beginning of india good-byes

Monday brought with it some goodbyes as it was our last day in India. 

We spent the morning with the little people. Today was a holiday for some people somewhere so Teresa's children did not have school, but mine did. Teresa and her teacher joined my class.

We started with regular meditation and the singing of the anthem. Again, I was enthralled with the norm here. These children have to first stand with eyes closed for a 4+ minute song and then sit, cross-legged, eyes closed and straight back for another 5-10 minutes of music. They're 3-6 years old.

We continued with crafts. Teresa and I were on cutting duty and we quickly had eager helpers. It quickly became chaotic as it turned into a craft the children received, as opposed to participated in.

Teresa and I took to entertaining the littles. Teresa quickly had the tiniest girl asleep on her lap. I read stories in English but used the pictures to review colours, letters and words. We worked on nursery rhymes, songs, the alphabet and numbers. Overall it was a helter -skelter kind of morning which, had it been earlier in the trip, would have driven me to insanity but because it was the last day I appreciated the freedom to interact as necessary. 

We had to leave the room earlier than normal today. The school is close to a riverbank and when the tide is high, the path to get out to the main road gets flooded. The locals are well versed in the timing of this lunar-cycle dictated water movement so we left without question. 

We thought the program was over it, no, just relocated to the New Light area on the second floor. Here we were able to hang out with some other New Light kids that we know from being around. Again, this unstructured time was appreciated. 

We had plans of heading to the boys home today after they didn't work out on Saturday. We were to go after Kalighat but we managed to get there on our own and fit it in before instead.

It was a bit of a trek to the boys home: a 45 minute bus ride, difficult-to-arrange auto rickshaw drive and a walk to an off-the-beaten path building.

Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by an employee. He took us on a short tour. We just wanted to see the home, we didn't want to impose. We were curious what happened to New Light kids after the pre-school program. Not all children move on to boarding homes, but many do. It is a safer environment for them. One could likely conjure up an argument against these homes under the umbrella idea that children should be with their families, however, this idea should not be confidently proclaimed unless the proclaimer has diligently investigated the familial norms of these children. I don't know the stories of these children but I'm continually brought back to the story of the 7 year old girl at Star Fish. 

The home is functionally simple. We were ready to leave after a short visit, again not wanting to impose. The welcomer invited us to chat with the boys and we enthusiastically agreed. We soon found ourselves on the floor of one of the rooms with initially 7 and quickly 11 boys. They had exams the next day: Bengali and English. We decided to help them study for English by conversing with them. Generally, their English is very good.

My first questions were about sports: what was their favourite? Football was the strong majority, we had two who chose cricket and zero who chose hockey. They excitedly shared with us that they had a soccer team, the boys in the home. They play against other groups of boys. They had a game yesterday and won 3-0. We promptly congratulated the keeper and defenders on the shut-out as well as the scorers and assisters on their contributions to the win. Again I was reminded of how necessary encouragement and enthusiastic affirmation is.

This led to an articulate and passionate description on cricket: rules, positions and generally how to play. Their enthusiasm taught me about cricket in a way I'll remember. This led to a discussion about who the best cricket team and players in the world are and they promptly pulled out a national team picture to help with the teaching. I had recently read an article on the some of the female national players and was was quite impressed when they even knew who they are.

This led to some impromptu cricket in the small hallway. I made the full motion like I was going to pitch aggressively but never released the ball. They quickly ducked and I laughed! 

Realizing we had a little bit of space, I went and got a disc (frisbee) from my bag and started to share the gift of ultimate frisbee. We started tossing with the regular throw (the backhand) and quickly moved to the forehand, the generally more challenging throw. Many picked up the skill quickly and one big of about 12 was stunningly phenomenal! I'd recruit him for my team in a heartbeat. As is my norm with my work with international kids, I got over the top excited any time they successfully threw the forehand: it was met with an enthusiastic reaction and walking over to give them a high five and, if necessary, I pointed out how they could improve.

Earlier while sitting on the floor we also chatted about what their favourite subjects were which led to asking them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Many didn't know, a few wanted to be engineers and one wanted to be a doctor; he liked math but hated biology and chemistry. Despite the enigmatic situation, his charming personality may just allow him to reach this goal.

This was a tricky conversation to lead. Hope can be a scary thing as it can offer an alternate to the assumed. These boys have come from precarious situations and  been brought into a new community: one in which they are, I think, relied on more as contributors then in a contrastingly structured family. They are cared for yet required to be differently independent. I suppose this environment provides individual hope, but much is required of them to "achieve" what is hoped for. I think if I were them I would fear hope. I would fear anticipating an alternate future than my family normal.