Day 4 Rising Star
Today we went to another leprocy colony. We went with Camille and I, the two other volunteers, Shanta and Heather , a couple in their 70's who are volunteering for a year, Nancy and Daryl, Natalie the student from park City , a driver, Robbie an administrator with Rising Star and two local women , Abby and Kavita, in their twenties who have medical training and are our interpreters. The colony used to be in an outlying area but they were moved in the city. The houses were concrete and multiple generations lived there. Because in India you do not leave your family when you marry, if your grandfather had leprocy and was Moved to a colony, you might have grown up here and your children too. We saw a woman who was so proud her grandchildren were being educated at the Rising Star school.
We saw a woman getting water with a bucket from the water well. Garbage was strewn around but we were told we were not allowed to clean it up. It is up to the village leader to have it done. Children were runnng and playing in the dirt walkway with remnants of garbage having been partially burnt.
As part of a project to tell my story, gathering information to create books for the children who go to the school and are from the colonies, one of the volunteers , Shanta took down the story of a parent of a Rising Star student. Shanta is a social worker who has spent 20 years working in Africa, Burma, and India with the extreme poor. Two of her years were in India working with street children. A saint in our midst. She has a deep compassion for people with leprocy so she was excited to come here. She is currently living in Washington DC working with victims or torture and loves her work. She is a very spiritual person who worships with an African American mega baptist church. She loves African American spirituals. Heather, a Utah woman working for eBay also has spent time in Africa doing humanitarian work. Heather is very outgoing Heather helped Shanta record the story.
The rest of us on a sweltering day gravitated to the small chapel built by a Christain US church and we brought out clay, craft supplies nail polish, a ball and a stacking block game called Jenga. We had some bored kids follow us and play with us. Several women got their nails done and some inky wanted their left hand done because they eat with the right hand. No forks in India. You stir your curry and rice around and scoop your curry with your hand into your mouth so they did not want nail polish on their clean eating hand. There was a sign showing an improvement project funded by Rising Star.
Because the colony was near rhe city zoo, the zoo was on the schedule. One hour there and we saw a little of it. It was not well repaired and was oppressively hot. 95 F with 95% humidity which felt like 107. We agreed it was not worth the trip for future volunteers, but I liked seeing the Indian couples there. No public displays of affection here and most of the marriages are arranged. I was wiped out by the heat. We saw lots of monkeys , albino peacocks and a very ugly large stork. I wouldn't want that thing carrying a baby. Who thought of that anyway? We only saw a third of he zoo.
After the zoo we went back to the school campus in the minibus and had what for lunch? Curry and rice. It was a different curry of course but all vegetarian. Then we planned for a massive craft day next week to make beaded bracelets and pipe cleaner crockadiles.
Each evening for dinner we gather and tell our highs and lows. This is something I did with my children at dinner and we called it the good and the bad. Susie the dance master missed the bus to go to the colony today and the locals got all bent out of shape. A deviation from the schedule and the plan is not easily accommodated. We had curry and rice and boiled eggs fixed by the school cafeteria and add a fruit salad that we fix ourselves. No meat, no sugar. My high was playing Jenga with a master and low was the heat of the zoo. Nancy said her high was walking around the zoo with her sweetheart, Daryl. They are both on their third marriage and have only been married a few months. How about getting married and going to India for a year. Nancy was a school principal and Daryl was an aerospace engineer before they retired.
Today we take a break and spend a day and a half in a beach city with 1200 year old large stone carvings with stories of the Hindu gods. It is a local tourist joint. Everything is super cheap here. I bought 3 ice cream bars for 75 cents and that seemed like a lot compared to the other bakery items.
We saw a woman getting water with a bucket from the water well. Garbage was strewn around but we were told we were not allowed to clean it up. It is up to the village leader to have it done. Children were runnng and playing in the dirt walkway with remnants of garbage having been partially burnt.
As part of a project to tell my story, gathering information to create books for the children who go to the school and are from the colonies, one of the volunteers , Shanta took down the story of a parent of a Rising Star student. Shanta is a social worker who has spent 20 years working in Africa, Burma, and India with the extreme poor. Two of her years were in India working with street children. A saint in our midst. She has a deep compassion for people with leprocy so she was excited to come here. She is currently living in Washington DC working with victims or torture and loves her work. She is a very spiritual person who worships with an African American mega baptist church. She loves African American spirituals. Heather, a Utah woman working for eBay also has spent time in Africa doing humanitarian work. Heather is very outgoing Heather helped Shanta record the story.
The rest of us on a sweltering day gravitated to the small chapel built by a Christain US church and we brought out clay, craft supplies nail polish, a ball and a stacking block game called Jenga. We had some bored kids follow us and play with us. Several women got their nails done and some inky wanted their left hand done because they eat with the right hand. No forks in India. You stir your curry and rice around and scoop your curry with your hand into your mouth so they did not want nail polish on their clean eating hand. There was a sign showing an improvement project funded by Rising Star.
Because the colony was near rhe city zoo, the zoo was on the schedule. One hour there and we saw a little of it. It was not well repaired and was oppressively hot. 95 F with 95% humidity which felt like 107. We agreed it was not worth the trip for future volunteers, but I liked seeing the Indian couples there. No public displays of affection here and most of the marriages are arranged. I was wiped out by the heat. We saw lots of monkeys , albino peacocks and a very ugly large stork. I wouldn't want that thing carrying a baby. Who thought of that anyway? We only saw a third of he zoo.
After the zoo we went back to the school campus in the minibus and had what for lunch? Curry and rice. It was a different curry of course but all vegetarian. Then we planned for a massive craft day next week to make beaded bracelets and pipe cleaner crockadiles.
Each evening for dinner we gather and tell our highs and lows. This is something I did with my children at dinner and we called it the good and the bad. Susie the dance master missed the bus to go to the colony today and the locals got all bent out of shape. A deviation from the schedule and the plan is not easily accommodated. We had curry and rice and boiled eggs fixed by the school cafeteria and add a fruit salad that we fix ourselves. No meat, no sugar. My high was playing Jenga with a master and low was the heat of the zoo. Nancy said her high was walking around the zoo with her sweetheart, Daryl. They are both on their third marriage and have only been married a few months. How about getting married and going to India for a year. Nancy was a school principal and Daryl was an aerospace engineer before they retired.
Today we take a break and spend a day and a half in a beach city with 1200 year old large stone carvings with stories of the Hindu gods. It is a local tourist joint. Everything is super cheap here. I bought 3 ice cream bars for 75 cents and that seemed like a lot compared to the other bakery items.
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