Andre Jia
Our first day of teaching began with nervous anticipation, the sun shone vibrantly against the school on top of the mountain. Some of us were excited, others uncertain, but within all of us, was the unwavering resolve to not fail our students. With the cool air breathing down our necks and the soft crunch of dirt beneath our feet, we had finally reached the school. Despite all the stress and anxious preparation, our uncertainty was quickly disarmed by an army of smiling faces. Entering the complex, we were all quickly seated and welcomed with a Nepalese greeting ceremony. As the kids danced and cheered, many amongst us shed a smile, graciously dipping our heads to accept necklaces of marigold orange.
“Sometimes those who give the most are the ones with the least to spare” – Mike McIntyre. As we funneled into separate classrooms, the first thing many of us took note of was the battered interiors, a privilege many of us took for granted back home. “When I first walked into the classroom, I was surprised at how little they had. There weren’t even lights in the room,” said Dante. Many of the classrooms had ruined carpets, cracks in walls, and play areas that only held rusted metal poles as toys. As we began to teach our new students, we noticed how truly passionate and eager they were to learn. It was shocking to see such incredible passion from students despite the lack of resources. I was personally touched by this issue. Deciding to use some old PVC pipe and rusty wiring to create a makeshift basketball hoop. It wasn’t very good, in fact, it was terrible. Yet when I finished, I turned to see a crowd of students, all eagerly pointing and whispering at my flawed solution. Shouts of excitement quickly replaced the whispering, and as a ball soared through the hoop, a smile spread across the corners of my face.
Come lunchtime, students rushed to line up single file, eagerly awaiting their lunch. “It was a dreadful feeling, eating me up inside,” Andre said, watching the kids be ladled pile upon pile of gray gruel for lunch. In comparison to the lavish meals we had been provided throughout our lives, a gray pile fell far short of meeting the needs of many of the students. Despite this insufficient meal, at the end of each day, we would all gather around and dance, moving on pure emotion, passion, and the mere company of one another. As our first day of teaching came to a close, we found ourselves reflecting on the stark contrasts between our lives and those of the students we had just met. The initial nervousness that consumed us gave way to a deeper sense of purpose. Each smile, each dance, and each moment of joy shared with the students reminded us of the importance of love, gratitude, and the core tenets of humanity.