5:13 and the sun is slumbering. A rooster is calling everyone awake, taking his job very seriously! A second rooster has joined him then I hear the pitter-patter of feet on the floor above me. The residents of the LOT Children’s Home are waking, the pattern of their days nearly identical. Menuka brings a cup of hot Horlicks (like Ovaltine) into my room as I listen to the sounds of the morning. Feet bounding down the cement stairs, the scratchy sound of sweeping, then fragments of conversation and laughter. The day is unfolding like a rose in the heat.
Several children take up homemade brooms to sweep the entire compound. Little boys water the dozens of flowerpots. The cook begins breakfast preparation while smiling girls sit outside the kitchen braiding each other’s hair. After a hearty meal the children assemble for morning worship and study hall. At 8:30 teeth are brushed, school uniforms donned and amid much laughter, all stroll to school.
