Back to the Basics

Thursday, August 4, 2011
This evening I stayed at the HOINA Boys’ Home after dinner. Most nights I go to the Girls' Home and sit with Indu, Krisnawini and Ashwini. Instead tonight I cultivated my previously generic relations with the fifth class (fifth grade) and ninth class (ninth grade) boys.

Rajiv (my first friend at HOINA) led a lot of my discussion with the ninth class boys. All of these boys are very curious about language and they still remember Spanish taught to them by the Penn State students who came last year!

I spent time teaching the boys greetings in Italian, writing the words in their notebooks to practice. In return they taught me Telugu and Hindi, but spelled out the words as they sound using the English alphabet.

With the fifth class boys, we spent time reading from their English book reviewing the words persuade, message and brand. The reading exercise talked about brands using famous actresses or cricket players to advertise their product. I had each boy read a paragraph, then they asked me to explain its meaning. It’s so thrilling to go back to the basics. It garners in me a new sense of appreciation for the basics and the love of learning.

We also discussed our goals for our lives. Little Saikumar (there are two Siakumars!), said he wants to be a police officer and asked me what steps he should take. It’s not an area I’m too familiar with but I love the idea of promoting university study. I told him to attend the university and study criminal justice then go through training with the police. (If anyone has more informed advice that is perhaps India specific please share in the comments!!!)

Tonight when Rajiv said, “Sister, you talk so freely with us,” I worried if I had gone too far or said something wrong. But, when I asked him this he said, “No, we just appreciate the variety of what you are teaching us. Thank-you, sister.”

“My favorite time of the year is when you all come,” Rajiv later said and my heart exploded. I’m so happy to be here.