Active days at the Gratton hostels
At Gratton Hostel, more than 100 children between the ages of 7 and 18 live together. For many of them this is “home” most of the year – they only go back to their families one weekend a month, plus during school holidays.
When lessons are done, the best part of the day begins: free time! A few of the older students use laptops for schoolwork, but apart from that, screens don’t play a big role here. Most of the children spend their afternoons outdoors – playing football, netball, rugby, or climbing in the jungle gyms – or indoors with drawing, reading and games. All of this is part of their everyday life at the hostel.
Everyday life also means routines: the children polish their own shoes and wash their socks before they can run off to play. Small chores that build responsibility and pride – and often end in laughter and friendly little competitions about who finishes first.
Over the years we’ve added all sorts of equipment: balls for every kind of sport, skipping ropes, books, board games, teddies, art supplies, yarn and knitting needles – even weights and a punching bag for the older kids. And believe us: everything gets used! Balls burst, skipping ropes mysteriously disappear, crayons shrink to the size of matchsticks… so we always need to restock.
A big thank you also goes to our main sponsor NutraQ, who together with sponsors and supporters make projects like this possible.
The children are endlessly grateful – and seeing their joy in having something meaningful to do after school shows us that this is just as important as food and textbooks.
