This blog post is about my first experience of visiting an orphanage.
“Will you play with me?” – an innocent voice caught me from behind when I was engrossed in the mystery of a completely new surrounding. I turned around and saw teary eyes of uncertainty staring at me. Standing there, speechless for a while, I nodded my head.
Around 17 years back, when I was in 2nd standard, our school batch visited an orphanage run by the local Catholic community. Having no idea of the destination and how naive we were, we thought of it as a school picnic rather than anything else. My parents had already packed up my school bag the previous night with all the regular usable stuff that I had to distribute to the needy kids, something I was completely unaware of.
The next day when we reached the orphanage, amazed and confused by the aura, I saw some unknown kids of my age group, all dressed up similarly, standing in front of us in a queue waiting for something. There was fear, innocence, and hope in their eyes.
Our teachers introduced us to those unknown kids and asked us to mingle with them. Not thinking much, we immediately gelled up with our new friends, singing, dancing, playing, and distributing the goodies we had brought for them. A curiosity inside, I never stopped asking myself what was the meaning of that place? Who were those kids? Why were we taken to that place? What was so different about it? After all, it’s hard to understand some realities of life at such a fragile age.
All these years down the line, now that my mind is able to comprehend the painful truths of this world, I got my questions answered, and there are so many emotions that flow in my mind when I think of this incident.
Being aware of the challenges, obstacles, misery, and the pain these small orphan kids have to go through, it takes a big heart and internal strength to go ahead and provide them a helping hand.
But, this is not the only heart-wrenching experience of visiting an orphanage I have had in the past. We have this tradition in our family of going to the orphanage and donating something to the needy kids on the death anniversary of our family members. This feels so much better and satisfying than offering sweets, fruits, etc. to the deity in the temple, considering God himself wants us to help others in need.
My grandfather and grandmother always wanted to do something for the kids who would never get a childhood to cherish, a love to live, and an atmosphere to prevail.
Being candid, I always stop myself from visiting orphanages, old age homes, or any other such place because of the strong emotions they carry. They bring out the truth and darkness of this cruel life.
Recently, controlling the emotions and with a heavy heart, I visited an orphanage where I got the chance of organizing the breakfast for the little hearts. I could hear the place filled with thin echoing voices and saw the children praying to the “Almighty”, wishing for the happiness to prevail in this world when they were unaware of their own sufferings and sorrows.
Unlike the animal nature that we people possess these days, the kids displayed an amazing picture of the civilized world. Everyone was well dressed, queued up for the breakfast, silent while eating, and cleaned up their plates from the table once done. They all looked so contented with life, unmoved by their situation and circumstances.
The thoughts crippled me when I came to know that some newborns were also part of the orphanage. Their parents were either dead, or lost, or ran away leaving them behind to succumb to the miseries of the merciless world.
There was nothing to be proud of in organizing the breakfast. It was the least we could do for them. Living in our own world of hurt and sorrows, we forget that there is a face of life more hurting and miserable than ours. There’s a lot we can learn from the life these kids live, the pain they carry, the smile they own, and the conviction they bleed. They show us how to carry on with life even in the dark times, how to be happy with what we have, how to tackle every problem, and how to live with no desires and unwanted worries.
We often waste our time thinking about futile things when even a single spark of providing a helping hand can bring a change for so many needy kids. I feel every step we’ll take towards this cause of helping needy people can bring out the true meaning of our lives.
My experience of visiting an orphanage was an eye-opener and a shock to a certain extent considering how the children were still smiling. If you have empathy, emotions, and a heart, try exploring this face of reality. Try visiting an orphanage and see how the small children are living life. There are many orphanages run by various communities, NGOs, and trusts whom you can contact. Your help can make a big difference. All these kids need is a bit of love and support from us to help them live a bit better life. Next time you are sad about something in your life, try thinking about such kids and many unknown kids who are living a miserable life, and that too with a smile on their face.
Image by PremierCompanies (user:PremierCompanies) from Pixabay
WRITTEN BY
AYUSH PANDYA
(AUTHOR – THE UNPRECEDENTED CULT)
A beautiful, thought provoking post. Thank you.