Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I continued on, preparing them for what I hoped would be the gift to change their lives:
“You told me that sometimes you don't have enough money to feed your family and that
sometimes your children go hungry for days. And you told me you were a hero in Indian
culture because you had the rickshaw. Well . . . I want to buy you a new rickshaw.”
I want to buy you a new rickshaw?
I never thought I would utter those words. And I
never thought they would mean so much when I did.
Evidently, Dheeru never expected to hear them. He was totally stunned. He couldn't
quite believe this was happening.
“Is it possible?” he whispered.
“Absolutely,” I replied, a wide smile now breaking across my face. “I am going to buy
you your own rickshaw.”
“If it's very possible, I'm very, very happy for you to,” Dheeru stuttered, his excitement
making his English even more broken. “Because I work like this. I want this change for my
family and change of my living status, you know. So everybody's looking for this dream,
and if it is possible, I am so happy.”
“It is very possible,” I reiterated.
After a long pause he replied, “How can I thank you? I don't know how I'm going to
thank you. I am very happy, very happy. I am . . . I don't know.”
And then that smile returned. I would have given Dheeru everything I owned for that
smile. It was one of joy; it was one of love; and it was, despite their poverty and struggles,
one of utter contentment.
Once I was able to convince him that he was not dreaming and that he really would be
receiving his very own rickshaw, we sat down for breakfast with his wife and sons.
As we ate, Dheeru started realizing what the rickshaw would mean. “It will change
everything,” he explained. He looked at his sons, “Life, education. I can give a good edu-
cation for a long time for my children. I can extend to go to a nice house, good education,
and good place for life.”
Dheeru and his family deserved a good place to live. They deserved good lives. I left
the slum that morning and walked back to where I had parked Kindness One the day be-
fore. I thought of my own family back at home—Lina and Winston. We had so much—a
wonderful house, the knowledge that we would never go hungry—and yet I often failed to
appreciate the most important part of our life: We had love.
