Overextended

When I first came to Future Hope, I started with the upstairs boys, an unruly but lovable bunch of kids ranging from six to thirteen who love to play sports and jump on volunteers' backs. Within days, I had become close with most of the boys and by the time a week had passed, I was interacting with all of the boys. This has been as much a challenge as an achievement. The smaller boys now call out for stories while the bigger boys want quizzes on general knowledge and help with homework. To balance these equally obnoxious but unavoidably adorable requests has been trying.

After the first week, schedules changed and I began working at the school in Class Three, assisting a commanding teacher with her intelligent, but still mischievous, bunch of girls and boys. One of the upstairs boys was in the class and I use this time to get to know this quiet but incredibly smart young boy much better. During breaks the younger boys grab tiffin and play football on the roof of the school and there I've met countless other young children eager to play tag or have me chase them around.

Thanks to Chini, I also got to know the children of Class 4, many of whom were eager to learn Spanish. But I had already formed a bond with the upstairs boys and so I've made sure to spend my afternoons in the home, playing chess, telling stories, and helping with homework while making sure to give some time to teaching spanish phrases to the interested boys among the day scholars.

In school and on the bus to the maidan, I began to meet and become friends with the older boys, the Ballygungers, who stay at a home separate from, but still near to, the Rowland Road home. Soon I was being invited to Ballygunge for lunch, a time I had normally reserved for upstairs boys. Now I wanted to make sure I saw more of these older boys and started spending tiffin breaks down on the first floor where the older ones hung out, kicking footballs and chatting with friends. Here I've met some even older boys who stay in the Bompas home and were eager to have me for dinner.

Back in class, two of the day scholars spend a lot of time at the girls' home and by getting to know them I was introduced to many of the younger girls at the home. Soon I was getting invitations to dine at the girls home or help them with their work. I've made sure to spend more time with them on the maidan and in school.

Meanwhile my school schedule was changed and I now worked extensively with older boys and girls in the EAL (English as an Additional Language) classes. Trying to make introductions and classwork interesting enough to engage these students, we've quickly bonded.

I have also started working in Fast Track where newer children were taught on a more individual basis in the hope that they could be put into regular classes with this individualized education. I've been lucky enough to work with an incredibly intelligent and eager boy from the home here as well. So now I've been regularly spending time with four or five different classes and kids of all ages but this has come at a cost; I no longer got to spend time with my Class 3. This has been unacceptable for my class (and for me) so now I'm coming in two periods earlier so that I can work with them for at least part of the day.

So now I feel maybe I've spread myself too thin. In an effort to get to know and hopefully be an aid to as many kids as possible in whatever ways I can, I might have limited my ability to get to know these kids and young adults as well as possible. I'm not ready to give up interaction with any one group so I'm hoping that however much I'm giving is enough for the vast amount of boys and girls I'm now accustomed to dealing with. So far, I think it's working.