Living and Learning Interconnection in the Garden of Flowers –

Generosity

One day Fatima told the children stories of sharing. The next day, 6 year old Usra arrived at school early with a bag of clothes – they were her brother’s old clothes, and she had brought them to share with her younger classmate Abdul Rahman who didn’t have enough warm clothes. Like an adoptive big sister she helped him try them on, brushed his hair and put lotion on his chapped face – and changed his life. He wears those clothes every day now. The children are learning that being there for each other is the key to their joyful survival.

Thinking of Others

One of the most powerful ways to connect with others is over a meal. Each day the children help prepare food and together they sit around the long vinyl dastarkhan for lunch. But the connection doesn’t end there. While working together to clean up after eating, the children began collecting the small bits of rice left behind and scraps of chicken and bones. Each day they share the rice with the sparrows and the bones with the timid cats in the yard. They are thinking of others besides themselves – a critical lesson for their future social life.

Empathy Through Drama

In a society where there is so much othering, empathy can seem in short supply. One powerful way to strengthen empathy is through drama. The children love dramatizing poems and stories. By embodying another person they can more readily relate to another’s experience and feeling, a lifelong skill.
In this drama below, the children enact a poem that expresses being good rather than powerful. One who has status and power is not necessarily good, and a wise mentor can provide guidance about becoming good.