Today I Lived Well!

Today I lived well! I saw beauty in the guise of dirt smudged, barefoot children with brilliant smiles at a street school in Dhaka. When I say street school, I don’t mean that the school is on a street; I mean that the school is ON the street.

Ever complain about the quality of the school your child is in? Maybe got frustrated because they didn't have the latest technology? Try this one on for size. Seventy or so brown faced children sitting cross legged on the ground, being given lessons by dedicated teacher’s right there on the sidewalk because they don't have a building.

I was there with a devoted group of volunteers from an organization called Thrive. Thrive began when three mothers saw a need and decided to do something about it. There are hungry school children all over Dhaka who often have no lunch. Schools can't afford to provide them. Have you ever tried to study, or do your job on an empty stomach? I know I can't concentrate with visions of cheesecake or subway dancing in my head.

It began with a banana. A simple banana to provide vitamins and potassium to school children, and it has grown into an average of 60,000 lunches a year. The lunches include a banana, hardboiled egg, a handful of peanuts and a piece of seasonal fruit or vegetable.

Last night I went to their volunteer meeting and instantly fell in love with the diverse array of beautiful and interesting women (and a couple of great guys) from all walks of life. There were Americans, Bangladeshi's, Indians, Malaysians and I’m not sure what else but they were all there united in one purpose. To feed children.

I was thrilled to be asked to photograph their volunteers efforts and the children and to help with their website.

I woke up giddy this morning, bursting with anticipation. Today was my first day. I will never be the same.

Liz and I arrived at the 96^th street school just after 1:00 pm. I somehow thought there would be an actual school there and was surprised to find a large group of children, all sitting cross-legged on the ground doing school work and listening attentively to their teachers. There was a red brick wall behind them and large folded tarps beneath them to keep them off the dirt. Some were in uniforms and some in ragged street clothes, but they all wore smiles.

They LOVED my camera! Children clamored to have their photo taken, often photo bombing each other and then begging to see themselves in the display on the back of my Nikon. Little groups of beaming children posed and postured, vying for my attention. I snapped away, in awe of their beautiful faces. Then a little girl stood and walked over to me and held out a crumpled piece of dirty paper. On it was a drawing. I admired it and told her “sunder”, then handed it back. “Na! You!”

My heart melted and stretched at the same time. The drawing was a gift. I smiled broadly and told her “dhonnabad, sunder”. Thank you, beautiful. She jumped up and down excitedly smiling and jabbering. Suddenly, I was surrounded by children handing me their artwork. I thanked each of them. I will keep them forever. (The artwork, not the kids).:-)

One of the things the volunteers do is teach the children to wash their hands. It sounds like such a simple thing, but you see, in a school on a sidewalk, you don’t get running water.

One of the predominant causes of death in Bangladesh is diarrhea. This is made much worse by poor hygiene. Even the simplest things like hand washing can greatly reduce the number of children who will become ill or die from diarrhea.

Volunteers take two liter plastic bottles and teach children and staff how to fill the bottles with soapy water. They poke a hole in the lid to create a slower stream and show the children how to wash their hands before eating.

I started snapping away again as a line of children formed to get their hands washed. Once each childs hands were clean, they went back to their spot to sit and wait patiently for the main event. The food! Volunteers began passing out hard boiled eggs a carrot and fruit to eager children. Each ate with gusto, smiling and laughing the whole time. They posed for pictures of silly egg and banana and carrot filled mouths. The volunteers seemed incapable of not smiling.

I will go back; again and again. I will keep taking pictures and I will help educate people. Thrives website is www.thrive-global.org. They also have a Facebook page. Please share both with everyone you know. I’m going to mercilessly post about a hundred (no really), a hundred, pictures on Facebook of these beautiful children and the amazing volunteers.

If you or someone you know can help, you might like to know that it only costs about .25 to feed one child.

I’ve only posted a couple of pictures with this blog. The rest are all on Facebook. I hope you fall as in love with these children as I did!