saying, he promises to do everything, and he already moves on to other matters.
I am angry that I am dependent on him too, that he is in charge of issues that he does not care about. I, in turn, set out to look for a child who might be clothed as well as possible, and who would have enough time and goodwill to come with me to the storage room to get products. I am on my way with the girl I have fortunately found. I stop by the office to file a report. Having provided the girl with products and exhortations to be careful on her way, I am free. It is 3 o’clock. At 4.30 I am supposed to be at the Point to hand out supper: bread and marmalade. In the winter gloom, brightened by the glow of a small candle, the Point is even more nightmarish. Everything is ready for supper. The handing out goes smoothly. I am back home at 6 o’clock. Finally, on 18 December, the room is glazed and a nice bright fire is burning in a glowing stove. The common room is clean, bright, and warm. Groats for orphans and the sick are cooking on the stove, then the washing water will be heated for the boys, whose room has no fire in the stove. There are 54 children. The mood is nice and serene. Their boredom and sadness have disappeared. Today we have a feast for breakfast: groats and bread with onions
and egg. The children eat calmly and easily. I remember how they used to grab wildly at the food, jumping over the tables and benches. From behind the door parents used to be heard, cursing and threatening children for having eaten the whole breakfast. Now that they know they have to eat everything, they have to come clean, say “good morning” and “thank you”. “It’s good now”; the children are happy. We start the cycle about animals in winter. Children like to listen to a fairy tale about a squirrel that wanted to be a redhead in winter. They sing songs and play bunnies. They tell stories. They speak freely. They have rid themselves of that fear that had gnawed into their souls as they wandered from town to town, and which had grown in them as a result of hunger and ever-uncertain existence, dependent on social welfare.
The children talk and listen. The older ones would like to learn but they
have no aids, the younger ones need toys. But not all children are present.
Absent are 15 sick children, who need rice, lemons, bandages, and, above
all, a clean bed fit for humans. 16 children are absent because they do not
have even a stitch of clothing. Four children must work: they sell candy
in the street, scrub floors and pots in the houses of the rich, sneak under
the barbed wire of the fences at night, through holes and walls. Of every
