"TEARS of JOY" by Phithi

One interesting aspect of human beings is the ability to cry. Crying is something that we all do and in most instances it symbolises pain and sorrow. When people cry, it’s normally the heart responding to an event or something emotional that has happened. So many times, we do not want to see tears, we hate them; they break our hearts and remind us of the painful events that take place in life. We would rather see smiles and laughter than tears. In some instances, we try to suppress them. I remember growing up when sometimes crying was viewed as a sign of weaknesses, we were supposed to be strong and ‘hold the tears’ especial if you were a man. Cry babies were scorned and frowned upon, while stoicism and heroic acts were praised. I remember reading a book in 2003 called, A Man Cannot Cry by Gloria Keverne, a British national who was born in the then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), a remarkable book about a young British doctor who went to Zambia and established roots there. The story is so emotional and moving, and at the end, the doctor has to leave Zambia to go back home. The day he returns breaks his and everyone else’s heart with some characters crying a bucketful of tears, but the young doctor manages to hold his tears as a man! Unfortunately poor me, I failed to hold mine at the end of the book, there I was shedding tears, a man cannot cry indeed!

I know my introduction has been some ramblings and ‘diatribes’ as Dave would call it, but I am still talking about tears. The first time I watched a video by Emmanuel Jal’s talk during a Ted Conference, I cried. Emmanuel spoke a language that finds its way into our hearts; how he lost his family during war and the challenges of being a child soldier. This was painful, it made me cry. However, his resolve to build schools for former child soldiers was something that I admired (and made me cry) thus Educating Others’ decision to support him. Once again today, Educating Others is making me cry again, but the difference this time is that it’s tears of joy. We are getting there, managing to reach a lot of children out there and making a difference in their lives. It takes simple everyday citizens like us, faced with everyday challenges and needs to take that vital everyday step to make a difference out there. We are so grateful and proud of our sponsors and supporters (who are your everyday citizens) who have indeed shared with us their hard-earned resources to help us make a difference. We are looking forward to our fundraising event by the end of this month; we look forward to more tears of joy as we are confident of your support.