a unique opportunity.

Today we took all 170 of the children from the school to India's version of a theme park. It is, of course, called "Dizzee World." Awesome.


It is even more GHETTO than it appears... if you can believe that.


A girl that is here for the summer has a grandfather who wanted to do something special for these kids. He kindly funded the entire day for all the staff, volunteers, and children. Although it was chaotic trying to keep 170 kids in line, safe, hydrated, fed, and happy, we had a great time. I think these children had an experience they will never forget. Every minute I am here I am reminded of great people who give so much to make others happy. Such a unique and memorable opportunity to go to a theme park, in INDIA, with 170 orphan children. Lucky me.

MY GROUP OF GIRLS FOR THE DAY.


(I promise they were having fun. Their faces may not show it in these photos... lol but they LOVED it)

NAMES: Manodhaya. Gracy. Sujatha. Karpagam. Logeswari. Sathya.

I'll be honest, this theme park makes LAGOON look absolutely incredible. This is one of the SKETCHIEST places I have ever been. Regardless, it was a great day.

children.

These are some of the kids that live here @ the hostel and attend the school. They are some of the most energetic and happy children I have ever been around! They are used to people like us visiting and spending time with them and they love it! They are so warm and inviting and easy to entertain. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the faces I see every day here @ Rising Star Outreach.

the greatest of people.

Today I went out with the medical van to another leper colony. It is the most isolated of them all, about two hours from Rising Star Outreach. This colony only has about seven people, all of which are old and will probably pass away in the next few years. It took a bit of warming up but by the end of our stay, it was very hard to leave.


We brought along nail-polish which they LOVED! We painted some of their nails and then one woman insisted on painting ours! It was the best and worst manicure ever. She was so sweet.


INTRODUCING... my new favorite person: JARAG.

This man made my day, made my life. He has severe leprosy and lives with his wife in this colony. I sat and talked with him for a long time and learned about his family. He showed me many pictures of his three sons and five grandchildren. I already have a soft spot for his granddaughter, JOSIE, because I love her name! He taught me some new phrases in TAMIL and I taught him how to say "What's up?" We sang "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" which I recorded but am sadly struggling to load. My nephews will appreciate him attempting to do the actions. It was hilarious. THEN, he taught me how to dance! We also performed the Macarena for him and he laughed at us. He painted some of my finger nails after having "1 thumb only" painted for him. We did not wash and bandage anyone in this colony because he is the only one with an open wound and he said, "My wife will do it for me." What a loving act of service. It was so sweet to see them interact, like nothing I have ever seen before. Unusual for this culture, he kept telling us how beautiful his wife is and complimenting her. They really LOVE each other. Literally, some of the greatest people I have met in my 21 years of life.

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.

HOSTELS. This is where the children and the volunteers sleep.

CLOTHESLINE. The children hand wash their own uniform and play clothes every day.

a perfect day.... minus heat & humidity!

Today was amazing. Not that I don't LOVE the humanitarian aspect of this trip, but it felt good to feel like tourist for the first time in INDIA. We went to a place called Mammalaporum, about an hour away from RISING STAR OUTREACH. Here is my day in pictures and words:



We wandered around these carving/ruins for a while. It was a really cool place.




Then we went SHOPPING! These adorable girls were selling on the street. These are some of the really great stores and items:





This picture was inspired by ROSANNA, our cleaning lady who told me 10 times before I left to "BUY FABRIC!" They really do have beautiful fabrics.

LUNCH. Not very Indian but super good!
Thank heavens for PEPSI in this country. I still miss my beloved DR. PEPPER.





Walking through the streets of MAMMALAPORUM.


I bought an awesome ring from this man. This was one of the SKETCHIEST experiences of my life so I just have to tell it. Chelsea and I went in this store and talked to this man forever and after leaving and returning, I bought a ring from him. I needed to use a debit card and he went to get the machine and it was "not working." So he put Chels in charge of the store (that is weird) and he walked me to an ATM "down the street." I thought it was like 2 seconds away so we started walking and then we got further and further and starting turning corners! I was seriously panicking and images of the movie "Taken" were going through my mind. I thought he had planned it out to have his machine break and leave one girl, take the other, arrange for people to visit his store to rape and kill Chelsea, and then rape and kill me on the way to the "ATM." I kept turning around and he knew I was getting nervous so he said, "Don't worry. I'll take you back." Anyway, I created some interesting stories in my head which clearly did not come true. I am alive with a gold banded, amethyst stone ring that I love! Oh, and on the way back he told me how he is getting married in a month. I was so excited for him until he said, "I don't think it will last long." Who just goes into a marriage thinking it's not going to last long? Weird. You may be thinking it was arranged because yes, this is India... WRONG. I asked. He has dated her for 2 years and is marrying her by choice. Interesting.

BEACH TIME!







Just kickin' it in the BAY OF BENGAL

anthropology.

We spent another day out in a leper colony working on the anthropology project. Anthropology is the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind, the science of humans and their works. Rising Star Outreach has made it a point to focus on this anthropology project, recording the life stories of these leprosy afflicted people before it is too late. It makes them feel like someone cares about the life they lived, in-spite of their classification as "untouchables." We walked around with a translator, Raja, who was a student at Rising Star a few years back. He just got called to serve a mission for the LDS church in Provo, Utah! He will be coming to the MTC on August 22nd. Here are a few pictures of the people in the colony.



This is one family we spoke to. The woman with the baby is Davi, she is 19 years old. Her baby BOYS name is Lokish. Though we all thought he was a girl until we saw the body parts, he is a beautiful baby. The children wear these rope/necklace looking things around their wastes and I found out yesterday that they do it because they think it fights off evil spirits. It is a cultural thing, not associated with a particular religion. Interesting.


Another family in the colony.


This mans name is MONNY. His wife leads him around the colony because he is blind. It was the sweetest thing to follow them up to their house and interview them. Such wonderful people.

a good day.

We spent lots of time today out in a colony building a bathroom. I felt like a caveman with ancient tools and old fashion building styles but it was a good experience. We got to work with some of the local men. Though it was hard to communicate, they were such hard workers and it was interesting to see what they do every day for maybe $3.00 a week. Pretty crazy. Tonight we got to teach a little "FHE" sort of thing on LOVE. We are split into "families" that we spend time with each night. There are house mothers that are assigned about 20 of the children from the orphanage to look after. Each of us are assigned to a house mother as well. I got to teach the lesson and it was a wonderful experience, especially hearing them sing I am a Child of God. It was probably the highlight of my summer. I also got to read to them tonight. These are smart kids! They love to sit on our laps and read books with us. You would be amazed at how good their english is. Anyway, here are a few pictures of my day. I'm not going to lie, I am hating the heat but loving the children. I am just trying to soak it all in.


SHOVELING some dirt/garbage/who knows what....
Faith. Camille. Abby. Abbey. Chelsea. Rochelle.



laying BRICKS and carrying DIRT


We have NO idea what this is but it was ALL OVER this colony and we thought this wall was cool....



our lovely FEET.
PS: You may think we look dumb in flip flops, BUT, the natives work bare foot or in flip flopish shoes so we decided to be culturally appropriate and fit in. Also, in case you are wondering, other than the ants crawling all over my feet, I did not regret the decision.