Being a Mentor

Today I received a call I had long waited for. The call from the Mentor Program. Months ago, I had seen the invitation for Mentors to children in difficult circumstances, and I had responded. A few days later, I attended the Orientation meeting, and was given a blue file with papers, and some discussion about why all the participants wanted to be Mentors.

Almost every one had the desire to help a child. Although some, like me, had arrived at the office with the hope that there would be emotional bonding, we were advised to be just Mentors and not to get involved in the child's family life. Almost all the children asking for a Mentor had family circumstances that created problems in their studies. They needed to improve their grades, and also to find a direction in life.

Getting a Mentor for a child is a privilege, as there are fewer Mentors than the number of children requesting for one. A Mentor voluntarily agrees to give an hour a week to the child, the Mentee. The main aim of the program is to give a direction to the life of the child, amidst her dire family circumstances.

A Mentee is not alone in the world, like an orphan or an adopted child. She has a family, also in most cases one or more siblings, and one or more parents. But the families they belong to are in trouble, like divorced parents, single parent, abusive family, etc.

The work of the Mentor is not as easy as it seems on the surface. Apart from guiding the child in studies and extra curricular activities, the Mentor also has to support the child in all the situations it falls at home, without openly doing it. She has to be with the Mentee, and at the same time, also has to be careful not to overshadow the parent/s around.

I don't know how this experience of being a Mentor would pan out to be. This is the first time in my life that I am undertaking such a child related project. While growing up, my sisters have been quite an involvement. But that was blood relations. This is something so different. I am quite full of anticipation about the whole thing.

Sisterhood

Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson, is a narrative in a style different from the usual. I would say, it is slightly similar to that of Esther's Inheritance by Hungarian author Sandor Marai, at least in the landscape. The two sisters are brought up by various people including their grandmother, grandaunts-in-law, aunt.

The novel gives details of the girls' childhood experiences. Their grandfather had died in a train accident, and their parents were there no more. When they reach adolescence, the sisters take different courses in life.

The story is told from the point of view of Ruthie, the elder, who becomes more like her aunt. Sister Lucille remains a normal person. Lives in the village where the family had always been.

There are extensice descriptions of the flood that damages their house located on a hill top. Also fine descriptions of winter, and the landscape, and days and nights, their day to day life with their aunt Sylvie, who is abnormal.