The story of Easter is new for the children of Baan Unrak, so last Sunday Didi took the time to tell it in her own special way. Easter is all about new life, it’s a rebirth.
On this occasion, it is customary to gift loved ones a chocolate egg with a small gift inside. Didi explains that the chocolate egg symbolizes a mother’s care and love. When the mother takes care of the egg, a little chick will come out alive, full of dreams, full of energy, full of hope. This image of innocence resonates with us all. We look at our own little children from the nursery, Tanwar, Kenioto, Ninkapowa, all sitting cross legged, gazing up at Didi, as her gentle voice describes this new chick emerging from the egg.
Zia Caterina worked with our children the days before, preparing colorful banners full of beautiful wishes – as she usually do for sick children in hospitals in Italy – sharing photos and making video calls with them, thus exchanging positive energy.
We had never celebrated Easter before at Baan Unrak. But this time it was different, because Zia Caterina is still with us, and for her and her SuperHeroes (cancer patients that she takes care of) Easter is very important. On this occasion, she had always organized something unforgettable for them. This year, we were the lucky ones…
As Zia Caterina emphasizes, Easter teaches us that, if we learn to accept the difficult moments – such as this coronavirus quarantine time – we will see light again, and we will have a new life, even brighter than this one, because we will be stronger. “Working together, we become invincible” Zia says.
Pasquetta
On Easter Monday we had a great adventure, which broke the routine of our quarantine. All Baan Unrak traveled by boat to a desert island on the other side of the lake. It took us 4 trips to bring everybody there, filling also our goats’ floating house!
We are lucky to have access to this little paradise getaway during the lockdown. Only on this occasion we didn’t observe the “social distance”, but we were just among our community, and we’ve never went out anywhere, except to this island.
Full of joy, we landed on the island, and we sang, and meditated, for all the universe.
Didi even guided our meditation with a loudspeaker! It was memorable… And we also took the opportunity to sing together Baan Unrak “Thank You” song, to express our gratefulness to all our sponsors and well-wishers.
After that, Didi wished us all “Buona Pasquetta!” (Happy Easter Monday in Italian) and the children ran to the lake to swim!
Then we dried ourselves and had a great picnic, topped by another giveaway of sweets by Zia.
Today, Didi told us that there is a treasure in all of us. Sometimes it is hard to see, so we need to wash away the dirt, the negative emotions. Then, when the gold shines through, it is an amazing gift to the world.