Unending Smiles!

The morning of my seventeenth birthday here in India, there was a call from a Rotarian in the club here on my host father’s phone. He was calling not only to wish me “Happy Birthday” but also to invite me to go to an orphanage that morning. Within the next hour, the other exchange student Rianna and her host father came to the apartments to pick me up in order to go, bringing me a cake and a present! So sweet! We arrived at the orphanage around 11:00 a.m., meeting up with a few other Rotarians and their children there. Rianna’s host father had brought chocolates and candy to hand out to the kids, and so after our introduction to the fifty or so small children sitting in rows on the ground in front of us, they all sang an incredibly sweet “happy birthday” to me while Rianna and I handed out the candies.
We spent the morning there playing, dancing and singing with all of the wonderful little kids. Some of them spoke a little English too, so it was not too difficult to talk with them. They all asked me who my “hero” was (in India, your “hero” is your favorite movie star!) and when I told them that I loved Surya, they all screamed in delight and wanted me to sing a song of his. The only one I know a piece of is “Sutrum Vizhi,” and so I sang the few lines that I have memorized while all of them listened, laughing and singing along with me.
Throughout the morning I not only got “happy birthday” sung to me four times (my parents, two Rotarians that called and then the kids), but I also got a hand-held tour of the orphanage, my hair braided by one of the little girls and my nails painted an incredibly bright shade of red by another little girl while all of the other children crowded around and watched.
It was an incredibly humbling and yet very fun trip to the orphanage. All of the kids were so cute and sweet- all they wanted to do was hold my hand, talk to me and touch my hair. I can’t wait to go back again and spend another morning amongst the never ending smiles of all the little kids!