The Orphanage

"Sir!" "Sir!" "Pass the ball!"
We are at an orphanage in a southern district of Kathmandu! Christian, Sebastian and I are all captains of the 3 teams. It is a knockout tournament and we brought the ball so that we could play! The children are so curious, polite and always smiling.

As we arrive to the boys orphanage we are redirected to the girls orphanage as the boys are eating lunch. At the girls orphanage we are quickly led into the house and introduced to all the girls. They are very shy but it probably has something to do with me being a boy.

When we go outside we explain to them some games that we will play with them. In the beginning they were afraid of joining the games but it doesnt take long before most of the girls are playing.

Just as we are about to go to the boys orphanage we are invited to tea at the girls Dining Hall. The girls seem more open here and offer both cookies and boiled eggs.

When i come outside i see the small boy who lives at the orphanage with the girls, probably because his sister lives there, and i walk up to him and i ask him if i can take a photo. He becomes very excited and does a "Namaste" resembling pose. Afterwards he reaches out for the camera and i try to teach him how to take pictures, but as soon as he finds the shooter button he keeps pressing it and takes 5 photos, the last 2 more blurry and unfocused than the others because at that point i was trying to get my camera back.

The male and female volunteers now split up so us guys walk over to the boys orphanage and again quickly introduced to them inside the house. We quickly decide to go play football. We go outside into the fields. There are bricks and rocks everywhere but i still see boys playing football in bare feet. Sebastian, Christian and I are the 3 team captains. The orphans get numbers and we start to play. As i watch the two other teams play i take photos and the orphans ask me if i want a picture with them. So i stand with my team and another guy is taking the photo.

As we say goodbye to the orphans two girls run up to Christian and they tell me to take a photo with him.

While we are walking back to the bus to take us back to the platform the boys from the orphanage are walking behind us, walking us halfway out of the area and the girls are waving and yelling goodbye to us from the house.

Another fantastic day in Kathmandu, Nepal. This is reality.