Joseph Stalin: A Profile

No, not that Joseph Stalin. This Joseph is fourteen years old and is in the eighth grade. When I first asked him his name, he told me, "Joseph Stalin, but he was a very bad man. Bad man, very bad. But I am good." Later when I asked one of the long-term volunteers why he is named after Stalin, I learned that many parents know only very little of some famous people; they only know that Joseph Stalin was a successful leader. A few months ago there was a student named Karl Marx as well. I'm guessing it's just a coincidence that they were both communists.

Joseph is one of the nineteen boys in our "family" with whom we visit before bedtime. We love seeing him and spending time with him. He really likes the two of us. Mandy wanted to make sure that I wrote that he especially loves me. He is the one of the oldest in his family and quite different from other boys his age. Most boys on the playground take advantage of anyone who is younger, and are taken advantage of by the older boys. Not Joseph. He is both creative and athletic, strong and gentle, respected and caring.

Joseph is also a natural leader. He teaches a dance class every day with the help of a few other children. A few years ago a volunteer, who was a dancer, came and taught them every day how to dance. The children now carry on the classes on their own; it is impressive and entertaining. Joseph has been invited and is planning on traveling to Connecticut to perform with a few other dancers sometime next year. This is Joseph dancing around for fun during one of the classes.

Joseph works hard to be strong. Not only does he exercise during the dance classes, but he is always ready to do push ups and play strength games (arm wrestle, etc...). Last week he asked us if we could go running together. Thinking that we would go together during play time in the evening, we said we'd love to go running. Then he told us he wanted to go running in the morning. But because all the boys get up and start their day at six, the only time to do it was before that. So last week we woke up 4:45 in the morning to go running around the gravel track, followed by exercises like lunges and crunches. We did it again this morning, but convinced Joseph to start at 5:30 instead. He is wearing us out!

At night we started singing with many of the students. Joseph knows a lot of primary songs, and always joins in. We asked him to sing a song in Tamil for us the other night, and this is what he sang. It is a beautiful song, and we've had it stuck in our heads ever since.

Before coming to India, we never expected to meet Joseph Stalin. But we're sure glad we did!