“Smile!”Dave Dryden — Oakville, ON
We are on Day One of the Sleeping Children Around the World [SCAW] bedkit distribution in Bangladesh. I am the photographer. Roberta has brought three of today’s 600 children to the photo site and seated them on buckets. As they’ve been instructed, the children put their knees and ankles together and place their hands on their laps. Somewhat bewildered, they look up at me questioningly. Confidently, I ready my finger on camera button, loudly said “Hasho!” and, expecting all the children to smile, I press the button. What follows is not what I had anticipated. Typically one of the children looks at the next child for a clue as to what they are supposed to do, one gives a little smile, while the third child starts to stand up to come over to me. As it turns out, while the word hasho is smile, the word asho means come here. Obviously my pronunciation is less than perfect. We shift to “Plan 2.” One of the overseas volunteers is asked to say “Hasho!” Although this leads to some improvement it means that the many volunteers close to the photo area chime in helpfully with their own “Hasho!” and the children don’t know where to look. “Cheese!” is also a total failure. In desperation I turned to “OK,” an expression that I think might turn up the corners of the children’s lips. The children are told to respond to my prompting “OK,” with a loud “OK” in unison. Some children get so excited they even thrust up one or both of their arms with great gusto.
This is quite an improvement. I am so pleased with my efforts and so unsure of my language skills that instead of saying “Thank you,” to the children I clap my hands after taking the picture. In some of your pictures you might see children clapping enthusiastically as they skipped over the smile part and instead, at my “OK” prompt, enthusiastically started clapping. The pictures you are receiving are the results of my efforts. The children in your pictures are children being children. They are charming in their unpredictability and in their sincerity. Your photograph is a record of their features and their appearance. After the photo, when the children had their bedkits in their arms, it wasn’t necessary to say “Hasho,” “Smile,” “Cheese,” “OK,” or anything. All the children were smiling — they were happy. While taking the children’s pictures I saw the label acknowledgement of each of our donors. It was thrilling to see the names and places and realize that the people of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were all sincerely wanting to help the children of Bangladesh. I am proud of my SCAW team, the Rotarians, Lions Club members, and local volunteers — they represented you well. |
