Stories of Kindness from Around the World

It was a hot weekday afternoon and I was on my way to volunteer at a reading session with visually impaired girls.

I got in to a rickshaw and immediately struck up a conversation with the rickshaw driver.  The rickshaw driver started telling me the story of his life.  He related that he had grown up very poor and he and his siblings didn’t have much. He said he worked very hard so that he could make sure that his children had the opportunity to attend a decent school.  He said that there were many nights when he would skip dinner to make sure that they would have enough money to send the daughter on a class trip or to pay for his son to attend the computer lab.  I was profoundly moved by the simple and matter of fact way in which this man was relating this heart-melting story.

When we reached my destination, I got down and told him how much I had learned from this conversation and thanked him for sharing his story with me and bowed to him deeply in my heart :) He was so happy when I said that, he was beaming so much that he almost forgot to collect the fare I owed him! 

I was already feeling really joyful and grateful for no apparent reason as I walked towards the reading session.  I had almost reached when a little boy came up to me, trying to sell some stickers. He was a tiny little boy, he didn’t have any shoes on as he walked around in the afternoon heat and he was all dusty. I told him that I didn’t want any stickers but asked him if there was anything he would like?  There was a dosai vendor across the street and I pointed at it and asked him if he wanted one.  Dosai are like Indian pancakes and I thought he might like a healthy hot meal.  He pointed at an ice-cream vendor a little further along instead.  I laughed to myself and proceeded to go and buy him some ice-cream.  I figured all children need their fun and he probably hasn’t had an ice-cream in a very very long time.  My second beaming face of the afternoon ;).  I stayed and talked with him for a little while, I was a little early anyway, then I gave him a semi-hug and headed on towards the volunteer session. 

The reading session was to help visually impaired girls who were trying to get a college education.  knew most of the girls as I had read to 9 different girls so far, so I went around to greet them by touching their hands before I started.  They were happy to hear my voice, and even happier that I knew their names :-). This week, I was supposed to translate a difficult play by Shakespeare. The play was a bit melancholy, so I tried to brighten it up by adding humour and laughter to the mix wherever I could. I knew each moment as I was doing this that I was receiving so much in each of these readings - which by far exceeded what I am giving.

At the end of the hour, the girl I had read to insists on giving me her snack (the non-profit who organises these classes provides a free snack for each of these girls). I am shocked, this snack is meant for her and not for me so I politely refuse to take it. "No akka" (sister), she persists, "I really enjoyed listening to you read today. It helped me get such a good understanding of the play, I have never enjoyed this subject as much as today, I really want you to have this snack." She too had a huge smile on her face and her offering was so sweet and pure – I finally agreed that we could share it. In that moment, as we sat under the shade of a large Banyan tree sharing her uncomplicated pure offering, I felt a profound sense of sisterhood.

As I sat there, watching a pigeon take flight and a schoolgirl twirl in the grass, a few drops of hot rain begin to fall.  I watched them fall, and was filled with the deepest sense of gratitude for the beauty of the last three hours.