As a part of the community service week organized by your school, you and your friends were sent to an orphanage . Describe your experience in detail.

 Visit to an Orphanage is really a unique experience that induces a mixed feeling in our mind . The moment I entered the orphanage, I felt both happy and sad at the same time when I saw children playing, fighting with each other, crying, laughing, cribbing about certain things dancing, and so on. These children are really talented; some of them are good at singing and some good at dancing, Simply observing their talent makes one feel happy and makes one  wish to spend as much time with them as possible. After spending sometimes, I realized that most of the children are left here either because the family did not have financial means to take care of them or they just abandoned them. 

It is unfortunate how these children are in a ripe age but have already lost a significant part of their childhood ,they had no one to give them a name, no one to understand and care for them, no one to take them out, and no opportunity to go to school. Children of various ages were there ,who either have no family or have lost their families in natural calamities. The home has a care-taker who monitors the children of the orphanage and a few helpers to take care of the residents. The orphanage house is situated in the outskirts of the city and was close to the national highway. It is a  two-storey building with a garden out in the front and a small temple just on its east boundary. The walls of the home were old and the paint had worn off. It looked like the house was without maintenance for years together. There was a small girl who was peeping through the window on the first floor when we opened the gate. When we entered the home, we were taken by surprise as there were more number of children than we had imagined. There was a common room where the children both boys and girls ranging from the ages of 3 to 21 years were seen. Some of them were indulged in watching the television, some were sipping soup from their bowls, some girls were busy playing with their dolls and others were staring at us.

We had brought with us food, blankets, drawing books, crayons, pencils etc. which we distributed amongst the children. They were ecstatic to have food from outside and were even more elated when they received the stationary from us. We segregated ourselves and went to talk individually to everyone. I went over to a small girl, about 6 years of age, who was sitting at the corner of the room staring at the glass window. I introduced myself and took a seat besides her. She greeted me with a smile and gave me a toffee which she had in her bag. She told me how her parents drowned in the flood which swept away their home and everything they had. She was with her uncle at that time who left her in the orphanage because he was unable to attend to her. She started sobbing while narrating the story and then asked me about my parents and other things. I talked with her for quite some time and then gifted her set of drawing books, story books and crayons and she promised to paint something for me.

We  all had a crude realization .None of us like it when our parents reprimand us for not studying properly, when we make blunders, when we fight with our siblings or friends, when we don’t listen to them but there is a concern behind every word  they say. Secretly, there are two drops of tears shed for every tear of ours and there is an unsaid, unwritten promise that they will take care of us at every juncture of our lives no matter whatever may be their condition is. These children  lack all those words of care, anger, love and all the feelings that parents express towards their children.

We all realized the famous saying

What is a name , Just ask an orphan, who was thrown in a dustbin…..