Except for the Arab World, the "Y" has opened across most of the world like this one in Visak, which offers a special ministry for street children. While planning this event, myself and five others were told that each of the 20+ children (6-14yrs) we were going to meet are picked up from the railroad area, sent to school and live at the YMCA. Our goal was to present an exciting program they would enjoy while showing them love and teaching the importance of respecting others.
To get there, all six of us had to squeeze into a cramped tuk-tuk (which is no easy task for more than three people) and remain alive on the Indian roads till we arrived. Fortunately, it was only a ten minute trip. The event started with the usual introduction of ourselves holding a large map for the kids to see the countries represented. Besides two from the U.S., there were England, Brazil, Australia and South Korea represented. Each turn, a boy was picked to point out where the country was, and every one was spot-on. Then I brought out two life jackets and explained their use and how to tie it properly. As boring as that sounds, their adrenaline was soon amplified with an invitation to race each other with stopwatch in hand. This game definitely loosened any tension between local kids and visitors from a Western culture. We then performed a drama that focused on respecting others, and ended our evening by splitting up into stations around the room doing something different. I was teaching juggling, but another taught origami, one painted faces and one told stories using the Mr. Coconut character prop (aimed toward the younger crowd).
Before heading back to the ship, we had a quick tour through the shelter where each one lived. It sure made us thankful to live on such a roomy ship...especially after being shoe-horned into another tuk-tuk for the ride home.
