I truly believe that behind every pure smile lies a story untold. Have you ever wondered how the minds of the little children work? How they carry silent sorrows behind their innocent eyes? Sometimes all it takes is a little warmth, a little love to make their smile shine even brighter.
Even with little children, we often don’t realize how emotionally mature or fragile they are. They do fight for their own silent battles we may never hear about, simply because they don’t know how to express them properly. So, do you think spreading love would be an easy task? May be not always. But even without knowing their struggles, I believe still we can make them happy. And even if that happiness won’t last long, the memory of being loved and seen will stay in their hearts and quietly giving them strength for years to come.
This August, the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, took an initiative through the Project Senehase Nagam to visit a Children’s Home. It was a heartwarming evening, filled with joy and happiness at the kids of Gothama Children’s Home, Panadura.
The journey from university to Panadura turned into a memory of its own that filled with laughter, shared stories and the calming rhythm of the sea breeze in the air and altogether the whispered promises of a meaningful evening ahead.
It was an old house with a big garden full of trees. Once we arrived in front of the gate of that place, the little ones peeked at us with their curious eyes; unsure whether to smile or shyly hide away. But once we entered inside, the kids gradually began to reach out to us and became friendly. The guardian of the home showed us a small hall and we used to place the food, dry rations and the gifts we had prepared for them. We wanted to spend that evening with them, so we arranged a small tea party with some cake, sandwiches, biscuits, chocolates and fruit juice. After they enjoyed their food, we handed out the gifts we had prepared for them.
The children aged between 6 to 14, were 20 boys, who were lovingly taken care of by the guardian. Observing how happy they were when they received the foods and the way, how they waited patiently and politely for everyone to get their gifts before opening them, and their pure and humble smiles made me reflect on their inner sorrows which lie within their stories.
May be the life gives you lessons, maybe it teaches you through experiences; and this was a compassionate commitment that allowed us to learn, witness the struggles of others and reflect on what we can do to support them. We believe the objective of the August Visit of Senehase Nagam project – ‘Spreading warmth and one smile at a time,’ was a successful initiative that brought heartwarming blessings to brighten their wonderful futures.
Penned by: Rtr. Kolisha Perera
Rotaract Club of Faculty of Law University of Colombo 