She Cried ‘Rape’!
Sunday morning…the first thought that enters my mind falls along the lines of ‘what the hell is that noise…oh my phone’ and then I proceed to wonder why my phone is going off at the ungodly hour of 11 a.m.!
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Ma’am?” at the other end I hear another ‘ma’am?’ when I fail to answer followed by a bunch of giggles as I ask, “Who is this?”
As it happens Witch (I shall call her thus because of a relation to black cats and pranks), Princess (far too spoiled by her parents, this little prat receives care packages every week, which require special permission from the Principle) and ShiShiNi (don’t get me started on this overly polite yet insecure gorgeous gal who walks about with slanted Chinese cat eyes) were the only voices I could make out, although I am fairly sure that there were more than 3 of them.
Immediately I stumble out of bed, having never received a call from my old female students assumed the worse and began to franticly ask questions about everyone I could recall.
“Is everything alright? What happened?”
Well, everything was okay. They had snuck into the teacher’s lounge, stolen a phone code from someone I assumed as Ka$h, since he was the only one on the grounds that had the access to call my cell, and dared to wake me on a Sunday morning.
“Are you coming?” a voice asks and another pipes up to say “You have to come!” I’m guessing it was Princess that demanded my presence for such was her demeanor.
“Coming? Where am I going?” For the life of me I could not figure out what was going on. I felt as thought I had only gotten to sleep to be awoken by this call, which indeed I had. After spending the entire night packing and repacking my bag I went to bed around 7 a.m. and hardly could comprehend what was going on. That’s when it hit me, their performance!
“Oh course darlings, I’ll be there!”
And I was there. After hanging up and tossing my phone aside I dragged myself out of bed only to climb right back in to take a nap.
Fast-forward to that evening.
I didn’t want to go back. Don’t get me wrong but that place was hardly left with the best of terms. I knew that returning would mean answering a hundred questions from the parents and other faculty and a thousand more from the students. While driving over the residential school I had to mentally y prepare myself the tear-filled puppy dog eyes I was going to receive as I tried my best to explain to young children the burdens of an ‘adult’ and why I could not return.
Within seconds of stepping out of the car I heard shouts and saw nothing but a blur as I was hurdled toward the ground. The impact of four former students hugging me had pushed toppling from the sidewalk unto the pavement driveway. Happily I didn’t mind, they were my kids (among them was ShiShiNi and Witch) for I was their teacher when I had to be and a friend and a sister when I was not a teacher. It broke my heart to think that they doubting my presence at their performance and as I looked upon each of their faces I realized that when I had left I left a huge whole in their already fragile lives.
The evening was filled with merry laughter and smiles all-round as the parents and teachers watched their students pour their hearts out.
The last few months seemed to fade away. Gone was night of media reporters breaking into the school. Gone was the bombardment of pointed questions harassing their role-models. Gone was the girl who called rape and the man responsible for it. Once again laughter had been brought back to this fading school. And as these children overcame their struggles they smiled and sang and for the first time in months life seemed to take a step forward for them.
I could not have been more proud.
I was proud of the little shy ones who sang and spoke.
I was proud of the angry ones who worked with their class mates to put on a good show.
But most of all I was proud of Ka$h. He had moved from school to school never quite finding what he needed. Then he landed in another country dropped off in the middle of nowhere in a school system that challenged everything he knew. Well this performance also challenged him. Why? Because this overly masculine wannabe toothpick brat waltzed across the stage in a dress with lipstick and fan in hand. Surprisingly he did so well.
The night came to an end and I was left with the surprising feeling that my students were going to be alright and yes they could overcome whatever was thrown at them.
So cheers to you ladies! Never back down.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Ma’am?” at the other end I hear another ‘ma’am?’ when I fail to answer followed by a bunch of giggles as I ask, “Who is this?”
As it happens Witch (I shall call her thus because of a relation to black cats and pranks), Princess (far too spoiled by her parents, this little prat receives care packages every week, which require special permission from the Principle) and ShiShiNi (don’t get me started on this overly polite yet insecure gorgeous gal who walks about with slanted Chinese cat eyes) were the only voices I could make out, although I am fairly sure that there were more than 3 of them.
Immediately I stumble out of bed, having never received a call from my old female students assumed the worse and began to franticly ask questions about everyone I could recall.
“Is everything alright? What happened?”
Well, everything was okay. They had snuck into the teacher’s lounge, stolen a phone code from someone I assumed as Ka$h, since he was the only one on the grounds that had the access to call my cell, and dared to wake me on a Sunday morning.
“Are you coming?” a voice asks and another pipes up to say “You have to come!” I’m guessing it was Princess that demanded my presence for such was her demeanor.
“Coming? Where am I going?” For the life of me I could not figure out what was going on. I felt as thought I had only gotten to sleep to be awoken by this call, which indeed I had. After spending the entire night packing and repacking my bag I went to bed around 7 a.m. and hardly could comprehend what was going on. That’s when it hit me, their performance!
“Oh course darlings, I’ll be there!”
And I was there. After hanging up and tossing my phone aside I dragged myself out of bed only to climb right back in to take a nap.
Fast-forward to that evening.
I didn’t want to go back. Don’t get me wrong but that place was hardly left with the best of terms. I knew that returning would mean answering a hundred questions from the parents and other faculty and a thousand more from the students. While driving over the residential school I had to mentally y prepare myself the tear-filled puppy dog eyes I was going to receive as I tried my best to explain to young children the burdens of an ‘adult’ and why I could not return.
Within seconds of stepping out of the car I heard shouts and saw nothing but a blur as I was hurdled toward the ground. The impact of four former students hugging me had pushed toppling from the sidewalk unto the pavement driveway. Happily I didn’t mind, they were my kids (among them was ShiShiNi and Witch) for I was their teacher when I had to be and a friend and a sister when I was not a teacher. It broke my heart to think that they doubting my presence at their performance and as I looked upon each of their faces I realized that when I had left I left a huge whole in their already fragile lives.
The evening was filled with merry laughter and smiles all-round as the parents and teachers watched their students pour their hearts out.
The last few months seemed to fade away. Gone was night of media reporters breaking into the school. Gone was the bombardment of pointed questions harassing their role-models. Gone was the girl who called rape and the man responsible for it. Once again laughter had been brought back to this fading school. And as these children overcame their struggles they smiled and sang and for the first time in months life seemed to take a step forward for them.
I could not have been more proud.
I was proud of the little shy ones who sang and spoke.
I was proud of the angry ones who worked with their class mates to put on a good show.
But most of all I was proud of Ka$h. He had moved from school to school never quite finding what he needed. Then he landed in another country dropped off in the middle of nowhere in a school system that challenged everything he knew. Well this performance also challenged him. Why? Because this overly masculine wannabe toothpick brat waltzed across the stage in a dress with lipstick and fan in hand. Surprisingly he did so well.
The night came to an end and I was left with the surprising feeling that my students were going to be alright and yes they could overcome whatever was thrown at them.
So cheers to you ladies! Never back down.