St. Jude’s visit

The MEPI TL students that took part in the two visits to St. Jude’s Cancer Center portrayed the spirit of the amazing program we are part of. Throughout their stay, they showed exceptional patience, kindness and compassion to the children they were sitting with. The smiles that were plastered on the faces of the children, their families and the workers was gratification enough for everyone present.

To celebrate Mothers’ Day as well as Easter and the start of spring, crafts were made with the kids on the two different occasions of our visits. The enthusiasm that making the cards and pictures inspired in the children encouraged our students to be equally excited. By the end of our two hour stay, our students were competing to get the loudest laughs from the children. Some of us drew and colored animals and shapes for them, others resorted to cutting and pasting and some made origami animals. Each kid sitting with us, regardless of the hardships and aches he/she was going through, presented to us amazing innocence, which brought us a sense of humbleness.

We were going to play with them, give them a good time and give back some of the blessings we have in life. However, we walked away with much more. We were taught by some talented kids there how to make cards in a unique fashion, we were reminded to be grateful for the many gifts we have and we were thankful for the experience and time spent with them.

We headed back to Byblos saddened that we had to leave so soon, yet also happy that we were able to lessen their hardship even for a little while. Our great efforts were noticed by the center and were commented on by the supervisors upon our departure. This acted to intensify our feelings of fulfillment. The responses that were exchanged among our students on our way back were filled with delight; each expressed their desire to go back and their pleasure to be part of the experience.

Written by Nour Laswi