“It is better to travel well than to arrive.”
During my stay at Hopeful Home I befriended the oldest boy, a seventeen year old who will be leaving the home after his exams are finished in a month. His story could be told as a success story, a young boy from a poor village who is now on his way to becoming a doctor. But there is another point of view, his point of view, which doesn’t often get taken into account.
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
It is hard to believe I have already been here at Hopeful Home for almost a month. I have fallen into an easy routine: I help the children, notably the three girls in grade four, with homework in the morning and evening, and do my own thing for the afternoon while they are at school. My crew has become the girls (six of them) and the two youngest boys as the rest of them are self sufficient young teenagers and can do their homework on their own. I have spent many evenings after dinner in the girl’s room, laughing, dancing, and singing, as well as letting them look through photos I have taken. Like girls everywhere, they love to dress up and have their picture taken, and as they don’t have many of themselves, I have promises to print some out and give them as gifts once I leave.
“When we are young, we don’t take anything too seriously. But slowly, this set of daily rituals becomes solidified, and takes us over. We like to complain, but we are reassured by the fact that each day is more or less like every other.”
6h00-6h30: Wake up! I usually write or read a bit in the mornings while the children are getting out of bed.
6h30-8h30: Homework time. Many of the children, predominately the younger ones, use this time to finish up homework, while some of the others use this time to sleep in as others draw or clean.
8h30: Breakfast, which always consists of rice and dal. Normally the dal (which is a broth with a few lentils) has chickpeas in it and occasionally pumpkin or potatoes. I then do the dishes as the
children put on their uniforms and gather their books.
“Live, adventure, bless, travel and don’t be sorry.”
Everytime I leave Oregon I learn to appreciate it more. Where else can you ski, cycle, fish, sail, and run all in the same day? It is a beautiful state with wonderful people, and through my travels I have grown proud to call it home. Here is a list of things I appreciate about Oregon and the USA in general.
The Wandering Nomads 