It's the Kids

That's what defines Rising Star. The wide-eyed, cheerful children that adore every single volunteer that steps onto this campus, instantly stealing the hearts of each volunteer that comes here. If only their mothers would let me snatch them up and take them home with me - I'd bring the whole bunch of them in a heartbeat.

One of the things you'll most often see them doing with their hands is this. It means "I love you" (see how their fingers spell out "I" "heart" "U").

My ability to remember names is quite atrocious. I can't even remember American names, let alone Indian names. So admittedly, I had to look up most (but not all!) of these boys' names on the school roster. Going clockwise from the top middle boy (even with the school roster, I still couldn't figure out who that kid is in the top left corner. Pathetic. I know.): Monoj, Basha, Vijay Balaji, and Gokulraj.

Mymonesha is definitely one that will melt your heart. She's always asking me what her name is, so nope - I didn't even have to look in the school roster for this one.

Ashok and Moorthy are two (of the four) sons of a couple that does land work for for Rising Star. Their parents, Selvi and Pandiyan, seriously have some of the most handsome boys on campus.

Vimal Kanth was one of my favorite kids last year. He is such a ham. The other day he asked one of the volunteers why she had her ears pierced in a different place than usual, and her explanation was that it was fashionable. He jumped up onto the walkway in front of the children's hostel and began to do the catwalk for us, shaking his little behind like there was no tomorrow. Apparently that's his definition of "fashion."

When the volunteers first arrive, we separate and assign them to various "families" within the children. There are four families each of girls and boys, and each family lives together in their assigned rooms of the hostel. They behave just like a normal family would - hired "room mothers" tend to the children and the kids have certain chores that they do both morning and night.

Assigning the volunteers to one family for their entire session provides the opportunity for both volunteer and child to get to know each other much better than they normally would. Each evening, the volunteers separate to their families to help the children with homework, bedtime stories, and putting the kids to bed. Last session, I was assigned to the room mother Tamilrasi's room, who was over the girls. Here I help Theresa with her "maths."

The girl that's standing is named Vijayalakshmi, but she goes by "Boogie" (who knows how she came up with that one). Although, ever since she found out my mom's name is Maryanne, she's insisted I call her "Little Maryanne." She even named her stuffed unicorn after me.