By Alisa Kivirian

The volunteering project I am taking part in is focused on working with kids and youth. So far we’ve been to about 3 or 4 different school and a day centre and met kids from 5 to 17. As a person who doesn’t have any siblings and haven’t had a chance to work with children before, I’m wondering: are they even real?

Going to the first school, I honestly was shocked. Some of the kids are bigger and look older than I am. How do you tame a creature like this and make them listen to you? Unbelievable. Seems almost impossible. But going to the day care centre and meeting kindergarten kids I thought completely opposite: they are so small they even feel like made out of plush and bonbons. How do you communicate to the creations of the Candyland? Especially when you don’t speak the local language.

Frankly speaking, the best part about any of the places we went was that no matter how old the children are, from which family and background they come from, they all have fire in their eyes. You just come in and feel absolutely exposed: dozens of curious eyes are trying to investigate how you look and act just by the way you walk. These smaller sized human looking beings with the cute pencil cases and big dreams in their heads can make you feel both appreciated and intimidated. Depends on the way you take it.

So who they actually are? Aliens or humans?
They (or some of them) have much more imagination than any other adults. Aliens!
They can cry, laugh and experience the same things as any of us. Okay, seems quite human to me.
But they are not ashamed of showing their emotions, they tend to rebel against the opinions they don’t see as correct and cry and yell over the sweet or toy or anything else they didn’t get. Haven’t seen many humans doing that around me. Aliens!
They can love. Humans have this tendency too.
But they love so much more genuinely and openly than any of grown ups. Does that make them aliens after all?

The list can keep going and going but looking just at these few statements I can successfully conclude that no matter if kids are humans or aliens, they are so much better than most of the adults I have met. Because they are true. The quality a lot of people nowadays lack in every day life so, so much without even noticing it. Sad, isn’t it?

Children are the most passionate creatures with the biggest hearts and purest souls and having a chance to be affected by their inner fire at least once a week is a blessing.