"Sister Serena, huhu… I can't believe that soon we will not be able to meet with you like this again. I will miss you very much…" Eli expressed as she hugged Serena's waist. The others were also surrounding her.
"Me too Sister Serena, I will miss you very much! Even brother Kylo." Another girl chimed in.
"Don't cry. I'm sure we will meet again someday. Perhaps, I might even pop-up once in a while." Serena replied as she stroked Eli's hair. She will also miss the children. There were times when she contemplated on just getting them out of the orphanage.
However, she knew that she can't take all of them in. If she were to choose just one or two children out of the many, jealousy might arise not just in the orphanage but also in their own household. There were servants there that have been serving their family for generations. The effect might do more evil than good. Thus, in the end, the most she could do is to lend them a helping hand in the future.
Kylo just smiled awkwardly. The children did grow on him, but he can't really say that he will miss coming here every other week. Truth was, he was much more looking forward for this thing to end. What? Volunteerism wasn't his forte.
Emily did not say anything. She was, as usual, miffed. However, the children knew that she usually visits even before so maybe that's why no one said that they will miss her.
Geoffrey was not with them as he was meeting with Timothy and the facilitators.
--
After lunch, the group of volunteers and Timothy were again in the makeshift meeting room. Geoffrey was the first to report about the research paper he took lead in working on.
"When we arrived here, the main issue was that the number of children who reach adulthood in orphanages without getting adopted were increasing, and these children did not get enough support to be prepared for life thereafter. In response, we mitigated this situation by providing skill-based education. Now, we are not sure how effective it would be, but we cannot rely only in this solution in the long run. Anyway, I initially used that main issue to write the research paper.
Through the process of gathering and collecting data, it can be concluded that rise in the number of children in orphanages was, and most probably would be, ever increasing. There are three major reasons why more and more children are being abandoned every day.
First, pandemics and natural disasters. Many orphans lost one or both their parents due to epidemics, such as pneumonia, or natural disasters like the tsunami which happened in Belmond 3 years ago.
Second, Civil unrest. Wars and violence lead to civil unrest causing many Children to lose one or both parents. The last war with Jinjoo is a primary example where thousands of children became orphans.
Lastly and the most relevant, poverty. With the industrialism happening all over the empire, the overall economic impact can be said to be really good. We have experienced increase in GDP, better standard of living, however, the gap between the rich and the poor became oceans apart. We have a situation where the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer.
In any case, even if we were able to identify these factors, it won't be easy to eliminate them. Thus, in the paper, I made the assumption that the population of children in orphanages will continue to increase.
Based on this assumption, it can easily be said that there will be an increase in the basic needs of all the children, and the main issue that we've been looking at was only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, I have consulted and have also sent people to observe the other orphanages the last few months and since it was better to see to believe, one time, I personally went for an unannounced visit and witnessed children being exploited in an orphanage through child labor. It is not an exaggeration to say that what was happening outside our sphere was truly devastating.
Now, going back to our main issue, I was given the impression that life skills were the solution and in the case we've been presented, it truly was. However, after witnessing what I did, I understood that we can not make it the solution as a whole.
Therefore, in the end, through comparative analysis, I came with the conclusion that the best solution is still standardized education." Geoffrey explained.
"Then, as usual, the problem still would lie on the lack of funding." Artemis commented.
"Indeed. In the policy recommendation portion of the paper, I have suggested for the regime to provide funding and secure standardization of education for the orphans. In fact, I am already planning to raise this issue at the house of the lords come summer. However, things might not move quickly enough as the regime's fund has already been aligned this year." Geoffrey answered.
He was not lying, but truth was, realigning was a possibility. Right now, majority of those in the monarchy faction have already sworn fealty to him. It's not that he doesn't trust his father, nor was he trying to usurp power, but they were the ones to approach them, and against the political tides, he has to have some allies. Anyway, if his father was not thinking that he's trying to overshadow him all the time, then it would be easy for him to take action.
Everyone nodded their head in understanding. Anyway, they all knew that the issue is not anything they, as volunteers, can address any longer. This responsibility should fall on the shoulders of those running the kingdom.
"Alright, since we're done with that, let us move on to the updated report regarding 'we are the world'. Miss Serena…" Timothy said.
"Alright everyone, I know that you're all excited about the numbers and here with me are the copies of the accounts given to me by Edward. Before I hand them to all of you, I want to remind you that this is only the local net profit made by 'we are the world' in three weeks." Serena announced with a confident grin. Gods, she's excited to see all their faces when they see the numbers.
--
TBC