IBM Community Service Day. Saturday, 4th April.
We had planned an activity for
approximately 80-90 children at Samarthanam Residential School. Our plan was to split the IBM Team in four
classrooms, split the kids as well in groups of 20, each one assigned to a room,
and play some sort of learning games with them. After 30 minutes, they would
rotate from one room to the other in order to attend all classes. I was
assigned to the “culture room” where we were playing music from different
countries (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, US, UK, and India, among others) and students were supposed to guess where did the song come from. We were using some colorful world maps to help us as we did not expect all of them to know the countries by hard. The prize: if they guessed, we would all dance. My IBM Team for the assignment –Dora, Kare
& myself- seemed to be ready.
But upon arrival, I discovered it was not really a “school”,
but a home for children between 2 to 12 years whose parents could not look
after them, or did not want to… Some of them were disabled (this we knew). So what I thought
were classrooms without proper desks were really bedrooms without beds. We
were told that the English level was good enough to understand the activities,
but most of the children would not speak any of it. Still, all of them were
very happy with our presence. So after a
quick introduction, we let the games began.
My friend Kare warned me earlier that week that having 20
children dancing in a room was going to be tough work, especially when calming
them down. Of course, being as stubborn as I am, I did not listen….
So the combination of music, dancing, wigs and children made
it very difficult to have them quiet! But we ended up finding the way: adapting
a little the activities in the room, creating a rule that would mean “silence”,
another rule to have them sharing the wigs, and learning that the word “bazinga”
would make them sit in a round.
At the end of the day, we were all very thankful for being part of such a nice experience. When I was leaving the building I saw one of
the 3-years-old girls with whom I had danced before,
having a nap in the floor of the girls’ bedroom. Having no bed was the least of her problems, I
would say: she was also missing her legs and her parents. In the way back
to the hotel I could not help thinking how much I complain sometimes about things
I lack of, when I do have sooooo much.I guess that understanding the mappa mundi requires more than being familiar with all regions and countries, but it is the people who really matters: people around you, people away from you, people so different from you.... And knowing who you are, where are you standing and where you want to go.
From Bangalore, I am sending a big big –huge- hug to my family and my friends (all of them): I love you so much!!! And I
am very grateful for sharing my life with each of you.
Coni.
Coni.
