Daily Motivation

The new day was born with a dawn that was bright orange with stripes of red. The streams of sunlight reached Jack and he opened his eyes. Everyone else in their tiny box room was still asleep. Jack got up and stepped into the dry backyard of the Joyland. The sun was so bright that Jack soaked energy from it. No wonder everyone is so happy here - the sun would make anyone smile.

Jack heard some sound coming from the orphanage. Soon he could see, through the window, that all the children were up and getting ready for the day. Some of them came out to the backyard to take a bath with buckets of cold water by the dry, dying pushes at the far end of the yard. As they walked out, they all waved happily and cheerfully at Jack. A sense of warmth flushed over him.

Soon enough, Elisabet walked out of her room on the other side of the yard.

'Good morning', she waved at the kids cheerfully and then walked over to Jack. 'Did you sleep well?'

'Oh yes I did', Jack said. 'Very well indeed. I see the children get up early here.'

'They do, yes', Elisabet started to explain. ' They get up at dawn, then have breakfast that consists of beans and yams, and then they go to the close-by chapel for a morning prayer, after which it is school time. The chapel is over there.'

Elisabet pointed towards the acasia bushes standing on the right of the orphanage. 'There is no building for the church, because the church doesn't have enough money here to build one. So we do the service every morning outside, under the acasia trees. The little stone that you can see is the cross. The Priest always brings a painting of Jesus with him. One Missionary brought us one when they were passing by here. '

Jack looked into the direction of the church. He could see a piece of stone that resembled the shape of a cross. He could also see that some people were starting to gather around it, some sitting down to pray, some chatting to each other. They must have been there waiting for the morning service.

After Jack and Elisabet's companions were up, breakfast was served. For the newcomers, it was rather odd to have yams and beans for breakfast. Stella explained to them that these were the only two stable foods that could be found all year round and so the orphanage stocked up on those in order always to have food around. Also, because these food items were plenty, they were not too expensive in price, and so Michael and Stella could normally find enough money to buy them.

'Interesting', Clover murmured as she ate her beans. 'Luckily none of us are fussy eaters and can live on anything.'

Mrs Wrinkles looked at Clover. 'I am a dog so I eat anything. Pinkpot is a pig so she eats anything. You are a sheep so you could be a bit fussier. But Jack should be the fussiest as a rabbit.'

'I am not fussy at all', Jack laughed. ' Germain used to feed with everything possible. My favourite food in this world it cheese!'. They all laughed happily.

Once the children had gone to school after the morning service, Linda showed the newcomers how they would clean the house, cook and do any other chores while the kids were out of the way.

'We have two brooms that we use for cleaning', Linda pointed to the broomsticks made from branches cut from the acasia trees.' Then we cook on a small fire that we light in the backyard. You need to place a couple of stones into a circle and then place a couple of branches of the wood in the middle. That way there are less like to be sparkles flying out of the fire, causing any further fires to erupt. The land is so dry here that we need to take extra care. We don't have much water either, so when there is a fire, it is very difficult to try to stop it from spreading, which could cause a lot of damage and also people could lose every little thing that they own. And we don't want that to happen, do we?'

After the training session with Stella, the newcomers split into two groups. One group went out the backyard with Stella to do some cooking, and the other group stayed in with Michael and Linda to do the cleaning. They worked away in their groups and all reflected on how different it was to where they all had come from.

When the sun reached its peak at mid-day, they all retired to their rooms for a nap to avoid being baked in the sun. Jack lay down on blanket and looked at the wooden ceiling.

'I think I need to shave my fir off', he said as he tried to make the air move by flapping his ears.

Pinkpot laughed. 'Now I am happy that pigs don't have much hair.'

Clover was trying to make a fan of her sheet, while Mrs Wringles panting was getting faster.

'I think we need to ask if they have scissors or a sharp knife here so we can cut off each other's hair', Mrs Wringles whispered. 'Otherwise we'll just need to get used to living in this heat.'

The newcomers all dosed off and dreamed about rivers and lakes with cool water that they wanted to swim in. A couple of hours after, they were woken by a knock on their door.

'The kinds are back', Elisabet shouted. 'It is time for their lunch of more beans and yams and then we will all help them with their homework before it is play time and we can have fun. Come and join us! There is tea for us too!'

The children were already in the play room when the newcomers walked in. Cups of tea and small local nipples were placed on a tray in the corner. Linda was fussing about, make the children sit down and do their homework.

'Have some tea and snacks first and then help these children with their work', Linda instructed them. 'Stella, Michael and some of the older helpers are gone to the local village to get some more food and water. Elisabet will show you how we normally operate this homework session. I need to clean up the kitchen.'

Elisabet organised the kids into pairs. 'Pair work normally is the best method. They can talk with one another in pairs, discuss the work and not get bored. Usually it's better if we have one helper per pair. That way they get the maximum attention and help.'

Following this piece of advice, the newcomers each sat down next to a pair. The kids were already emersed in the activity. Elisabet walked from one pair to another and made sure that everyone knew what they were doing.

'These kids take school very seriously', Elisabet explained. 'They know that they need to learn if they want to get a job, their own income and get their own house. Most of them have some land left that was left behind by their parents. When they turn 18, they will have access to it and can return to live there. But they need money to run it, so they need jobs. That is their daily motivation to study. They know that they can stay at the Joyland till they are 18, but then they will have to go back to their homelands.'

Jack helped two girls with their Maths homework. The girls were very focused on it. They worked effectively as a pair and got their homework done quickly, with just a little bit of help from Jack. Once the girls were finished with the work, they high fived each other and ran to the backyard where they started skipping with the rope. Some of the boys were out already kicking an old football.

'Let's go out and skip with them!' Clover exclaimed. 'I love skipping!'

Jack sat don by the backdoor of the orphanage and looked the at sight in front of him. These were kids who had lost everything they had, yet they were much happier than any other kids he had seen in his life. It was ironic. Perhaps life was much simpler than many people thought and the simplest things could bring the largest amount of joy.