my fabulous final day @ RSO.

Today was amazing. It is not over yet but I am afraid I won't be able to post tonight because we will be busy packing up. We are leaving Rising Star Outreach @ about 4:00 am to head for Delhi. We went with the building team today out to do the final touches on the squatters (the Indian bathrooms we have been building in one of the colonies). This particular colony has an ART SCHOOL where the local lepers paint for a living. Most of them don't even have fingers and it was incredibly humbling to walk into the school and see multiple people barely holding a paint brush and yet, creating a masterpiece. One woman in particular caught my eye. Her name is SUNDARI. She was the sweetest old woman and Chelsea and I fell in love with her work. We both ended up buying a painting from her, as well as our friend, Steve. She was so amazed that we loved her work so much and as she watched us pay the man for her paintings, she stood there and cried. Chelsea and I were both so touched and teary ourselves. It is incredible what these people are able to do and I was amazed to see them use their talents in spite of what they have lost. It was incredible.
This is on the wall of the school. So neat.

Incredible. He doesn't even have fingers. We loved this painting but it wasn't finished so we couldn't purchase it.

This is SUNDARI. She is incredible.


Our next adventure for the day involved these bushes. This colony does not have any bathrooms, hence the reason we are building them. SO.... Chelsea and I both had to use the restroom and were directed to the "hill." It was a lovely sight, walking on the path surrounded by human feces. I realize this is graphic but it was one of the most comical moments of this trip so I just had to write about it.



We worked on the squatters for a while, plastering the outside. It was harder than it looked but a good experience. They look so great! It is amazing to think I helped to build that! It turned out the medical team was actually working in the same colony we were @ which was SO LUCKY! Chelsea and I both got to help wash and bandage wounds of some of the lepers. I am so grateful that I got to have this experience. It was wonderful to sit and talk to the people and help the nurse to make them feel better. It was one of the most MEMORABLE things I have done on this trip.

You can't really see this wound very well but it is on the back of his heel and SO DEEP. I watched the nurse shove the gauze about an inch into his foot. It was crazy but amazing.


As we were walking through the colony we saw KARPAN! He is the man I helped around the hospital yesterday. I was so excited to see him so we got another photo with him @ his home.

Such a fun filled and memorable day. I LOVE Rising Star Outreach. Every moment I am here I wish every person I know and love could see what I have seen here in India. Pictures and words can only go so far. These people are truly INCREDIBLE. Serving here may not change the entire world, but I believe that each day we are here we change a life, and in some small way, it changes a part of the world.