Manisha... she's got spirit!

January 10, 2010
Manisha. You’ve met her before in the story about using ink to dye her hair black. And that would be an incredibly great picture of her. She’s the one who will come up with the most unusual solutions to problems and have no qualms about potential failures! She’s also the one who is the first to apologize to me if she thinks she’s done anything to hurt me. She apologized to me yesterday for giving the English newspaper to the volunteer who’s stayed in our home for the last 4 days before giving it to me! I quickly informed her that I didn’t care when I got the newspaper as long as it was still readable when I got it!

She loves walking around with me and likes to know about everything. We’ll see something unusual in the street, and she’ll immediately ask why. It’s that child’s curiosity in the body of a teenager! She’s in class 6, meaning that I’m her math teacher. And I can tell you that she studied harder than any of my other home students for her exam last term! After she finished reviewing the 100+ problems I had assigned, she went back through every single lesson practicing problems and occasionally asking me how to do a problem and why. We made it through the practice, and her test reflected the fruits of her studies- she went from failing math to a B! I was so impressed with her incredibly hard work!

She’s from Gorkha and lives with her mom there when she goes home. Her mother came to our anniversary program, and I could tell that Manisha reflects her mom in so many ways, from her smile to her bright laughter! She loves to solve problems herself, but will allow others to help her pick up the pieces when her solutions go awry :). She hates letting me work, and when I first got here she would always come take the dishes from me or the wash from me or whatever else I was doing and say, “Sister, I’ll do it!” She’s learned to make pancakes from me, and does a pretty good job, though she likes a little more oil than I do (the Nepali in her!).

She’s a spirited girl who will make her voice known if she disagrees with something. She doesn’t mince words, and she’s quick to correct the other kids. But she is also incredibly quick to forgive! If someone wrongs her, she lights into them, and then it’s over. No nursed grudges, no lingering anger. And the other kids appreciate that! She brings so much life to this home :).