It was 6 am in the morning. The narrow alley of market was fully alive and crowded with shoppers and buyers trying to make their ways. Noisy voices of honk from the bicycles, the chattering, the bargaining and the calling of the shoppers hovered the market. Holding my mother’s hand tightly, we came to the flowers section.
It was my favorite part of going to the market with my mother because I could see different type of flowers, the white and pink peonies, the colorful orchids as well as the other beautiful flowers that I couldn’t name. The baskets full of the fully blossom red and white roses were my favorite things to see even thought we never bought them. As a little girl, the flower market mesmerized me.
My mother used to buy the jasmines from a vendor but on that day, we saw another seller. A girl, who was around the same age as me, about 9 years old, dressed in a shirt, which was too big for her size as it covered until her knees, and was stained by red and brown mud, was holding a bamboo basket full of stringed white jasmines. She was barefoot without slippers. Unlink other sellers, she didn’t have a stall to sell her flowers so she was standing at the road side and calling out for buyers, “Beautiful fully blossom jasmine, good for offering to Buddha and to put on your hair. The pleasant fragrance will make you feel fresh all day”.
My mother liked to put the jasmines on her hair as well as on my hair, which is a symbol of beauty in Burmese culture. My mother approached the young sellers as her beautifully stringed jasmines as well as her appearance caught my mother’s eyes.
During the bargaining and chitchatting, we got to know her name, which was “Aye Aye”. The young seller asked my mother to buy all of his jasmines because he had to head back to home to prepare the meal for her family and she was running late. We learned that she was staying with her aunt as her parents abandoned her. She had to help her aunt gaining extra incomes by selling jasmines in the morning and boil eggs in the evening and she had never gone to school. That morning my mother bought all her jasmine and we shared the jasmines with our neighbors afterward.
A few weeks later, we saw Aye Aye at the market again. This time, she was not selling the jasmines. She was at a teashop, cleaning the tables. My mother approached her and asked about his flowers because my mother was very happy with the fresh and beautiful jasmines that she bought from her before. We learned that she didn’t stay with her aunt anymore because her aunt’s husband was abusive to her. Now she stayed at the teashop and worked full time there, cleaning the tables and dishes all day without any day off. My mother was so saddened by her story and offered to help when she needed as my mother worked with an organization, which provided shelters and education to children like Aye Aye.
My mother started conversations with Aye Aye every times we went to the teashop and I usually sat next to my mother listen to their conversation. I never talked to her, as I was a shy and quiet girl who never talked to a stranger before. One night, as my mother was talking to Aye Aye while we were waiting for our puddings to be ready to take away, Aye Aye asked my mother if she could come and stay with her, as she wanted to go to school. That night, we brought Aye Aye home.
The next day, which was Saturday so we were having breakfast together. My mother asked me a very surprising question, “ Do you mind sharing your room with Aye Aye from now on? We think (your dad and I) that Aye Aye can be a good friend to you.” It was not new for my parents to bring home children that they met on the street or at the market but no child that they had brought ever stayed at our home.
My parents were not the parents who forced me to accept their opinions but their kindness and good nature always influenced my decision since I was at that time. I don’t want to be seen as a greedy and selfish girl who didn’t have the same nature as them. Worrying about to be looked unkind and not like my parents was the facts that influenced my decision. I answered them “Yes, she can stay in my room”, even thought I was not excited about sharing my room with a stranger.
Deciding to share my room as well as my toys, clothes and books with a stranger girl showed me a different aspect of life and has influenced over me until today.
Firstly, I had to give my clothes to Aye Aye before I shared with her anything else. I gave her some of my clothes. Even thought she was smaller than me, she could fit in my clothes. After I gave her some of my clothes, I saw that she was very happy, which also made me happy even thought I was not very happy about giving away my clothes and my favorite dress at first. She said she never had this kind of beautiful clothes before and thanked me for sharing my clothes with her. The happiness that I felt after I saw her happy made me wanted to share my toys and books with her more.
After that I brought her to the living room and showed her my coloring books. I still remember that she chose the Japanese anime book as the pictures in the books contained Japanese princess. At that time I already felt close to her and we colored on the same page. At the end of our coloring session, I gave her that coloring book.
That night, Aye Aye told me stories of her childhood. Most of them sound fun and interesting to me, as I had never had those kinds of experiences before. However, she recalled the back aches and the tears from foot pain from collecting water in the heat and working at a factory rolling cigarettes all day.
Even thought it was easy to share some of my toys with Aye Aye, being asked to give my bicycle to Aye Aye was not easy even thought I was promised by my dad that he would buy me a new bicycle when he had saved enough money. Aye Aye went to an after school program to help her catch up with the grade she was studying at and she needed a bicycle to get there. Her program time was after school, the time, which I usually rode my bicycle around the neighborhood so it was not an easy decision for me. However, I ended up giving her my bicycle as if she didn’t have the bicycle she had to walk for quite a long way. While sharing some of my toys and things with her, I learned to be in her shoes, her feelings and her difficulties.
I had an unforgettable moment with Aye Aye that I could never forget. After living with us for 5 years, Aye Aye decided to go to a boarding school, which is for orphans in another city. I was sad that she would be leaving after all these years. While I was helping her packing her clothes and things, she showed me a pink mini dress with peonies prints. She said “Even thought this dress is small for me now, I will keep it to remember you. Before I thought that there were only unkind people in this world but your family made me believes that there are still kind people. You are so kind to me and I will be remembered as my sister forever. You are like the jasmines. You made feel happy like the beautiful fragrance of jasmines. ” Her words struck me and I felt proud of myself in a way I never experienced before. I told her “ I will never forgot you too.”
Thinking back, even thought the toys that I shared and the small pieces of help that I gave to Aye Aye didn’t seen to be big or life changing to me as well as for Aye Aye, it was the start of my discovery of happiness in sharing with others and helping others. It was the start of my recognition in helping others who are in need as one of my responsibilities. My experiences with Aye Aye fueled my interest and desire to help the people and children who are less fortunate than me and who would be happy to be helped even thought the happiness can be for only a brief moment.
As I grew older and have done numbers of volunteering work, teaching children who didn’t go to school, in their free times and working with humanitarian organizations, during my summers. I learned that more people that I realized were in need of help due to our country, Burma, unstable political situation and economic stagnant. I learned that even thought I couldn’t take away the troubles and difficulties of the unfortunates, I believe that I could bring happiness or at least a small flash of relief to them by taking away small pieces of their worries and difficulties. I always belief that my summer spent for volunteering to help the unfortunates were the times meaningfully and fruitfully spent and doing humanitarian works has also became the career path I would like to pursue.