Daily Life

It was busy, noisy, animated and overcrowded in the orphanage. Once up children had to be fed, clothes thrown on, shoes handed out, school shifts organized, washing to be done, wet mattresses to be aired. Yet there was an air of order and routine, though no day was ever the same – and there was a lot of laughter.

Staff were not formally trained in the variety of skills they needed to care for such numbers of children, especially children who’d been traumatized by the circumstances that brought them to the Noel. Even though they regarded themselves as one family, everyone brothers and sisters, the orphanage could be a very emotionally lonely place for many.

“Memories are the architecture of our identity”