Going to Rokpa children's shelter has been a wakeup call for me. I have come to know about the children who do not have any knowledge of their family heritage, children whose parents have abandoned them, children who are basically living on streets without access to basic necessities of life, and children who have turned into vagabonds.

Through a project of Spiny Babbler called the "Arts and Literature Program; High Priority Area" I have not only found a work that I really enjoy doing (that is teaching kids about arts) but have also found a way to support and help kids in their skill enhancement. Along with my friends Ritu and Abhijeet, I have been able to learn about some thirteen bright and amazing children and how to teach them about arts while helping them resolve their problems.

The last forty-two Saturdays have been a marvellous learning experience with these prodigies. We began with a simple orientation by allowing kids to draw whatever they liked best. One year down the road we have completed a large collage of an ocean with some of the world's most colourful marine species, donevarious watercolour paintings focusing on environment and conservation, and formed some personal bonds, for which all of us involved are most grateful. During this course of time we also learnt about ten famous artists of the world: five international artists such as Leonardo De Vinci and Picasso, and five artists native to Nepal like Arniko and Lain Singh Bangdel.

Putting the lives and works of these artists into young minds presented tricky situations because we did not want the children (they all are six to eleven years old) to be bored with the "nitty-gritty" details and dates but at the same time as per the objectives of our project, we needed them to learn about these great people and to be inspired. Let alone learning about the artists, it was tough for them to even remember the long, foreign names. Then with some brainstorming we came up with the idea of giving each child an artist name and calling him or her by it. This way the kids became familiar with the names and it was easier narrating what each of them have accomplished as an artist and an individual in that era.

Today my class is filled with names like Van Gogh, Picasso, Shashi Shah and many others. The moments of fun are when they call each other by their 'artist names.' These days we get to hear a lot of talk like "Miss, Michael Angelo is not returning my brush!" from an angry De Vinci or some equally funny accounts. What I really like about these lessons is that they have not only opened a whole new world for these children about the arts but it has also helped us, the volunteers, in experiencing this world with them. As a child, who was privileged with a good education in an English school, I never learned about Picasso or the magic of abstract art or anything even like it. The conventional education curricula that we follow in our schools hardly delve into the areas of arts, literature, or music. Therefore it is a novel experience for me as well.

Sometimes when the dining hall of Rokpa (that is where we do all the paintings and activities) seems confining and the classes tedious, we take a break and make plans for an outing. In April 2002 we visited Spiny Babbler and dissected all the paintings there. The kids were brilliant and asked so many questions that it made our heads spin! Then in May we went to the zoo to see the newly arrived Hippopotamus. It was a great day and Nanglo, the famous chain restaurant, made it even more special by providing us with complimentary lunches. The visit to the zoo triggered more creative cells into working and now we are in midst of making another collage of a garden with every imaginable creature that can possibly exist there. I had to restrain one of them from drawing a giant dragonfly!

The greatest satisfaction we get is when then the children tell us that they look forward to each Saturday with much excitement. Most of them have had some traumatic experience at one point or the other in their lives. Giving them a secure home, good food to eat, schools to go to and the opportunity to play as freely as any child is supposed to, for all the selfless reasons, Rokpa and other homes like it deserve every bit of applause, support and encouragement from all sectors of society.

Lea Wyler, one of the two founders of Rokpa International, was here monitoring the activities and the conditions at the Rokpa shelter. She said, "It breaks my heart when I see a child on the street begging for food when he or she should be going to a school." When I heard some of the stories of children in my class, it broke my heart too. But now, watching them blossom into free, creative, healthy individuals aspiring to be someone responsible, I feel that it validates every sincere effort, no matter how small, that is being made to make somebody else's life a little better. When I told Lea that what she was doing was amazing she said, "Well, we are all amazing!" And yes, that's what I think about the kids at times like when Santosh, one of the youngest in the class says, "I have drawn a football because I want to be the best foot ball player in Nepal," or when Pema says, "I am really thinking of becoming an artist when I grow up."

The lessons I have taught and the lessons I have learnt in Rokpa have made me aware of so much beauty and innocence that exists in life in spite of all the harshness and difficulties and disappointments. Visits to Rokpa have become somewhat a ritual for me. These days when someone asks me what I am doing this Saturday, I simply say: "Oh I have date I simply can't miss!"