Song

On one of the first days I was here, during the Q&A session at the end of a class period, the questions changed from inquiries into the length of the school day to requests.

"Sing," one child prompted me, her eyes expectant.

"Please dance," requested another in perfect seriousness.

I was unprepared to sing and unwilling to dance, so instead we cheered on a few of their classmates who were happy to perform. With little prodding, first boys, then girls came forward and sang. Since that time, I've tried to leave a little time at the end of a class to sing. The kids sing beautifully in Nepali. These are always solo performances, with a few kids assuring me beforehand that the performers are very talented. They don't lie. It's quite stirring to listen to them and it is also sometimes very funny. One little boy hammed it up and sang to me something that appeared to be a love song, outstretching his arms Bollywood style, and I pretended to swoon, and we all had a good laugh. One girl sang beautifully in Hindi. Another little boy shot me a funny look and then gave a spirited rendition of the lines he knew from "Buffalo Soldier." I about fell out of my seat.

For my song, I decided on Alain Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can", made copies of the lyrics, and, the next time I had the opportunity, we sang it. Well, I sang it to them first and then we sang it together, line by line.

After, some sang out the chorus and others copied parts of it in their notebooks. A few students refused to give the paper back to me. "I want to show it to my parents," one told me, folding it and putting it in his notebook. One of the boys, who had just sang for us in Nepali, just shook his head at me. Later, as I was leaving, I saw his mouth moving silently over the words.