I have been sitting with Father Joe for a few hours, on multiple occasions over the past week and a half or so, and the focus shifted a bit. I framed my question slightly differently for him: what do these kids need to survive? The answers have been simple, long drawn and beautiful – it is everything I have come to know on my own in the past six months, but putting thoughts and ideas into words solidifies the learning.
Mercy is first and foremost a family. Albeit a crazy one at times, but it is a place for kids to run to, it’s a place these kids call home; they are surrounded by siblings and people who care about them. The cooks are their psychologists, who encourage them to “carry on” but always lend a listening ear. The security guards are their confidants and big brothers, and most importantly they have each other, over 200 siblings.
They are a Mercy family and “they will know each other forever.” It is here the kids are encouraged to try new things, to get involved and to experience the world of their peers outside the invisible slum walls: they take piano lessons, voice lessons, dance, music, Tae-Kwon-Do, art and cooking classes. They have recitals, they attend school, they have homework tutors. It isn’t just an orphanage. “We expect a lot out of these kids and they are survivors. All these kids are survivors,” Father Joe repeated.
Survivors they are. And they have each other, which is how they keep on surviving. They are never in it alone. Their existence at Mercy has given them confidence, and they have been told it is cool to be smart. Their lives have direction, purpose and upward mobility.
Tonight I was invited to a concert put on by NIST students (a private International high school in Bangkok) and our Mercy “glee club”. A few seniors at NIST have spent their weekends with Mercy kids, working on their singing, dancing and piano playing skills. Tonight was the night it all became a reality.
When it came to the piano recital portion of the show, I watched on as my girls, Ann, Nancy and Kwan sat down to a beautiful grand piano with the spot light upon them. Having only started learning the keys just a few short months ago, their skills were phenomenal. I video taped all three performances and was moved to tears. I was so proud of them, I felt my heart beating out of my chest.
Their elegance, grace and poise reaffirmed what is so special about these girls. They are survivors, but more importantly, they are heros. They have defied the odds and won.
Their last song was a throw back to my middle school days when Mariah Carey was as popular as Taylor Swift is now. Girls crooned over this song and fantasized about being asked to dance by the popular boy when it came on at the school dance. It was tonight I realized I never fully listened to the lyrics. The Mercy girls call it their “theme song”. As they whispered the soft lyrics into the audience, all dressed in white, it made perfect sense. This is their anthem.
There's a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don't have to be afraid
Of what you are
There's an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away
And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive
So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you'll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you
Lord knows
Dreams are hard to follow
But don't let anyone
Tear them away
Hold on
There will be tomorrow
In time
You'll find the way
(Hero, Mariah Carey)
How do they cope? Well, they have each other, they have hands to hold, but also, they are strong and they have dreams to hold on to.
I love these kids will all my heart.
The opening act.
Tammy on drums.
Guess what song they're singing...
"Hero" finale.
Curtain call and flowers, with my pianists :)
ABA
