This IS the real world

As I am getting ready to go back to the good old USA this fact was brought to my attention. Kristin stated tonight during our ending meeting together (which I will talk about more in depth later) that there are more people who live in poverty and in extreme circumstances than there are those that live like we do in America. She stated that India and the people here ARE the real world and we are the ones living outside of it. This was an eye-opening statement for me because I realized that I have seen very little of the real world and I want to see more. Working with Rising Star these past few weeks has brought the real world to the fore-front of my mind and now I want to help. India, though, is not only a place in the real world but a place of spirituality and soul. The people I have met here are unlike any other. They come from the humblest of circumstances yet they are the first to give and offer their whole selves to whatever is asked or them. I go home wanting to be more like them and live a little less in my world--the dream, the fantasy for those here in India.

Today was an amazing day; probably my best full day of my entire time in India--hence my deep, meaningful blog entry ;). This morning we drove two hours to the Moot leprosy colony (yes the name of the colony is Moot). This is actually a very aptly named colony because it is considered by the rest of India to be a place of little significance, relevance and worth. There are only 7 people still living in this colony and you would think 7 people wouldn't be worth a 2 hour bus ride--but they definitely are. We got off the bus and there was one very loud boisterous man ready and waiting for all of us to get off the bus. He was absolutely crazy and SO funny. He was dancing and singing and introducing himself to everyone. We also met his wife and all the other people in colony. Because we are all accustomed to going to colonies now we all immediately started sitting down and talking with the people in the colony. I decided to sit down and talk with Saroja. Saroja is probably 75lbs. Her left leg ends at the top of the knee and her right leg ends mid-calf. She has no hands, her entire face is deformed and she is missing her left eye--she is one of the most severely deformed leprosy patients I have ever seen. I sat with her and rubbed her back and hugged her. I took out her bun and braided her hair and she seemed to enjoy this. She tried to tell me all of her pains and heartache but with the language barrier I couldn't understand. She showed me her home and her pictures and I helped her to hang up a picture that one of the coordinators brought for her. I stayed with Saroja during most of our time in Moot.

While I was sitting with Saroja, Katie (the coordinator who is here teaching dance for the summer) set up her portable iPod stereo and got all the colony members that could walk up and dancing (5 of the 7 colony members could walk and dance). The loud man from when we first got there kept calling himself and Katie the dance masters and telling everyone where to go and generally keeping the whole colony lively and dancing. I stayed on the ground with Saroja and another man who sat on a board and rolled himself around with his knub hands on a scooter RSO built for him a few years back. Katie had music playing and all the volunteers were dancing with the leprosy patients. Olivia, the Hendershot's 10 year old daughter, brought an empty jug over to the man on the scooter and he beat the jug along with the beat of the song. Saroja joined in by doing the arm motions with Audrey (another volunteer) and myself. Having everyone dance together and seeing the joy on everyone's faces--leprosy patients and volunteers alike--was the closest thing to pure bliss and heaven I have ever experienced. There was a perfect spirit of love and unity and joy while we all danced. It's a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.

I have no idea how long we stayed in Moot but it was perfect. As we pulled away, all seven colony members waved and waited for us to pull all the way out before going back to her houses. All the volunteers felt the love and beauty that was in that colony. Amy had told us that this was a special colony before we went and we were all sure of this by the time we left. We got back to the volunteer hostel and took a short break before splitting up into two groups. The first group worked on our volunteer sessions' portion of the wall that we were in charge of painting. The second group went to the school and helped with sponsor letters. I, of course, opted to be in the second group and help write sponsor letters. I love helping the kids write sponsor letters and I was able to help in getting 5 sponsor letters written. After sponsor letters I went back to the hostel and helped to finish up the wall. There is a wall out back of the volunteer hostel where each volunteer group has a portion of and gets to decorate it and leave an actual mark on RSO. Our design included a star with all of our hand prints collaged in it. We then had bricks under neath this at the bottom of the wall coming up--like a brick wall being built. At the top of the wall we had the phrase, "Foundation for Tomorrow". This was the perfect phase for our session because we have been working on laying the foundation of the community center for the last two weeks. We all helped lay the foundation for all the rest of the volunteer groups coming this summer. The whole design turned out awesome and really speaks about this volunteer session.

After a little break it was time to go to our last playtime with the kids. I had fun playing with as many kids as I could. I played cricket with Ragu, catch with Subesti, Suganya, Satiapriya, and Sarathy, I helped the older girls on the swings, and played with Mahalakshmi and the younger ones by letting them climb up my legs then flip over. One funny thing that happened during playtime was one little boy came and sat on my lap, probably because he was tired and just needed a break. He was quietly sitting on my lap when Sarathy (a crazy 6 year old) came and sat on my lap too. The whole time he was sitting on my lap he kept asking me for Boomers (a popular candy/gum here) and he seriously wouldn't stop even though I told him over and over I didn't have any. He kept asking so I jokingly started mocking his whiney tone--this isn't really funny as I retell it but in the moment it was really funny to have these two little indian boys on my lap--one dead silent just chillin and the other begging me for a Boomer. The whole playtime was awesome as usual but instead of going to dinner after we went back to the volunteer hostel to pack and get stuff done before going to the kids' hostels for the last time to say goodnight.

Back at the girls' hostel later I played and danced with my girls and started saying my good-byes. The hardest good-bye was sitting with Abirami. I was telling her I was going back to America and she started asking who al was leaving. I told her all the people who were leavin but also told her who all was staying. She thought about it all for a minute before asking again, "When do you go to America?" It was almost like she didn't want to believe it and it was so cute. Tonight all the volunteers and coordinators dressed up in saris and were going to get together after the kids were asleep for a dinner at the volunteer hostel. Because none of us know how to wrap saris, a few of us had Ragi (a young house mother) do it for us. When I came out after she helped me put on my saris all the girls were acting like we were princesses. The ohh'ed and aww'ed over our saris and thought we looked amazing. I went into Velammal's room to show my girls and they all lit up. They all started wrapping blankets around themselves like saris and coming up to me and wanting to take pictures with me. It was such a sweet and joyous note to end on with the girls in my house. After pictures I said my final good-byes and kissed them all goodnight before going back to the volunteer hostel. The good-byes were not too sad because I have a good feeling that I may see them again. :)

Back at the volunteer hostel we all took pictures in our saris and ate a yummy parota dinner. After that we all changed out of the saris (they were way too hot) got in our pajamas and met in the mango room for a final meeting. Amy had asked us all to come to this meeting with a memorable journal entry or experience to share with everyone. It was so great to hear how the time here at Rising Star has affected and changed everyone in the group in different ways. One thing I feel we all learned, though, was how better to love as Christ loves. I believe we are all more capable of fully loving people no matter what their station of circumstance in life because of our time here at Rising Star. I never thought I could love children as much as I do the kids here at Rising Star. I think I now know, a little, the undying love that Christ feels for all his children.

After our emotional meeting we all hugged and thanked the coordinators before dispersing to pack and clean and get ready for the trip to Chennai in the morning. At around 1:00am it started POURING down rain and thundering harder than I have ever heard it in my life! After a few minutes I heard voices outside and Kristin and Dani were in the courtyard playing in the rain. After awhile Audrey joined in, then myself, then eventually a bunch of us were all outside soaking in the Indian rain. The courtyard was completely flooded so we splashed around and generally just acted like kids in the rain--it was the perfect ending to a perfect day and a perfect three weeks. :)

I will never forget this experience at RSO. It has changed me for the better and I will carry my stories from India with me for the rest of my life. If anything this experience has addicted me to blogging so keep checking back for posts. Love you all and thanks for reading about my adventures in India. :)

Namaste!---actually I have to change my ending. Namaste is a northern Indian phrase. In southern India (in particular in the Tamil language) the phrase equivalent is Vannacom so...

Vannacom!