HELP TO BRING A SMILE

Prerana Pai

Delhi Private School, Sharjah

I am Prerana Pai, 11 year old Indian national living in the U.A.E. I have the best parents and grandparents. I also have wonderful friends from all corners of the world. I feel really blessed, and try to show my gratitude by helping those less  fortunate.

Three years back, it was a hot Friday morning,(it gets really hot in the UAE during summers,) and I was wearing my favourite pjs licking an ice cream and playing on my iPad. I glanced at my dad and noticed that he was looking at the newspaper with a very serious expression. When I asked him what the matter was, he gave me the newspaper and told me to read an article. While reading it, my expression changed from curiosity to horror. 750,000! It seems like a huge number usually prize money for winning the  lottery, but NO! It was the number of people who might just die in the next four months, if not given any nutritional aid. The most terrifying part of it was that more than half of them were young children!!!

The meaning of the idiom “being human” simply means being compassionate. I looked at myself, with ice-cream in one hand, iPad in the other, and asked myself the question. “Is this being compassionate? Enjoying myself, while people, even young kids, are fighting for their lives out there?” Then another question arose in my mind. How can I help? As if reading my mind, my dad answered that we should do our best to help these people, even if it is a small gesture like donating money or clothes or toys or volunteering our time and services, every drop counts. We are all citizens of this beautiful world and we all are equally responsible for keeping it that way. The world is not like it was a hundred years ago, when people did not know what was happening in places far away. Today we are not only completely aware of the problems people are facing in various parts of the world, but we even have the resources needed to reach out and touch and communicate with them. I can talk with my grandparents who live in India face to face (on Skype) everyday over thousands of miles. Today, we can truly say that our earth is a small world after all!

From that day on, I have tried my best to make a difference. I participated in a project called “LIGHT A BILLION LIVES” through my school. For this, my classmates and I made potted plants and sold them at a fund raising event. Then, we donated the entire amount, which was enough to light up two villages without electricity, in a remote part of India, with solar lamps. I went to Delhi in India with my headmistress, to make this happen, and we also actively took part in the “Greenathon” which was conducted by NDTV, a news channel. I participated in clean up drives and tree plantations to reduce my carbon footprint.

I went to Al Noor School for Children with Special Needs with my parents. There we took part in a garage sale. We were raising funds for the school. I had so much fun there selling jewelry (which was my stall!!!). I also went to Al Amal School for children who are deaf and dumb. I, along with my friends, danced, sang and did a variety of activities to entertain them. The children too taught us the sign  language that they use to communicate. I must have forgotten some by now but I do remember a few – the days of the week, the months of the year and the seven emirates of   U.A.E.

I always recall a dialogue from the movie Spider Man – “With great power comes great responsibility”. I might not be having great powers like Superman or Spiderman, but I have enough power to make a small difference in the lives of people and share the fortune I have been blessed   with.

I really learnt a big lesson from playing my role as a citizen of this world. The biggest pleasure in the world comes by bringing s smile on someone’s  face.