Week 4 with Compassionate Clowns

I always thought of a paediatric ward as a place with only babies, toddlers, and children up to 10 years. It didn’t occur to me that there will be children up to 17 years of age in that ward. That soon changed the first time I went to the paediatric ward at St. John’s, where I spoke to a 17-year-old boy. 

This time, I spoke to a 14-year-old girl. She was such a lively and happy girl that she raised the spirits of anyone who talked to her. She was in the hospital for dengue, and thus had missed school for a couple of weeks. She was one of the few children I’ve met, who was waiting to go back to school. English and Mathematics were her favourite subjects, so we started discussing how easy it was to study for an English exam as it didn’t involve any studying. We also bonded over our mutual love of Mathematics and discussed a bit about Highest Common Factor (HCF) and Least Common Multiple (LCM). I was grumbling saying how much I missed learning Mathematics, especially since my current course didn’t have it. When she came to know that we were from Christ, she got so excited and said that she wants to study there too. Her enthusiasm was contagious. She was getting discharged, so we had to bid farewell soon. 

There was also an adorable and chubby baby in the ward. He stole every single intern’s heart. He was one of our major “attractions”. He got along with everyone and didn’t cry one bit. He smiled and laughed at whatever silly things we did. He happily jumped from one intern’s hands to another, without any fuss. He even tried to put my chain in his mouth! While I was carrying him around, it was time for him to get discharged, and his mother came to take him, I did not want to let him go. He left the same way as he had come to each one of us, a huge smile on his face, showing the few teeth that he had. 

One of the things that I have noticed these past four weeks with the children is, that a simple thing such as going and talking to a child, or their parent means a lot to them. For the parent especially, sometimes they’re just looking for someone to unburden all their worries, and talking really helps them. Till today, no parent has ever asked us to leave. We’ve had children and parents ask us when we would be back next. We have received so much of love and acceptance from everyone at the ward, and that includes the hospital staff too. I can’t wait to go back. 

Have a look at what Compassionate Clowns does through the links below:


Location: John Nagar, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560034, India

Comments

  1. Unknown24 July 2019 at 17:31

    Truly a compassionate clown. keep it up, dear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shelma Joseph24 July 2019 at 21:40

    Beautiful dear...I can feel everythingfrom the way u write..keep it up...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown25 July 2019 at 08:44

    I am so happy to see you do this

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mannya25 July 2019 at 10:42

      Thank you :)
      Can I know who this is? Your name isn't appearing.

      Delete

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