Children in Aman Ghars

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

AASHAYEIN- Give them wings to fly!!

Have you ever thought how things fall into place?
I never even mused how every human we meet in life has a role to play in our life irrespective of the gravity and importance of his role.
I Pallavi Jain met an old friend some days back through ‘face book’. It was a casual process of adding and commenting on each other’s activities. One day a message blinked in my message box from this coincidental friend “Pooja”.
She had invited me to participate voluntarily in a summer camp organized by an NGO she had joined sometime back. I was already preoccupied as I was preparing for my exams so I dropped the idea of going there.
Another day my other friend “Adeeba” called me to ask about my whereabouts and I casually mentioned about the summer camp being organized in Vasant Kunj. Her reaction was commendable. She got excited with the thought of meeting kids and playing with them. She insisted me to fix the plan. So we planned, fixed the day and decided to reach the summer camp.
This morning was unlike the other mornings. This Sunday had a lot in store for us.
While sitting in metro I kept thinking about the way I will be talking to the kids. I prepared questions in my mind how, why, who and what? Gosh! It was no less than an interview anxiety.
And with all these thoughts cramped in my mind I reached the summer camp along with pooja,adeeba and 3 other acquaintances of mine.

Summer camp was organized in a beautiful school “santa maria”. School boasts of colorful walls, multicolored swings surrounded by grass and trees, huge classrooms and the mesmerizing rabbits, ducks and hens as its inhabitants. We quietly entered one of the rooms where some 20-25 girls and boys were sitting on floor enjoying a puppet show.

Puppet show was being performed by some children who are the part of the ngo. A make shift was set up with a black curtain in the front and animal gloves being used as the puppets. Both Hindi and English as the language to communicate was used to keep the children engaged. The camp was basically for kids below 10 years of age. All the kids were singing English poem “twinkle twinkle little star” along with the puppet show.
But I personally found the poem little lower than the potential of these kids seeing their age. But my reaction was the outcome of my poor knowledge about the ngo and the past life of kids. I was unaware of how these kids had been brought up and in what conditions they have been living since they first entered the world. But the truth changed my perception. I started to look at them with admiration that how can they be so strong. At such an early age they are fighting all the odds, miseries and harshness of life. A kind of respect started to house in my heart for them.
I was too lost thinking about them that I didn’t realize when the magic show began.
The magician was very good; he knew his job very well.
He blended the humor and magic very well.


Kids enjoyed the session very much and the entire atmosphere was filled with laughter. I noticed something different in these kids. I agree they have little bookish knowledge but the experience of life that they have is impeccable.
They caught the maximum tricks of magician, which was remarkable. After the magic show, we finally met the kids personally. We began with the swings and some outdoor games. We easily got mixed up with the kids and never realized that an hour ago we were the strangers.
Later kids participated in the coloring and dancing session which turned out to be their all time favorite task.
They enjoyed, shined and grooved on hindi pepi numbers.
With all these activities, the day finally culminated.
We came empty handed but we went with cherish able memories and a realization that these kids have the caliber to turn their dreams true. They only need Wings to fly.

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