Sunny days & Starry nights ... Tuesday, March 11, 2008
My past two days had been spent at changi aloha, the hideout of 20 odd children. As surreal as it may sound now, i had been spending my afternoons there guiding them through their work and sparking up some kind of games. It was truly an experience. They are kids who have been living away from their families , some since nursery and some till teenage years. At first, i couldn't understand how detrimental it is to grow without a proper family , but now i do. When I started comparing this bunch of kids with the many children i had seen at after school care, i realized that they are indeed different. They are wilder and bolder, and each of them has her own special way of throwing tantrums in the bid of attracting attention. When they fight, it was fighting all out. When they quarrel, it was shouting at one another at the top of their volume. When they study, it was studying with an attitude. With a situation like this, i was literally at the end of my tether. It was only yesterday that the girls not older than 10 created such a chaotic scene in the room that i felt like throwing in the towel. There was a key to all of them, but i was unprepared for situations like this. Each of them has a background and has probably gone through more than what kids their age should be confronted with, and this might explain their behaviour. Despite the downfalls, i could see that they were much more mature in a sense and have learned the very principle of responsibility, and most importantly, they understood the mechanism of companionship. They all know that they ought to be independent since there's no way they can receive undivided attention and love. At some point when they are less of monsters, i emphatize with them. I know it wasn't easy to be them. And it's comforting to note that beneath all the strong-headedness and terror, a little dose of innocence is preserved.
I really wish them well and perhaps this 2-day stint has benefited me more than it benefited them, but i truly hope that they've learned something from us or at least, had fun.
& Lazy afternoons ...
7:16 PM :D
Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
