And their faces light up like sunshine...
Brown eyes…teeth stark white against soft caramel skin…a small and skinny frame that is somehow capable of hours of hard work…and a smile that penetrates to my very core.
This sight has become one so dear to me. The sweet, innocent joy of the children I interact with has spoken volumes to me as I live out my days in India.
I have always loved kids. Perhaps it is because I am the middle child and had a baby sister to help look after from age 3 ½ on. Or maybe it is simply a personality trait God gave me for such a time as this.
Whatever the case may be, I find my love for children only growing as the days go on and I spend more time with the ones here. There are so many to meet, to teach, to play with, and to love. There are moments where I feel as though my heart might simply burst with the affection I have for them and the laughter they bring to me.
They are all so beautiful. Sometimes I sit quietly and just watch them and their silly antics. Most times I don’t understand what they say, but we have learned to play together and ignore the language barrier.
When I have the chance to take a break and watch the kids play cricket, marbles, or made up games it is sometimes easy to forget where I am. Sometimes I forget where they are growing up. At those moments where they play so carefree and happily, I can easily forget that some of these children are fatherless, homeless, or living a lifestyle more difficult than any I could imagine.
My American mindset can’t grasp being nine years old and helping to raise younger siblings in a house made of a tarp, while your mother cleans houses and your father spends all that she raises on drugs. I can’t comprehend being fourteen years old and having only one eye that functions because of malnutrition as a young child. When I see a small boy scrubbing floors in a house with his mother, I can’t imagine being ten years old and assisting in bringing home support for your family.
I have lived a blessed life. I don’t pretend to deserve it. These sights I see and people I meet make me realize exactly how lucky I have been to be raised by good parents in a solid environment.
But even though those situations are shocking to hear about and see, there is something even more surprising and unbelievable about these little people.
Their smile.
I wonder time and again…How do they smile when there is no daddy to pick them up and spin them around? Why are they full of such joy when their sweet mothers have been hardened by too much work or the death of a husband? Do they not know any different? I ask myself. However, I have decided that is an excuse we tell ourselves. It would be simple to ease my concern for their lifestyles and my guilt at my own by saying they are only able to smile because that is all they have known. It cannot be true. They are human and feel the same pain and discomfort I would if I were put in their shoes…yet they find joy in living.
As I go about my duties each day I wonder what being here is supposed to teach me. I have realized that there is much I will learn and it cannot be narrowed to one simple thing. But as I interact with kids in school and in summer activities, I find they are unknowingly teaching me more about life than I could ever learn within the walls of my school back home. And how do they do it? Quite simply…they find enjoyment in the little things…they appreciate the tiniest treats…they allow people and relationships to bring them joy and don’t rely on physical circumstances to determine their happiness…and above all, they share that smile with everyone around them.
I don’t know what all I will learn in the next several months I spend here…but even if there is nothing more, I will consider this journey more than life changing.
I have seen some of the worst living conditions in the world and heard about some of the most heartbreaking circumstances being lived out by mere children. And it is the children in those stories that I interact with and it is those same children that I watch express the joy of life.
Could there be anything more beautiful?
I have yet to see something…
♥Nebin
This sight has become one so dear to me. The sweet, innocent joy of the children I interact with has spoken volumes to me as I live out my days in India.
I have always loved kids. Perhaps it is because I am the middle child and had a baby sister to help look after from age 3 ½ on. Or maybe it is simply a personality trait God gave me for such a time as this.
Whatever the case may be, I find my love for children only growing as the days go on and I spend more time with the ones here. There are so many to meet, to teach, to play with, and to love. There are moments where I feel as though my heart might simply burst with the affection I have for them and the laughter they bring to me.
They are all so beautiful. Sometimes I sit quietly and just watch them and their silly antics. Most times I don’t understand what they say, but we have learned to play together and ignore the language barrier.
When I have the chance to take a break and watch the kids play cricket, marbles, or made up games it is sometimes easy to forget where I am. Sometimes I forget where they are growing up. At those moments where they play so carefree and happily, I can easily forget that some of these children are fatherless, homeless, or living a lifestyle more difficult than any I could imagine.
My American mindset can’t grasp being nine years old and helping to raise younger siblings in a house made of a tarp, while your mother cleans houses and your father spends all that she raises on drugs. I can’t comprehend being fourteen years old and having only one eye that functions because of malnutrition as a young child. When I see a small boy scrubbing floors in a house with his mother, I can’t imagine being ten years old and assisting in bringing home support for your family.
I have lived a blessed life. I don’t pretend to deserve it. These sights I see and people I meet make me realize exactly how lucky I have been to be raised by good parents in a solid environment.
But even though those situations are shocking to hear about and see, there is something even more surprising and unbelievable about these little people.
Their smile.
I wonder time and again…How do they smile when there is no daddy to pick them up and spin them around? Why are they full of such joy when their sweet mothers have been hardened by too much work or the death of a husband? Do they not know any different? I ask myself. However, I have decided that is an excuse we tell ourselves. It would be simple to ease my concern for their lifestyles and my guilt at my own by saying they are only able to smile because that is all they have known. It cannot be true. They are human and feel the same pain and discomfort I would if I were put in their shoes…yet they find joy in living.
As I go about my duties each day I wonder what being here is supposed to teach me. I have realized that there is much I will learn and it cannot be narrowed to one simple thing. But as I interact with kids in school and in summer activities, I find they are unknowingly teaching me more about life than I could ever learn within the walls of my school back home. And how do they do it? Quite simply…they find enjoyment in the little things…they appreciate the tiniest treats…they allow people and relationships to bring them joy and don’t rely on physical circumstances to determine their happiness…and above all, they share that smile with everyone around them.
I don’t know what all I will learn in the next several months I spend here…but even if there is nothing more, I will consider this journey more than life changing.
I have seen some of the worst living conditions in the world and heard about some of the most heartbreaking circumstances being lived out by mere children. And it is the children in those stories that I interact with and it is those same children that I watch express the joy of life.
Could there be anything more beautiful?
I have yet to see something…
♥Nebin
posted by Varanasi, India 2008 at
8:32 AM
3 Comments:
you are such a gifted writer and this almost made me cry. I am so blessed and children around the world living in such horrible conditions always breaks my heart. Still praying!
: )
There is nothing like the smile or laugh from an Indian child. I am working at a Vacation Bible Camp now with over 400 of these kids..and I love it!
Your colourful words Nebin makes me think I am right there! Keep encouraged and you girls are making a difference in the lives of these little ones.
Many hugs all around!
♥mumsy cherie
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