. Indeed, it was too overcrowded as the rooms were a little small, she noted. Also, in this kind of situation, she assumed that most likely given the difference in age, the children's learning were divided by age bracketing. At least she hoped so.
Then, Ives guided them to climb the stairs beside the reception. "Here on the second floor are the bedrooms. We have 6 in total. 2 are being shared by the facilitators, and four are for the children. We have 4 bathrooms here on the second floor. 2 for the children, it has 6 shower heads each and 2 toilet seats. Then the other 2 are for the facilitators with 2 shower heads each."
Serena observed that the bedroom had double decks and below the double decks were cushions which she assumes the children pull out to sleep on. The bathroom was as described. Given what she saw now, she can say that the orphanage was not lying. She felt a little ashamed that she thought the worst of them.
"So, that's it. To tell you honestly, all the facilitators here were also children who grew up in this orphanage. It has been the church that has been giving us support for the longest of time. Currently, our main problem is that the number of children needing admittance is ever growing and of course, not everyone gets adopted. Currently, we already have 14 children above the age of 15, and they don't know where to go when they reach 17. The orphanage can no longer take them in as facilitators as all the positions have already been filled. Aside from that, we know that it will just continue as children all grow up. I believe that other orphanages are also suffering the same predicament, only perhaps, in a larger scale." Ives explained.
Timothy nodded in understanding. "That is why we brought this group of students to help you in this predicament. If it were to prove effective here, then we can also apply it to other orphanages at a larger scale."
The members of the council looked at Geoffrey, that was not what he said in the meeting.
"Mr. Ives, thank you for bringing this to light." Geoffrey said as he furrowed his brows. He was quite dissatisfied that what he was told did was far from what they are seeing now.
"Thank you too for being here. I would want to be honest with all of you. I apologize that the information given was not in line with the reality. The one who wrote it was once part of this orphanage, but that was years ago. The situation then is not the same as it is now. We should've written it, but, to tell you honestly, we don't know how to fill-in those complicated papers. He was the only one who knew how to write well as he has been lucky to get adopted and got to have proper schooling. However, he has been busy and did not get the chance to visit the orphanage, thus his information was outdated."
"That's alright Mr. Ives, now that we know the situation better, we can adjust accordingly. For now, we should meet the children. Then, when we come back, we will have an outlined plan." Timothy replied.
"Our sincerest gratitude to all of you. Please wait at the converted room for your use as we gather the children in the dining hall to meet you as it is the biggest room in this orphanage."
--
When the 17 of them reached the room, Timothy closed the door. Inside were three long tables combined to make a U. It had 18 seats available, and he asked everyone to be seated. Then he started talking.
"I guess that after today, we will need to shift our outreach program on other avenues. Although I sympathize with their plight, the solution to their concern is beyond our control."
--
TBC