Village Work … A seventeen year old writes

[...and number 3...!!]

It has been a really long time since I have been to the village for Village Work. I miss the journey with my friends, the roads, the scenery, the trees, the ponds, the schools – but mostly, I miss those little children. Children, who make full attendance possible on Thursdays, waiting eagerly for their ‘didis’ to arrive, and wouldn’t let us go after we finished teaching. They make me feel so special. They bring bags of fruits to show how much they love us, they hold us back to show how much they care, and they make you feel like you’re on top of the world.

I loved to see those small faces brighten up as soon as we entered into their small classrooms. I loved how they shouted out each answer with equal zeal. I loved every moment I spent with them. But I will never figure out why I felt a strange vacuum in my heart when I left them for the last time. I will never figure out why I cried so much that day. Perhaps none of us will ever be able to realise how much we meant to them…ever.

Our teachers say that we’re doing a great deed…that we’re the leaders of a silent revolution, slowly but surely educating fellow Indian children. I beg to differ. In fact, I am of the opinion that we’re the main benefactors here. Sister Cyril has laid the foundation, and we are the lucky bunch of young girls who get to do something for their country from such a young age. We get all the praise, we get to share the limelight, we acquire teaching skills and we even get to know so many children, their lives, their dreams, their aspirations and their reality. We are the winners all the way – we have nothing to lose.

But it is those very village children who make us the winners. The eagerness they show in learning what we teach is our encouragement. The distances they traverse to reach school on Thursdays is our inspiration. The acceptance they have shown is our achievement. The love they have shared is our reward.

We do not want acclamations, we do not need words of praise, we do not ask for anything more than what we have already received. We only ask others to realize the importance of this programme and join in – we do not want them to stand afar and shower accolades on us. We are looking for dreamers who will weave with us a dream of a beautiful India, a promising venture and a vibrant future.

-2001, for a diploma project of an NID graduate