Giving Back

Yesterday I got a message from my close friend, Shirley. She asked me when will we have a charity for the poor like what we did on the last Idul Fitri and Christmas. Suddenly, I realized that I have forgotten such a thing. I’ve been too busy with my own thoughts and business and just forgot to share and give back. Then I opened the album of our giving back last time. It was a relief… to know that we have done the least that we can do for the poor.

The children in the pictures were orphanage. They live in a small house with no room. They have to sleep together in that one big room. Imagine if you have to share 5mx4m with 20-something children. The room was damp and the ceiling was almost fall over their head. It was bad! Totally bad…

There were only 4 adults who were working as their caregivers. Think about the load of houseworks and the attention needed by the children. It will never enough. But they never give up. Kak Ijah, the person who is in charge said that she is happy to serve the children, because in this way she can do her best for others.

When we got there, we brought some children books with us, mostly were Christian books, because they were all Christian. As if getting a huge amount of gold, they were very happy with the books. The older children read the books for the younger. Some of them even stayed close to us, so they could enjoy the story that we read for them. We can afford the price of books so we don’t really appreciate the meaning of having books. But for them, books are something very valuable, because they don’t have any.

Giving back means sharing what we have with those who are in needs. A wise lady said that in every penny that we have, there’s part of it that belongs to someone else. Well, it’s a good analogy for me.

Isn’t it good to see a face brighten up when we are willing to share?

Isn’t it wonderful to be part of the community who is always in need?

Isn’t it great to give back with a little bit that we have? Because it means a lot for them…

It felt beautiful for us! It was a good day full of cheers and happiness.

With a bit of money that we collect, we could help to fix the roof, the wall and the broken ceiling. At last, we were happier than those children, because we could see those smile back again on their faces…