abbey joanna: RISING STAR outreach.

So just a little explanation for those of you who don't know how this works: Rising Star Outreach basically consists of a school, a hostel for the children, and a volunteer hostel. The hostel is made up of children from the surrounding leper colonies who live here and attend school. The founder of RSO, Becky Douglas, came to India in 2000 and was affected by the poverty and especially the lepers of India. She wanted to give these children a home and proper education, and therefore created Rising Star Outreach. For more information, visit http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/history.

I am one of many who have come to RSO to volunteer and work for these children and in the community. Our day goes something like this:

Wake up. Eat. Get ready.
Meeting: we find out what "project" we will be doing for the day.
PROJECTS:
1. Anthropology: visiting one of the many surrounding leper colonies to visit with and record the life stories of those afflicted with leprosy
2. Building: Our group is working on what we call "squatters" which are a sort of... bathroom. It is hard work! We get to work with the locals and help them in any way they need us!
3. Medical: This involves going out to the leper colonies as well and washing and bandaging their wounds.
4. Painting: We paint murals on the walls of the hostel and school to make them aesthetically pleasing for the children!
5. Tutoring: This takes place at the RSO school where we work with children individually and tutor as needed.

We spend about 4-5 hours working on one of the above projects.
Return to RSO, relax.
4:30-6:00 play with the children! They have more energy than any kids I have ever seen in my life. RSO has a playground, jumpropes, balls, fields and more and we basically spend time entertaining the children.
Eat dinner.
Work on homework and read to the children
9:00 = days end and we get to do whatever we want.
AMAZING.

PLAYGROUND.