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).