Lion

Recently we went to the theatre to see the movie Lion. Friends of ours had just read the book and recommended it. So, off we went to the early movie  (6:30) after a quick dinner at five .... just in time for us old folks to be tucked in for the night by 10:00!

Lion is an amazing, true, story about a young boy (about five years old), from an impoverished family who, by accident wandered onto an empty train that took him across India, far away from his family home. He lived on the street for a while then entered a detention center, then an orphanage, where eventually an adoption to an Australian couple was arranged. You'll have to see the movie, or read the book (which I am doing now) to see how his life in Australia turned out and if he was ever reunited with his family in India.

Bottomley Orphanage

Many of the scenes from the movie reminded me of my year in Bangladesh. The crowded, chaotic streets, trains with masses of people (including clusters of them sitting on the roof tops of the moving trains!), brought back memories. The one memory that connected me with the movie, however, was from our visit to the Bottomley Orphanage on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Group photo of the girls in the orphanage (our teacher Kris O'Brien behind the sister)

The purpose of our day trip was to deliver some clothing that one of our teachers, at the school I was working at, collected through a clothing drive. During our visit we had the opportunity to meet the children as well as the "sisters" (who ran the orphanage). We also had a grand tour of the building and property that housed and fed 140 girls.
As you can see from the photo, there was a large yard for the girls to play in. Some of the girls in the photo have short hair or bald heads .... victims of head lice! We had the opportunity to see where they slept, metal framed beds jammed side by side in dark stone walled enclosures..... similar to a scene from the movie. Depressing? Yes, but they were safe from the perils of the street!

Ross (my husband) and our friend Paul (the VP of our school) have a chat with the sister in the dinning "hall".

Some of the girls in the orphanage were actually not "orphans", they were there because their parents were not able to feed them. A better life than living on the street. Some children in these circumstances are actually compelled by their parents to forgo school in order to beg or scrounge and bring back what they find to help support the family.

Kris O'Brien, one of our teachers, plays a game of blind man's bluff with the girls.

The movie Lion was, for me, an uplifting story with a happy ending. However, it did remind me of just how privileged we are in Canada (or other first world countries). Yes, we do have poverty in Canada, but not to the extent that it is in other parts of the world. Another thing that struck me in the movie, was the selflessness of the Australian couple who adopted the young boy (as well as another) from India. When the boy, Saroo, was older, he said to his adopted mother that he was sorry that she could not have children of her own. She looked at him and informed him that she was actually able to have children, but she and her husband decided that the world did not need more people and that it would be better to save one or two children from a life of misery. How wonderful is that!

Typical pic that I grabbed of a train going by with a woman giving us a big smile!

Typical street and shopping area in Dhaka.

This movie also reminded me of a photo essay that a student at the school I taught at in Dhaka created. (I posted this quite a while ago in a previous post.) This high school student took photos of some of the "less privileged" people living in our neighborhood. These were common sites! We actually saw many of these people every day as we went about our comfortable lives going to and from work, out to shop or to eat in a restaurant!



Life Without Luxury