Driving home the power of education and its ability to let you achieve great heights, First Lady Michelle Obama forged a bond with children of Mumbai orphanages by alluding to her own humble upbringing. Ms. Obama met 23 children from four orphanages and volunteers of Make A Difference (MAD), a voluntary association of students, at Mumbai University here on Saturday.
“Michelle Obama said we are very lucky. Education is very important for us,” 12-year-old Sagar Jadhav told The Hindu.
In her message on education, Ms. Obama spoke of her own position as First Lady as a symbol of the heights one can reach with education. Vikas Hotwani, a MAD volunteer said, “She said her journey of life was also not easy. That, when she took over as the First Lady of the U.S., she could do justice to all the responsibilities because she had the power of education. She told the children that with education they could rise up just as she did.
“She told the children all they needed to worry about was their education. It was not like her family had a lot of money. It was education that brought her to where she is,” said Gloria Benny, a MAD volunteer from Hyderabad.
Around 18 volunteers met Ms. Obama along with the children.
With inspiration, Sagar earned a tangible proof to brag about to his friends. An autograph of the First Lady on a piece of paper. “The first thing I am going to do is show it to my friends. I will stick the paper in my personal book,” a gleeful Sagar told The Hindu.
All the children got autographs signed from Ms. Obama – some on their hands, some on their t-shirts.
The interaction which lasted about 20 minutes in the University library was packed with fun and games. “She played hopscotch and missing letter activities with the children. The game was based on questions, like what's the capital of America. If you gave the correct answer, you moved up the square. When it was Ms. Obama's turn, she took off her sandals and played hopscotch,” said MAD volunteers Tanmay Arora.
Ms. Obama also danced to the Hindi number ‘Rang de Basanti.' “She liked it so much that she said she wanted to dance again.”
The volunteers received a pat on the back from Ms. Obama. “She was impressed by our teaching model. She was happy that such young people are making a difference,” said Tanmay.
MAD volunteers use the Cambridge syllabus to teach children from orphanages across the country over the weekend.
“She acknowledged our work. MAD's message aligned with her message and vision of bringing together young leaders. She said it's great to see the change has already started.”
All the students and volunteers received mementos from the First Lady. Bags with the picture of the White House and sporting Ms. Obama's signature were distributed among them. With stationery comprising a writing pad and colour pens, was a stuffed toy – a Portuguese Water dog named Bo. A tag round Bo's neck had all the trivia on the Obama family's dog.
Johnny David, 13 was particularly fascinated by the spiral-bound writing pad. Overawed, he said he would never write in it as he had never seen such an expensive book. The children belonged to the following orphanages: Father Agnel Ashram, A D Bawla, Chatherine's and Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA).
