This weekend in Bangalore we had the opportunity to spend time with the children from K.S. Garden "Slum."
My group, “S-Squared” had the experience to pick up the children from their home. Note that these children live in the slums, in which most of the community is unaware of. In my participation I noticed that most of feedback I received from the community within the slums was a feeling of acceptance. Even though we where complete strangers, my heart was joyful when the reply was a smile, or a simple gesture of welcome. With a limited amount of space in their community, it was clear that everyone was helping each other.
Our agenda that day was to spend it with the children at St. Joseph College in Bangalore. On our journey there, two of the little boys I was walking with asked me where I was from, what was my mission (mission means what career are you interested in), and what was my view on India.
I responded with: “I am from the U.S., I don’t know exactly what my mission is yet I can be many things, and that I think it is a beautiful place.”
I asked him the same questions, and he said he had three options, either a magician, engineer, or singing, he really likes singing. He said, “India, very dirty, and the U.S. is Clean.” He was surprised when I said that the U.S, was not all clean only certain parts.
Both children were so talkative, which made me feel so comfortable and open to conversation. At one point when we were crossing the street it humored me when these children told me, “We are such a handful”. But what really opened my eyes was when he said that, “we may be small, but we all help each other no matter what”. My realization was that even though these children were limited to many resources, much of which is taken for granted by others around the world. They still keep their head up, and are thankful for the gift of life and their family. When it comes to educ
ation it is not taken for granted and used to the best of their ability.
I see these children as a strong inspiration. Their journeys have been long and hard, and yet the rest is still to come and I know that with their dedication they will become the best that they can be.
Once we came back from Bangalore on Monday we had a day with no events for the first time! This made me miss being busy, and understand the concept of using your time wisely. We had a fun day at the beach and saw that the day went by faster when we were occupied during the day. By far the weekend was significant and educational.
Our All Group, Child Leader Project/TYCL Photo:
CLP-USA Mentors and Youth Leaders (14 total), TYCL-Pondicherry mentors (8 total) and Bangalore (8 total) and 47 Child Leaders from KS Garden Slum
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