Daily Activities of SOS Children’s Village Jorpati during Corona Virus (COVID-19)

“Yeyy!! It is Friday! Today my group will do a presentation about the story we read yesterday. My group is going to be the best to present the summary, characters briefing and message; we have also discussed on how to improve the story”, shares Padma* under the care of SOS Children’s Village Jorpati in Nepal.  

All the children under the care of SOS Children’s Village Jorpati are divided into four groups with five members in each group. Every alternative day, children select one story from their text books and read it to their friends. Yesterday, it was Padma’s turn, so today, children in all four groups presented their analysis of the story in front of everyone. While analyzing the story, the children have divided their duties and roles. One member from each group share about the summary of the story. The next member from each group share about the main character of the story and try to find the best traits of the main character. Likewise, the other member share about the message that the story presents and the remaining members from each group share their perception about how they think the story could be even better.   

“This practice is very useful for the children as it is helping them in the skills like listening, analysis, assimilation, criticisms, presentation, team work, and imagination and so on. They become busy in these works that they do not feel bored. They are self-motivated in their regular practice,” shares Mr. Rabin Nepali, Project Director of SOS Children’s Village Jorpati.  

He further adds, “This session has taught the seniors like us to move forward no matter what happens. They read their story, talk about it no matter, how they present, they are always motivated to give their best”.  

After the presentation, all the children have their lunch at around 10 AM.  Children enjoy their nutritious food prepared by their SOS Mothers followed by some rest. Around 10:30 AM, some children stay in their homes, other assemble in the library based on their respective online classes. They sit in front of a computer for almost four hours and also have assignments to complete.   

“I have learned so many things about conference calls and video chats during this ‘stay home’ time’ says Bidisha*, a child under the care of SOS Children’s Village Jorpati. She completes her assignments and sends through email to teacher by herself.   

After having afternoon tea, children have a free time from 3 PM to 5 PM. They utilize this free time either by helping their mothers with household chores or enjoy sharing their feelings with each other.   

At around 5:30 PM, children gather in the middle of the ground, inside the Village for their physical exercise and mediation session. It is led by the Project Director and an SOS mothers. They warm up and walk around the village premises. Then at 7: 30 PM, they take dinner. After that, the Project Director takes the daily temperature of the children and mothers to make sure they are in the best of their health. In this process, one of the senior children helps him to maintain the record. Children utilize their evening time watching their favorite programme on the television and usually go to bed at around 9:30 PM.  

Every Saturday, children support their SOS mothers in gardening and cleaning. They also help their SOS mothers in washing their clothes and cleaning the drains. After completing these tasks, they have their own time, which they enjoy by watching their favorite movies and playing games on the computer. 

SOS Children’s Village Jorpati provides care for the children who are differently abled. Since the lockdown, the children have their health checkup by Village Nurse in every alternative day. For the safety and well-being of the children, all the visitors as well as coworkers from outside the village are prohibited to enter the Village. The Village counselor provides psychosocial counselling to the children via online as per the need.  Similarly, most of the coworkers are working from home and providing various support needed from home via Internet and telephone.