Meditation and Playtime: BOSCO Mane

(Journaled March 14, 2012)

            I traveled to BOSCO Mane with my classmate, Ashley, on March 14^th 2012.  When we arrived, the children were transitioning from class time to meditation time.  We joined the children in their meditation and I observed how the different children were reaching different levels of concentration.  I was impressed to see a handful of students that were clearly deep into their meditation.  In fact, I was amused at the fact that I, a grown adult, was unable to concentrate as well as some of these 4-10 year olds.  Luckily, there was also a large portion of the class that was antsy and distracted.  Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised that all of the children were very well behaved.  These children have just been rescued from exploitation on the street and I was under the false assumption that children from these conditions would not easily conform to the behavior standards of a structured school environment.

            At first, the adult instructor led the meditation session, but mid-way the instructor discreetly asked one of the students to sit in front of the class and take over.  It was so beautiful to hear the young boy lead the class in chanting.  All of the children’s voices were very beautiful to listen to and I am sure that chanting was therapeutic for the children. 

Outdoor playtime followed immediately after the meditation session.  The walls of the private courtyard were painted with colorful cartoon images of nature and friendly-looking animals.  There was a wide variety of sports and games to play including football, cricket, volley ball, slides, monkey bars, and seesaws.  As soon as the gates were opened the children flooded the playing area grabbing their ball of choice and beginning small games.  I was bombarded with so many options of where to play with the children that I simply stood in the corner dumbfounded until one of the young boys kicked a ball in my direction.  From that point on, I was fully immersed in numerous games with the children.  Unfortunately, I could not remember all of their names, but I definitely recognized and was recognized by about a dozen of the children.  This helped a lot in relieving any shyness that they would have had.  As with most play sessions, the children were playing at 110% energy level for the entirety of the hour while my energy level began to dwindle down after 30-minutes or so.  Overall, it was a blast playing with all of them and I feel that my bubbly and goofy attitude added to their play experience.      

Although I am unaware of the specific nature of the exploitations that each of the children were escaping, I could see the pain written all over the children’s faces.  I was taken aback by how emotional I was during this visit.  There was not an event in particular that struck me as tragic, but it was just the situation in its entirety.  Talking and playing with all of these children made me realize that their laughter was merely masking their underlying wounds.