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Les Misérables

MSC archived stories - December 22, 2019

When I was 13, the civil war in Sri Lanka broke up. The schools were shut for weeks if not for months and the whole town where I grew up turned into darkness at night due to cut-off electricity supply to homes. I was reading in the candlelight.

 

My mom was a very busy lady working at a children’s hospital in Colombo. One day, she recalled learning this 19th century French historical novel – Les Misérables (or "Manuthapaya" as called in Sinhala, my mother tongue) when she was schooling. The same novel was also taught in our school syllabus.

 

I remember while my mom was preparing dinner, I sat next to her in the kitchen and started reading the book in the light of the cooking fire, whilst she was going over the story from heart after all these years. It was so captivating when hearing from someone other than reading yourself in text.

 

Jean Valjean was brought up in a poor family and to save the life of his sister's son, he stole a lump of bread from a shop and for this crime he was imprisoned, where he met his fearest enemy, the police officer Jarvet. How his life came out of the wretched and the humility that followed after was resonated in me forever. I even wished one day I could care for a child just like he did with much compassion.

 

And, here I'm.. helping wonderful children from around the globe living in unjust world of poverty. You may remember my Welcome Letter to Faith in Zambia. I just received CP reply from her family (grandmother), which broke my heart… a story for another time.

 

Meanwhile the story of Jean Valjean was made into a TV film in 1978 [youtu.be/_kj_gZkotfQ] and later an award winning musical. Nonetheless, if you were to choose the future cast of Les Misérables between Jean Carlo from Ecuador and Jean Camilo from Colombia, both of whom have been waiting for sponsorship, who would be your “Jean Valjean”?

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!.. [youtu.be/ZeyHl1tQeaQ]

 

PS.  In the movie, 'Jean' pronounced like 'Joh(n)' with a French accent.

Comments

  1. chelaka23 March 2025 at 15:42

    Perhaps, it's 'the finding of' a personal motivation to give which is itself a gift given to us.

    December 23, 2019

    ReplyDelete
  2. chelaka23 March 2025 at 15:42

    Nancy, Thank you for the beautiful thought. "Bring Him Home" sung by Jean Valjean in the musical adaptation is his prayer to God in order for Marius (who fought in the French revolution) to be able to return home to Cosette, the adopted child – humanity beyond all boundaries, so powerful! [youtu.be/tI4jb-Aca9M]

    December 25, 2019

    ReplyDelete

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