Today our hosts Rhea and Nody set us up to visit a high school in a small island off of Iloilo. I thought we would greet a few people, hand off some school supplies we collected and just get a peek. I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a program. There was a meet and greet w the principle. There were a number of performances: dancing and singing and one of the numbers like an epic Oscar's pageant!
The youth were waiting for us when we rolled in on our rented Jeepney. They waved and seemed excited. All I could think of was how disappointed they would be when they realized it was just us and not anyone super special. They waved from the street. I clenched w nerves. The student government lined the stairway to the principle's office and greeted us in unison as we past by. We were escorted to seats in front of the incredibly lush and enormous outdoor pavilion where about 1,000 students were sitting in their blue and white uniforms. The program started w acknowledging the Foster Youth Cultural Exchange- something that I am still getting used to. They kept calling me up as the leader, which I am normally ambivalent about, but I went with it because they were showing respect and it felt like it was better to follow their lead.
Long story shortened. They asked us to say a few words. They made a welcome poster/chalkboard in beautiful script, they made us guests of honor as they performed song and dance, they offered us a token of appreciation in three beautiful baskets of local (and delicious) mango. They cheered for us when we were introduced and fed us local delicacies on a beautiful table set on stage while the seniors were organized to hold dialogue groups with us. There was a team of Girl Scouts who pulled our chairs in and out, made sure we had water and asked to carry our bags. This enormous school rally was for us. They essentially they treated us like rock stars.
I offered a few words about what FYCE is but really what was most important that I say was that they made us feel so special today that perhaps the years of loneliness we felt in foster care were treated today because their love and attention was like a make believe experience. So full. So unexpected. So deep.
To feel love and appreciation like that, esp from strangers in a country outside of the US, was an experience that I was absolutely not prepared for...
I could not help but feel special. I mean they just really made us feel like visiting dignitaries! And so something moved inside me...I had a feeling that I could never once again feel the same way I had before. Because today I was appreciated and valued and people that I care for and appreciate were by my side, up on stage, being asked their perspectives, and equally treated as special.
Once you are loved deeply do you ever have to return to your old self that felt neglected or ugly or not good enough?
And once you have been treated so well by strangers could you ever forget about it and not pay it forward?
Not me. Love got Into me today. Loneliness received an antibiotic. And my education about how to be a good host went up 10,000%.
The Foster Youth Cultural Exchange will go on. We are forever grateful for this day today. I know it healed me some.
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