It Doesn't Take a Village

The whole contention of whether “it takes a village” to raise a child is still up in the air with no clear insight as to whether it does or not.  What is not up for discussion, however, is that it absolutely does ‘not’ take a village to help other children smile.

A small act of kindness towards an unknown child in distress can go a long way in the way this child feels towards other humans later.  Take for instance the little boy you see sitting outside a packed restaurant waiting for his lottery-ticket seller father to finish his day.  Here’s a child who’s probably hungrier than ever, what with the fantastic aromas drifting out the hotel’s kitchen window.  Share the wonderful feeling with your 6-year-old son – teach him what it means to buy a packet of food and hand it over to that child sitting outside waiting.  The smile on that child’s face will give your son more knowledge and satisfaction than 15 years of schooling ever could.  It takes just one act to change somebody’s thinking.  Just one act is all that is needed to show the world that there are people who care.  That there are people who still have hearts in an otherwise cruel environment.

One of our Anganwadis (playschools under the Integrated Child Development Scheme by the Government) had a lovely playground, with swings and a slide to boot, donated by another organization.  What everyone seemed to forget is that while there were all these things to play with, somebody had to keep the grounds clean.  Somebody had to clear those weeds so that the 22 under-6-year-olds from this anganwadi could come out and make use of this oh-so-abundant sunshine we have this time of the year.




Here’s where we stepped in.  All it took, really, was a couple of hours in the sun and two laborers to help.  What The Ashoka Tree has now managed to prove is that it’s okay if you’re a big organization and don’t have the time to spend mowing the lawn somewhere, you just need one person to do the job.  It doesn’t take a dozen, or even half a dozen, people to get started.  All it takes is a pair of hands and a will to help.  And, it most certainly doesn’t take a village to get children to smile.  Here’s to more happy days in the sunshine for our little ones!

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