One of the children had lost his bag on Friday and it was quite concerning for us as this typically doesn’t happen. We had communicated with the parents that we would ask the children for it on Monday. This learner had come to the center today with his mother and grandmother. He immediately identified his bag from where the bags are kept. As we expected one of the children had taken it home and brought it back today. We assumed it was an honest mistake but the young boy who had taken it claimed that it was his own. When we opened it up we saw that all the books belonged to the child who had lost it. The young boy continued to insist that it was his bag. The grandmother at this point got quite angry and started to threaten the boy saying that his mother would die if he continued to lie. To her credit she didn’t try to hit the boy (which is quite the common reaction) but simply to shout and have him own up to his mistake but the boy continued to insist that it was his bag. The young boy had also misplaced some of the stationery in the bag. Just as the situation was about to escalate the boy’s neighbour came up to us and mentioned that the boy has been going through a hard time. The boy’s mother is an alcoholic and we’ve had her come to the center many times when she was drunk. She had been taken to a de-addiction hospital by force. The boy’s father had met with an accident during work and his nose had been cut off. His sister was pregnant and as a result there was nobody to take care of this 7 year old boy.  This was a really hard situation but what was heartening was the response from the community. The parents of the other boy were immediately understanding. The grandmother apologised to the boy for saying things about his mother. She said that she could understand what the boy was going through and would buy her grandson new stationery. She assured me not to worry about it and to look after the young boy. She consoled her grandson as well explaining that the other boy was going through a hard time and that his mother was in the hospital. Sometimes the center can be really heavy and it can be a lot to deal with. When we hear such stories and see how things play out in the children it can be really tough. But moments like these also restore my belief in humanity and the community support systems. It’s really nice to see other members of the community, across religious boundaries, understand each other and look out for one another. All we need sometimes is a platform for these conversations to happen so people can see what the other person is going through.