What is daily life like ?
The Principal, Heshron Rahmi, and his wife Dr Ebi Rahmi and family, get up at sunrise at 5 am. All the secondary school boys get up early to do over an hour’s study before breakfast at 7 am and prayers at 7.45 am.
The dining hall and meeting room (which can hold 200 for prayers) are both on the main Albella site. All residents are given two meals a day at 7am and 6pm, usually rice, dal, vegetable curry, including meat and egg three times a week.
The 48 boys who walk to one of the three secondary schools drink only water at school during the day, but get tea & snacks when they return at 3.30pm. The Bonami Primary boys are given their free tea and snacks at noon; they are taught through the medium of English from class IV onwards, helped by explanations in Nepali.
After sunset about 6.30pm, the big boys study till prayers at 8.30pm, whereas smaller boys have prayers at 7pm before bed at 7.30. Prayers lasting 15-20 minutes include a Bible-based talk, (using the Bible they are each given on entry to ABH) and some lively singing, using talented musicians on drums, guitars and flutes.
Recreation includes a small football pitch, a fenced-in basketball/volleyball ground, one TV in Bonami and one in Albella’s dining room, a table tennis room – and a gym for the older boys.
Most of the boys are Nepali (Gurkhas) with a few Tibetans. Only occasionally are they naughty – punishments are cleaning drains or carrying manure; but expulsion follows drug use or smoking.