Ruth recently shared a touching story with us about the children of the school in Mangalakara. These children treat each other as brothers and sisters. They recognize that they have all been through traumatic experiences and help heal each other by offering love and support.
“They have Sports Days for the children twice a year and had one last Saturday. The graduates come and help, they set up races and other activities and give out little awards like Fastest Runner, etc. and the kids get points for the activities.
One girl from 3rd grade was a very fast runner and even outran the older children. She got so many points she won a small trophy type award.
In their dorm rooms at the school, each child has a couple of shelves next to their bed for their items, so she put it on her shelf and all the kids were looking at it in her room. She told them “Look, I ran the fastest and got the award but we all won the race. We are all winners and we did it together, and so we will share the trophy. Every night a different person will put the trophy on their shelf, and we will share it together.”
Ruth said she found this out later as the children shared it with her. No one asked the little girl to do it. This is the kind of love and respect that the children have towards each other. This is the love and respect we are fostering by supporting the education of these children.
