We are all well aware of the current global crisis happening around us and there is no escape from it. It’s in every TV channel, social media, conversations at home and at work, events, you name it and it’s there. To give you a tiny bit of relief from it all, this is my humble attempt to bring you some happiness through a story.

I want to talk to you about the most amazing birthday I have ever had. Unlike any other birthdays I celebrated, this year was one of the most memorable day of my life. So, what made it so memorable? It wasn’t just a celebration for me but a birthday celebration for 26 other children; the children that I love most in this world and have become a part of who I am!

I have self-appointed myself as their godmother and so these are my children. My children are aged between 2 and 13 years. These children comes from all walks of life, some beg in the streets, some who have never been to school, some raised by single parents, some are orphans, and all are living in the slums. They are often neglected, belittled and abused by our society, at every step of their lives. But I have found that they are the most incredible, kind and humble human beings I have ever met.

They start experiencing extreme hardship, abuse, neglect even before they arrive in this world. Their fate often is pretty much set by then. Their mom and dad usually live their lives begging, so the children are expected to do the same. Some are abused by the parents, if certain amount of money is not brought home daily. They don’t get the opportunity to be a child, in fact they wouldn’t even know the difference.

On this day, I thought I would try to give them a good time and some respite from the world that shows them little or no kindness. Instead, they ended up giving me the best time I have ever had. Their smiles and joy made me lose myself in an elation I never knew I would ever experience.

We planned the day-long event at a family park with lots of interactive activities, games, singing and dancing, cake cutting and eating.

Now let’s talk about what we did. My friend Lenin and I visited some of the children the night before the event to confirm the meeting time and location for next morning. When we got there, we saw the children sitting around a fire pit they started. At first we thought, they were sitting around the fire for warmth. But when we got closer, the children ran up to us and said they washed their only pair of shoes we got them and, in preparation for next morning, they are drying them on top of the fire. We told them, that it’s a fire hazard and it might burn their shoes. But they were adamant about it as they were super excited about the following day. So continued drying their shoes over the fire and we all sat there in anticipation, watching the amber fly while we chatted and laughed for hours.

The following morning, it started off with collecting everyone and getting ourselves to the park. The group we met the night before were supposed to meet us at the park at 11 am. At 8 am I received a phone call from Phooli, the girl who was responsible for getting the children there. She told me the children were so excited, they all got ready before dawn and would like to leave now. I couldn’t help but have a chuckle and told her to be at the park by 11.

At 10:30 am we collected rest of the children and headed to the park. When we got there, the children who reached there before us noticed us from far away and began to sprint towards us laughing and screaming to give us a hug. Their cheer was infectious. Unfortunately, one of the boys (Rumon) while running towards us ripped his sandal but continued running. It was such an emotional moment, as I’ve never felt so wanted and loved by so many children at once.

The excitement in their eyes, faces and their whole body is nothing I have seen before. They could not wait to get started. We all lined up in front of the gate to take a jumping photo.

When we got inside, the children began to ask permission to go and visit the zoo, to get on the boat, to get on the rides, and to roam around the park. Couple of our friends came with their guitar, so they played music and sang. We had breakfast and sang and danced together.

The volunteers then took the children to wherever they wanted to go, and some children decided to stay back to help me tidy up, prepare lunch and next events and listen to music.

Some children kept on running back to me every now and then to share what they’ve been doing and how much fun they are having. Then after a while everyone returned, and we played couple of games. One of the games was a Chocolate Race, where two people hold a rope with packets of chocolates hanging off it and the contestants runs towards the rope from the other end with their hand tied and tries to rip one of the chocolate packet off the rope and runs back to the start line holding the packet with their teeth. The person returning the fastest, wins the race.

Then it was lunch time. We set ourselves up and had lunch together. It was the children first while a few of us served food to the children. Now I have to share this story with you. All of the children but one (Nurjahan Tuni) stayed back to serve us food. This was one of the highlights of the day for us because we realised what the effect of love does. This dear little six year old, Tuni, observed how we cared and accommodated everyone and suddenly she was doing the same. She was walking around making sure we had enough food on our plates. She was offering rice, chicken and salad, according to what was missing from our plates. And she was genuinely concerned, making sure the volunteers and I were taken care of.

I couldn’t help but shed a tear or two and hugged her for being such a beautiful person. My trip this time round has been filled with moments like these and it’s these moments that make it all worth it.

Next was cake cutting! We set up two massive chocolate cakes gathered all the children together. The wonder in their eyes were an innocence I have never seen. This was the first time they were seeing a cake being cut.

This part was hilarious, because Lenin and I were trying to light all the 20-30 odd candles and told them at the beginning that we blow the candles together. So, I just finished lighting the candles and before I could say, “Ok, who’s ready to blo….”, the children blew out the candles. At first, I was in shock and didn’t know what to do, but then realised what just happened and started laughing loudly and singing the happy birthday song. The children joined in and we all held the knife together to cut the cake. I then fed cake to each and every child. Some children joined in to help me distribute the cake amongst everyone. Once we finished eating the cake we moved onto playing more games and dancing.

We danced with music like a bunch of crazy maniacs, waving our arms and legs around like it was nobody’s business. The laughter was deafening but within this chaos I found peace that I never experienced before. We then held a prize giving ceremony to the winners and others.

We completely lost track of time and it was getting dark by this time. We had to start cleaning up and prepare to call it what was one of the best days of my life.

I don’t ever remember seeing so many happy faces at one time and in one place. This blog was extremely difficult for me to write and I have been planning for it since that day. But even now I, honestly, don’t know how I can put these emotions into words. It was such a joyous day for each, and every child and it was being projected through every part of their body and their actions. And it, without any doubt in my being, the greatest birthday present I could ever ask for.

What I learnt from this day is, to be positive and resilient, you don’t need all the luxuries in the world; to give, you don’t need to have extra; to be loved, you need to give love; to be cared and trusted, you need to truly care and earn trust. So it all comes down to our own beliefs and action.

Amongst all the crisis around the world right now, if it has taught me anything is to learn that we need to love more, give more and hold on to the little joys we have in life. And these children are my joy.