A great part of Street Smart has been the people who come here for brief periods of time to work with the kids. They share their experiences, talents and creativity with the children that is always such incredible learning for them.The flip side of this arrangement, however is the goodbyes. We HATE them! [pretend you hear group wailing here]. For the past few weeks, we had a lovely young lady from the US training our older kids in block-printing. The photographs of the products that the kids made are available on Street Smart’s Facebook page. Darby formed an instant bond with the kids and we credit her ready smile and unbelievable patience for being able to sweep into the kids’ good books when the rest of us tried, tried and tried again always to fail!The most incredible part of their bond was that though Darby knew very little Hindi and the kids know only profanity in English, they were able to communicate without almost no help with translations! The kids understood Darby perfectly though during those times when she would ask them to do something they did not want to, they would start with their “we don’t understand what you are saying” drama. Darby too was able to understand most of what the kids told her and I am not just talking about basic communication. They really talked to her about everything! Anecdotes, who said what to who, gossip and even “secret” crushes… it all came tumbling out before “hamari Darby” (our Darby).

So it was obviously a very difficult goodbye that we bade to the girl we all love so much. Darby should have reached home by now and we want her to know that we fervently wish for her return back to India, Dehradun and Street Smart ASAP! Of course from Naina, this is not a wish but a command!