Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘A rural school on the way to Vientiane’

 

Hakphaang,

 

Stopping by

We were at a rural school

Looking dreamily

At the paved road

Fast running by

 

 

In front

Stood a DokChampa[1] tree

With one boy hanging on

and a little boy bust naked

clinging to his big sister

 

Strolling inside the classroom

Where kids waiting for their teacher

To arrive

I showed them the recording

I took

Including their very own

 

 

Maybe

It was the first time

They saw themselves

Reflected

Not from the mirror

Or the water reflection

 

They were quite taken

By the their own images

Brightly shown

On the LCD screen[2]

 

I was told

All of the students

Never ventured out of their village

Seeing themselves

Like the movie they watched

At the temple open air

Must have been quite a feat indeed

 

Too bad

They didn’t have class that afternoon

Teacher couldn’t make it

Must have been out for a supplementary income

And must have been another half day school

 

One student I heard

Wading through the flooding field

To school

And for nothing

 

At another classroom

A separate building by itself

Boomed the voice of the kids

Alas a teacher at last

 

With the recorded button on

I moved to that classroom

The only one with the class going on

So sad to say

Of the whole school

Only two classrooms

What else could I expect?

 

A young girl

Maybe 8 or 9

With one hand on her baby brother

And another busily jotting down

The lesson on the blackboard

Not black enough

 

Not a few times

She squinted at the letters in front

Trying her best to decipher

What was there

really

 

 

Then time to read

Aloud and together

The whole class was like waves

Rushing back and forth to the shore

 

Their bodies swung

Perfectly in rhythm

Every time the magic wand

Majestically pointed by the teacher

 

After all

The blackboard was so low

The writing was so out of sight

And so illegible

 

 

When break was finally arrived

The little girl with a baby brother

Hung on her back

Took off to the village

And disappeared among the many of coconut trees

 

Like dark clouds

About to swallow the area

I also left the school

Hoping to see it in a better shape

Next time around

 

 

8.21.03