Journal 18

Dear Journal,

I am having the best day ever today and I am not sure why…I am just in a really good mood! I woke up early today to go to Yoga and am very glad I did, because it was a beautiful morning and the wind was blowing just right. After class Kithi and I went to the post office, which was different than expected…just like everything else in IndiaJ.

At three Lashanna, Nikki and I went to the Bridge Center for Street Children to see the children. Lashanna and Christine are doing their projects there and they have also been volunteering there for a few weeks now, so since I didn’t have to be at my field site today, I wanted to go with them and volunteer also…IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

I was so excited to go and my expectations were not only met but exceeded…The children were wonderful and so well behaved. There are about 30 children at the center of ages ranging from 5 to 16 years old….We started the afternoon with some drawing and art projects. I of course had my camera and as soon as I started taking pictures, I was surrounded by children. They just absolutely love having their picture taken and then seeing themselves on the screen. At the beginning the children would patiently each hold up their drawing and let me take a picture of them, but after a while they all just kind of pilled up to be in the picture. It was so great to hang out with the kids and see how happy they were to have us there. About 200 pictures and a lot of drawings later we decided to end the night with some “Duck, duck, goose” and that was great!

I always love watching and observing children…like I said before in my Participant observations, children are so carefree and just happy. These children had literally nothing, not even a family, and they were still just kids. They loved to have company and play games and simply enjoy being kids. I think what touched me the most was when we left and said a thousand good-byes, one of the little kids took my hand and tried to pull me back in…it was like he was saying: “Don’t leave, stay here”…I absolutely fell in love with the children and I know it sounds so corny, but it just feels so good to see them smile and have a good time and know that I can do something to make their day better…So from now on, I will be joining Christine and Lashanna twice a week to go to the Bride Center to see the kids…