May 26th was one of our greatest challenges as a group. AFLAC has been running an aid program for children who lost a parent, or both, in the Tsunami. In order to assure that those chosen for the program were receiving aid and not in great need, the charity had set up a day of evaluation, and asked us to each buddy up with a child and keep them occupied and relaxed during the long, hot day.

Entries: Zohra, Keith

 

There’s a lot going on in my head, all jumbled up – I feel very overwhelmed.

We spent today with a group of 23 orphans. Some of their guardians came along, others were with their siblings. Their expressions on arrival were…apprehensive? I saw no smiles, and they seemed hesitant to step into a new unfamiliar environment. AFLAC has sponsored these children by giving them Rs. 2000 a month for their basic needs. Today, the purpose of the day long activity was to conduct a very basic “evaluation” to find out if the children were getting the Rs. 2000 and if their basic hygiene, food, clothing and educational needs were being met. While this was going on, all of us were made to play with the children. I was assigned to the oldest girl (age 18), who lost both her parents in the tsunami. She has 1 older brother (age 21) and one younger brother (age 14). Her uncle has adopted all three of them. She will be taking her A’Level examinations this June, in Political Science, Sinhala and one other subject about Buddhism. Mahesha did not want to play games with the other children. She said she enjoyed singing, talking and staying in the shade much more than being goofy with the younger lot.

Sitting indoors in the hall, I started churning out the little bit of Sinhala I knew, and she did the same with English and we both worked with it. Soon she had the widest smile. I think she was forced to grow up instantly after December 26th. She sang me just one song, and it was the one that her father used to sing to her. She asked me if I had parents and my heart sunk. I told her yes, and that they are in Pakistan. During the evaluation, she told us that although losing both parents overnight was a horrific experience, she felt better off that many other children who lost everything and are also younger than she is. She said “My parents were fruit vendors, and they worked in order to educate me and my siblings. So now we cannot let them down, regardless of what happened, we have to educate ourselves so that they would be satisfied and happy if they were alive.” She aspires to be a nurse. “I like hospital work,” she said.

Mahesha had to leave by 1pm because she had to go to an office to pick up some documents for her A’Level exams. While we were waiting for her uncle to come get her, she would occasionally stare of into the distance, completely removed from everything around her. I just let both of us sit together in silence. I wish I knew what was on her mind, I did not want to guess.

When it was time for her to leave, I gave her a hug and wished her good luck for her upcoming exams. She hugged me back, and asked me to come to her house. I wish I could go! I cannot describe that moment – here was an orphan girl who lives in a camp with her extended family, calls it her house, and invites me to it. How could let her down? I felt so good about the fact that she did not feel that I was judging her in any way. As she went down the stairs to leave, got on the motorcycle, and until her uncle drove off out of sight, she must have turned back to wave and smile at me at least 10 times. I almost felt like she wanted to absorb me and store me inside her somewhere and take that with her wherever she went. And then she was gone, out of sight. I did not move for the next few minutes, lost within myself. And I wondered if I could/would ever see Mahesha again - was this it?

Mahesha gave me strength, and I treasure every minute of the 3 hours that I spent with her. I had learnt from her more than I had in many weeks.

-Zohra

Today we went to a Buddhist school to meet with orphans. The orphans are in an AFLAC program where their foster parents are given 2,000 rupees per month to take of them and today was the 3 month evaluation day. We all got matched up with a kid and played with them while they weren’t being evaluated. My kid was named Sajith. He was 9 and was so hyper. He and I hit it of well and were playing all day. But sometimes he would ask me something and I wouldn’t understand and would get frustrated.

Overall, I have been questioning the trip some. We raised money to do tsunami relief, not to just look around the country at the different programs. The only think I can think is that I am learning a lot of the culture and I can share it with other people, which is what I’m doing with this journal. Also, AFLAC has been pushy with their philosophy and convincing us that they’re the best. We respect them, but there are some things that we would do differently. They are pushing us to do more after the trip, but I never really thought about doing anything beyond this in the future. [AFLAC's Response] I did this for the experience and to help out. I have to think about what I want to do after this trip is over.

Anyway, after the orphans, we went to a Hindi-Buddhist temple. It was really beautiful but sad because of all of the begging there.

-Keith