Volunteering and being uplifted

I went to a convent school today, run by nuns, for mentally challenged kids -ranging from down syndrome to slow learners with recurring epileptic fits. When I mentioned this to a few friends they said "must have been sad". Actually it was not. It was rather uplifting. I went with a friend who volunteers and teaches them yoga. I was in a room full of sixty children between ages 5-16. Some were lying down and a few nuns sat near ones not feeling well but there were others happily doing yoga and helping each other.

They stretched and balanced and were trying to do their pose extra well so they'd be called out in front of the class to demonstrate. When someone was called up front she/he would do it seriously but proudly, always be beaming and grinning by the end. Everyone else clapped for them. The youngest and the most enthuastic was around five and snuck to the front of the class twice to get an applause.

I know their whole day is not a yoga class and I know that the nuns work hard. The kids have fits and lots of other problems. Their life is not easy but it is not dark and gloomy and sad.

At the end of the session a 14 year old boy came up and shook hands with me. He hung around for a bit and smiled a lot. He likes to flirt with young women they told me. Well, I guess I was young. I was flattered and yes, very uplifted.

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Volunteering - I have offered to teach the nuns how to use a computer they have been given. If approval comes through I'll work on that and getting information on the children, their history and all paperwork categorized and uploaded. This is step one towards gaining a non-microsoft identity. Day one, step one.