Last year I joined a charity trip which was made by my classmates. At first, I don’t really want to join because my two close friends could not participate because of their own business. I was convinced to join the trip, but I made an expectation that the trip must be boring to me.
What I thought was correct. When I arrived at a department I studied, I was asked to carry lots off stuff from upstairs to downstairs, which made me feel more tired of the trip. At the meantime, I thought I should have donated money and stayed home comfortably.
Anyway, there was an interesting happen when I arrived at Kawagichi Mashahiro primary school. The school building looked so old even the rest room. The school’s library was so dirty that I could see the bookshelves were full of dust. I saw the windows were closed, and when I asked a school head, I was surprisingly told that there were insufficient books for the pupils to read; that’s why the library was always closed. After looking around the library, my new friend, whom I knew at the time I was in the library, and I acted as a mentor for ten pupils. The pupils looked awkward; they spoke nothing unless we asked them questions. Notwithstanding, one pupil who was around 10 year-old with short straight dark hair was very active. Surprisingly, the other pupils then started talking much after that boy mocked them. I started read a folktales for the pupils, but I noticed there were around 3-4 children standing next to the window and looking at me. I felt weird, so I made a sign to my friend, who was preparing for a game, to check out. No doubt, they wanted to join us. Wearing tear clothes with no proper shoes, those children looked happy when my friend called them to come in that they ran madly to the table as if they were in a race. They all listened to the stories I told.
Honestly, I did not expect that I would have a nice day with the children. Not only did we read the folktales and play games, but we also had lunch together. At the end of the day, after I said good-bye to the children, they suddenly hugged me tightly that I found it difficult to breath. I felt awkward because there was no one embraced me like this before, but I was over the moon. I unexpectedly enjoyed the trip even if my best friends did not come along. What’s more, this makes me think donating money is just a small part of help, but meeting them in person is to give them a real helping hand. I will keep them deep in my memory.
