Letters To Raffi
From London, England ...
My children were raised on Raffi-I needed to get in touch to share something and came upon this wonderful site that fits like a glove with what my kids do. One is teaching/working/volunteering in Africa; another is working with the handicapped in India and just wrote saying she was having difficulty with one young man with severe mental, physical and behavioral issues there. India can be rather archaic in their treatment of the handicapped. I will cut and paste a portion of her blog that dealt with the incident:
My afternoon classes were basically much of the same - seemingly tedious ... a lot of me just making up things to do with them. However, Santosh, one of the biggest handfuls in the class (famous for both his bowel movements and his hitting/kicking) was having a bad spell. The teacher urged me to sing another children's song to them. I was so tired of the same 3 that I had been singing over and over again so I started singing an old Raffi song (*note Raffi was a famous children's singer- if you or your children do not know him, I am saddened for a life sans Raffi is a life sans true joy). Baby Beluga was my favorite Raffi song and so it is with Santosh too. He just loves it; he laughs and bobs his head and claps ... but JUST to that song. It is so much fun! That is why, Raffi, I still love you.
Saturday was a wonderful day.
So thank you yet again Raffi, for helping me raise my kids and for continuing to inspire the "village" to treat our young ones as they are entitled.
Bless you
Barbara Young