It's the Small Things that Count!

Today was a great day! I got to go out to the colony of Muut, which my mom started. I do not know the entire story of how she started the colony, but I know that she did send tons of rice to them and other things that they needed. This colony is the smallest colony that we go to with only seven people, but each one of them are so happy to see us every time we arrive. It was great because when I arrived one of the men remembered me from the last time I had been there when I helped him carry rice. He told our translator that I have changed in size and I don't talk as much or joke as much as I did last time. It felt great to know that I was remembered. Talking to these people you really get to know them and it feels like they really get to know you back. I can't really explain that feeling that I get because I guess you just have to experience it, but it feels so amazing as you take the time to get to know these people that are outcasted from their society. It's sad because the rest of India is truly missing out on some awesome people! While we were there, Radhika, one of our translators and teachers for our school, danced for them. To see these people light up with joy as she was dancing was hysterical! The man that remembered me had these huge burns on his feet so he could not stand, but to see him clap and sing and laugh was just so touching to me. I think it is so remarkable to see them with nothing and yet still have room to be full of joy and love! I don't know what I would do if I was in that position. The great thing about this colony is the location of it. It's an hour away from where we are, but in the middle of the country. There are huge fields and even though it is hot and dry to the eye it looks beautiful! I asked the people what they do for fun, and what seems to be a big time passer for these people is watching T.V. and listening to the radio. It's not much, but to them they appreciate it greatly, and that is what counts. I also asked the ones that do not have leprosy as bad as the other people if they go out anywhere. It was cool to hear they go to the movies sometimes when they get welfare money, which is similar to our welfare system of food and etc. It's pretty shocking to me that majority of these people we visit in the colonies are Christian. I definetly did not expect seeing pictures of Jesus everywhere in their colony, but it made me feel more comfortable knowing they have full trust in God instead of all their thousands of Gods like the rest of the Indian culture. After talking with them and getting to know about their lives, the girls got their fingernails painted with all the women, and that was pretty funny to see. Instead of getting the nail like it should've been they just painted away and sort of sloshed it on their nails and made it look pretty wild, but it was great and you could tell they had joy in sharing their time. Leaving the colonies always gets hard for me especially after learning so much about them. As I was reading later in the day, I came across this quote from my book that totally hit me about the people here in India that we visit. "I came from nothing too. Sometimes I think it's easier. Ambition is natural when you don't have anything. You know what you're driving for." When I think about this quote I relate it to my personal life as well as the lives of these leprosy-affected. I appreciate things so much and even though a lot of the times I take things for granted I know at the end of the day that I was blessed. I have worked hard to get to where I am today and who I have become. It's the same in the lives of these people here. They have nothing, but they have ambition and a drive of where they want their lives to go. Everyday I visit these people and their trust and faith is in God. I am truly amazed. I never thought that somewhere, being India, could teach me so many things. I want each one of you to know that when you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, never give up then, for that is just the time the tide will turn. I love these people here and I love the work i'm doing. I hope all of you are doing well back home. I miss you all and love each one of you!

Another Exciting Day!

Everyday seems to be another adventure here, but I am loving it because everyday I learn something new either from the people here in the colonies, or from just within myself. Wednesday I went out to the colonies again. This colony was about two hours away so I had a lot of time to relax and listen to music. It was great because looking out the window I saw the country of India and it is truly beautiful! We had Raja come with us, one of our translators. Raja is one of RSO's kids that is now shortly leaving for his mission to Provo, Utah. He is the first kid of any RSO kid to leave the school. Raja is such a funny guy and he always keeps us entertained. Thiruttani was the colony we went to. Thiruttani is a pretty interesting colony because we first started to go there last year to help build them a community shelter. When we arrived there a year ago they had their doubts about us working because we were apparently "soft" and "American" and so that meant to them that we couldn't do hard labor, but little did they know that we would come in there and work so hard. In a week we had built this community shelter and they were stunned and so grateful. The people and the president of the colony didn't want us to leave and kept asking when would we return. Today they have a new president and he is corrupt. He has been taking the money we have been giving the colonists for their businesses and using it for himself and his family, so we stopped sending the colony money. It is really sad because they now have crawled back into their old lives of begging and for those that don't beg they have shops along the steps leading up to the temple in the village next to their colony. When we were sending them money we tried to teach them the importance of being independent by having a business, which we setup through our micro-loans, but without the money they cannot afford to keep their businesses running. It really is sad how the wrong doings of one person have caused this colony to suffer. As I was going up the steps of this temple I would notice beggars of all sorts shouting rudely at our group and translators. The beggars would yell telling our translators to try to get money from us so they could get money. This lifestyle is just so sad, but when their country is so poor there is just not a lot they can do. I wanted to help them, but it's against our rules to give out anything to the people because it takes away everything we have set up in order for them to become independent. At the top of the stairs you see this beautiful temple and the view that looks out across the valley is picturesque! One of the cool things about being there was we saw this elephant that was trained to give you his blessing. The way it worked was you had to give the elephant a 2 rupee coin and place it on his trunk, he would then curl it up, hand it to his master, and then lightly tap his trunk on your head. It was by far one of the coolest things I have seen here in India along with that really weird festival. Since we only had a short amount of time that day we didn't get to talk to as many people in the colony as I thought we would, so I only got the chance to talk to one family, which I was bummed about, but still very grateful. It was great to go to Thiruttani and see how much it had changed in a year. Today I went out to the colonies as well. This colony I had been to before and it is my favorite colony because there are two women there that are so amazing! Marianne, one of the women, has sacrificed so much to be where she is now. She gave up all she had so her kids could have a future. She came to this colony and helped build it before her leprosy got bad, and now she is slowly working to pay off her house debt that the government help her build. At one point she thought about putting her house up so her son could keep his job! Marianne is so full of faith. For all those times that I have doubted God I wish I hadn't because if someone who has less than I can have more faith, then to me, I have a long way to go in becoming faithful in all things especially life! Another woman there that is just so remarkable is Mumtaj. This woman was diagnosed with leprosy at the age of seven, had shots for it, but after she got married and pregnant it came back. She fled with her daughter to this colony because she didn't want to be a burden on her husband. She told us about how hard she has worked in order to make her daughter's life the best it could be. Mumtaj is a devout christian. She goes to church every Saturday and Sunday and then goes back home where she is usually laughing with the other women colonists. These two women have taught me what sacrificing really means. It just amazes me how they do not have anything and yet they still are giving to the ones they love and to others! It takes a lot of faith and courage to sacrifice all you have. God truly blesses those that have room to give no matter how much or little we have. I love being here and I love these people! I miss all of you guys so much and I love each one of you as well! Don't lose sight in where you're headed and always have faith in yourself and in your situations. God bless all and take care!

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!

What A Weekend!

So since I haven't been on here for a couple of days i'm going to start from Friday, the day that I should have written, but due to my complications I was unable to do so. I spent all day Friday throwing up and being sick for some unknown reason, but then again T.I.I(This Is India), the famous acronym used by all the volunteers, was my only answer. You can feel my frustration can't you? Well that night the kids got to watch this slide show of some old pictures that were taken of them when their hostile was located in the city of Chennai, and the only reason I know that is because for a short amount of time I went out and saw some of it to get fresh air, but then after that I went back to bed. Saturday come around and I feel so much better! Thank goodness! All of us coordinators and two volunteers went to Mamallapuram, the beach city right in the Bay of Bengal. The whole day we spent relaxing at the beach, swimming, and a few of us were brave enough to get the Indian massages. I did not because I had already done the whole exotic massage from another country thing, and my experiences in Cambodia were almost perfect and I didn't want to mess that up with an oily Indian massage. When the girls were done I asked them how it was, and they said oilllyyy! I just smiled and nodded. The food at the resort was awesome! I got to spend some time with Esther and that was fun. We walked around the tourist markets and she bought some cool jewelry and some shirts for her fiance. I also got some cool pictures of me on the beach! I mean if I am in a exotic country like India I have to get some pictures of me on the beach so I can show the girls when I get back! On the way back we stopped at our favorite place to get lunch/dinner. In India they have this amazing bread called paratha, but it's pronounced parota. It's amazing! It's like a naan bread, but more tortilla like. I don't know how they exactly make it, but it's one of the best things to eat here in India. So we're on the side of the street eating this amazing bread, and I notice behind me this huge rack of Indian music. In my head I freak out and I go to buy some. On these cds they have like 120 songs! That is amazing because back in the states we can only get like 20 on one cd. Well each was like 30 rupees, so for three I spent 90 rupees which is almost $2 in the states. I love India because everything here is so cheap! The cd covers are so funny. They have pictures of girls dancing and the guys are wearing who knows what! We got back around 7:40 and then we hooked up a huge projector so the kids could watch Robin Hood. Every Saturday the kids watch some sort of movie and have popcorn. So I guess I can still feel like I am somewhat back in the states! Today was by far the most exciting day so far spent in India! Out of everything strange and bizarre that happens in India this totally knocks it out! So we were planning to go to church but we didn't have a driver. We called our other driver Regindren, who lives in the Nelvoy village just right outside of where our hostel is. It takes us two hours every Sunday to get to church because that is the closest Mormon church from where we are. So as we're driving Regindren hands us these photos of what looks like some festival. We find out this is a tradition that goes on in his village and his sister's son was going to be there and his family. We ask him if he was sad that he was going to miss it, but he does not know English very well and did not seem to get the question. The four of us volunteers pointed to the photo and said, "Are you sad that you're going to miss this?" He said, "Yes, 9-1." We felt so bad that we decided to miss church and go back so he could go be with his family to be a participant in this festival. Sometimes we get frustrated because the drivers cannot meet our needs of transportation, but we don't know what they're missing in order to come out of their way to do us that favor. We asked him if we were allowed to come and he said it was ok. So he takes us back and the three girls change into Chutidars which are the typical casual outfits the girls wear in public. Sarees, another type of outfit, are more formal and are used for church and nice events. So, after we were all changed we went with him to this festival, and I am glad we did because I probably will never see what I saw again! The festival didn't start till 9:30 so he invited us to his home to meet his family. We met his wife and his four daughters. They were all beautiful. So, finally we get to this festival right down the street from where Regindren's house was and they had six boys from the age of 8 to what looked like 16 sitting down getting these fruits sewed into there back and chest. The village had a huge temple and inside the temple there were two old men that would yell praises. There was a man on the roof taking up leaves and what looked life offerings to put on the roof of the temple, there were two old women possessed and just dancing in a wierd manner in front of the temple, and then to the side of the temple there was a group of men playing drums and this wierd trumpet and chanting as they played. After the boys had their whole upper back and chest of sewed on fruits, they entered inside the temple to get these huge hooks hooked in their lower back. One hook was hooked into them on each side of their back. As the hooks were being placed in their back, the old men inside the temple would yell different sayings, but they would yell them at the same time. So while all this is going on, I and the other 3 volunteers just looked at each other not knowing what the heck was going on! All of us were asking so many questions and we finally got to know the festival happens as a praise to one of their Gods. The boys can have this done at any age, but they have to be unmarried to do so. Regindren had this dedication to the Gods done three times! It was funny because as the boys were going through the first step of having the fruits sewed onto their skin, Regindren pulled up his shirt to show us his scars on his back. They were hideous! We kept telling him he was a real man for having it done three times. I just can't imagine the pain they feel as they get fruits sewed on their skin and hooks hooked in their back! The last step is they have to get this tattoo of a trident on their tongue! By this point I don't know what to think! After all the steps are done they get yellow rope and through the hooks they tie the rope to these carts for the Gods. Two boys had to pull carts while the other four pulled a bus all decorated with flowers! Now imagine how painful it would be to have hooks in your back while pulling a flowery bus! I guess if it was a regular bus it wouldn't worth it right? I asked Regindren how far they had to pull the carts and the bus, and he told me 10 feet. I thought WOW! So all that pain to just pull a cart and a bus for 10 feet?! Screw the Gods I wouldn't do it! I don't know what Regindren was talking about when he said 10 feet because after the ceremony was finished they kept going from the village all the way down the street. Unfortunately, we did not follow them that far. This was by far the most interesting thing I have ever seen in my life! I guess this is what happens when you skip church in India. After the ceremony we went back to Regindren's house and all of us got a family photo. We thanked him for allowing us to come with him and his family to the village festival. I have to say though throughout all that time we were there Regindren never stopped smiling. He was so grateful to show us his family and he was so happy that we spent that time with him. Regindren is one our drivers and he has been working with us for a few years now. He's an awesome guy and you can always see him with a smile on his face! I just love the people here. No matter what part of the world you are from they all accept you as one of their own. Whether you go to the colonies or out in public each person you talk to can teach you something you didn't know. This country is full of love and joy and I love being here! These people will walk up to you and ask you for your name and to them knowing your name makes their day! I wish America could be like India in that aspect! I wish more people back home could have as much love and joy as these people in India do. Try to incorporate love and joy throughout all you do and I promise you that your life will be happy and joyous like these Indians. They have nothing and yet they still have so much joy and happiness, and while we have a lot more than they do sometimes we are still not happy. Just think about that and then see what is really important in your life. I miss all of you and I love each one of you back home! Be safe and take care!