Bonnie Auntie’s Pandemic Rules

Above: Bonnie and Uma having a meeting at a social distance.

Yes, although Bonnie Auntie (and our cook and housemother, Dhana) have to stay somewhat removed from the day to day action at Ama Ghar because their age makes them vulnerable, Bonnie has been leading the charge against coronavirus contamination through a series of rules and protocols. Since so many of you have expressed concern about the children, we thought we’d share Bonnie Auntie’s rules:

1.  Anyone who is allowed in the front gate (milk and food delivery people) must use the hand washing station at that gate.

2. Ama Ghar is in lockdown for at least 30 days, maybe more depending on how the virus progresses in Nepal.

3. The six older children in the youth apartments are monitored on a regular basis. They have been provided with one month’s worth of money for their food and we review the protocols with them regularly.

4.  Because of her age, Bonnie is at high risk and is in quarantine in her Bungalow. She can speak with Bhesh, Uma and the kids from a distance wearing a mask. We have regular meetings to adjust and review the children’s activities.

5. Older children are to plan and supervise daily sports competitions which keeps them all busy.

6. Older children are conducting daily lessons in English, math, geography and science from 11 am to 2:45 pm. Since so many of our older ones came home, each is teaching only three younger children. Hopefully, this individual attention will keep the kids engaged and interested in learning.  Our fantastic library provides a lot of resources for class ideas. The older children have really risen to the occasion, so the teachers and the students will learn new things.  

7.  In addition to the scholastic classes we have music, dance, crafts and whatever new things we can find on YouTube!

8. Uma, Tan Bahadur, Ganesh, Anita K and Bindu are working hard to keep everything going. Because of her age and health issues, Dhana is in isolation most of the time. Both gardeners work to keep growing vegetables, with the help of the children. Since he can safely walk through fields to get to Ama Ghar, Bhesh is coming to the office 1-2 days a week as needed.