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Now we just visit them once a month to bring them rice and beans so they can survive. She said more importantly we go to touch them, talk to them, love them. She said our visits help give them reasons to live; to remind them that they are valid and have great worth. She said some of the colonists could tell us the exact dates of our last visits. The quote on the journal page before this one says that love is patient…kind…rejoices with the truth…hopes and endures all things. This is what we're learning here; the fact that you can have all the money in the world to help treat an illness, but the most important and simple gift we can give is unconditional love. It’s taken me 20 years to discover this, but it’s a lesson I’ll never forget. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” That is exactly what we’re trying to do; cure the world with love.
Tuesday Aug, 8 2006, 11:13pm
I'm kicking myself that I've hardly written because though it's only 11:13pm here I'm about to pass out I'm so exhausted. I'll give you a quick overview of the last few days, just remind me to explain it all to you in detail once I'm home. Yesterday we went to 2 leprosy colonies. The first is called the Poot colony. We played bingo with the few colony members, just to cheer them up. It was so much fun. Samuel, the leader of the colony, is the funniest old man I've ever met. He's definitely the life of the party. When we were explaining the game to them we said they need to shout "BINGO!" loudly and raise their arms in the air. Samuel thought this was the greatest thing ever and would shout "BBIIIIIIIING-O!" after every number we called. Paige and I rigged the game so he'd win. We gave them an egg and a chocolate bar as prizes.
After the game we went over to clean Nujacon's house. She's an old lady with a sad story. She has one daughter, the love of her life. Her daughter was raised in the colony but married into a wealthy family. She completely disowned her mother because if the family ever found out where she came from they'd throw her on the streets. Nujacon is so heartbroken by this she never talks, and rarely comes out of her hut. Amy told us that her hut is absolutely filthy so we brought cleaning supplies to clean it. It took hours. It was absolutely putrid. We shook out her one blanked and two bats flew out. We swept the ceiling for spiders (the cobwebs were so thick it looked like paint), but Gopi (another RSO worker) told us to be careful so scorpions wouldn't fall on us. Gopi taught Paige and I how to scrub the floor with sticks. It was hard work. Her tiny hut was made of cement and a thatched roof, and it was like a little brick oven. It was no bigger than an American bathroom. We were literally dripping sweat within minutes. We then decorated her house with presents we brought with us for her. Before we left the volunteer house Amy had told us to bring something that would brighten up her hut. We brought a flashlight, clean blanket, stuffed bear, pillow, and some colorful balloons. I made a welcome sign and the little Indian flag Bree gave me before I left. I was sad to give it up but figured it went to a good cause.
UGh there are so many more details I wish I could write about...we ended up giving Nujacon a bath, the first one she's had in months I'm sure. None of the other ladies in the village would help her. Her tiny crippled body was so filthy, it was shocking. The smell wasn't much better. It was such a tender act though, it was more humbling than it was gross. We washed her filthy Saris and helped dress her. It was an amazing day.
We then went to a second colony, the Moot colony. There we visited with the very few colony members. Most of them are severely disfigured. I'll tell you about them in person. My favorite was Saroja, a TINY woman who's right eye has rotted out of its socket, she has no hands or feet, and her face is partially paralyzed. She is the sweetest, tiniest woman, and was quite a flirt with the boys.
Today we worked with the kids in the children's home teaching them English. It was so much fun, they really are the cutest kids I've ever seen in my life. I'm taking one home with me. After English lessons we went to the grocery store, then went back to take the kids to a local pool. We taught them how to swim, it was a blast. My girl, Rosie, made huge progress. I was so proud I almost cried. It's interesting what things you take for granted. The dinner was fantastic, we went back to tuck the kids in and kiss them goodnight, had prayer with the staff, and here I am, rushing through this email. I love you all, sleep well, I'll try to write tomorrow!
Wed Aug 9, 2006 7:02 pm
Wow I can't believe I've only been here 4 days. It seems like a lifetime. Honestly. Things are still amazing. I didn't write much about yesterday....
Yesterday we woke up, got ready, and headed over to the school for English lessons. While the kids are in school, we each take them out one at a time in the courtyard out front and work on their English with them. The young women in one of the volunteer's ward made prompting kits- little freezer baggies with a few toys and trinkets in them. They were a huge help. The kids are all decent enough at English so we sit and try to have conversations with them. It's hard knowing what to say sometimes, though. The prompting kits are great- we pull out a plastic shark, ie, and ask them questions about it. They are great and the kids loved them. Something similar would be a good service project if anyone ever needs any ideas.
Today we woke up at 6:45 and headed out at 7:20...only 5 minutes late today! (Usually it's like Mexico- no one is ever anywhere on time. It's pretty funny.) We all loaded the Rising Star van and headed out to pick up Padma. She's the daughter of the former President of India. She's such an amazing lady. We all call her Mother Theresa. She's one of the head people at RSO. She's a visionary. She's the one that came up with all the micro-business concepts. When she became involved in Rising Star Outreach it was back when we would simply drop off rice and beans at colonies. She hates that. She instead decided it was more important to "teach a man to fish" rather than "feed a man a fish" and began giving small loans to people in leprosy colonies. They create small businesses with that loan, then pay back the money very slowly. She's a stickler too, creating a lot of success. So much in fact that she got an entire colony off the streets. An ENTIRE colony has stopped begging. As far as we know, that has never happened EVER in the history of Leprosy. She is literally changing the world. One colonists was saying that before, he would get shoo'd away from a store because the owner said his presence would hurt business. Now the owners welcome him in, offer him a seat, and make him tea. The impact of that small gesture is amazingly huge. It blows my mind.
I have a long line of people behind me waiting for the internet and I'm taking forever....to sum up, we were able to witness a meeting of the colony leaders. Once a month leaders from the different 48 leprosy colonies meet together with Padma to talk about the progress of the colonies, etc. Their meeting house is a mess. It's a huge cement building with 1 extremely large room. It was disgusting. To show our love for the colonists we came in and cleaned it and painted the inside of the building. It was the hardest work I think I have ever done. Dad, erase this email after I tell you this so it's not on record, but I am definitely a spoiled American. I didn't know it was physically possible for someone to sweat as much as I did. It was filthy- we swept and sanded down all the walls, then painted the huge room and celiling. Paige and I took it upon ourselves to clean out a small adjoining room...big mistake. Spiders were literally falling on our heads as we swept off the ceiling. Probably the funniest thing of my life to see us jumping and dancing around trying to get away from them. It was sick.
The meeting hall now looks amazing. The leader of the colony that houses the meeting hall came in and formally thanked us volunteers when we were finished. He got emotional in telling us that for 50 years people have been simply dropping off paint. This is the first time anyone has ever took the time to actually do it themselves. Many people in the colony are crippled in one way or another, painting a room of that size and filthiness would have taken them days. That's the biggest lesson I'm learning here so far. You can donate as much as you want, give all you have, say all you can say...but the true gift comes in the actions that one gives another to express their love for them. It's amazing what a little love can do! I love you all, hope to hear from you again soon!
Sunday, Aug 13, 3:30 pm
Hello everyone!! I know my apologies are meaning less and less, but I truly am sorry that I haven't written in a while. There are SO MANY people in this house and our one computer is A) so slow, and B) ALWAYS occupied, it gets tricky.
The last few days have been great. Friday was an easy day. We took 2 busses, one full of kids from the children's home and the other with us volunteers, out to the site where the new school will be built. It's about 1.5 hours away. The 2 schools now are fantastic schools, but they're so tiny and crammed in with everything else. We're expanding so swiftly there just isn't enough room for growth! Amy said it absolutely breaks her heart that she has to turn away so many needy children. In fact, she told us a cool story....
There's a cute little boy, Arul, who grew up in a colony in Delhi, raised by his parents, most likely beggars. They caught wind of an organization in Chennai (Rising Star Outreach) that was helping the children of lepers, and they decided to take Arul there. They gathered up enough money and traveled the two day train trip here to the school. When they got here, the school was packed and they had to turn Arul away. His parents had only bought one returning ticket because that's all the money they had. They were therefore forced to leave him in a nearby leprosy colony while they went out and begged for enough money to get him home. The Rising Star crew were out visiting the colony that day, and took many pictures. When they returned that night they were looking at the pictures and one picture caught their eye. In the backgroud of one, there was a little boy; dirty, alone, sitting on the side of the road crying and crying, so sad and desperate looking. It was Arul. They recognized him as the child they'd had to turn away, found out the story, and promptly went out to the colony and brought him to the school. Now he's one of the smartest boys in the school, and is the best swimmer. His English is astounding, which is the best gift we could ever give a child here in India. It's amazing the potential these kids have, but can't release because of this destitute country. It's heartbreaking. So many kids in the school have a story like this one, it blows my mind every time I hear one.
The stories like that are endless. Today on the way to Church I was asking Amy random questions about the Indian people. In our conversation she told me that the average per-capita income here is $700 a year, but that number is actually highly contested. Most people who live in the country (outside the city) are lucky to make $2 a day.
Aug 17, 2006, 9:43 pm
Yesterday was incredible. We went out to another colony to do a “hygiene day”. I tried to brace myself as much as possible on the way over. As I explained to a few of you, leprosy is a very interesting disease. It’s airborne, so you can get it just like a virus. The thing is, only 2% of the world’s population is susceptible to the disease, which is how I can touch them and not get it. It only costs $1.50 to cure the disease, so it’s not a problem at all...so people don’t need to fear it, unlike history would lead us to believe. Another misconception about leprosy is that it causes people to lose appendages. Leprosy simply slowly kills off nerve endings. So what happens is it goes untreated for so long, people lose complete feeling in their hands, arms, feet, and legs. Since they can’t feel anything they use their hands and feet as tools- using their bare hands to stir a fire or carry a scalding pot, using their feet to “nail” things, walking without shoes, etc. Just like any other person’s hands and feet would, they get wounds, sores, and ulcers in them. Once again, they can’t feel this so they go about their business as usual. Little by little they lose a few toes…then their entire foot…then their leg stub gets shorter and shorter. If they don’t lose the appendage completely, it becomes extremely mangled and crippled. I have pictures that I’ll send around once I get home. Anyway, a Hygiene day is where we go to a colony and teach hygiene- “this is how you wash your hands”…”you should always wear shoes”…”don’t use your hands as tools”…”Just because it doesn’t hurt doesn’t mean it won’t harm you”…etc. We literally wash their hands and feet, treat their wounds, and wrap them with clean wrappings.
In all seriousness, it is the most humbling thing I have ever done. Those precious people eagerly came to us, most of them hobbling or limping because they are so crippled. We washed their feet…I will leave out intense description, mainly because there’s no real way to describe what we saw that day. Most people had no toes, or only a few mangled ones. Nearly everyone had gaping, oozing sores on the bottoms and sides of their feet. One woman had a sore that covered 2/3 of the sole of her foot. It was so deep I thought I was going to see bone in a few areas. She couldn’t feel a thing. We cleaned their feet and hands. It was the hardest thing of my life to scrub such agonizing wounds…I found myself cringing when I thought they should be feeling the worst pain of their life. They felt nothing. I was washing a little old woman and it was difficult getting her hands to reach the bucket on the ground because she couldn’t straighten her skinny, crippled arms. The bones cracked and popped every time I turned her hands over. They were all so cute and sweet though. We cleaned them, then put some special American-made lavender healing oil on their wounds. If you’re interested in more detail or pictures I’ll send them…otherwise I’ll leave it to your imagination. We ended by clipping their toenails and fingernails. There was one woman who had an extremely long thumb nail but we couldn’t clip it because it had gone so crooked we couldn’t get to it with the clippers because her palm was in the way. One woman came to us and had a very obvious severely broken ankle. She was such a tiny, older woman. It was the hardest thing to see her walking away that day on that swollen, probably intensely painful ankle. It was quite a day.
It’s amazing the things we take for granted. Pain is such a gift. Look at what happens when your body no longer allows you to feel certain pain. It’s ironic that when the one thing that most people would give anything to have taken away from them (pain) is actually taken away, they end up suffering in such a more horrible, life-long way. Makes you think. I’ll never complain again…though this hangnail I’ve been biting for a few days is REALLY starting to bother me. :)
Sunday, Aug 20, 2006 11:58 pm
A cool experience happened to me last week. Friday we took the kids swimming again at the local hotel. They absolutely love it. There was a little girl, Mangai, who came with us for the first time. She was absolutely PETRIFIED of the water. She would only sit on the edge of the pool patio, as far away from the water as possible. I tried to coax her in a few times, but if you reach out to her as if to pick her up she would freak out. Amy took Mangai off to the side for a while and talked to her. Next thing you know, she's coaxed Mangai to the ladder in the shallow end. After a while she gently and tentitively put her feet in the water. Amy called me over and said she had to leave, then passed on the "Mangai project" to me. I had never really talked to Mangai before so I worried that she wouldn't trust me. I worked with her for about an hour, slowly, slowly, slowly. I got her to set her feet on the top rung of the ladder...then got her to sit on the top rung...then put her feet on the second rung. You could see the fear melt from her face very very VERY slowly. A few times I rushed her and she freaked out and resumed her position on the edge of the patio. I could tell she wanted to be in the water where the other kids were playing but was just too scared. I asked Mangai if I could carry her, then Mangai suggested I carry her on my back (which is actually a scarier position in my book, but since it was her idea she was all about it). So I did- I put her on my back and slowly eased her in the water. It took a while for me to prove to her that she could touch the bottom.
I'll never forget the light bulb that visibly went off in her head once she realized she could reach. I worked with her for a while and she got more and more comfortable. Finally, she wanted to let go of me. She jumped into the pool all by herself and was walking around on her own two feet. I felt like crying, I was so proud! She was absolutely beaming; I have never in my life seen a prouder child. Her little friends were near her and they embraced each other and were screaming and laughing, one of the vounteers got a picture of it. I had to hold back the tears. When it was time to go we had to pry her out of the water.
Getting Mangai to swim was a long, slow process. It was such a cool thing to witness, though. A tiny little girl getting over the fear of the unknown. I will never EVER forget it. Mangai is my special little girl now. I am still overwhelmed at the amount of pride I have for her little accomplishment, I can't even imagine what it will be like when I have children of my own! It's a good life lesson. Sometimes we just have to jump in to know if we can touch the bottom or not; why fear before we try?
August 31, 2006 12:09 PM
Well hello everyone!
Good news...I'm home in one piece, alive and well. I can't believe how fast 3 weeks has gone! It feels like I've been gone forever, but at the same time it was over before my mind even grasped that I was in India. I can't tell you how hard it was to leave my kids behind. There were A LOT of tears from both me and the kids, my heart is still healing from the parting. I hope to be able to go back and visit some day. There is one little girl, Ravethy, who really touched my heart. She is so little- not even three yet- and is just the littlest, prettiest, sweetest little girl in the world. She and I really connected. It was so hard to say goodbye but I've decided to sponsor her so I can watch her grow. When people want to help RSO one of the options is to sponsor a child. Rising Star Outreach is such a great organization because it's so pure.
Rising Star Outreach was started by a mom in Atlanta, Becky Douglas. Her oldest daughter commited suicide a few years back. In going through her daughter's things, Becky found that she had been donating money to a little orphanage in India. Becky asked people to send money to the orphanage instead of flowers for her daughter's funeral. The donation she sent was so huge the orphanage asked her to work for them. Becky went over to India to check things out, went back to Atlanta, got 4 friends together, and around a table one day came up with Rising Star Outreach. For those that call and want to help they have the option of sponsoring a child. It's $30 a month, about $1 a day, and 100% of that money goes to buy the kids' food, clothes, school books, care, medicine, vitamins, etc.
Amy told me that little Ravethy didn't have any sponsors yet because she's so young and new, so I knew she was the perfect choice. The kids contact their sponsors 4 times a year so it will be so fun for me to watch her grow up! I wrote her a long, tear-filled letter when I left for her to read when she's older, and attached a few pictures of she and I. It's hard to think that those kids won't ever have childhood stories- there are no stories of their first steps, first words, funny things they say and do, nothing. I left her with memories I had of her and can't wait to see her potential grow! If any of you would like to help, sponsoring a child would be a fantastic way to do it. I feel guilty for being hesitant at first because you're locked in 'til the child turns 18, so it's quite an investment. But I spend more than $1 a day on junk food, so it's better for many reasons that I let that go! :) Anyway, if anyone needs any ideas for family night, ward service projects, or personal ideas of how you can help, let me know! I have a list of a million ideas of how to help! Even the tiniest things make such a huge difference over there...even if it's something as simple as a letter for a child! It's incredible the things I've come to take advantage of.
It's been wonderful being home and being able to show my pictures and tell my stories. It's strange though- my mom made mention to how nonchalant I was about some things. I told her it was interesting to me how little I was affected by things while I was over there; I never really thought things were ugly, gross, or sad...they were just...life. It's sad in a way, but just because we know differently. I never felt sorry for the people because they seem content enough- ignorance is bliss, I guess. How can you miss something you've never had? I explained to my mom that it's a great blessing that I was able to have the attitude I did because now I'm able to come back and simply tell my stories, and they will take their own affect on people.
One of the greatest lessons I learned in India is that we souldn't spend our time feeling sorry for people; we shouldn't sit by and shake our heads and say, "oh, that's so sad...". Rather, we should take a second to appreciate everything we've been blessed with then get in there, get our hands dirty, and use a fraction of what we've been given to show a little love to someone. Amy taught us that it does little good to simply westernize things. We can drop off all the brooms, medicine, paint, toiletpaper, and bug spray we want, but without taking the time to explain why those things are important and to lead by example, they will just use them as firewood. I've learned that the way to make lasting differences in the world is to teach, nurture, and love. It's like the old saying: Give a man to fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Though I was only there for a short time, I got to take part in teaching men to fish.
I know I am forever inspired by my experience in India. Look at what's happened, all because a daughter donated a little money to an Indian orphanage. It's amazing. With help, RSO is slowly changing history- they are curing leprosy, getting kids and parents off the streets, but most importantly, educating people; giving them a sence of self-worth and pride for their country. I hope to be a Becky someday! Thank you all for listening to my stories. I have hundreds more, and almost 2,000 pictures, so if anyone ever needs a story, fireside speaker, or simple curiosity I would love to help! Feel free to ask me any time, I would absolutely love it! I love you all, and please keep in touch!
Jordan
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