On one particular trip to remote India in the Assam province, I had the opportunity to take some of the children at the children's home fishing. There were about 10 teen age boys, myself, and one of the young adult caretakers packed into a Jeep headed for a local river.
No! We didn't let the young boy drive!
The river was about a 30 minute drive from the home. If they were USA roads, probably only 10 minutes, but remote Indian roads are notoriously terrible. Hence the need for a Jeep.
This day was not really about fishing. Instead it was just a fun day to get away. The children rarely leave the home other than a jog through the village for excercise once per week. Other than that, they are confined to the grounds. Their entire life is mostly experienced on a 10 acre plot. They live and go to school on the grounds. The teachers are locals that come to the home to teach.
So, this was a big deal for them. The caretaker knew the way to the river so he navigated as I drove. Normally, he would drive but asked if I wanted to instead. Always seeking new experiences, I readily agreed.
We arrived at the river around 10:00 am. Yeah, not true fishermen, I know, but again, this was not about the fishing. I really had no idea what were in those waters, anyway. I kept having flashbacks to the leaches in the waters on my travel experiences to the remote area of Mulu on the island of Borneo. Yuk! But luckily, that experience did not re-create here.
The boys were here to have fun. And fun took many forms:
This doesn't look like fishing!
The boys broke up into their own private groups and devised their own fun. Who doesn't love playing in the sand? The river banks were welll exposed since this was not the rainy season. Much sand to play in and the boys took advantage.
I don't know what I'm looking at here, but they enjoyed it.
It was a real pleasure just sitting back and taking pictures of the boys enjoying themselves. I think I take greater pleasure watching kids have fun than anything I could be doing. Knowing this simple event is a lifetime experience and memory for them gave me great pleasure, even now in recollections.
Before we came out here, I gave all the boys 13 and older a pocketknife. Prior to my visit I bought them in bulk on Amazon. The boys really went nuts over receiving this simple gift. It is likely the prized possession of their young lives and I watched as they took their knives out to play with often.
This young boy was obsessed with his. I had brought some whetstones for them to use to sharpen their knives. This boy sharpened his so often I doubt he has a blade left:
There's a lot of pictures and stuff to cover on this fun expedition. I'll finish it in tomorrow's post.
For the most part I try to keep posts to 500 - 700 words. I don't like to make the posts so long that I'm consuming more than a couple minutes of a reader's time.
For now, enjoy the video:
This simple act of kindness was probably like taking American kids to Disney. Giving these kids a pocket knife was probably the best gift you could give kid living the way they are and not having much. Great job my friend. 👏👍🙏
All good deeds will always have a glitch. As long as everyone made it home safe that's what's important
I also love the interaction with the children. It sounds like they make fun out of a little. They don't need x boxes or any other device to have fun. Great you did this for these boys.