Angels

I read that a person's house may be inversely proportional to his happiness. It must be true because I have never seen more joyful children than the ones I visited at the appropriately named Angel's Orphanage in the heart and back allies of Bangalore.

I tagged along with a group of people from Gilberto's work one Sunday afternoon to visit this orphanage as part of a service project. I had been itching for some time since Sofia started school to occupy my newly found free time volunteering in some way. After a few unsuccessful attempts and several highly questionable "volunteering" organizations, I found out about this service opportunity at the orphanage. I have never actually visited one before and have for years secretly wished to run an orphanage of my own one day... (maybe it unconsciously had something to do with my love for the movie Little Orphan Annie.. who knows :)

We gathered all 9 or 10 of us, including Sofia, in front of the their office building to go together to the orphanage. I didn't know anyone in the group and suddenly found myself feeling that self-conscious, nervous, first-day-of-school feeling. I was also fighting my usual lazy and unadventurous side to keep going with the group despite Gilberto's last minute, work-related bail out. I'm so glad my courage prevailed because in the end it was such a moving and memorable experience.

We got there mid-afternoon and, when the children saw us coming they all gathered together in a room sitting crossed-legged on the floor in front of us. The room appeared to be their sleeping quarters with a handful of cots and neatly folded sheets and blankets on the shelves next to them. There were about 40 children ranging from age 2 to 20. The younger ones sat in the front as the older ones sat respectfully in the back, some even cradling the little ones in their arms.

I learned later that the boys at age 18 go off to college or start working and the girls remain in the orphanage until they are 20 when they are "married off". The lady in charge of the children told me with a proud smile that the girls at the orphanage are sought after for marriage because they're considered "homely" and have never been let to go wondering outside the orphanage. I couldn't help but be slightly disturbed by that and how happy she was about it. Anyway, who am I to judge.

We gathered together in that room. We sat on the chairs offered to us against the wall facing the bright-eyed children. We all settled pretty quickly and everyone became quiet with expectation as if we had come bearing some weighty and important news. After a couple of awkward silent minutes, the lady in charge of the children instructed them to sing a song for us. And they sang. They sang with their hearts. They sang with such angelic voices and in such harmony and unison that it was obvious that they'd probably learned and practiced singing that song since their first days at the orphanage. It was a song about God. I was too distracted by how they were singing it to listen to what they were singing, so I can't recall what the song was about, but I remember their faces. So full of hope and joy. I couldn't help but become teary-eyed, but I fought back those tears because I knew they had no place there.

We clapped proudly when they finished. Now it was our turn to offer them something, ... but no one said anything. I was itching, truly hoping for one of us to say something. But I think we were all so moved by them that we lost our own words. I found myself again inwardly fighting my shy, quiet self to break the silence. Suddenly I spoke, as everyone turns to look at me.. I asked the children if they had ever heard the song about the spider. A part of me was dreading that they would say yes, that they already knew the itsby bitsy spider song, and if that was all I had to offer. Thankfully none of them were familiar with the song and they watched me in respectful anticipation. I first explained to them the journey of the spider. How its wish was to reach the roof and in order to get there it had to climb the water spout. When the clouds gathered and it began to rain, the spider was knocked down and prevented from reaching the top. The spider's spirit however wasn't weathered and so it waited patiently. Soon enough the sun came out and dried up the rain, and the spider climbed back on its journey to the top. Secretly, or not so secretly, I wished that they would learn the moral of that short nursery rhyme and carry it with them. After teaching them the finger movements of the spider and the rest of the song, we sang together... and how they sang! I could see in their faces how much they were enjoying this new song. And it brought happiness to my spirit... such a pure and little thing.

We passed out some pencils and candy for them and soon the rigidness of the group opened up and the children began chatting amongst themselves and with us. We indulged them happily with taking their photos.. again and again. Some of the kids went outside to play games. The boys played cricket with the older guys and the girls taught us fun little chasing kind of games. One little girl even came up to Sofia, who had been a little reserved since we arrived there because she was quite tired, and asked politely if she could teach her a hand clapping rhyme. Sofia, curious and happy that the girl was being so gentle and kind with her, played with her without any protests. I took advantage of having brought my good camera and took pictures of the children and their unattached and generous smiles. Having so little, they were immensely capable of giving so much, just in the sincerity of their smiles.