Hello from Kullu By: Jeff Sargent

Hello from Kullu. I’m not really the blogging type but this has been an amazing experience for me and I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a few minutes to share a few thoughts and highlights.
This experience is all about young people where young is anyone from 0 to 100. For the kids in the schools we visit young is both a matter of age and experience. Most of the kids we interact with each day vary in calendar age from 6 to 10 covering grades 1 through 5.  They are kids in the same way any elementary school child anywhere in the world is a kid.  They are charming, mischevious, giving, playful, bashful, energetic, sharp, caring, enthusiastic, frustrating, surprising, compassionate, adorable and the list of adjectives could go on and on.  We fell in love with them the moment we met them and I’m sure tears will flow freely on both sides when we bid them adieu.
For the teens who are leading and serving I’ve been able to observe how children can grow into amazing young men and women while retaining the best qualities of being kids.  They meet the children in the schools at their level using energy, love and preparation to elevate their learning experience. They are actively planting seeds of aspiration in young minds and hearts that have the ability to blossom into expanded opportunities for each child and their future generations. We hope that those seeds have landed in fertile soil and they’ve been excited to work each day in the garden of human possibility. I believe that each one has been changed for good and will view the world through a more compassionate, engaged and outward focused lens.  While it will take many years to assess their results of their labors with the kids in their schools, the results in their own lives are frequently evident as I’ve watched them grow in confidence and capability over the past seven months and especially during the last seven days. Still kids but so much more.
Finally, this experience has reinvigorated my inner child. We are all kids at heart but oftentimes the hustle and bustle of everyday living leaves scant opportunity for the child to emerge. Thankfully, while my body creaks and groans each early morning, my heart feels younger and younger each day we’ve spent together. As a grandpa, I’d love to adopt every child I’ve met as an Indian grandchild.  Just like my own grandkids, they crave and respond to affection. They are eager to please and yearn for attention. They want to be seen as individuals rather than just part of a class. They thrive on affirmation and reciprocate kindness.  They possess all of the building blocks necessary to live meaningful, successful lives.  Hopefully in exchange for their freely proffered elixir of youth, I can offer them a tiny glimpse of their capacity to become whatever and whoever they desire. If we can help to elevate their vision just a little, ours will have been a wonderfully successful venture.
Thank you for your unwavering encouragement, love and support. Your teens are a wonderful reflection of that consistent effort.  Thank you for sharing them with me for this little adventure!