The last days of India

There is a reason that I have been blogging every night. Because I forget if I wait to write it down. I'm trying to remember everything that has happened the last few days but I have a feeling that I am going to forget things.

Here I am with Rohith on my last day of tutoring. This kid is so cute. The children's favorite books in the library are "10 Little Ladybugs" and "Green Eggs and Ham". Some of the kids love these books so much, they actually have them memorized. It is a little hard to assess their reading level when they are just reciting but still, having "Green Eggs and Ham" memorized is quite impressive.

Another picture of Jayamary because I just can't get enough of her. I signed up to be her sponsor, part of which includes exchanging letters. So I am happy that I will still get to be a small part of her life.

So we left Rising star this weekend. Most of the girls flew out right away but because I had gotten my plane ticket kind of late, my flight doesn't leave until early Monday morning. Luckily, another another volunteer is in the same boat (even on my same flights all the way back to Chicago) so we got to have a day in Chennai to sightsee. We went to Dakshinachitra, a little village of Indian crafts. There were basket weavers, puppet makers, pottery making and of course, henna. I guess my body will be an Indian temple for the next couple of weeks.

I may have gone a little crazy shopping. I have been so good this whole trip but the last couple of days, with my departure imminent, I have started wanting to buy everything. My biggest and probably most impractical purchase was a Saree. The women all look so beautiful in them and I just really wanted to look like them. I am going to have to think up reasons to wear it when I get back because I actually quite love it. The only problem is it is just so much fabric. It will be tricky to wrap it correctly.

We are leaving the hotel at 2 am to catch our flight. Nandri, India. It has been wonderful!

Day ?

Coming soon...

Day 15

First, here is a picture of the painting that I was writing about in the previous post.

Can't wait to hang that baby up.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty awful. A combination of many things but probably my body's less than subtle hint that it is time to start thinking about going home. Point taken, body. The whole way out to Bhatarapurnam, I was curled up in the fetal position as waves of stomach cramps and nausea came and went. Blessedly, as we pulled up to the center, I felt better and was able to work without difficulty. That was an answer to prayer!

We worked hard at the colony today and saw 48 patients. Our little wound care corner (which is a stool and a couple of chairs) was quite busy, always with people waiting. In fact, we started to run out of supplies. By the end, we had used all the gloves, so I had to use the same pair, scrubbing them with alcohol swabs between patients. It went against everything I was used to in the hospital, where I am constantly changing gloves. But medical care with limited supplies in a rural area gives the experience a bit of a Florence Nightingale touch.

So I'm kind of in love with this sweet girl. Meet Jayamary...

She just came to live at the school a few months ago and her English isn't much. When she's not in her school uniform, she wears this red dress. It is too big for her so she is always pushing the sleeves back up that fall off her little shoulders. In the house, she is the youngest and gets picked on a bit. She doesn't play much with the other kids and I have made it a habit to look for her when we go to play with them. Today, I found her scooping up handfuls of sand into a ziplock bag. I knelt next to her and began drawing pictures in the sand. She laughed and played for a minute before smiling shyly and running back into the hostel. But as we were walking to prayer time later, she found me and put her beautiful brown hand in mine, then snuggled next to me during the prayer. It made me with I could stay longer to develop that relationship of trust with her and make sure she always feels loved.

Oh and here I am with Sagayamary. She is also quite adorable and loves to sing "Five Little Speckled Frogs". I'll have to see if I can get a video of that.

Day 14

Today we had the great pleasure to visit the Bindu Art School in Bhatarapurnam which was started only a few years ago. The student are all leprosy-affected, many have lost fingers or hands or have failing eyesight. Before the school, many of these now-artists lived as beggars. Now they express themselves through art, learning different styles and painting everyday.

It is amazing to watch them work, manipulating the brush with diseased hands to create masterpieces. And they are beautiful. Both the people and the paintings. These leprosy-afflicted artists, perhaps more than anyone, deserve to depict the bleak, dark scenes of their lives. But instead, the art is joyful with vibrant colors and scenes rich with enthusiastic details.

I was delighted to learn that their art has been shown in New Delhi and Vienna with plans for future tours. Their art is quickly gaining popularity. I couldn't help but buy a painting

(but not the one in the above picture). I selected one illustrating a small Indian village at night. It was perfect for me. I love India at night. I love that feeling- after the students are in bed, walking home under the stars (if it isn't too cloudy) and making my way through barely visible palm trees as I think about the day's experiences and anticipate what the next day will hold.

For me, the Bindu Art School characterizes Rising Star. Out of adversity comes beauty. Out of pain and suffering come joy and compassion. Out of a group shunned by society comes a people so gifted and courageous that they are certain to change the world.

Day 13

The end of the day finds me quite sore and tired. Our construction project today began a track around the field for the students here. It involved a lot of shoveling. The picture above shows the type of shovel that is used here. Imagine a quarterback hut-hut-hiking a football between his legs and you'll get the idea of how to use it (except you don't actually throw the shovel :) ).

It made me a little dizzy to use so I stuck to the conventional shovel.

I can't claim any tears or blood but I sure put a lot of sweat into this project. It was a hot day and we were all feeling it. It required a lot of water and some gatorade to keep us away from heat exhaustion. I came away with a few blisters but in spite of all that, it was a nice day. I enjoyed the company of the other volunteer as we listened to music and talked. And it was nice to know that we were doing something tangible for the students that we have come to love so much. My bucket-shower (or bower as we lovingly refer to them) felt so good afterwards.

Tonight before we helped the older kids with homework, we read to the little girls. The book of choice ended up being "The Lion King". They had seen the movie before so they loved it. As bedtime they requested a song, as always, so we sang them "Hakuna Matata".

It will be a good night for sleeping.

Day 10, 11, and 12

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We arrived in Delhi late Friday morning and were met by our travel guide. He is a young man from India. He is LDS and happily showed us pictures of himself with Elder Oaks for whom he was also a tour guide.

We first went to the Mahatma Ghandi home. It was here that he lived at the end of his life and where he was martyred. Such a reverent and peaceful place. I was barefoot (it is customary to remove your shoes at this sacred site) as I walked, reflecting on the lessons from Ghandi's life and carefully avoiding stepping on any ants. I am committed to finishing Ghandi's autobiography by the end of the year.

The afternoon was spent on the back of bicycle rickshaws going through old Delhi. And I thought driving was scary here! The alleys were so narrow and packed with people, shops, animals and low hanging electrical wires. I enjoyed the spice market and the visit to the Jain temple.

After a long bus ride to Agra, we checked into our very nice hotel. The luxury constantly tore my feelings between pleasure and guilt.

The next morning was the highlight of the trips. We got up before sunrise and made our way to the Taj Mahal. It is easily the most beautiful building I have ever seen. Pictures don't even do it justice but we took a ton anyway. The history of the Taj Mahal is quite romantic- the Emperor grieving for his beloved wife (who died after the birth of their 13th child) and devoted to preserving her memory. It took 22 years to build, using the finest Indian marble and painstakingly inlayed with precious stones. A true wonder of the world!

That night, a few of us went to see "Mohabbat the Taj"- a musical dramatization of the story of the Taj Mahal. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty magical. I got totally caught up in the the sparkling sarees and the traditional Indian dancing. But even that dancing couldn't inspire me to stay more than five minutes a the hotel's disco tech later than night. :)

Sunday morning was our much anticipated elephant ride. It sounds anti-climatic to write about it. A man with his very tame elephant met us in your run-of-the-mill Indian neighborhood and took us up and down the street. Nevertheless, we squealed and giggled as the local residents looked on with curiosity, obviously puzzled by our excitement.

It was fun to be a tourist for the weekend but I am glad now to be back at Rising Star and the real purpose of this trip

Day 9

Today was similar to Monday in that I spent a good portion of the day tutoring. It is amazing how well some of the young students can read English and also amazing at how poorly some of the older students read. Tutoring is necessary to give that one-on-one attention for their different levels. In the afternoon each volunteer in my group takes a few second graders for reading group. I was kind of dreading this because last time some of the kids were out of control and I had a hard time getting one boy in particular to focus. But reading group went great today! Another volunteer gave me a tip. In between books, we would play hangman with one or two words from the book. The kids loved playing and then searching the book for the word they had guessed.

So how cute is this girl? Every evening before dinner, the children gather for prayer time. First, they sing songs. I usually can't understand them but they do sing one song a night from the LDS hymnbook. Then they pray. This little girl was trying so hard to be reverent and keep her eyes closed but she kept peeking. So in an act of self-discipline, she pushed her fingers to her eyes to keep them shut. I wish I could take credit for this picture but I stole it from Ryen, another volunteer with excellent photography skills.

There has been a volunteer here all summer teaching dance classes for the kids at the school. Today was her last day and so to celebrate, we had a dance party. They loved it! And they have some pretty impressive moves. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few of these kids in a Bollywood movie someday.

Tomorrow, we are getting up at 3:30 in the morning to catch a bus to Chennai to fly to Delhi, to take another bus to Agra. How lucky am I to get to see the Taj Mahal? I have really been looking forward to this. But I most likely won't be blogging for the next couple of days so I will have to catch up when I get back.

Day 8

Today we went to the colony of Wajala-bad. This settlement was first where (along time ago) cholera patients were sent, basically it die. Not surprisingly, it is right next to a cemetery. Now it is a colony for the leprosy affected. I got to do medical work again, which I loved (but beware of graphic language to come). It is the kind of work that I thought I would be doing more of while here. And while I am happy to help out wherever is needed, it is nice to be able to use the specific training I have. I wish that I could do this everyday.

Some of the other volunteers checked blood sugar and blood pressures, washed their feet and sent them over to me and a nursing student. We cleaned out their wounds, cut away the dead skin and wrapped with clean gauze. There is a man there that, due to effects from leprosy, hasn't blinked in 40 years! He has to put natural tears in every 20 minutes and sleep with bandaids over his eyes. Another man, who we worked on the most, was blind and had lost feeling in what was left of his limbs. The combination of those two means that he was unaware of the flies nesting in his ulcers. We cleaned and bandaged him but I wonder how long it will last. The medical group is only able to come every other week.

On the Rising Star staff, there is one Indian doctor and two Indian nurses. The doctor who works with Rising Star is amazing. I'm not sure how to spell his name but it is close to Dr. Kumar. The stigma with leprosy spreads to doctors who work with the leprosy affected. This doctor would not be able to open a private practice because no patients would come to a doctor known for working with leprosy. But at great personal sacrifice, he has devoted the last four years of his life to working among the colonies. He estimates having 1400 patients (including all of the children at the school). When the case needs further treatment, he takes them into the hospital in Chennai and has to fight to get them admitted. He is humble and kind and a joy to work with.

This evening we did water balloon slingshot with the kids. It turned into a massive water fight which was a fun way to spend a warm evening.

Day 7

Today we worked in one of the colonies, the same one we were at last week. I am really going to have to start writing down the names when I hear them because otherwise I cannot remember them for the life of me! The main project in this colony is building toilets which would be an improvement for obvious reasons. It meant more lifting cinderblocks and mixing cement. Silly me, I forgot my work gloves but luckily no cuts or scrapes at the end of the day.

We are each assigned a house that we go to every evening after dinner to read to kids and help with homework. I and another volunteer go to a girls house and it has been fun to get to know the girls better. There are 16 or so girls in "my" house, from kindergarten to ninth grade. It can be chaotic but they are very sweet. They always want to sit close and read with you. Unfortunately almost all of them are infested with lice. It is just a given here that the girls will have lice but I have had a hard time getting used to the idea. I am especially terrified of getting lice myself. It isn't like I can't get rid of it- I even bought lice shampoo- if I get it but the idea of those little bugs crawling around my head and laying their eggs...yuck! I try to push those thoughts aside when I am with the girls because they need hugs more than I need lice-free hair.

And who could resist sweet Vijayalakshmir (it took me a couple of day to master the pronunciation of that name!)

Oh, what a blessing! A girl (who happens to work at Best Buy) brought an extra camera that she offered to let me borrow for the duration of the trip. Thank you, Shannon!!

Day 6

I spent most of the day with the school kids. They need quite a bit of tutoring, especially in English. There are a lot of issues regarding the school- I had no idea before I came. For example, when parents enroll their children, they only tell the school their age (not their grade level) which creates quite a disparity of education in each grade and makes it hard to teach. It is practically unheard of in India to hold someone back a grade. There are about 20 of the 160 students that don't live at the school but in the nearby village. Their parents aren't affected by leprosy so they just walk to school each day. It is really important to have good relations with the village to keep the school running but many of the village children are the biggest trouble makers. Also, the leprosy-affected parents will sometimes try to pull their children out of school so they can take them begging, or fulfill an arranged marriage (at age 13!) and Rising Star fights hard to keep them in school. I admire the sweet American woman who has taken on the job of vice-principal and is doing everything she can to improve the school.

On a brighter note, by the time these children graduate and are proficient in English, they will have so many opportunities. One of the most prestigious positions in India is customer service. As you may know, many companies outsource their customer service to India. To give you some perspective, most doctors in India earn around 500 Rupees/month (or $125) while the customer service workers earn 1400 Rupees/month ($350). Quite a jump in pay scale. What is even better is that the Marriott is a great supporter of Rising Star and has agreed to employ the graduates. This means these children of leprosy afflicted parents who otherwise may have been beggars will become India's elite. Wow!

It was fun to get to know some of the students. You wouldn't believe some of their names. We actually have a Joseph Stalin and a Karl Marx attending the school. Joseph has a brother named John Kennedy, but he unfortunately got kicked out for bad behavior.

Tonight, I stayed late to help a girl in ninth grade (or standard nine as they say here) with her math homework. I don't know how many years it has been since I have done quadratic equations but I sure needed some review. Once I remembered enough to be able to help her, we had a great time.

Love these kids!

Day 5

When I turned my camera on today, I got a white blank screen and nothing I did would make it go away. The Kodak website told me that I would have to send it in for repairs. Sad face. No more taking pictures for me. But with all the cameras around and the joy of facebook, I think my trip will still be well documented.

This morning, some of us got to go to church in Chennai. They have three branches in the city and are building their first meetinghouse. It was great to see Elders and hear that they baptize basically every week. The church still feels like it is in its infancy in India but also like that is rapidly changing. I wouldn't be surprised to come back in 10 years and see many stakes in Chennai and a temple in India. Its exciting to see the potential.

I appreciated the lesson today about Naaman, the rich man with leprosy. He was told to wash seven times in what was considered a very unclean river. When he did, he was made clean. Two impressions have stayed with me from that lesson. First was as I was leaving, I saw that the baptismal font had been filled up. It is basically a small above ground swimming pool. But the water was a strange murky color. I thought of Naaman and how the water doesn't have to be crystal clear to make someone clean. It depends on their faith. And the individual getting baptized had great faith. I have no doubt he will come out of that water pure and clean.

I was also reflecting how small and simple things bring about great works. Even though I am half way around the world, what I am doing seems very simple: reading to a child, washing feet, carrying cement. It can be easy to brush these things aside as insignificant and miss the bigger picture. And what is the bigger picture? I think I'll just end with a quote from one of my heros, Mother Teresa, which I think I need to read once a day.

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

Day 4

Today we went to Mamallapuram. Since it is Saturday, we got to do a bit of shopping and sightseeing. Check out this giant rock! The man sitting under it give some perspective. It is called Krishna's Butterball. It is not the size that it so impressive but the way that it is perched on the sloping hill as if it is about to roll off. They don't know how it got there and have tried unsuccessfully to move it so now it just stands in defiance of physics.

I bought this bracelet from a man that was making shoes for another volunteer. It was interesting to watch them work. You can't see it but he stamped my initials into the leather. Not bad for 100 Rupees (or about $2.50).

Oh and we saw the beach!

This is a abbreviated post but I am so tired now that I am falling asleep typing so I am going to go to bed.

:)

Day 3

We spent the morning and afternoon in a colony with a long and complicated name that I can't remember. I must not be the only one with that problem because it is nicknamed "Moot". After the medical work, there was plenty of time for dancing and games and talking. We were lucky to have an interpreter with us because it gave us a chance to ask them each about their lives. The stories were sad but the people were happy.

Wow, I look ginormous next to those tiny men.

We were accompanied today by two professors from the BYU college of nursing! They are here evaluating India/Rising Star as a potential location for the nursing global diversity class (for which I went to northern Argentina when I took it). Neither of them were my professors but I recognized them immediately and it was fun to work with them.

Later in the day, we got to watch the school assembly which was celebrating India's Independence Day. There was lots of dancing which the children had been practicing for months. I especially enjoyed the beautiful costumes. Indian dancing is really quite beautiful. I hope to learn the dance to Jai Ho before I return. :)

The program had only just ended when the sky darkened and the thunder rumbled. We barely had enough time to put the chairs away before the downpour started. We've been wet and a little chilly (!) ever since but it has been a good day.

Day 2

Today, eight of us went to a colony about an hour away. We were on construction duty so our day was spent moving concrete cinderblocks to a site where they are building a toilet. And when I say moving, I mean carrying them from the truck to the site about 300 feet away. A wheelbarrow would have been a helpful addition, but we did it their way. Well, not exactly their way. The locals would put those 40+ pound blocks on their heads and walk off like it was nothing, balancing them effortlessly. Maybe if I had the sense to bring a bandana, I would have tried that as well but hindsight is 20/20. My arms are now wonderfully sore. It was rewarding to work with them. The volunteer coordinator who was working with us explained that the cast system is still a factor in India. Those affected by leprosy are basically at the bottom and we, just by virtue of the fact that we are Americans, are significantly higher. I wish this wasn't so but it is what it is. But just being in their colony and showing respect for the work they are doing likely makes a greater difference than the actual physical labor.

A funny story from the colony today but first some background. When driving, no one here uses their blinker. They just honk when they are about to pass you, change lanes, etc. I could say more about the driving but that is one aspect of Indian driving. This makes the roads very noisy as people are constantly laying on their horns. While we were walking to our van today, we heard someone honking behind us, which was assumed to mean, "Get out of the way!" The only peculiar thing was the sound of the honking was different. When the motorcycle whizzed by, it was clear why. There were two men on the motorcycle and between them two goats bleating away. What I thought was honking was really a plea for help from two goats probably as scared of Indian driving as I am.

Vanakkam, blog (this is what is said instead of Namaste in southern India).

Day 1

Since I am a better blogger than journal writer (which tells you something about my journal), I decided to keep this separate from my other blog since I am going to try to write everyday. But certainly don't feel obligated to read everything.

Here is what I have done since I left Seattle:

-Drove three days by car

-Flew 15 hours by airplane

-Spent a terrifying 20 minutes in the backseat of an Indian taxi cab

-Rode three hours by bus

-And finally arrived at Rising Star

Here is what I haven't done:

-Taken a picture

I am so glad to finally be here! After we arrived and had orientation, we got to play with the school children who live in the same compound. We ate dinner of rice and sauce, using a banana leaf as a plate. We are assigned to help out in the different houses (as these children live apart from their leprosy-afflicted parents) so after dinner I and another volunteer spent the rest of the evening helping our house of about 20 girls with their homework and reading them bedtime stories. I was starting to feel the jet-lag and it showed. While the girl I was reading with took her turn, she suddenly turned to me with an accusatory cry, "You sleeping!" Yup!

I took my first bucket-shower tonight. It consists of a bucket and a smaller pail. You fill up your bucket with lukewarm water, then dip and pour. I have never wanted a hot shower _less_ in my life so it was actually quite refreshing. As expected it is awfully hot here. I am constantly wiping the sweat out of my face but the volunteer rooms are air conditioned which is a blessing. We also use the conventional Indian toilets squat which take a little getting used to.

The children are a joy and easy to love. They call us "auntie" or "uncle" which is very endearing. Before dinner tonight we had evening prayer (while Rising Star is nondenominational, they teach of God). The children sang many songs I did not know but they also sang "I Stand All Amazed" and I appreciated being able to sing along. Just before bedtime, I was talking with a girl and she asked me my name and when I told her, she grinned and said (what sounded like), "I am Kristen." I was surprised at that but when I said, "Oh, we have the same name!", she shook her head and said, "No- religion! I am Christian!"

Namaste, friends.