As the human toll from the tsunami climbs upward, I wonder how this will affect Uma’s learning. After six weeks of English lessons from volunteers, she could sight read an entire children’s book. And Pavithra – does she still giggle and exclaim, “I am a diva!” without any idea what it means – but knows it’s a good thing to say?
Strange questions to ask regarding the tsunami in East Asia. But, those are the questions that have been running through my mind since Dec 26. I don’t know any of the hundreds of thousands who have perished, been uprooted or otherwise devastated by Mother Nature. But, I do know the kids at the Dazzling Stone orphanage outside Chennai. And although they were spared the horror of the tsunami, I wonder how the effects of the tsunami will affect their lives – if their food supply is disrupted, if there’s room in the hospital if one of them gets sick.
As a Global Volunteer (http://www.globalvolunteers.org), I took a three-week service vacation to the orphanage in September 2001 to teach them English, math and other school subjects. (Yes, 9-11. But that’s another story). The month spent in India innately disqualifies me as any kind of expert on the Indian culture. But, it did leave an indelible impression of their lifestyle in a world where education is a privilege and privacy is unheard of.
Kids are kids. They get bored during schoolwork and love recess. “Exercise” was a new term to them, and their favorite part of the day was the morning calisthenics, silly as they were. They played tricks on us, teased us, flirted with us and loved us. And after living with these children for nearly a month, I noticed distinct differences between them and the typical American kid. For example:
- Some of the orphan girls wouldn’t let you roughhouse with them because their dresses might fly up and they didn’t own underwear.
- Kids will break out from a crowd to scoop up a fresh pile of elephant dung – a fuel source – onto a plate with their bare hands.
- Orphans will spend three hours on their knees on a straw mat over rough cement floors praying and crying for you, if your country is attacked by terrorists who fly airplanes into big buildings.
- They’ll be so excited to see you that they’ll plaster themselves all over you. They don’t care if they have open sores, or that they use their hands to clean themselves when they use the toilet. They don’t care. Neither should you.
The point? We can’t save every orphan, widow or any other person who’s been forever traumatized by the tsunami. But, maybe this is a wake-up call to take a look around you. What can you do today, or this week, to make life a little better for the people around you? Everyone could use a little more lovin’ – and as hokey as it sounds, you can brighten someone’s day with a smile. Try it. Get out and give back.
Jane Hess is a free-lance writer and life coach. You can send your comments to getoutandgiveback@hotmail.com
