Snake Encounter!

On my way back to my house after finishing lunch with the children today, I received urgent hand motions to not come closer to my apartment. "Snake!" was the only explanation I received. Of course I had to go close enough to SEE it. Sure enough, the tail end of a snake --a baby COBRA to be exact-- could be seen worming its way into the wall next to my front door. Yipes! I was SO glad for Gagan, an alumnus of the Home who decided to spend his summer vacation weeks here with the six other orphan children. I and the six girls watch and squealed as he expertly injured the snake enough to draw it's head out of the whole, where it arched and flared it's neck before being smashed to death. It wriggled for a while even after its death, which gave I and the children some type of horrified amusement. I've never thought of myself to be particularly girly, but this afternoon gave me a fair share of shivers and squeals. 

After our snake encounter, the children and I spent the afternoon in my apartment playing music, them giving me language quizzes, and going through recently donated clothes from a a church. Since these children don't have involved parents who give them clothes like the other children do, I let them take whatever they wanted from the boxes. Their pure delight and gratitude at receiving a few items of used clothing was sobering. Afterward. while the girls were finishing writing their thank you letters to the donor church, Gagan said to me, "Ma'am, it is my privilege to know you." I looked at him. "I'm serious," he said. Here he had just saved me from a cobra, and I had been the conduit of a few items of used clothes given to them. I couldn't help but think that the things I do here are so simple. Simple, but through them the children can tell that I love them, and that, I believe, is what Gagan was acknowledging. I thanked him and told him sincerely that I was very glad he was here this summer, for the girls' sake. His good-natured teasing brings a lot of joy to their days and make them think less about missing their friends and not having parents. "Your being here helps a lot," I told him. He agreed and said that the girls haven't cried this year like they have in years past. He said that since he is an orphan also, he sees this place as his home and he wants to come back while he can to love and encourage the children who are still here. Between the both of us, I hope the girls look back on this summer with fond and even fun memories.