lessons in perseverance.
these were some of the answers written by students of my sister’s batchmate in HS. while written in the vernacular, it just highlights how they would do anything to be able to go to school. some of the kids walk as much as 2.5 hours from their home to their school in gaas, balamban. yes, that’s 2.5 hours, one way. that’s 5 kms every school day. not sure if they are walking with empty stomachs as well but i’m pretty sure they do not complain of “dying” from the long walk.
this just puts everything in perspective.
most of us complain about the most trivial of things and give up on the slightest difficulty.
some kids nowadays take for granted the sacrifices their parents go through just to send them to the best schools and have a bright future with a wider set of opportunities.
and yet these balamban kids take life with a grain of salt, walk on and attend classes to be able to at least have a fighting chance for that brighter future.
i was with these kids for a short bit of time earlier. and i saw that while they know early on that life is hard, that they have to do their fair share of hard work to help their family out, their smiling faces and their hopeful eyes are such a wonderful testament in believing in good. that when they persevere, they will amount to something, one day. that they will be at the other end of the stick, not the one receiving but the one who is giving.
but these kids are lucky to have a teacher in dahot.
my take 