Ajaya
In the beginning of the day we went to the St. Paul School to meet the students and see what classes they take as well as what classes they like the most. Their high school classes are a little bit smaller than the classes I have at my school where we have about 25 students. The elementary school classes are way bigger and have over 30 students. I liked the St. Paul School because I was so curious about what they learned in each class and compared it to what my classes were like back at home. I was also curious on what they wanted to be when they grow up because back at home all the kids want to be doctors or policemen/policewomen. It was nice to hear that some of them wanted to be teachers, film makers and environmentalists. What broke my heart when we were leaving the St. Paul School was the kids were telling us to always remember them and to never forget them. I thought that was very touching because we will probably never see them again. I thought that was very sweet that they wanted us to remember them.
Afterwards we went to a neighborhood called ‘Jew Town’ where Jewish families from the Middle East settled hundreds of years ago. We got to go to the different markets and get some more gifts for our families or for ourselves. Some people got henna tattoos and some got little souvenirs.
Later on that day we went to Don Bosco which was the all-boys orphanage. That was my favorite place because it was just so nice to see how happy the kids were without having electronics and see them so excited to play outside! I’m not used to seeing kids in America doing this because they are always on some type electronic such as iPads, DS, or a cellphone. Whereas when I was little we played outside a lot. My mom always had me and my cousins outside never in the house. It was nice to go back to something I used to do because now that I’m older I’m on my phone more or on the computer. This kind of brought me back to my childhood.
The kids at Don Bosco are so sweet. I thought that they would be a little standoffish at first but surprisingly they weren’t. They were very welcoming. I played barefoot soccer with them which was painful but it made me more connected with them because the majority of them don’t have shoes and I was just amazed how fast they were when playing soccer with no shoes. There was one kid who got hit in his face with the soccer ball and I rushed over to make sure he was okay and then he just ran away from me. It was so cute because his friends started making fun of him because a girl was making sure he was okay.
During dinner I got to meet a kid that actually had the same name as me. My name is spelled A-J-A-Y-A and his name was A-J-A-Y which is the original way for a boy because my name is Indian and African. My name means warrior, strength and wisdom. So it was kind of cool to finally meet somebody with the same name as me. Then we danced with the kids. I thought this was one of the best parts of going to the orphanage because I got to see their culture more and learn what kind of dances they do at their age. After their dances they got to see our dance even though we weren’t really that prepared they were still amazed by it. At the end we all joined together for a big, unified dance party. I would want to go back there again because I would like to see how they’re doing in a couple years. It was touching for me to see how happy the kids were even though they don’t have their parents. They treated each other as family.
