Life in Kafunjo: Sleeping Arrangements

It is very hard for the Project to provide enough space, beds, and mattresses for the ~200 children living at the orphanage. They have four small dormitories in total - two for boys and two for girls. Each dorm has solar powered lighting, however, the rooms are still very dark at night - especially after cloudy and rainy days. This only really proposes an issue for the younger children as they are afraid of the dark. While each dorm is packed with bunk beds and triple bunk beds, they are still not big enough to house all the children so many need to sleep in the clinic, church, or buildings across the street from the orphanage that Bruno has acquired. Each place that children sleep has one adult to monitor and keep them safe during the night. Bruno has hired two employees who are in charge of cleaning the dormitories every weekday (among other things), but this responsibility is given to the children on the weekends. If a child needs to use the restroom in the middle of the night, they have to wake up a friend to walk with them as Bruno has established a rule of not walking anywhere alone after dusk. This rule doesn’t bother them much as they are usually afraid of walking alone in the dark anyways.

The children sleep on thin, foam mattresses and, unfortunately, not everyone has their own due to a lack in both funds and space. There are usually two (even three sometimes) children sleeping on a single mattress. A triple bunk bed would typically be assumed to sleep three children, however, in Kafunjo they could potentially sleep up to 9 depending on the need. The mattresses they sleep on are very old, dirty, and torn. The ones used by young children are in especially bad shape as they are always saturated with urine. Because of this, they are placed outside during the day to let them dry. This wouldn’t be a problem except the Project has had issues in the past with villagers stealing them. Most of the children are cold at night, but especially the ones sleeping in the church and medical clinic as their thin mattresses are laid out on the cold cement and tiled floors. On top of this, the Project is severely lacking in warm bedding. Unfortunately, a warm blanket costs about $18 so, similar to mattresses, they are a very hard thing for the Project to afford for every child. Bruno says the children can often be heard talking and laughing loudly together at night time. They’ve told Bruno many times that, even if they never get to have their own mattresses, beds, etc., they will always be happy so long as he lets them stay at the orphanage and they beg him to never send them away - not that he has any plans to.

Children’s personal belongings are kept inside lockable trunks which are usually kept at the foot of their beds but, again, not every child has one. If you ever notice pictures of children wearing necklaces with keys on them, this is what those keys are for. Usually, only children who are new to the Project wear these necklaces as the others haven’t quite gained their trust yet. On average, each child owns about 3-4 outfits (including their school uniform) which they keep in their trunks. The children do not have pajamas, so they sleep in their daytime clothes. In these trunks, children may also keep things like letters or small gifts they receive from our annual letter drives (see our Donate page for more info on this), a toothbrush and toothpaste, shoes, and school items like notebooks, pens, and pencils. Additionally, if a child’s parents from the village give them things (like a bottle of soda, lotion, bananas, bread, etc.), these would also be stored in their trunk.