Party day!!! Yay!!! After 7 full days of humanitarian work we finally got a day off to be tourists and shop! If you know me at all you know that I. LOVE. TO SHOP. It would really be better if I didn't love shopping so much cause it is definitely a cause of monetary issues but I just can't help it. It is a love. This morning we left around 10 to go to the beach city Mamallapuram. Mamallapuram is on the Bay of Bengal and is a really fun tourist town. We basically got dropped off in the morning and told where to meet and what time and were given the whole day to explore and have fun. I ended up wandering the city with Heather (one of my roommates) and Katie (the dance teacher that will be at RSO for the whole summer setting up a dance program). We started out the day by shopping. I have a love/hate relationship about shopping in India. I love that the rupee is so much smaller than the dollar and that even with all my shopping I have only spent $150 this WHOLE TRIP. This includes cab fare from the airport, drinks, food, AND all the awesome souvenirs I bought yesterday. The thing that I hate about shopping in India is that you have to bargain at every single store cause they always jack up the price when they see Americans come into the store. I am not good at bargaining and I don't like to do it but I got used to it as the day wore on.
So we started out shopping but then we headed to the ruins that are located in Mamallapuram. The ruins here are seriously SO AMAZING and it is all where you find Krishna's Butterball. Krishna's butterball is a huge ball of rock that is balanced on the side of a hill. Scientists have come and tried to move the ball and figure out how it can stay like that but no one has been able to figure it out yet. Katie, Heather, and I had so much fun climbing all through the ruins and enjoying the breeze at the top and just exploring all that was around us. These ruins are really hard to put into words so you really just have to look at the pictures below to get an idea.
After we explored the ruins we shopped a little more before heading to lunch. We had an AMAZING lunch at a place called Moonrakers and while we were eating we saw our driver Vale. When we finished we all (including Vale) headed to the beach. Vale was so funny the whole time. As mentioned before, Vale and TJ (the drivers) take it upon themselves to make sure that nothing happens to us American girls while we are in India. If we would stop and take a picture on the way to the beach and got behind the group he was tell us to hurry and stay with everybody else. It was really funny and so nice of him to look out for us. One thing that I loved about the beach was how warm the water was. I am so used to beaches in California that I wasn't expecting 80 degree water. The beach was also covered in boats and dead fish. It was so interesting to see a beach in another part of the world. We also saw the sacred temple while we were at the beach. This is another monument/ruin that was really beautiful and totally epitomizes Indian culture. Also in Mamallapuram (even though we didn't get to see it) is an underwater temple. The story goes that there were seven ancient temples but only six had ever been found. The seventh had always been a mystery and no one could find it. When the Tsunami hit southeast Asia before the wave came the water went out for over a mile. When the water went out the top spires of a temple could be seen out of the ocean floor--they fund the seventh temple. Now tourists can take boats out to the temple and snorkle/dive to see it.
After we went to the beach we shopped some more before heading back to the van. I got some really awesome things and am growing to love India more everyday. On the bus ride home I played with Belle (the RSO directors' almost two year old daughter). Belle is a great mimic and I taught her to do a gangsta/mean mug face. It had me laughing so hard cause she is so stinkin cute!
Once back at the hostel we headed to dinner on the roof as usual. Now that the kids are back and we are separated into families we meet with our family every night to help tuck them in and get them to bed. I think I have the cutest family ever. All the girls are so cute and lovable I want to take them all home with me. As I was putting them to sleep I did "Going on a treasure hunt" on Ravathi's back. Once the other girl's saw this rhyme and back tickle they were all amazed and everyone wanted it done. I can't even remember how many times I did that rhyme last night but they all loved it. After that we sand the night night song and I helped get them all settled into bed. I don't know how I'm going to say good-bye to these kids; they are all so amazing and beautiful.
Well that's all for now!
Namaste!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The kids are back in town...
The children are back!! Huzzah!! RSO is no longer a ghost town filled with vacant building but the bustling, busy school that it normally is. The children arrived all throughout the day today and never in my life have I seen cuter kids. I seriously want to take them all home with me. As the kids arrived with their families they all began to congregate in the Mango Grove that sits on RSO's campus. The kids either played and ran to see friends or stayed close to their families. It was really interesting to see the children's parents and hear about all the different situations that they come from. One little boys' father came up to Kristin and I on crutches and showed us that he had had to get his leg amputated from the knee down because of leprosy. It was sad to see such cute kids coming from families that are all in some way affected by leprosy. I will share a couple with pictures later. Once the kids got registered and their parents paid the fee for the child to attend school, the kids headed over to the children's hostel--that's where I come in. My job for today was to clean the lice out of the girls' hair using lice shampoo and lice combs. I prepared for this by using lice repelling shampoo and spray in my hair, pulling it back in a ponytail, braiding it, then wrapping it in a bun, and putting a thick headband in...I really don't want to get lice. I literally helped with the lice checks ALL DAY. Lice is a big problem for the Indian children because they all live in such close quarters and lice is very contagious. The RSO coordinators warned us beforehand that the kids would be really bad and they definitely weren't kidding. I would take one brush through a child's head with a lice comb and it would come away nearly completely filled with bugs, eggs, and lice excrement. It was not the prettiest job in the world. The hardest part of all this was the girls with the long beautiful THICK hair. I did a couple of girls with hair like this that were literally infested with lice eggs. The thing about lice eggs is that they are very small and stick to the hair unless you grab them and pull them out individually with your fingernails. You could sit for days picking lice eggs out of a few of these girls' heads they were so infested. So that was basically my whole day. Lice checks, though, did bring a smile to my face. When doing lice checks we first start by putting lice shampoo all through the girls' hair (especially around the crown of the head, around the ears, and around the neckline. After we put the lice shampoo in we went through the hair with a lice comb and tried our best to get out all the bugs and eggs. After we did that and the shampoo sat for at least ten minutes we went and rinsed the shampoo out of the girls' hair in the bathroom. To rinse the shampoo out we just had the kids bend over at the waist as we poured water over their heads and got all the shampoo out. One of the best parts of the day was seeing the little girls when I would finish rinsing their hair and they would look up at me with their crazy wet hair and drenched faces--THEY WERE SO CUTE!!! That moment alone made the lice checks worth it.
It was also nice to do lice checks cause it gave me a chance to meet all the kids. All the RSO volunteers are divided up into "families". Your family is the house that you help with every night getting the kids to sleep and reading to them. My house is on the girls side and has girls aged 4 to 13/14. They are all ridiculously cute and I had the best time getting to know them and learning all their names. I was really proud of myself that I almost memorized all of my family's names. After doing a bunch of lice checks I took a short break and went downstairs and to play with Tamil Selvi and Theerti who are two girls in my family. They are around 8 or 9 years old and they are so cute and fun. We sat and played with clay and had a lot of fun. The kids here seriously are the most amazing, sweet spirited kids in the world. After I had our traditional dinner on the roof of the hostel with all the volunteers ( we had beans, rice and shredded chicken and it was amazing) all the volunteers went back to their families and read/told them stories and help tuck them in for the night. Even though RSO provides a few beds, the kids prefer to sleep on the ground because that is what they are most comfortable with. They all lay out big straw mats on the cement floor and just pick a spot and fall asleep. There were probably 12 girls all sleeping on the floor in one room. At first I thought this was sad that they had to sleep on the floor but it is how they were raised and they all think it is really comfortable so now I have decided that it is really cute :).
Well that was basically my day: lice, cute kids, and even cuter wet faces. I will leave ya with some pictures from the day that hopefully help ya see the cuteness :).
Namaste!
K. Gracy and me at the beginning of the day. She is 5 years old and one of the smallest kids at RSO. SO CUTE!
LICE CHECKS!!!
Pulling an egg out of her hair.
ALL the Indian children LOVE Belle. Belle is the Hendershot's (RSO directors) 2 year old daughter. Belle is adored by all cause she is so stinkin cute.
Amudan and I after I finished brushing out her now clean hair. She was so small and ADORABLE! She had been crying most of the morning because she had to leave her parents but by the end of the day she was happy as a clam.
It was also nice to do lice checks cause it gave me a chance to meet all the kids. All the RSO volunteers are divided up into "families". Your family is the house that you help with every night getting the kids to sleep and reading to them. My house is on the girls side and has girls aged 4 to 13/14. They are all ridiculously cute and I had the best time getting to know them and learning all their names. I was really proud of myself that I almost memorized all of my family's names. After doing a bunch of lice checks I took a short break and went downstairs and to play with Tamil Selvi and Theerti who are two girls in my family. They are around 8 or 9 years old and they are so cute and fun. We sat and played with clay and had a lot of fun. The kids here seriously are the most amazing, sweet spirited kids in the world. After I had our traditional dinner on the roof of the hostel with all the volunteers ( we had beans, rice and shredded chicken and it was amazing) all the volunteers went back to their families and read/told them stories and help tuck them in for the night. Even though RSO provides a few beds, the kids prefer to sleep on the ground because that is what they are most comfortable with. They all lay out big straw mats on the cement floor and just pick a spot and fall asleep. There were probably 12 girls all sleeping on the floor in one room. At first I thought this was sad that they had to sleep on the floor but it is how they were raised and they all think it is really comfortable so now I have decided that it is really cute :).
Well that was basically my day: lice, cute kids, and even cuter wet faces. I will leave ya with some pictures from the day that hopefully help ya see the cuteness :).
Namaste!
K. Gracy and me at the beginning of the day. She is 5 years old and one of the smallest kids at RSO. SO CUTE!
LICE CHECKS!!!
Pulling an egg out of her hair.
ALL the Indian children LOVE Belle. Belle is the Hendershot's (RSO directors) 2 year old daughter. Belle is adored by all cause she is so stinkin cute.
Amudan and I after I finished brushing out her now clean hair. She was so small and ADORABLE! She had been crying most of the morning because she had to leave her parents but by the end of the day she was happy as a clam.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
PICTURES!!!!
So I was able to find a volunteer here who has a card reader that I was able to use to upload my pictures!! Shout out to Anne Marie for letting me use her card reader! Here are some pictures with brief captions from the past week at Rising Star:
This is Sarowja. She is the leprosy-affected woman from the first colony we went to that I sat and laughed with. She is seriously so great.
Diabetes testing in action!
The people in the colonies are RIDICULOUSLY nice! I love them all!
Myself and some children from another colony that we went to. They are all so great and so lovable
Another girl from the colony who's name I can't pronounce but she was ADORABLE and played with us the whole day.
MARY!! AHH!! I love her!!! She was so adorable and I wanted to take her home with me!!
All the volunteers are going to switch pictures so I will have much more coming (I have also taken more but these are the highlights). Please note that I realize I look disgusting but its India...what can ya do.
Namaste!
This is Sarowja. She is the leprosy-affected woman from the first colony we went to that I sat and laughed with. She is seriously so great.
Diabetes testing in action!
The people in the colonies are RIDICULOUSLY nice! I love them all!
Myself and some children from another colony that we went to. They are all so great and so lovable
Another girl from the colony who's name I can't pronounce but she was ADORABLE and played with us the whole day.
MARY!! AHH!! I love her!!! She was so adorable and I wanted to take her home with me!!
All the volunteers are going to switch pictures so I will have much more coming (I have also taken more but these are the highlights). Please note that I realize I look disgusting but its India...what can ya do.
Namaste!
Happy Little Working Song
Hello All! So my first week at RSO has already come to a close, WHERE IS THE TIME GOING?!?! Even though the work here is hard and not always immediately rewarding I am LOVING my time here and definitely don't want it to come to an end. Today was a definite test of this. As I mentioned before we were planning to have a day off and go shopping today but this morning Amy talked to Sara and she said that she really needed help around the school and at the hostel. So Amy came and asked us if we all wouldn't mind staying and we all agreed to stay and help. So we basically had another day full of hard work in the BLAZING HOT weather. We cleaned out the kids' hostel rooms, glued check-out materials into the library books, and just generally worked around the school and hostels. At the end of the night we were all listening to music from my iPod player and sorting clothes and somehow we all broke out into a dance party in the middle of the room where we were all sorting clothes. It was seriously awesome. It is great that even though we are stuck in this crazy heat and doing really hard work we can still have fun and enjoy our time here.
Today was also fun because it was Eliza's (one of the volunteers) birthday today so we got yummy french toast tonight for dinner with an AMAZING fruit salad. Fruit here is seriously so amazing--I could eat mangos for every meal. Now we are all sitting in the "Mango Room" at the volunteer hostel and everyone is blogging and enjoying each other's company. The atmosphere and everything about this place is so wonderful and the spirit here is great.
Well that's all for today!
Namaste.
Today was also fun because it was Eliza's (one of the volunteers) birthday today so we got yummy french toast tonight for dinner with an AMAZING fruit salad. Fruit here is seriously so amazing--I could eat mangos for every meal. Now we are all sitting in the "Mango Room" at the volunteer hostel and everyone is blogging and enjoying each other's company. The atmosphere and everything about this place is so wonderful and the spirit here is great.
Well that's all for today!
Namaste.
Friday, May 28, 2010
ROADTRIP!!
So my first week at RSO is coming to an end. I am currently laying in bed in my hostel with feet that are swollen beyond recognition (water retention) and relishing my sopping wet hair from my shower (it's amazing how good a bucket shower feels after a long weekend like this one). The past two days we took a roadtrip to two colonies that RSO is just starting to work with that are five hours away. We left Rising Star's compound at 5am and headed southwest. RSO employs drivers to help get us from place to place and they are so nice and so awesome! TJ was the driver for our car on this trip and Vale drove the medical van. On our way out of town TJ stopped at a local temple to bless our van so it would run well and nothing would happen to it (it was a brand new van that had never been driven before). He put lemons on each of the tires, burned something, and hung a string of flowers across the grill--it was really cool to see this ritual blessing and see that TJ cares enough about all of us to bless the van before our trip. On the way to our first colony we got stuck in a traffic jam in one of the cities because there was a huge religious festival going on and literally the whole city was crammed onto the main road that we were trying to drive on. We were stuck for so long that we all ended up getting out of the van to look around and enjoy the festival. To further show how nice our driver TJ is, when we all got out of the van he got out with us to walk around with us to make sure we stayed safe. Rising Star employs such great people and truly attracts the best of the best. Once we were able to get through the festival we continued on our way to the first colony. This overnight trip also marked the first time I got to eat in a legit Indian restaurant! All the indian restaurants have handwashing stations and advertise whether they have a/c or not because that is the best sales pitch they have. All the food on this trip has been SO GOOD and all the restaurants we ate at on this overnight adventure were no different.
The first colony we went to was a small colony on a hill. Dr. Kumar had been there a few times before but this is the first time they had brought volunteers. Our goal for the day was to see all the people in the colony and we definitely met that goal--we saw all 42 leprosy-affected people in the colony as well as 3 more that we don't even know where they came from. My job for the day was to check the patients for diabetes by doing blood sugar tests on them. After 45 tests I am now officially a pro at testing a person's blood sugar. One thing that was very hard about this job, though, was most of the time the leprosy-affected don't have fingers and sometimes they don't even have hands and even those that do have a few fingers had hands that were so tough and callused that it was like trying to prick thick cowhide with a sewing needle. A lot of patients we had to try three and four times to find a spot that would give us enough blood. I also felt really bad doing this because a lot of the women were really scared to get their fingers pricked and I couldn't talk to them and tell them that it wasn't painful. I tried to smile and be as reassuring as possible and I think this helped a little. After we finished doing diabetes checks on all the patients I went outside to see the children in the colony. Indian children are probably the CUTEST kids ever and are so loving and kind! As I went outside I went over to where Kristin was painting the girls' nails (young and old). There was an old grandma waiting to get her nails done so after some prompting from Kristin I started doing her nails with the bright pink polish she had picked out. Let me explain that the reason I needed prompting from Kristin was because I am HORRIBLE at painting nails--I get paint all over the cuticle and always miss spots. I am so glad, though, that I was able to help this leprosy-affected grandmother feel beautiful by helping to paint her nails (it was still a horrible paint job but she really loved it). After I painted her nails I started playing with all the kids in the colony. There was a boy who lived in that colony named Krishna Morti who is an RSO student and SO CUTE! I started showing him and all his friends my flip video and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. I let Krishna Morti start taking a video and he ran off with it and started filming the whole colony--it was so cute and they all thought it was hilarious. All the volunteers played with the kids by teaching them games, playing tag, and just generally having fun with them. Eliza (another of the volunteers who is a dancer) and I danced with the kids and showed them the hokey pokey and the macarena and other random dance moves. Indian children LOVE to dance and they are all really good at it for the most part. One of the girls in the colony, though, I especially loved. Her name is Mary and she is 14 and is probably the cutest most lovable girl on the PLANET!! She loved to walk and hold hands and would just hug me and grab my arm and was so adorable I could hardly stand it!! She showed us her house and hung out with us for the whole day! The hardest part of that day was saying good-bye to her and the other children. They all have so much love to give that they just fill me up with love--that's sounds ridiculously corny but it true. All the people in this colony were unbelievably nice and welcoming and it was a joy to work with them.
After our work in the colony we drove to our hotel and settled in for the night. We ate at a restaurant underneath the hotel and we were all so tired that we went straight to bed after dinner. Because we only had so many rooms at the hotel all the girls had to sleep three to a bed, so Anne Marie, Heather and I all passed out on our king sized bed at the end of the day.
We had to leave the hotel the next morning at 7:30am to head to the next colony. The colony we went to today had 100 people as opposed to the 45 we helped the day before. We had tons of work to do in this colony so we got an early start. Dr. Kumar had warned us that because volunteers had never come to this colony before the people may be very stand-offish and not as willing to talk and interact with us....he could not have been more wrong. We pulled into the colony to find a huge group of people lining the street waiting and waving at us. We set-up quickly and got to work. It was very apparent from the get-go that the people here had never really received medical care. People were pushing themselves on homemade boards because they couldn't walk and just about everyone had the biggest infected sores on their feet that I had ever seen. Today I was working on taking people's blood pressure and helping to organize the folders. I was supposed to be calling out the names of the people before taking their blood pressure (which would have been really hard because I can't pronounce any of them let alone read them) when one of the men from the colony sat down in a car next to me and just started reading off the names of all the people and sending them where they needed to go. This man, named Ramamorti, was a huge example of service to me because he sat down on his own accord and just started helping without anyone having to ask. When it finally came time for him to be treated he stood up and I looked down to see that he only had one deformed foot. The other was only a small stump that he had stuck inside his shoe. It was truly amazing and humbling to see this man who we had come to serve sitting down and taking time to serve and help us. If there was ever an example of Christ-like service it would be Ramamorti.
My experience with Ramamorti was one of many that happened in this very large leprosy colony today. About 30 minutes into our work in this colony (we had seriously only gotten through maybe 20 patients out of 100) Dr. Kumar got a call and learned that his wife's father had suddenly passed away. His wife (a doctor herself who had come on the trip with us) was distraught at this news and Dr. Kumar and her left with TJ immediately. Dr. Kumar's exit left 13 American volunteers in a leprosy colony with no translator...this could get a little tricky. Amy (RSO's executive director) made the executive decision after Dr. Kumar's exit that we would finish taking the blood pressures, doing the diabetes testing, and washing and bandaging people's feet even though Dr. Kumar had to leave. So we continued on trying to get people through the line as quickly as possible. As mentioned before we saw 100 people in this colony. When we reached the end of our stack of folders (blood pressure taking was the first stop in the circuit) there were 3 folders with names that were still remaining. We asked another man that was helping us and he said that those three people were unable to walk to where we had set-up all the medical stations. Because Soren (one of the other volunteers) and I were already done doing blood pressures, we decided to go to these people's houses and do their blood pressure there and see if they had any wounds that needed to be re-dressed. The first house we went to was a woman named Cinnamal. She was a large old woman who was unable to walk because of the sores on her feet. We checked her blood pressure then checked the sores on her feet. One of her feet had a sore all down one side of it that was severely infected and definitely needed to be washed and re-dressed. Soren and I sat there for a few minutes trying to think of ways to help her. She tried to walk using a steel pole as a walking stick but she was not strong enough to do this. In the end, Soren and I decided that the only way to get her to the all the medical supplies was to carry her there. So Soren and I hoisted Cinnamal between the two of us and we carried her all the way back to the medical station. This was one of the hardest things I have done yet because 1. Cinnamal was no small woman by any means. 2. It was over a hundred degrees outside. 3. Cinnamal's house was on the other side of the village from the medical van. and 4....did I mention it was over 100 degrees outside? Even with all this Soren and I were able to get Cinnamal to the medical station and get her checked for diabetes and get her sores washed and re-dressed. Amy told us later that she sat and talked with Cinnamal and learned that she had tried to go to the hospital 3 times but they would not admit her because she had leprosy. If Soren and I had not taken the effort to go find her at her house and carry her to the medical van she would have missed another opportunity to receive treatment. After dropping off Cinnamal, Soren and I went to the other two people's houses to see if they had wounds that needed to be re-dressed and check their blood sugar. The other two patients were not in good enough condition to carry so after everyone at the medical station had finished they took supplies to these people's houses to make sure they got treatment. After making the initial trip to these people's houses, I washed and bandaged a few of the leprosy-affected people's feet. This is, by far, the grossest thing I have ever done and I didn't even get any really gross sores. Kristin had a man with a sore that had literally eaten away his entire foot and only left a huge concave hole on what was left of the bottom of his foot. When the people come to you with these sores they are completely infected and have flies covering them and feeding off the infected flesh. It is our job to clean the people's feet and clean out their wounds. Then we put ointment on the sore (or oftentimes we fill the sore with ointment because the sores are literal holes in their feet) and finally bandage it up with fresh gauze. We would also clip their toe and finger nails if that needed to be done. Between he smell of the infected feet, the flies swarming around the sores, and the horrible sight of the sores themselves...this is not a pretty job. I am so grateful, though, that through this process we are really increasing their quality of life and making them feel SO much better. After we finished washing people's feet I was able to play ring around the rosy with the colony children before we had to leave. Again, the whole village lined the street to say good-bye to us. They were so insanely grateful for all that we had done and it was a great feeling to know that we had really made a difference.
After leaving this colony we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then started out on the long bus ride home. I will be honest and say this was not the best five hours of my life what with no air conditioning, bumpy roads, and general crazy Indian driving. I actually surprised myself and did better than I would normally do under these circumstances (normally I would get REALLY sick but I only got kindof sick). We finally made it back to RSO, though, and I am blogging happily from the comfort of the hostel. I am continuing to love my time here and honestly don't want it to end. Tomorrow is a free day and we are going shopping in a tourist town right on the Bay of Bengal! Yay for shopping!! More to come soon!
Namaste!
The first colony we went to was a small colony on a hill. Dr. Kumar had been there a few times before but this is the first time they had brought volunteers. Our goal for the day was to see all the people in the colony and we definitely met that goal--we saw all 42 leprosy-affected people in the colony as well as 3 more that we don't even know where they came from. My job for the day was to check the patients for diabetes by doing blood sugar tests on them. After 45 tests I am now officially a pro at testing a person's blood sugar. One thing that was very hard about this job, though, was most of the time the leprosy-affected don't have fingers and sometimes they don't even have hands and even those that do have a few fingers had hands that were so tough and callused that it was like trying to prick thick cowhide with a sewing needle. A lot of patients we had to try three and four times to find a spot that would give us enough blood. I also felt really bad doing this because a lot of the women were really scared to get their fingers pricked and I couldn't talk to them and tell them that it wasn't painful. I tried to smile and be as reassuring as possible and I think this helped a little. After we finished doing diabetes checks on all the patients I went outside to see the children in the colony. Indian children are probably the CUTEST kids ever and are so loving and kind! As I went outside I went over to where Kristin was painting the girls' nails (young and old). There was an old grandma waiting to get her nails done so after some prompting from Kristin I started doing her nails with the bright pink polish she had picked out. Let me explain that the reason I needed prompting from Kristin was because I am HORRIBLE at painting nails--I get paint all over the cuticle and always miss spots. I am so glad, though, that I was able to help this leprosy-affected grandmother feel beautiful by helping to paint her nails (it was still a horrible paint job but she really loved it). After I painted her nails I started playing with all the kids in the colony. There was a boy who lived in that colony named Krishna Morti who is an RSO student and SO CUTE! I started showing him and all his friends my flip video and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. I let Krishna Morti start taking a video and he ran off with it and started filming the whole colony--it was so cute and they all thought it was hilarious. All the volunteers played with the kids by teaching them games, playing tag, and just generally having fun with them. Eliza (another of the volunteers who is a dancer) and I danced with the kids and showed them the hokey pokey and the macarena and other random dance moves. Indian children LOVE to dance and they are all really good at it for the most part. One of the girls in the colony, though, I especially loved. Her name is Mary and she is 14 and is probably the cutest most lovable girl on the PLANET!! She loved to walk and hold hands and would just hug me and grab my arm and was so adorable I could hardly stand it!! She showed us her house and hung out with us for the whole day! The hardest part of that day was saying good-bye to her and the other children. They all have so much love to give that they just fill me up with love--that's sounds ridiculously corny but it true. All the people in this colony were unbelievably nice and welcoming and it was a joy to work with them.
After our work in the colony we drove to our hotel and settled in for the night. We ate at a restaurant underneath the hotel and we were all so tired that we went straight to bed after dinner. Because we only had so many rooms at the hotel all the girls had to sleep three to a bed, so Anne Marie, Heather and I all passed out on our king sized bed at the end of the day.
We had to leave the hotel the next morning at 7:30am to head to the next colony. The colony we went to today had 100 people as opposed to the 45 we helped the day before. We had tons of work to do in this colony so we got an early start. Dr. Kumar had warned us that because volunteers had never come to this colony before the people may be very stand-offish and not as willing to talk and interact with us....he could not have been more wrong. We pulled into the colony to find a huge group of people lining the street waiting and waving at us. We set-up quickly and got to work. It was very apparent from the get-go that the people here had never really received medical care. People were pushing themselves on homemade boards because they couldn't walk and just about everyone had the biggest infected sores on their feet that I had ever seen. Today I was working on taking people's blood pressure and helping to organize the folders. I was supposed to be calling out the names of the people before taking their blood pressure (which would have been really hard because I can't pronounce any of them let alone read them) when one of the men from the colony sat down in a car next to me and just started reading off the names of all the people and sending them where they needed to go. This man, named Ramamorti, was a huge example of service to me because he sat down on his own accord and just started helping without anyone having to ask. When it finally came time for him to be treated he stood up and I looked down to see that he only had one deformed foot. The other was only a small stump that he had stuck inside his shoe. It was truly amazing and humbling to see this man who we had come to serve sitting down and taking time to serve and help us. If there was ever an example of Christ-like service it would be Ramamorti.
My experience with Ramamorti was one of many that happened in this very large leprosy colony today. About 30 minutes into our work in this colony (we had seriously only gotten through maybe 20 patients out of 100) Dr. Kumar got a call and learned that his wife's father had suddenly passed away. His wife (a doctor herself who had come on the trip with us) was distraught at this news and Dr. Kumar and her left with TJ immediately. Dr. Kumar's exit left 13 American volunteers in a leprosy colony with no translator...this could get a little tricky. Amy (RSO's executive director) made the executive decision after Dr. Kumar's exit that we would finish taking the blood pressures, doing the diabetes testing, and washing and bandaging people's feet even though Dr. Kumar had to leave. So we continued on trying to get people through the line as quickly as possible. As mentioned before we saw 100 people in this colony. When we reached the end of our stack of folders (blood pressure taking was the first stop in the circuit) there were 3 folders with names that were still remaining. We asked another man that was helping us and he said that those three people were unable to walk to where we had set-up all the medical stations. Because Soren (one of the other volunteers) and I were already done doing blood pressures, we decided to go to these people's houses and do their blood pressure there and see if they had any wounds that needed to be re-dressed. The first house we went to was a woman named Cinnamal. She was a large old woman who was unable to walk because of the sores on her feet. We checked her blood pressure then checked the sores on her feet. One of her feet had a sore all down one side of it that was severely infected and definitely needed to be washed and re-dressed. Soren and I sat there for a few minutes trying to think of ways to help her. She tried to walk using a steel pole as a walking stick but she was not strong enough to do this. In the end, Soren and I decided that the only way to get her to the all the medical supplies was to carry her there. So Soren and I hoisted Cinnamal between the two of us and we carried her all the way back to the medical station. This was one of the hardest things I have done yet because 1. Cinnamal was no small woman by any means. 2. It was over a hundred degrees outside. 3. Cinnamal's house was on the other side of the village from the medical van. and 4....did I mention it was over 100 degrees outside? Even with all this Soren and I were able to get Cinnamal to the medical station and get her checked for diabetes and get her sores washed and re-dressed. Amy told us later that she sat and talked with Cinnamal and learned that she had tried to go to the hospital 3 times but they would not admit her because she had leprosy. If Soren and I had not taken the effort to go find her at her house and carry her to the medical van she would have missed another opportunity to receive treatment. After dropping off Cinnamal, Soren and I went to the other two people's houses to see if they had wounds that needed to be re-dressed and check their blood sugar. The other two patients were not in good enough condition to carry so after everyone at the medical station had finished they took supplies to these people's houses to make sure they got treatment. After making the initial trip to these people's houses, I washed and bandaged a few of the leprosy-affected people's feet. This is, by far, the grossest thing I have ever done and I didn't even get any really gross sores. Kristin had a man with a sore that had literally eaten away his entire foot and only left a huge concave hole on what was left of the bottom of his foot. When the people come to you with these sores they are completely infected and have flies covering them and feeding off the infected flesh. It is our job to clean the people's feet and clean out their wounds. Then we put ointment on the sore (or oftentimes we fill the sore with ointment because the sores are literal holes in their feet) and finally bandage it up with fresh gauze. We would also clip their toe and finger nails if that needed to be done. Between he smell of the infected feet, the flies swarming around the sores, and the horrible sight of the sores themselves...this is not a pretty job. I am so grateful, though, that through this process we are really increasing their quality of life and making them feel SO much better. After we finished washing people's feet I was able to play ring around the rosy with the colony children before we had to leave. Again, the whole village lined the street to say good-bye to us. They were so insanely grateful for all that we had done and it was a great feeling to know that we had really made a difference.
After leaving this colony we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then started out on the long bus ride home. I will be honest and say this was not the best five hours of my life what with no air conditioning, bumpy roads, and general crazy Indian driving. I actually surprised myself and did better than I would normally do under these circumstances (normally I would get REALLY sick but I only got kindof sick). We finally made it back to RSO, though, and I am blogging happily from the comfort of the hostel. I am continuing to love my time here and honestly don't want it to end. Tomorrow is a free day and we are going shopping in a tourist town right on the Bay of Bengal! Yay for shopping!! More to come soon!
Namaste!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Whistle While You Work...
This was definitely the theme song for the day. We spent the whole day on the Rising Star compound getting everything ready for the kids to come back on Sunday. We started the day by cleaning out a closet filled with P.E. supplies that seriously I don't think had been touched since the school had been built. We scrubbed down all the shelves and organized everything until it looked like a whole new room--I even took a picture of it I was so proud. One of the craziest things about working in India are all the creatures and things that are everywhere you go. The closet we were cleaning out was FILLED with frogs of all shapes and sizes. There was even one that hopped out at us as we opened a basket filled with tennis rackets. There are also wasps nests in just about every room and they are in the most random places. They will be attached to the bottom of a desk or on the chalkboard or on random walls. They are seriously ALL OVER!!! We were cleaning out a room today where there were the remnants of at least three broken wasps nests on the ground and one on the wall. Thankfully the Indian women who work at Rising Star are fearless and when we find the wasp nests they just march right in and knock them down. After the closet we did all kinds of different odds and ends things trying to get the new wing of the school ready. There is still tons to get done before the kids arrive on Sunday.
One thing we did today that broke up the monotony of cleaning was that we went to "the Junction" during our lunch break. "The Junction" is a crossroads in the town nearest to Rising Star's compound that has all the basic things you need (Sari's, cold drinks, jewelry, drug store needs, etc.). The best thing that the junction has, though, is.....ICE CREAM!!! I cannot explain how amazing cold ice cream tastes when you spend all day working in 108 degree weather with 90% humidity--it is heaven. I got a mango creamsicle and a chocolate ice cream bar (everyone got two because we were so excited). It was so amazing.
Well that's basically it for today. Tomorrow we are leaving at 5am to take an overnight roadtrip to some outlying colonies that haven't ever had volunteers. It is the first time Rising Star has ever taken volunteers on an overnight trip and I'm super excited--it will be a really cool experience so more to come soon! :)
Namaste
One thing we did today that broke up the monotony of cleaning was that we went to "the Junction" during our lunch break. "The Junction" is a crossroads in the town nearest to Rising Star's compound that has all the basic things you need (Sari's, cold drinks, jewelry, drug store needs, etc.). The best thing that the junction has, though, is.....ICE CREAM!!! I cannot explain how amazing cold ice cream tastes when you spend all day working in 108 degree weather with 90% humidity--it is heaven. I got a mango creamsicle and a chocolate ice cream bar (everyone got two because we were so excited). It was so amazing.
Well that's basically it for today. Tomorrow we are leaving at 5am to take an overnight roadtrip to some outlying colonies that haven't ever had volunteers. It is the first time Rising Star has ever taken volunteers on an overnight trip and I'm super excited--it will be a really cool experience so more to come soon! :)
Namaste
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I've only been here 2 days?? Really??
*Note: All Indian names in this and future posts are spelled completely phonetically--I have no clue how they are really spelled
So I can't believe I have only been in India for two days. Each day is packed with so much stuff that it feels like something you did in the morning was done 4 days ago! Today was an AMAZING day filled with some really humbling experiences.
At Rising Star we start off each day at 8:30 with morning conclave. Here we discuss what we will be doing for the day and go over whatever we need to to make sure that everything runs smoothly and everyone knows what they're doing. We have to come to morning conclave dressed and ready to go for the day so that means we are waking up around 7/7:30 everyday. From the minute you wake up at 7:30 you are bombarded with intense ridiculous heat that doesn't let up until the sun sets (even then it's still ridiculous). You basically just sweat and drink water and sweat some more all day long. The first day this was really disgusting and I felt gross but I'm already getting used to just sweating all the time and dealing with it. Thank goodness the new volunteer hostel where we are staying has air conditioned rooms or I might go crazy. A funny story from when I was getting ready this morning: I went into the girls bathroom this morning to brush my teeth and Kristin (one of the volunteer coordinators) looks at my sink and says, "Ah cute look at that baby frog!" I look down and there is a baby frog chillin on the side of the faucet as I brushed my teeth. It was hilarious because its things like this that are completely commonplace and normal in India. Yesterday one of dogs that has lived on Rising Star property for years was killed by a cobra and this morning RSO hired a cobra catcher (yes that's a legit job) to come and kill the cobra that did it. It really is crazy over here.
Anyways, after morning conclave we headed to one of the nearest leprosy colonies that Rising Star has been working with for awhile now. On he way there Vale (our driver) helped us learn some phrases in Tamil so we could at least communicate a little with the people there. At the colony we met up with Dr. Kumar (RSO's doctor) and helped the leprosy-affected people in that colony. In this particular colony, no one is living with active leprosy--Rising Star was able to help cure all of them. Even though they are not suffering from active leprosy, they are still suffering from the nerve damage and limb lose that leprosy causes. So we got to the colonies and after talking we Dr. Kumar we separated into groups to start working. Most of the people that have been severely affected by leprosy are older because with the cure available now, if it is caught early enough leprosy doesn't leave any disfigurements or lasting damage so we mainly worked with the elderly today. They were all so excited to see us and work with us it was really great. I started working at the station where we washed the leprosy-affected people's feet. When I first heard about this before I came I was worried about how I would handle it but it really wasn't bad at all--you just kinda do it. I washed a woman's feet who only had one toe on one foot and no toes on the other foot (if I'm remembering correctly). I also washed a sore that she had gotten on one of her hands. The people are really grateful to us for doing this and it really improves their quality of life. After we washed feet there was a little bit of a lull so we just sat and talked with all the people waiting to see the doctor. They don't speak English vand I don't speak Tamil but somehow you can still have a conversation. After talking with the people for awhile one of the girls from the Rising Star school ( they are on break right now) came over and invited us to her house(her name is Ibirime). A few other volunteers and myself went with her to her house but on the way we were stopped multiple times. Everyone in India is RIDICULOUSLY nice and they are so excited when people come to visit the colony. People kept inviting us into their houses and wanting to talk to us and show us everything--it was seriously great. When we finally got to Ibirime's house there were about 10 people inside this tiny tiny tiny one room clay house with a thatched roof all watching a Tamil movie. As soon as they saw us they invited us in and we all talked and they were very gracious and kind. I cannot stress enough how amazing the people here are. They live in the poorest circumstances imaginable yet they love to give what they can to visitors and each other.
After visiting Ibirime we headed back to the old folk's home where the medical van was set-up. Kristin walked into the home with me and introduced me to an amazing man named Krishna Morti. He is seriously the skinniest man I have ever seen in my whole life--he's just skin and bones. Kristin introduced him to me and he started telling us how he was in serious pain. He is 86 years old and had fallen and broken his hip 3 months ago and had just gotten out of the hospital. He was trying to motion and tell us more but it's sometimes hard to understand/understand at ALL with the language barrier. He asked Kristin and I to sit with him, though, and when we sat with him his eyes started welling up with tears because of the pain he was feeling but also, I think, because he was relieved to have someone there who cared for him and was willing to sit and hear his story. Kristin and I sat and talked with him and rubbed his back and shoulders for quite awhile before we had to leave. I can tell it really made him happier to have someone to talk to and sit with.
After talking with Krishna Morti I went into the women's side of the home and talked with Sarowja. I had talked with Sarowja earlier and decided to sit down with her again and talk. She is a big woman who is just hilarious and thought I was hilarious (mainly because I can't understand anything she says). We couldn't really talk all that well but we sat on her bed and laughed and it was really great. She is one of the cutest old ladies I have ever seen. She gave me a big hug before I left and was smiling as I walked out the door. I took a picture with her but I didn't bring my camera cord so i can't upload it :(.
After the colonies we came back and had a short break before we started working on the school and hostels. There is so much work to be done before the children get here it is very overwhelming. We spent the afternoon cleaning out closets and organizing all the books in the library. It was seriously so ridiculously hot that when it came time for our 30 minute break before dinner I came back to the room and just flopped on the bed and didn't hardly move at all for the whole 30 minutes. After break I headed to dinner. I don't know if I talked about this in the last post but every night all the volunteers, coordinators and the Hendershot Family (Steel and Sara, the managers of all of Rising Star's compound, who moved here with their 5 kids all under the age of 12 to work for RSO for a year. They are amazing and I could write about their kids and family for days) gather on the roof of the children's hostel for dinner. I am LOVING all the Indian food here--it's seriously delicious. After dinner we went back to the school and started cleaning out all of the classrooms. I don't think they have ever heard of spring cleaning in India because everything was FILTHY. We got through three of nine classrooms in an hour and a half with 12 people working--they are really bad.
Well that's it for today. Tomorrow we will be working on campus all day getting ready for the kids to come and I am already mentally preparing myself for the scorching heat. I realize these posts are ridiculously long and I have gotten in this weird habit of saying 'seriously' a lot but thanks for reading my blog! :) I hope it is opening everyone's eyes to all the amazing things that Rising Star is doing in India.
Namaste!
So I can't believe I have only been in India for two days. Each day is packed with so much stuff that it feels like something you did in the morning was done 4 days ago! Today was an AMAZING day filled with some really humbling experiences.
At Rising Star we start off each day at 8:30 with morning conclave. Here we discuss what we will be doing for the day and go over whatever we need to to make sure that everything runs smoothly and everyone knows what they're doing. We have to come to morning conclave dressed and ready to go for the day so that means we are waking up around 7/7:30 everyday. From the minute you wake up at 7:30 you are bombarded with intense ridiculous heat that doesn't let up until the sun sets (even then it's still ridiculous). You basically just sweat and drink water and sweat some more all day long. The first day this was really disgusting and I felt gross but I'm already getting used to just sweating all the time and dealing with it. Thank goodness the new volunteer hostel where we are staying has air conditioned rooms or I might go crazy. A funny story from when I was getting ready this morning: I went into the girls bathroom this morning to brush my teeth and Kristin (one of the volunteer coordinators) looks at my sink and says, "Ah cute look at that baby frog!" I look down and there is a baby frog chillin on the side of the faucet as I brushed my teeth. It was hilarious because its things like this that are completely commonplace and normal in India. Yesterday one of dogs that has lived on Rising Star property for years was killed by a cobra and this morning RSO hired a cobra catcher (yes that's a legit job) to come and kill the cobra that did it. It really is crazy over here.
Anyways, after morning conclave we headed to one of the nearest leprosy colonies that Rising Star has been working with for awhile now. On he way there Vale (our driver) helped us learn some phrases in Tamil so we could at least communicate a little with the people there. At the colony we met up with Dr. Kumar (RSO's doctor) and helped the leprosy-affected people in that colony. In this particular colony, no one is living with active leprosy--Rising Star was able to help cure all of them. Even though they are not suffering from active leprosy, they are still suffering from the nerve damage and limb lose that leprosy causes. So we got to the colonies and after talking we Dr. Kumar we separated into groups to start working. Most of the people that have been severely affected by leprosy are older because with the cure available now, if it is caught early enough leprosy doesn't leave any disfigurements or lasting damage so we mainly worked with the elderly today. They were all so excited to see us and work with us it was really great. I started working at the station where we washed the leprosy-affected people's feet. When I first heard about this before I came I was worried about how I would handle it but it really wasn't bad at all--you just kinda do it. I washed a woman's feet who only had one toe on one foot and no toes on the other foot (if I'm remembering correctly). I also washed a sore that she had gotten on one of her hands. The people are really grateful to us for doing this and it really improves their quality of life. After we washed feet there was a little bit of a lull so we just sat and talked with all the people waiting to see the doctor. They don't speak English vand I don't speak Tamil but somehow you can still have a conversation. After talking with the people for awhile one of the girls from the Rising Star school ( they are on break right now) came over and invited us to her house(her name is Ibirime). A few other volunteers and myself went with her to her house but on the way we were stopped multiple times. Everyone in India is RIDICULOUSLY nice and they are so excited when people come to visit the colony. People kept inviting us into their houses and wanting to talk to us and show us everything--it was seriously great. When we finally got to Ibirime's house there were about 10 people inside this tiny tiny tiny one room clay house with a thatched roof all watching a Tamil movie. As soon as they saw us they invited us in and we all talked and they were very gracious and kind. I cannot stress enough how amazing the people here are. They live in the poorest circumstances imaginable yet they love to give what they can to visitors and each other.
After visiting Ibirime we headed back to the old folk's home where the medical van was set-up. Kristin walked into the home with me and introduced me to an amazing man named Krishna Morti. He is seriously the skinniest man I have ever seen in my whole life--he's just skin and bones. Kristin introduced him to me and he started telling us how he was in serious pain. He is 86 years old and had fallen and broken his hip 3 months ago and had just gotten out of the hospital. He was trying to motion and tell us more but it's sometimes hard to understand/understand at ALL with the language barrier. He asked Kristin and I to sit with him, though, and when we sat with him his eyes started welling up with tears because of the pain he was feeling but also, I think, because he was relieved to have someone there who cared for him and was willing to sit and hear his story. Kristin and I sat and talked with him and rubbed his back and shoulders for quite awhile before we had to leave. I can tell it really made him happier to have someone to talk to and sit with.
After talking with Krishna Morti I went into the women's side of the home and talked with Sarowja. I had talked with Sarowja earlier and decided to sit down with her again and talk. She is a big woman who is just hilarious and thought I was hilarious (mainly because I can't understand anything she says). We couldn't really talk all that well but we sat on her bed and laughed and it was really great. She is one of the cutest old ladies I have ever seen. She gave me a big hug before I left and was smiling as I walked out the door. I took a picture with her but I didn't bring my camera cord so i can't upload it :(.
After the colonies we came back and had a short break before we started working on the school and hostels. There is so much work to be done before the children get here it is very overwhelming. We spent the afternoon cleaning out closets and organizing all the books in the library. It was seriously so ridiculously hot that when it came time for our 30 minute break before dinner I came back to the room and just flopped on the bed and didn't hardly move at all for the whole 30 minutes. After break I headed to dinner. I don't know if I talked about this in the last post but every night all the volunteers, coordinators and the Hendershot Family (Steel and Sara, the managers of all of Rising Star's compound, who moved here with their 5 kids all under the age of 12 to work for RSO for a year. They are amazing and I could write about their kids and family for days) gather on the roof of the children's hostel for dinner. I am LOVING all the Indian food here--it's seriously delicious. After dinner we went back to the school and started cleaning out all of the classrooms. I don't think they have ever heard of spring cleaning in India because everything was FILTHY. We got through three of nine classrooms in an hour and a half with 12 people working--they are really bad.
Well that's it for today. Tomorrow we will be working on campus all day getting ready for the kids to come and I am already mentally preparing myself for the scorching heat. I realize these posts are ridiculously long and I have gotten in this weird habit of saying 'seriously' a lot but thanks for reading my blog! :) I hope it is opening everyone's eyes to all the amazing things that Rising Star is doing in India.
Namaste!
Monday, May 24, 2010
I can't believe this is finally happening...
This is the phrase that has been going through my head since I landed in Chennai late Sunday night. My adventure has finally begun! After 24 hours of flight time and two days worth of traveling I am settled into the volunteer hostel at RSO's compound outside of Chennai (granted I am jet-lagged to the MAX and I can barely keep my eyes open as I type this and I haven't stopped sweating since last night). But even with those things I am excited and anxious to start working here at Rising Star. So as Nacho Libre would say, "Let's get down to the nitty gritty."
So the flights didn't bring any crazy stories or events. I flew from Salt Lake to Chicago to Frankfurt to Chennai. All the flights went great (well as great as a 10 hour flight can go) and I even managed to sit next to a kindly German man on my flight from Frankfurt to Chennai who helped me get through customs and made sure I safely got a cab to my hotel in Chennai (the Lord definitely had a hand in this guys seating placement). I got into the hotel at around 1:30am and almost immediately fell asleep. This morning I woke up, savored my last real shower, and met the my fellow RSO volunteers for this session. Normally, RSO sessions have about 15 volunteers but this session is unusually small with only 9 of us. Everyone else who is volunteering is really amazing and I am excited to get to know everyone as the weeks progress. We were picked up at the Marriott in Chennai and drove the two hours out to RSO's property in RSO's AWESOME big school bus. India is an amazing, chaotic place. It is packed to the bursting with people and there never seems to be a dull moment. I think India needs to steal the tagline, "The country that never sleeps." On the way to RSO's property I was able to see what life is like in India. I honestly felt like I had been dropped into a movie. There are no real traffic laws but everyone gets around by politely honking at one another when they want them to move. There are tons of motorcyclists and people and animals alike will just walking across the street even if there's a line of cars coming. It's crazy and my driving abilities would fit in well here. One of the best parts of the day was driving through the village closest to RSO. The people love it when the volunteers come and are so excited to see us. As we drove through the village they all started waving to us from their houses and smiling at us. It was really great and got me even more excited to really get to know the people in India. Once we got on the property we met all the amazing people that make RSO run and work--they are seriously so wonderful I can hardly put it into words. We had our orientation, took a tour of the property, and ate a wonderful Indian meal on our banana leaf plates on the roof of the children's hostel. It was a wonderful day and night.
The "Rising Stars" at the RSO school will be returning next week from a five week break so there is much to get done before their arrival. RSO is always expanding and adding to better help the children here in India. This whole week we will be preparing the new wing of the school and "refreshing" the dorms so the kids can come back to a pristine and sparkling Rising Star. Before we start those projects, though, we will be taking for first trip to the colonies tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to meet all the people in the colonies and help them in whatever way I can :).
More tomorrow night!
Namaste
So the flights didn't bring any crazy stories or events. I flew from Salt Lake to Chicago to Frankfurt to Chennai. All the flights went great (well as great as a 10 hour flight can go) and I even managed to sit next to a kindly German man on my flight from Frankfurt to Chennai who helped me get through customs and made sure I safely got a cab to my hotel in Chennai (the Lord definitely had a hand in this guys seating placement). I got into the hotel at around 1:30am and almost immediately fell asleep. This morning I woke up, savored my last real shower, and met the my fellow RSO volunteers for this session. Normally, RSO sessions have about 15 volunteers but this session is unusually small with only 9 of us. Everyone else who is volunteering is really amazing and I am excited to get to know everyone as the weeks progress. We were picked up at the Marriott in Chennai and drove the two hours out to RSO's property in RSO's AWESOME big school bus. India is an amazing, chaotic place. It is packed to the bursting with people and there never seems to be a dull moment. I think India needs to steal the tagline, "The country that never sleeps." On the way to RSO's property I was able to see what life is like in India. I honestly felt like I had been dropped into a movie. There are no real traffic laws but everyone gets around by politely honking at one another when they want them to move. There are tons of motorcyclists and people and animals alike will just walking across the street even if there's a line of cars coming. It's crazy and my driving abilities would fit in well here. One of the best parts of the day was driving through the village closest to RSO. The people love it when the volunteers come and are so excited to see us. As we drove through the village they all started waving to us from their houses and smiling at us. It was really great and got me even more excited to really get to know the people in India. Once we got on the property we met all the amazing people that make RSO run and work--they are seriously so wonderful I can hardly put it into words. We had our orientation, took a tour of the property, and ate a wonderful Indian meal on our banana leaf plates on the roof of the children's hostel. It was a wonderful day and night.
The "Rising Stars" at the RSO school will be returning next week from a five week break so there is much to get done before their arrival. RSO is always expanding and adding to better help the children here in India. This whole week we will be preparing the new wing of the school and "refreshing" the dorms so the kids can come back to a pristine and sparkling Rising Star. Before we start those projects, though, we will be taking for first trip to the colonies tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to meet all the people in the colonies and help them in whatever way I can :).
More tomorrow night!
Namaste
Thursday, May 13, 2010
T-Minus 9 days until India: It's go time
I realize I am not doing well thus far with this whole blogging business. My last post was at the beginning of February and it is now May...oops. Since my last post I have successfully finished my first elementary education practicum, finished the semester, and gone on the annual after finals California trip! With all that under my belt, it's now full steam ahead with packing and planning for India. I have gotten all the necessary immunizations (which, by the way, there are a TON! What is Japanese Encephalitis anyways?) booked the flight, and gotten my visa. I have had a checklist taped to my closet since January (I love checklists) and it never ceases to give me a little jolt of joy to check off another item on the list. One thing that was very satisfying to check-off was raising the required $2000 for Rising Star to be able to take part in the program. If you are reading this and you donated on my behalf: THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I seriously couldn't have done it without you! Even if you didn't donate I am still so thankful for your support and hopefully you will further look into Rising Star Outreach's work in India. Well, that's all I really have for now--I will leave you with a picture of the beautiful city of Chennai, India, the city I will be flying into in India before going to Rising Star's compound.
Namaste
Namaste
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