A Couple of Days

So almost two days have passed since the last time I wrote and I do apologize, but what's great about it is I have twice the stories to tell. Yesterday my group went out to Bethel Nagar, our favorite leprosy colony to go to because the people there are just so awesome, and it is the colony that Rising Star has gone to the most since it's establishment. There is one man there who is just so funny to talk to because every time we come he always greets us with a huge smile and his laughter is endless. I do not know his name and even if I did it would be almost impossible to pronounce, so I will just tell you the story about his life and what makes him so remarkable and unforgettable. He got leprosy and was brought to this colony, but besides leprosy he was also blind. Dr. Kumar, who is our doctor, wanted to operate on him and try to recover his eyesight, but the other doctors told him he was too old and the operation would never work, but this did not stop him. This man told our doctor that he wanted a chance to see his grand kids and his family before he died. With all of Dr. Kumar's faith in this operation, he made sure that was the reason he would see again. The operation miraculously worked and he was able to see in one eye. Since that day he has been the happiest man alive! Every time we enter in the colony he is the first one to talk to us. He walks by and shakes our hands with his nubs with joy because he can finally see again! That day we set up all of our medical equipment and began to do our work. We had this huge line that started with all the patients sitting down waiting for Dr. Kumar to write down what was wrong with them or if their sores had gotten better or worse. After they had been checked out, they went over to get their blood pressure taken, and then they would come get their feet washed and bandaged up. I, again, was taking photos, but this time instead of just taking photos of their feet I had to write the picture number from the camera as well as their name because Dr. Kumar did not have his laptop. To see our other doctor dig into their infected sores was pretty gruesome and many times I had to look away. I just can't imagine the pain this disease causes them. After all of our patients had been treated, they walked to our medical van to get their medicines and soap. We try to teach our patients to wash their feet during the time they have to wait for us to come again so their leprosy will get better the next time we come. A lot of these people are very grateful, but others are not, and they would rather take medicine, or a pill as they put it to get rid of leprosy. It would be great if all the worlds problems could be solved with a pill because this way I would already be rich and with a lot of women, but unfortunately this is not possible. It was very touching though to get to talk to each one of these people as they were being treated. I got a lot of smiles which felt good, but the best part of getting smiles is knowing wherever you are in the world when someone gives you a smile it is understood and you don't have to worry about deciphering it. I truly do love these people because they teach me so many things about myself and life that I didn't know before, and for that I am truly grateful. Today was a very hard day. My group stayed on the campus and we dug in order to find the water pipeline, the power line, and the internet line. Last year one of the lines got broken and so to make sure that didn't happen again we had to dig up and find each line to know where they were in the future. This is another funny example of how unorganized Indians are! Usually back in the states when we build things we have blueprints, but here they just do everything by ear! Well after about 4 hours of digging none of us could find this mysterious internet line. We managed to find all the other lines, but honestly I felt like 49ers digging for gold without hope of knowing that it actually existed. This was really frustrating, but being so determined to find this line all day, I had it in me to keep digging. Out of everyone else that was digging looking for this line my partner Catelyn and I were the first to find it! I felt so relieved because I knew I could finally shower and escape the scorching Indian heat. The shower felt so surreal! I guess out of all the other things that I have done here in India this was one of the many that I asked myself in what way is this helping! One thing that I have learned here in India is exactly what Mother Teresa said. "There are many people who can do big things, but there are few people who will do the small things." This quote is so true in everything that I have done here. No matter how many monuments I help build for these people what they will remember most will be the small things that were done for them because those things that we look at as small to them they are beyond anything we can fathom. Washing their feet, touching them, and showing them love we see as small things because everyday we do them, but here in India especially when they have leprosy they never see those things and to them that is a huge thing! Later on in the day all of the volunteers went out to Chengalpat for dinner and we had the famous parotha. It was crazy because Esther won eating 12 of them beating her old score of 11! I don't know how she did it because I eat 4 and I am done! Well it's 9:25 here and i'm supposed to be putting my kids to bed so I hope all of you enjoy my thoughts and stories! I love you all and I miss you all! I think about each one of you often and I hope that you guys are doing well! Keep looking out for many more stories!