Dedicate Home (Sharing Observed Poverty) 4

A Personal and Observed Poverty: A Narrative (Part 4)

I had arrived early one day for class. I was 3 hours early to be exact, and the reason I was early was because I was sick, and if I had stayed longer in my home, my parents would have discovered my illness, and would have thus stopped me from teaching the days' class. I was a persistent kid. I stood in front of the center, and discovered it was locked. It was 11 in the morning, and the heat did nothing for my fever. I felt dizzy and decided to sit beside the center's door under the center's shade. Stereotypical members of the urban poor community passed me by and asked if I was okay. I would nod my response, but they would indomitably query further on my condition, asking if I was really okay. After a few minutes, the day care worker I taught with arrived in a hurry. She said that one of those who had queried me earlier had told her that I was dizzy and obviously sick, waiting by the center's door. She then took me into the depths of the community, a trip that I would re-tread over and over again since that initial time. She took me to her home, a 2x2 meter space of corrugated G.I. sheets with a piece of plywood stuck at the back wall creating a pseudo double decker bed. All that was within the space was a table, a few cushions, a small kalan (gas stove) and a cabinet. She apologized for her home, and asked if I would like to rest first. She directed me to the bottom "bunk" of the makeshift bed, which was layered with a thin cushion and torn sheets. From my position you could see out the door. My fever raged on. In my experience, fevers have always heightened my senses. The reason I found for that phenomenon was that it was only during times of sickness that I bother to lie down and simply experience the multiple sensations opened to me. Lying in a sick bed, there is nothing to take into account but your body, and what it feels. Thus, in sickness, I am open to feel. I am open to see, to smell, to taste, (whatever taste is left) and to hear. We take sensation for granted. It's as if the world is for us to grasp, but we forget that in reality, it is the world that grasps us.