India. A few months ago a friend called and asked if I wanted to go to India. I immediately said Yes! then proceeded to figure out how I was going to make it work. The timing was perfect, my travel bug was calling again, the one I keep thinking one more trip will cure. It's never going to happen, every time I travel my list of places to go gets longer. I'm just grateful I've been able to do and see so many amazing places.
I worked with an organization called
Rising Star Outreach. It's an organization fighting the stigma against leprosy. Did you know that if you are diagnosed with leprosy in India you are sent to a colony to live? Did you know that it an be treated with antibiotics? There is still a stigma attached to leprosy, many of those affected are beggars, their children are not allowed to attend school and usually end up on the streets begging as well. I spent a week working with Rising Star, the more I learned, the more I liked what they were doing.
They run a school for 140 children who's parents have been disabled by leprosy. These children live on campus, going home twice a year. Their parents come to visit once a month. They are taught English in school, an important skill to be successful in India.
When we got there the kids has just returned from spending a week with their parents for the Christmas holidays. Many of the girls showed us their henna tattoos other mothers had painted for them.
In the schools we helped with journaling and 1:1 reading time. This kid was my favorite! He yelled as he read The Gingerbread Man, can you see the intensity on his face?
I don't think I was so good at the school thing. I was helping this girl with her daily journal. She fell asleep. Her eyes were rolling and she could barely hold her pencil, I finally told her to put her head down and sleep.
After dinner we spent the evening in the "houses" playing with the kids. It was crazy, every one is fighting for your immediate attention.
I spent one night doing "fantastics" (it's what my nieces call this: climbing up your legs and flipping over). It was great with the little ones, but then the older girls saw and wanted a turn, they didn't understand why i kept dropping them, and didn't care, they asked for more.
We had a day of construction. Our assignment was to help build a brick wall. We got fired. We were sent to shovel sand, with bowels and hoes. And then it rained....
And rained, and rained. We were in the middle of a typhoon. School was "officially cancelled." Our kids live on campus, and school was still held. We, as volunteers, helped out in the classes and lead reading groups. The principal of the school is amazing, she knows every child's name and knows exactly where they need to be when they find her in the hall, tugging on her shirt "ma'am, ma'am." She would take them by the hand, lead them to their classroom and say "here," before repeating the routine with the next child.
COLONIES
Rising Star runs mobile medical clinic in the colonies. There is a team of nurses and a doctor that travels everyday visiting a different colony, washing feet, treating wounds, and giving medications. As volunteers we are able to help wash their feet and bandage their wounds.
I loved their custom made sandals. Every one had sandals that fit their
feet, volunteers would trace their feet then send the tracings to
cobbler. It may not seem like much, but I can't imagine what it would be
like to walk around in sandals that are too big for your feet, or rub
in the wrong places. So many of the people we saw in the colonies had
sores on their feet, missing toes, and fingers. I feel like this one
little thing, can male them feel a little bit normal.
Rising Star also gives micro loans to the people in the colonies. Historically people with leprosy have survived by begging on the street. These small loans give them a chance to start their own business and support themselves. One of the colonies has an art school, they are very proud of the art they sell. This is the piece I purchased, with the artist.
There was a small village just outside school grounds. One of my favorite things on these trips if to go walking through the village in the morning. You get a glimpse of what life is like, everyone carries on with their morning chores: getting water, milking the cow, bathing the children, everyone looks up to say hello, then carries on.
This little girl, Nisha, lives in the village and goes to the Rising Star school. They let a few children from the village attend school to strengthen relations between the organization and the school and also break down the stigma of leprosy. Nisha is albino. When we first got to the school we were all wondering who the white girl was. She's written that she "is the most beautiful girl in her village," light skin is sought after in India.
This is Nisha's mother and their new home. They were so proud of it, they walked us from the main road down a path to show us. It was just built a few weeks before. Inside is a dirt floor and a picture of Jesus. That's it. The door is an old piece of wood that they pick up and move when they come in. I've been in little homes like this before. Usually there is a table to prepare the food and hold the stove, blankets to cover with at night, and maybe even a platform to sleep on. They had nothing. All I could think about was the Typhoon that we just had, the wind and torrential rain. They have no covering on their windows, but they were so proud. It was a house, made of brick.
Did I mention that we were there for New Year's? It was great! We brought party supplies for the kids, they let off fireworks, and watched a movie. We all got dressed up in saris and put pretty, fragrant flowers in our hair. (and were in bed by 10 pm). It was great.
We went to church on Sunday. Most of the volunteer at Rising Star are Mormon, each week they have a van that drives 2 hrs. to Chennai for church. It was a beautiful church, newly built. Most of the classes were in English or English and Tamil. The Relief Society president taught the class in Tamil and English and Tamil- it was awesome.
After a week at Rising Star we went north to Delhi and Agra, to see the Taj...
