I am Nikesh. I have been going to an Asian Aid-supported school in Nepal and staying in the hostel for the last 9 years. I am in Grade 9 grade now.
I have three big brothers but I have no parents. I go to visit my grandmother often. My brothers have families and are working in different parts of Nepal, I do not get to see them often.
This school has been a home for me since I was 7 years old. I love to be here. I have learnt a lot about discipline here. We have a routine and schedule for everything.
Let me share my daily routine and what I do in a day:
According to the time of the year, we wake up at different times. The days are very long during the summer and the sun rises at 5:30 am. I get up at 5:30 am along with the other boys at the hostel. We brush our teeth and join the other boys at the school ground where we exercise. I love running early in the morning as it gives me good energy to start the day. We bathe and change our clothes and carry out the chores given to us. We rotate through the chores which includes cleaning our dormitory, helping in the kitchen to cut vegetables, toilet cleaning or looking after the juniors.
At 6:30 am, we gather at the hostel for morning worship where we sing songs and read a passage from morning devotion. We have worship in our hostel every morning and evening except on Wednesdays when we have a combined worship with the girls as mid-week prayer and Friday too where we have combined worship together as vespers. I enjoy singing and learning new songs and listening from the Bible. I love to watch my seniors play guitar and other musical instruments and wish to play a musical instrument during worship someday. We have grand worship on Saturday with special performances and special meals which I enjoy very much.
After worship, we all sit down to study. Our seniors and hostel warden guide us with our studies and lessons. Since I am in Grade 9, we will soon have extra classes in the morning at school for math and science.
I eat my food at 9 am. We eat rice, lentil soup and curry every morning and evening and lunch consists of bread, curry, samosas, rice pudding, noodles, beaten rice, curd and other snacks in the afternoon. We are given eggs, meat and fruits at regular interval. There are many fruits in our garden like litchi, mangoes, pears, guava and papaya which we enjoy plucking from the trees and eating.
Our school starts at 9:30 am, where we start with an assembly if it is not too hot outside otherwise we meet in our respective classes. Each day we have 7 periods each class, lasting for 40 minutes each and 2 breaks. My lunch time is from 1:00 to 1:30 pm. I play some time during my lunch break, but these days it is very hot to play outside so I play indoor games, like chess, table tennis, ludo and carom board.
School is over at 4pm.
Then I have more than an hour for play, rest and also for washing and cleaning. I play football with my friends. Sometime I have clothes to wash.
Sometimes we work in the kitchen garden, planting new vegetables and plucking vegetables for the school’s kitchen.
I sit down to do homework at 5:30pm and we have a short evening worship at 6:30 pm. After this, we have dinner following which we study. Normally I stay up till 10 pm to study and do my homework but during exams I stay up until 11:00 pm studying.
Every last Saturday of the month, we have social nights where we sit out in our courtyard and have talent shows with singing, sports, dancing and drama performance. There are many other activities at the school like swimming, which we enjoy a lot during the summer as it gets pretty hot here, school picnic, educational excursion and other activities.
I have spent many years in this hostel and school. I have made some very good friends and brothers who are close to me like my own family. This is my home and this is my family. As a senior, I try to give back to the school by helping my juniors with their studies and helping them with all the other activities at the hostel like bathing, cleaning and washing their clothes. Even though I did not get grow up in a house with a family, I found more than a family here in the hostel. I learnt lot of things at the school and the hostel all these years and I believe I have become a stronger person. I am always grateful for the support I receive for my education, food and everything.
Nikesh
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