Degree of " Experiences"

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give” – Khalil Gibran

There are many ways one can “give yourself” for eg. providing food to homeless, DVD players, clothes, helping at the zoo, donate money, working with seniors etc. I chose to give time, and work with special kids, because I find very few understand them. To me working with Jeena is about experiencing life with gifted kids . I say gifted, because they have unique abilities…

Somewhere along the line we view these kids inability to conform to certain behaviors as willful disobedience. We see their inability to focus and complete school work as laziness and unwillingness to try. We were expecting them what they cannot give. We have to realise it is not they - but we are inflexible. We are selfish to see them with a common perspective.

We view our kids through the eyes of the world. The world expects them to behave and learn in the typically accepted manner…except they can't…and we are suppose to know better!!!! Through the exhaustion, frustration and stress involved in parenting a child, we give up on them…much like the world, which does not understand them. I see every parent at Jeena understand their kids. They love them. Unconditional Love!! Believe me, each one is under their blanket of love…
I have enjoyed working with kids of all ages. Every day, kids say something that triggers a little 'teachable moment'. In volunteering at Jeena for Rotation Respite, it gives me that exact opportunity to learn more from these specially gifted kids. They teach you about finer points of life, things you have taken for granted and more importantly they make you aware and realise about them.

My hope with every conversation with these kids is not about knowledge, but about seeing their world with their biases. It gives me great pleasure to hear their opinion or perception of something and see it from a different perspective. To reframe the situation in the truer, newer light.

I won’t forget the day when a friend of mine introduced me to Jeena website and I instantly signed up to jeena-friends group. Since then, I have enjoyed every moment and every opportunity I have had in working with these kids and their parents at Jeena.

Finally a lesson I have learnt : is to be constantly look for, the “combination” that will work for that child. An “opportunity” that will ignite that spirit, that one “thread” that will best connect that young kid to the civil society, a “way” they will be able to contribute to its success for them and for the society.
In Jeena I see an University for continuous learning, not for academic degrees but for gaining what I call it “Degree of Experiences” to make a difference to myself and to this World!!!!

..............written for Jeena's Annual Magazine - JEENA YAHAN 2009