A New Friend

If it wasn’t for a childish fight, guess I do not need to go elsewhere besides the office. Browsing through the Mercy Building, where different departments have different staffs running their daily errant, and my footsteps slowly dragged me upwards to the second floor, where the Mercy 6 children are.

It was their afternoon tea-time. Everyday, the house moms would sit around in the slightly smaller benches and long table, monitoring the little ones (age 2 to 6), putting the oddest-yet-somehow-make-sense (for them) color on a dinosaur, a flower, a house or an elephant, the country’s pride. Some are running around playing with their brick toys, sometimes licking it for their own pleasure.

Next to the table, were two baby trolleys; one was pushed around by the little ones, forward and backwards, carrying kids who will stack on each other. The pusher will be the mommy, imitating their house mom when she is doing shopping in the market or bringing the kids when they are sick or sleepy, truth is, mommy’s legs are weak to walk too, and has to depend her weight on the trolley; the ones in the trolley will be giggling and laughing, but cry once in a while when their turn is over, and next child will jump up on one’s lap before one would come down.

The other trolley who will always be at rest beside the activity place, was little Nong Pae. One couldn’t tell her real age by her skinny body and weak legs. She was made blind by HIV virus, and was unable to walk nor speak when she was first sent to Mercy.

With the help of a nurse who has been volunteered to come every week, she is now able to walk and carry on simple conversations such as “ Sawadika”(how are you), “Sabadi”(I am fine), “ chop”(I like), and “di”(good). To my surprise, she smiled to me and waved her hands elatedly when I approached her. She recognized me by my voice!

Before yesterday, I rarely played with her before, but whenever I passed by the house, I will always say hello and bye bye. I have never thought that it would be significant enough to let a person remember me only by that.

So the rest of the afternoon, I was cheered up by little Nong Pae’s effort to make friends with me. She teased her friend, Nong Fon saying that she’s not good but herself is better! She showed me that she could count up till ten with her newly-learned pronunciation skill; clapped her hands to my singing and finally start walking towards my clapping!

It was a new way to know someone. Not by the looks, nor what you wear, but by your voice. Have you try that before?