the orphanage/school

so i got to go around to the two places that i'll be at for the month..
the first one is a school-type place, i met the 'mother', the cook, another man and two of the children... this place is farrrrr different from the orphanage... they have real rooms, one for boys and one for girls. the two children i met were 15 and 16, but they look maybe 12, everyone here looks years younger than what they are. here, you are frequently asked your age and it is acceptable to do so and i've only gotten shocked faces when the people find out i'm dahb pram buhee, meaning 18... 
when i first got to the orphanage, i had kids all around me greeting me, calling me 'sister' and hugging and asking questions... they are not shy, that's for sure... there are sam sep (30) children at the orphanage. after meeting some of the kids, i sat with the 'mother' and meng and we talked for a bit... the mother there makes beautiful 'flower bouquets' made from dyed nylon stretched over wire and she sells them for money... they are amazing, i want to bring one home... the orphanage was a big eye opener, one of the boys (a 15 year old), showed me around. let me tell you this first, when you walk through the gates, you look to your right and see like an outdoor kitchen-type area, with a roof made from bamboo and leaves(?) i guess... then you look ahead and see a long building made from the same thing, with about 5-7 doors. on the left side you see a building where the kids have little desks and a performance stage (they have traditional performances 3 days a week in hopes of getting donations from the local people). when the boy took me into the room where all the 'beds' are, i wanted to cry. there are about 9 beds maybe queen size made of just wood. the boy said 3 children sleep together. there were no pillows and very few blankets that i saw.
after my little tour, we went back and i met one of the other volunteers. she is an older woman from australia who will be here for 6 months... her rent is only $130 a month for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house... that just goes to show how different the pricing is from here to back home. but after that, we talked about the orphanage and how they eat. for a 50kg bag of rice, it costs $30US and it only lasts the orphanage 3 days. they don't have very much money for food sometimes and sometimes the kids have to go without eating a lot. whatever money the 'mother' gets from her flower baskets and the performances, it all goes to the children. she said tonight that she doesn't need money and she doesn't need to be married, whatever she has goes to these kids. it's heartbreaking to see what they have to go through, but it doesn't phase them because they have someone who loves them. the boy also showed me today a list of all the children there... it has their name, when they were registered there, their age and it says something about the parents. under 95% of the names, the parents are deceased, some fathers and mothers are still alive somewhere, but they have nothing to lead them to them.
that's all i'm gonna say for now, i start tomorrow at 8... we'll see how it goes.