A scene I witnessed when I was in grade four still floats fresh before my mind's eye.

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My classmates and I were attending a charity event organized by our school, where we visited an orphanage. At one point, we followed the caregivers to a room where a young boy sat huddled in corner with his back to us, holding on to piece of the curtain by its edge.

 

"This child is remarkably artistically talented," a caregiver introduced him to us with a light smile.

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We were a little confused. As we slowly walked forward, we saw that the kid was in fact biting into the curtain with his teeth, leaving numerous rows of tiny tooth marks. 

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The entire curtain on the wall was covered with these tooth marks; barely a single inch was left untouched. 

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When observed a little more closely, one saw that these weren't merely tooth marks: They formed the outlines of various cartoon characters on the wall. There was a likeness of Ultraman, one of the Pleasant Goat and the Big Big Wolf (popular characters from a Chinese children's TV show), and some more that I did not know… Had we not seen the child at work, we would have thought these delicate images were an original feature of the curtain. Still, the bitter fact was that even as they praised the boy for his talent, he was not given the proper material or education to develop it.

An art enthusiast myself, I would frequently recall this child and wonder if his talent ultimately made a difference in his life or was simply dismissed by those around him as a bit of "interesting child's play" and fell to the sidelines as other, more urgent needs took the spotlight, blending him into the vast, gray masses of heads studying for tests.

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The realization here is seeing that the desire for artistic expression – a spark of creativity we all hold within ourselves – is insufficiently fulfilled in many who live under circumstances less fortunate than our own. It is an utter waste of personal potential, a result of their lacking both educational resources and attention given to the area by their family or educators. 

At the risk of sounding naive: How many children must see their talent and passion wasted before we are willing to take action? 

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Hopefully, not many more. There are a few other students at my school, who share a similar passion for art and a longing to see a change in the world. Together, we decided to establish the InLight club.