Season 1: Life takes a turn around

Chapter 8: Helping out

The activity in the office rose to the occasion as I got squeezed into my chair at Eldoria Engineering; the bulk of the morning spreads weighing me down, albeit just for a second since the pressure of my erstwhile life as a Rescue EMS volunteer in Aranyaka was back in full gear.

If it was not for a message tone that rang my phone at the accurate moment, such as when I was right in the middle of the most exciting project. It was from Lila, a woman that I had assisted whilst I was in Aranyaka. The message was short but urgent: two years ago, she required some funding. I felt very sad on reading the message passed by the president of the United States of America. I could actually picture hard her life had to be.

Skyline walked comfortably towards them with a cup of coffee in one hand, and pile of reports in the other. "Good morning, Star! Are you looking at me as though someone just informed you that there is fire at the office?"

I chuckled dryly. "Not exactly, but very close They call her Lila now and she is asking for help, for money as she finds herself in a rather bad situation at the momen

Skyline looked much more attentively and, at last, he realized who the man was. "Lila from Aranyaka?" You asked me about her before What are you up to?"

"Well, she is in pretty bad shape financially," I said, having the burden of conveying the information. "I would like to assist but that is a lot of money and frankly speaking between one thing and another, financially I am under a lot of pressure.

Skyline frowned, thinking. Its like this Mr.Greenberg So here is what I suggest we do first To present our findings to our client in an hour First, and then second, figure out how to deal with the Lila problem.

So as planned we proceeded to the conference room to have a meeting with the client. When we were outlining the project proposal that we had chosen I continued to think of Lila and the time that was elapsing rapidly till she came up with the support. The session was filled with too much technicalities and the clients' requirements, however, Skyline and I clinched the presentation to the clients benefits.

Back at the office, I was flipping through some reports when Gallagher came storming in through the door like a wild man – literally, the wild man of Borneo – complete with bells, Braveheart hat and Six Nations wig. "Star, Skyline! It's unbelievable! We are going to stage a charity event for the local festival We are to collect money for ..., you know, Lila's situation could not have come at a better time!

I blinked. "A fundraiser? That's great idea How do you come up with that?"

Gallagher grinned. 'We need to come up with a big idea to get people coming in and support the event so the idea is to have a talent show, food bazar, everything you can name can be done we will use the profit to help lila.

Skyline clapped his hand on top of the other. "I like it: we can deal with the practicalities of the event and promote it at the same time: it will be fun, and it will also be good for raising money and uniting the community.

The remaining part of the day we used for discussion and planning. Gallagher was in charge of the entertainment, and he said that he would produce a talent show, with people doing such things as juggling and interpretive dancing. As for the practical aspects Skyline and I were assigned to arrange food stands, banners, and other ads.

One day of the festival was to be celebrated and it was hustle and bustle time in Eldoria, the joy of the community. In his glittering outfit, Gallagher was the main instigator of this public and oversaw the running of the event perfectly.

Skyline and I stood at the booths and engaged the festival goers as we actively advocated for our course. The favorite event was the talent show. This was not to mention the range of performances that Gallagher had mentioned at the onset and he delivered on that promise. disappearances of petals, flash rainbows, slight of hand tricks or any tricks you can think of, improvised comedy segments, a hilarious dancing competition etc.

All of a sudden, getting dark at the festival with the rays of the final sunlight, Gallagher appeared before us delightfully. "We have gotten a great sum today! The community thank you Everybody came through."

I took a deep breathe of relief, and thanked God for the thought. "What a great idea That will help a lot In making some change for Lila here."

That very night, after the fervor of the festival had died down and I was ensconced in my apartment, I thought through the day. I penned a message to Lila where I told her how much money we had raised and, therefore, most likely how much her load would be lightened.

Before I sent it off, I drew in a deep breath remembering my days in Aranyaka. "I wish I could go back to those days," I wrote. "They showed me so much about hope, about the strength of neighbor, I understand things are challenging today but we are going to be with you we are in this together."

At the point that I was ready to push down the 'send button,' there was a new message from Gallagher. "Hi Star, do y'know I might just include a 'shock factor' of the Fundraiser next year? May be aerial acrobatics?:-)"

I grinned and shook my head at him. "We can argue about the next steps later," Adam said clapping softly and gesturing to Lila's back "Now we have a more immediate problem: making sure Lila gets the assistance she needs...And celebration the fact that this fundraiser has been a success."

The following several days are a bit of a blur of both work and university planning. From the time when all the project details were being agreed, classes were being attended, the follow up for the fundraiser seemed to be an event that barely left time to draw breath.

One evening when we were studying notes and planning classes and projects together, Skyline and I, my phone rang a message from Lila. This was clearly seen and the lady did express just how much the support was needed and appreciated.

Skyline turned to look at me and his expression was full of the understanding that we were accustomed to hazing. "And you kept everything under control and running and did all of this while making a real difference.

I grinned. "You, Gallagher and others have made it so To be honest, it's been wild ride but times like these recall why I wake up and do what I do every day."

Then, as I got ready for the next set of problems which are even more complexed, I get a new energy. There are certain things that one cannot run away from in life and having to balance between being an apprentice, attending university and at the same time helping Lila was most at times quite challenging but at the same time fulfilling.

There was still much more of the road ahead, and many more challenges ahead, but knowing my friends were behind and me was enough to push through the rest of the experience. Whether it was through engineering or doing a community service or helping people when they needed someone to help them, I realized that every single move that I made was towards creating a better world.

And when the sun set in Eldoria, I heaved a sigh of accomplishment, as the desire of a hopeful heart slept, peeling off the day, exposing itself to the new challenges for a warrior.