21.2.2015 – this day will be a long, great and eventful day. But let’s start from the beginning: We were picked up at the hotel by our diver and a LEO friend by around 7am in the morning and met the other members of the LEO Club Kathmandu Height at their regular meeting-place. Todays activity: serve breakfast at an orphanage. So fist we hat do buy all that things and we went to a supermarket to get bread, butter, jam, eggs and for sure: sweets for the kids. Right after that we had a approximately one hour ride through the suburbs of Kathmandu until we reached the orphanage which was situated on a hilly place. The kids as well as some lion-friends were awaiting us already.
The fun part
After having breakfast the fun part started: we all were meeting in the activity room of the house and after the kids introduced themselves they had the opportunity to show their skills in singing, dancing, rapping, breakdancing or telling poems. And that was the part where candies got most important: for each act they got something sweet. As you can see in the pictures, these kids loved to impress us with their special moves and performances.
An artist
At the same time, an italian artist was living with the kids. She’s spending something like three months with them and is painting wonderful portraits. She told us, that she’ll be showing (as well as selling) these paintings in New York and London in an art gallery. The money she will earn with this activity she’ll bring back to support the orphanage. What a wonderful idea as well as wonderful person, Unfortunately I forgot her name, but I gave her my business-card and hope she’ll be sending me her contact details once. I’d love to visit her exhibition and see the final portraits.
Summary
The whole activity took just several hours and did not really cost a lot of money, but – to this moment – it was the most heartbreaking LEO moment for me. It was great to see how much fun the kids had during our stay and how pleased they were after we left. The part inside the meeting-room touched me most. Sitting in a room with a dozen of kids who could not understand me but were fascinated by the fact that I came from far far away and giving them some great time – at least for several hours – was a huge moment for me. I knew that all the effort around The LEO Book is absolutely worth it. It fulfilled me with deep satisfaction and melancholy.
Also it was very nice to see, that Lions also attended this activity and took part in preparing breakfast as well as in the fun part. I had some great talks with them and we could exchange some great ideas.
What do you think?
Do you also plan such activities? Let me know about your impressions and experiences in the discussion-section below!