The person I would like to see again is my little devil 'Osende', a boy in Moratuwa.
Last year, I went to Sri Lanka for 5 months to do volunteer work. Like so many other volunteers who return after their work, I felt as though I got more from the experience than I gave. There are several reasons for this. Before this experience everything reminded me that I was once considered a tomboy who just wanted to play. Since I entered university I had been living under the delusion that I was doing well due to my continuous busy life. That kept me from thinking about my dream.
When I first arrived at Sri Lanka, I started to study the language 'Sinhala'. At that time Osende was a 3-year-old-boy, so had more conversations with him than talk anybody else. He started to understand my words and I started to understand his world. Of course, becoming friends with him was not easy for me because we were both so strange to each other.
I learned that he adored chocolate above all other things. When I went to work with some chocolate in the morning, I could see him running toward me from a distance, shouting “Sudu Akka” (white sister) I definitely believed I had yellow skin before. It didn't make any differences if the chocolate was smeared all over his chin. He had darker skin than his brother. Through the process we went through to become friends, I learned to overcome prejudices, I didn’t even know I had. There are so many unreasonable biases against skin color. The time we spent together changed me from the inside out, and now I can smile when I meet East-Asian people in the subway.
They gave me the name 'Sanduni'. It means full moon. Honestly, I really miss all of the Sri Lankan I came to know.
If I get involved in a Social Networking Site, I will make my ID name Kiyoun Sanduni Kim.
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