Gratitude.

You just can't quite see things the same way again.

They don't have enough water because they have no rain. They can't buy water like Singapore does because they're too poor. They're too poor because the government is corrupted and none of this is the people's fault.

One girl at the orphanage came to tell me, "Didi (big sister) Wai Jia, children from another orphanage at school came and told they cannot bring waterbottle or brush teeth anymore because no more water at their home!"

There are no smooth roads. There is no clean air in the city. People dig random holes along the roads in desperate hope of finding water. There are so many orphans, mostly girls, because nobody wants them. Whatever sewage system they have in place obviously does not work. There is no light at night. Their main foods are rice, achar (chilli paste) and dhal (bean soup). Many children don't have the chance to attend school.

Village children

Whatever we take for granted, they don't even have. We go into their worlds, to understand what ours really means. How can I complain about city traffic when there are smooth roads to drive on and street lamps at night? How can I complain about work when I have the privilege to study? How could I complain about petty family issues when I have the privilege of having domestic help at home, or when the girls don't even have parents?

"Didi Wai Jia, did you come from a Home (orphanage) too?" a little one asked. And how her countenance fell when I replied, "No darling, I live with my mummy and daddy."

How the missionaries have spent the last decade serving the poor and needy there, will always make me wonder in awe at the love God has worked through them. "We live a day at a time."

And so we spent ten days together, laughing, eating, sleeping, playing and praying. We admired the mountains, basked in the warm sunshine on the wintry rooftop, played with funny toy spectacles which tickled you all so much, washed dirty clothes together and sang the songs you still remember, those I taught you a whole three years ago. And then we went crazy running about in the open fields, running and running against the cold, frosty wind, with the wind in my crazy hair and you shouting and chasing one another, sometimes cheating ha, running wild till the skies changed their hues, till I surrendered because I was shivering in the cold.

Running crazy in open fields

And when the time finally came to bid farewell, a timely bout of food poisoning hit me before I left you but I was so grateful because of the time we spent together. And though it was really terrible trying to get my luggage around and trying hard not to puke, I knew every bit of it was worth it.

"Didi Wai Jia, you coming again next year?"

I never make promises to children because I hate to break them. But I had signed up for a medical elective (internship) at a good mission hospital in Nepal sometime next year- so this time I said with a twinkle in my eye, "You pray okay? And I will too."

Thank you for teaching me how to be grateful. For God, for my country, for food, for friends and family.

"Be joyful always; pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

- 1 Thess 5:18