Venkata puram day 3

Wednesday 

This morning we went to Venkata puram, another lepracy colony. Camille is a DJ at her college radio station so we listened to Camille's play list on the way. There were two rows of concrete houses. I asked who built them. Either the government or a church group was the answer. We walked around greeting people. There were two children following us around. Then one of the women in our group, Shanta oiled the skin of an old lepracy patient. Their skin gets really dry.  Camille painted the nails of one older woman. She only wanted one hand painted because she eats with the other hand.  No utensils needed here. 

Some of our people played Jenga with the two kids and we wanted to dance with them but as soon as the music started playing they ran away. We also made a rangoli which is a sand painting on the ground. There are four Indians that travel with us, two women and two men who help translate and drive and have medical backgrounds. The two women are in their early twenties. One is nicknamed Abby and I have to get the name of the other one.

Lots of dogs running around and most of them were the same breed. 

All the houses have open doors and windows. We did see a beautiful swarm of butterflies that were unusual looking. We are a fruit that I had never seen - very pulpy with a lemony thin rind. You eat it all. We also saw the plant they make henna out of. 

We ate lunch at the cafeteria after the kids had eaten. The Indian way to eat is with our hands - scooping the rice around in the curry sauce. It's messy. No napkins. We have rice for lunch and dinner with curry and cooked vegetables and sometimes lentils. 

After lunch we worked on photos of some kids to tell their story and putting webbing on a cot. All the kids in the school sleep on the floor like they do at home. They first had beds but they like the floor best. Some of the older adults prefer beds and some need beds or need new webbing across the cot. 

We have a cutting the fruit salad time daily where five of us prepare our fruit salad. We have bananas that are way better than in the US and pomegranates, oranges apples, and papaya. 

Then we played with kids on the playground. Today it was monkey in the middle. I did not get dizzy, such an improvement over last year. 

Then dinner where we say the good and the bad which they call highs and lows. My good was playing monkey in the middle and my bad was it was super hot and humid today. Thunderstorms tonight. There are some places with air conditioning, but the kids basically have no A/C. As I was walking to dinner up on a covered rooftop dining porch, I thought how I do not have a worry here. It is safe ( security guards around the fenced in school campus) happy, with meals , laundry, and clean up service provided. 

Back to our apartment which is a 90 minute drive. We are here for 2 more nights then we switch to the Holiday Inn, which is a little closer to the school campus.