Lakeside School Visits Dil Se

When I entered Dil Se's home for girls outside of Delhi, I was totally unprepared for what was about to hit me. Instead of the shyness and trepidation from the girls that I had anticipated, I was met with a near avalanche of "hello" and "how are you?" from the vivacious girls that live in the home. I was totally overwhelmed by the kindness and happy interest that they displayed, perhaps more so than anywhere else during my stay in India.

As background, I was traveling with a group of other American high school students and had been staying in a small village in the Himalayan foothills with a host family. We were nearing the end of our journey in India and were missing our cozy village life, and the sense of community that that life offered us.

One of the most wonderful things about our short visit to the home was that for a few hours we were able to recapture that community and sense of cooperation that was omnipresent in village life. I was stuck by the fact that Dil Se has been able to recapture what is great about the Indian village community while adapting to the demands and opportunities that are available in a big city.

After my group and I arrived and we were nearly attacked by all of the girls who were so excited to see and meet us, we met with many of the people responsible for creating such a haven in the middle of the city. While the unflaggingly friendly girls brought around drinks, we learned more about why Dil Se is such an important and impressive organization I was especially amazed by the amount of passion that all of the Dil Se worker's clearly display for the service they are able to provide to these lively children.

We spent the rest of our regrettably short visit telling the girls about our trip in India, answering questions about the US, teaching them how to make friendship bracelets, sharing American and Indian songs, and getting caught up inadvertently in a massive hair braiding project where the girls took it upon themselves to fix the hair of each of the girl members of our group. When I left the home later that night, my hair neatly braided, I felt a deep sense of gratitude; for the adults who have the passion to create and sustain such a challenging operation, but moreover for the girls who are courageous enough to overcome the odds of poverty and who have the strength to retain their lively spirits and to share themselves with my group.