YUCHEN ZHAO, PERSONAL PASSAGE 2009
YUCHEN ZHAO, PERSONAL PASSAGE 2009
I’m a student in California originally from China. My internship is working in Orchid Garden Nepal, a day care centre for kids from low-income families. My experience has been wonderful. The kids are gorgeous. Their smiles will remove all bad moods. I go there every day on a bike at around 11 am, and return home at around 5:30 pm. My work is not hard. It consists of feeding them, giving baths, and mostly playing with them. To my surprise, the kids there are not difficult at all, even though there are a few kids who want my attention the whole time. However, behind these smiley faces, there are many heartbreaking stories. Many of them can barely survive. In Kathmandu, the minimum food supply for a month of a family consisting of three people would be about Rs. 2000, and some of the families only earn about 2000 to 3000 rupees per month. Plus, they need to pay rent. Life is not fair to these innocent little kids. But thanks to Orchid Garden Nepal they get more attention. I’m now writing a report on the individual kids, and hopefully I’ll find sponsors from China and the U.S. to help them to go to school or even live in better conditions. You don’t hope to survive, but without hope, life is not worth living. I want to let them know that life is always getting better. So when they are old enough to understand the world, they will not live in depression, but happiness.
