Surya

Surya aged 13 (English name: Jeff) is one of the older boys in the Home, and as mentioned previously, he stays in the Home with his younger brother (Chandra). Surya has been with the home for about 5 years, and he likes his English name aka Jeff a lot.

Surya is one smart kid, no doubt.

He knows how to use a camera and recording function just by observing how we use it once. He remembers my phone number and birthday at first mention. The best part is he reads a DICTIONARY in his free time – it was during my first day at the home, when I see him resting on his bed, holding a “Nepali-to-English” pocket dictionary in one hand. He have a strong thirst for knowledge, from knowing what we work as, how is Singapore as a city. Also, he acts as our bridge between the staff, children whenever there is a communication gap between the volunteers and the locals.

On the calculators that we bought for 4 of the kids (who are in Grade Six currently and had no calculators for their lessons), Surya had been particularly interested to use his calculator as a “Notebook”, using it to store our email address, handphone number etc etc.

Perhaps it is because he is grateful for what he has now – at least he can go to school. I have never ever heard him complaining about anything in his life, not even once. He doesn’t talk much, he doesn’t say Thanks too excessively, but you can feel his gratitude and appreciation from within. His level of independence and mature-thinking is also way-above that for a 13-year old.

Being one of the elder boys, he takes on the role of a Big Brother. He helps to run errands for the Staff’s wife, do the chores, help and teach the younger kids in their homework, act as a Barber to trim the other boys’ hair etc.

"I like to play table tennis and football. I like to be doctor. Sometimes I also like to ride bicycle. I like to eat pizza and momo. I like to read many book. Mostly I like to read science and english book. I like to watch many movie like English, Hindi, Nepali, chinese. I like to watch action movie. I like to listen Nepali music. I like to go school everyday. I like to visit Pokhara. I like to draw picture."

With your intelligence and diligence, I am sure you will go very far Surya! Just keep your eyes focused and move on!

Anita

Anita, one of the young girls in the home, studies at Grade 2. Generally, the girls in the home are still very young, aged around 8 to 9 years old, hence they can be quite in need for care and concern, which they do not get normally.

Anita is one interesting girl, in 2 aspects. One moment, she can be extremely mischievous and jovial, dancing her soul out performing for you, or trying her very best to convey her message to you in English. Another moment, she can be very quiet, sitting down just to help the girls hold anchor while they made a friendship band. On the other (worrying) side, her mood can sometimes swing to a rock bottom in less than a minute. She will lay down restlessly on the floor, with tears in her eyes. Unknown cause for her mood swings.

Anita carries this big bag to school everyday. But for her, it works in a slightly different way. She and Sunita goes to the same class, and hence they share the same big bag, which they take turns to carry to school everyday.

We look forward to watching you dance, Anita!