A Little Note

Today, Bernardita, the 6th grader I met last week who was so excited to try out her best English, came into the classroom with a little journal for me to sign.  I wrote her a note in English, and then the same one beside it in Spanish, just to give her a little extra practice.  It said something along the lines of how I'm going to miss her, how glad I was to get to meet her, and how she should come visit in the US.  Later, she brought me two pages of the journal she had torn out with a note she had written on it.  With my best Spanish translating skills, I got that this is what it says:

Hello (in English).  How are you Sofi?  I am going to miss you when you leave here.  I love you a lot, like a sister or a  friend, or like both.  You are so fun and so beautiful and good.  You are like a light that shines over the world.  Stay a little bit longer.  I love you (te quiero mucho...so the friendly version).  Take care Sofi.  Bye Bye.

Precious.  

I can't take credit for being all those things she said, especially considering that I've only really interacted with this little girl a few times, but the fact she would take the time to write that to me said so much, even beyond the friendly words.  Oftentimes, the kids here don't get a chance to leave the city, much less the country (not that it's really necessary considering there's just about everything to do if you go to the different parts..).  When they get a glimpse of a foreigner, especially one with whom they get to interact, it's amazing how quickly they latch on.  I've mentioned before how it doesn't seem like the kids are taught to value an education, or simple things like reading or traveling that have the ability to broaden their minds, but, despite their lack of being taught to seek this expansion, their will to do so is apparent in the way I can give so little to these kids and receive such a big response.  

I mean, I came in, told this girl hello, complemented her English efforts and her nail decals, and have been greeting her with a smile and friendly chit-chat during recess ever since.  And now she tells me that I'm like a sister, that I shine all over the world.  This tells me, first of all, how small the world must seem when it's, for the most part, limited to the streets of Puriscal, and, second of all, how eager these kids (or at least Bernardita) must be to define themselves, or in some way discover themselves, through paths that can carry them beyond this small town by which their lives seem to be pre-defined.  And they are content with less than a physical relocation...I think that's the best news.  I'm obviously not showing them the world, but, just with a simple "hello," letting them know I'm not from around here, I think I'm awakening, or just encouraging, that little will inside them that wants to know and to learn.  I think it's an innate thing, that will, which is promising (although I think it's definitely stronger in some than in others).  But I also think it might be easily overshadowed or discouraged if it's not given opportunities or attended to just right.  It breaks my heart to imagine Bernardita sad after my leaving, as if I, an obscure college-aged girl from Tennessee, might have the ability to take with me her little bit of light.  So, I guess this goes back to hanging more on the shoulders of the educators, the adults, and the people who stay--in the suppliance not only of encouragement, but of resources with which these kids can expand their horizons, open their minds.  I want Bernardita to be able to add more to her little journal, like things that she's curious about, or things that she learns...because I think its pages need more than a simple hello from me for its opening to continue to rekindle that will that I know she has inside.

:)