First Day Of School

We've had our first days at Future Hope and I’m lucky enough to be with the little ones. As soon as I sit down for lunch the boys crowd around me, shouting “uncle” (me being the eldest boy among them) and asking to sit next to me. I'm amazed at how independent these boys already are. The older ones dole out the food to everyone in the group, carefully measuring the portions so each one has enough to eat.

The younger ones responsibly wash their hands and receive their plate of food and respectfully wait until every boy in the group - a batch of more than twenty - have taken their plate to begin eating. The boys have begun to accept me into their group and one politely introduced me to each boy sitting on the floor while I scrambled to take note of their names on the first day.

As soon as we finish the delicious mix of rice, some sabji, and egg, each child took their plate, engraved with their name, and washed it in the sink and put it away before beginning to play. All the while I watch incredulously and wondered at how amazed my parents would be if I actually did these tasks at home.

Soon after lunch, the boys are given some time to do whatever they pleased and even here I was incredibly impressed at what the kids can do. Some control rapidly spinning Chinese yo-yos, tossing them high into the air before catching them on a tiny string. Others bang out beats on the snare drums nearby (one was nearly deaf in both ears and still created perfect rhythms). One no older than five deftly balances a plate atop a stick nearly as tall as he was. And here I was without any rhythm, lacking balance, and unable to even start the Chinese yo-yo on its spin. Even at play the kids were just plain awesome.

Later I help the younger kids do their homework problems. Maybe I just don’t remember my tender years but I feel I don’t think I was doing multiplication tables or four digit addition in first grade. It was definitely a winning moment for me helping a kid to learn subtraction when we both spoke very different languages. Yet I was amazed at how easily the children already knew of English and how they picked up the language as I spoke it.

Here too, I was seeing this interesting combination of independence and collaboration; though each boy responsibly took out his homework problems and began to work individually, the older boys would help the struggling ones with the problems. After reading to older boys in the library (Tintin! They even have great choices of books to read), the boys have some free time before dinner.

While the older ones practice cricket, the younger ones clamor onto my back and I take them around and around the playground. I get tired after about three rounds but when an adorable child pleads for just one more round, it’s impossible to deny the request. Sitting down for dinner with the kids, I test myself on my memory of each of the kids and am surprised at how many I know as each tells me about their day at school and what foods they like. It has been a good day at school.