An open bag
March 14
Can you imagine being on a team with people you have never seen? It is a strange idea, but it happens. In fact we are all given great opportunities to join certain groups of strangers in an effort to make things better all the time.
As I sat on the train home from Jaipur I heard the disturbing coughs of a young boy. I looked in front of me and there sat a seven-year-old child shivering and coughing. His eyes fluttered as he rolled in the discomfort of his sickness. His mother asked the train host for a blanket, but none were found.
I instantly felt I wanted to help this poor child. I opened my bag in search of something, anything, just to ease this boy’s pain. The second I looked in my bag, I had just joined a team of people wanting to help this child.
Symbolically, all I could find was a camera and this journal. As the child finally started to calm down and fall asleep in his mother’s arm, my mind shifted to the slums as I started to write. This child was just like the community I work in everyday. I come to work with my backpack filled with the things I think I will need for that particular day. Of course, offend this isn’t enough. I do was I can, giving my time and attention to these child. Then I go home and empty the contents of my bag. I review my photos and write in my journal. I put a collection of photos and writing, on this site for you all to join my journal
This does help, but like the boy on the train, sometimes my bag is not equipped for the problems that are at hand. So though I can’t always help, I use my journal to write and spread the word of this communities needs.
Far across the sea you sit at your computer and you are exposed to the boy on the train or the people of the slums. Then, luckily, some of you have decided to join this team of people wanting to help. You have come forward, using the resources that you have in your bag in an effort to help. Often just showing interest can help build a movement. So thank you so much, for joining this team and this adventure. You have come with your resources or just come along to show your support and that means the world to these people and to me.
I continue to ask for your support. Please, spread the word, share this blog, send me messages, send me ideas, or even write a message for me to deliver to the teachers, children, or women’s class. In this case an open bag is an open heart.
Faruk, rajkumar, and Abdul demonstrating one of their many talents
