Meet Shamkumar. He’s just another 8 year old boy like any other. Blessed with an innate childhood curiosity, brimming with life, and possessing a smile that radiates such warmth, with a super sweet personality to boot too.
However, delve beyond his lovable, crooked smile; sift aside the veils of ideality in a picture-perfect photograph, and the harshness of reality makes its presence known.
Shamkumar, or Sham as he prides himself, like 17 other children his age, is an orphan from the Precious Children’s Home orphanage in Petaling Jaya. That’s right, he’s never had one to call a dad or mom throughout his 8 years of life.
Today, the ATUSA Student Council took the liberty of organizing a visit to said orphanage as part of its charitable ventures during the laid-back days of Summer Semester and beyond what words can express, I am infinitely grateful for having been part of it.
Although the day got off to a rough start, no thanks to some mix-up in the transportation, we arrived at the orphanage at approximately 11 am and boy, were we greeted with the throngs of curious faces and excited cries of joy.
Upon entering the compound, the little bundles of joy soon swarmed around us, eager to see what our arrival entailed. New gifts? Toys? A field trip somewhere? Or just mouth-watering delicacies to sink their teeth into? Suffice to say, we brought to them all of the above.
At first, I was a bit hesitant at introducing myself, as all awkward first-time meetings always are. However, the little kids soon warmed up to my crazy and wacky antics and to put in Starcraft terminology, ling-rushed me. Questions bombarded me from every single corner and these kids were so adorably cute in trying to outdo one another in impressing us.
To kick off our visit, we played a little meet and greet session to break the ice and cast aside all formalities. Laughs were had, names were exchanged, and predictably, I found myself belting out to the tunes of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and was stuck with the labeling Muhammad Bieber.
Blardy hell, are these kids creative or what?
After being assigned our respective ‘kids’ (mine so happened to be the super awesome Sham) and having made a fool of myself, we got onto the next agenda on our list: the making of mouth-watering, nommable sandwiches for lunch!
As a side-note, we discovered never to let little kids wield knives, our very own ATUSA President makes great sandwiches and also, to never stack your sandwiches 5-storeys high.
Behold, our end product (or rather, Sham’s)
At the end of it all, I can safely say that these kids are going to become great chefs one day. Having stuffed our faces full with a smorgasbord of bread and KFC chicken wings, I sat down contented while the kids tried to best each other in their repertoire of lame jokes.
Also noteworthy is the fact that these kids are attracted and addicted to everything that’s a cellphone. It’s like the friggin’ microwaves that the devices emit call out to them like some sort of overlords or something.
But it’s official, like catnip to cats, cellphones were like their fix, although I’m not blaming anyone. After all, who leaves their homes without a cellphone nowadays? Face it, we’re all addicted to our cellphones one way or another, so I’m not gonna be judgmental.
Next up was definitely the day’s highlight, a trip to the National Planetarium to behold the wonders of the cosmos! Or in plain English, to explore Uranus………and other planetary bodies of course.
And that, I believe, has to be most exhausting part of the day yet. I’ve forgotten just how hyper and energized these little toddlers were. Bouncing from one display to the next at speeds of light, their attention never more than held for a good minute, it was like running a constant marathon to keep up with Sham. I thank the half hour reprieves in between when we had to sit still to watch the movies.
I’m only 20, at the peak of physical fitness and yet, I had my work cut out for me when chasing after Sham in pure Tom and Jerry fashion. Therefore, I salute Sean in the picture below, a volunteer at the orphanage, for having to keep up with not just 1, but 18 of these hyper-caffeinated kids.
Alas and alack, the day soon came to an end and we returned the orphanage, totally exhausted. However, the fatigue ebbed away somewhat to be replaced with sheer awe and wonder at the suh-weet moves that these kids busted out for us.
Holee crap. Their breakdancing skills definitely brought the house down and put mine to shame. Word.
With the giving out of our goodie bags to the kids and caretakers of the orphanage, we bid our farewells. It was truly a great and rewarding day for me to be able to spend it with these magnificent kids from the Precious Childrens’ Home.
Despite growing up never knowing their parents, these kids taught me a thing or two on how it is to live life to the fullest; a lesson I will definitely take to heart. Sometimes, all you need to buoy yourself through a life rife with hardships is a smile and to never say never (and yes, I totally ripped that line off.) A unique sense of familial brotherhood that these children share with one another no doubt helps.
Although, they’ve always came across as an heartwarming enigma to me, even till today. Without paternal figures to look up to, they’ve developed a sense of maturity and fierce independence uncommon of their peers.
This was especially evident in how they subtly brush your arms off of themselves when you lean in to put a reassuring arm over their shoulders. Yet, at the very same time, they cherish and long for that gesture of protection that a parental figure will no doubt give to them.
In the end, underneath that tough façade they put up in response to growing up parentless, they’re just vulnerable young kids who drew the shorter straw in life. They just want a shoulder to lean on and for someone to tell them that it’s going to be okay. Which, given the hand that life has dealt them with, isn’t very often.
So, in we come to this picture to give them that reassuring “It’s going to be okay” line and to give them a much needed lift in their spirits to power them onward through life.
All in all, I wouldn’t have traded this day for any other. Special thanks goes out to this wonderful Ivy Bong Pei Pei here for playing my make-believe mom to babysit our little Sham. Lord knows I’d already be dead if it wasn’t for you.
Now to start wondering if I want to have kids. And if so, how many…….
