I want to take him home with me. This is the youngest boy at the boys home. I really want him! How cute is he?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Ganesh
I want to take him home with me. This is the youngest boy at the boys home. I really want him! How cute is he?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Hello again!
Hey everyone! Sorry for the long delay in not posting. Internet isn't always reliable here.
On saturday, it will be one month since i've been here! Crazy how time is flying by! So, what's been going on you ask? Lot's of things!
At the boys home, our projects are coming along. On Wednesday, the grounds were prepared for the vegetable garden, so they had an inauguration ceremony! the head of Agriculture from a local college came and ceremoniously planted the first seed. Then Gabby , Kate and i (Gabby and kate are the 2 other americans with me) planted seeds. It was a very big moment! all the kids watched and were very excited! After that, we got to give out awards to the kids for athletic achievement. Earlier in the week, they had a sports competition where they played volleyball, ran races, etc. It was very fun watching all the kids compete. they are all very talented and they enjoyed having us there watching and cheering them on. Working with the boys has been very fun! They LOVE when we take pictures and whenever they see a camera, they don't stop asking us to take a picture until we take one!
Some higlights about the boys: One boy, Ganesh, is the youngest at the home. I really want to take him home! He is just so cute and tiny and he gets bullied a lot by the older boys. Another boy has really big and happy looking eyes that i've nicknamed "Mutte Kann". that means "egg eyes" in Tamil. He laughs every time! he makes me laugh with his funny facial expressions too! . One boy, Yenu, has a BIG, bright white smile! He is very good at art and sports. He is very friendly and always smiles. We can see his smile from a mile away! I've also gotten to talk to some kids and found out they were Christians! It was very exciting. These are just some of the boys that i've gotten to talk to. They are all so cute and precious. I hope to get to know all of them well..but that is hard being that there are 120 of them! i will try my best!
It is taking longer to develop relatioships with the kids due to the language barrier. I am trying very hard to learn tamil, and thankfully, we have a translator, Kalai, who works with us. With time i will learn more and be able to converse more with the kids on my own.
At the girls home, we have enjoyed quality time with them. We don't have many projects to work on at that home so we just are able to just spend quality time with the girls. They are all very sweet and well behaved. There is one girl, Sophena, she is very tiny and so cute. I asked her how she was in tamil the other day and she looks up with a huge smile and said "Nalarge!!" (that means good in Tamil. i don't know how to spell it!) The girls like teaching me tamil. Another girl, Sangeetha, is also very tiny and she is one of the youngest along with Sophena. (i think they are both 8). We call her "Sassy Sangeetha" she has a very spunky and sassy attitude, it's very cute! It's been a little easier getting to know the girls since there are only 15 of them, but i will be able to know them better once i can have a conversation with them in Tamil! I'm hoping to buy a sewing machine for the girls so i can teach them how to sew! I also plan to teach them some embroidery and do some art projects with them. They love doing art projects!
I've also had the opportunity to volunteer at the hospital that i'm staying at. they have a rehab center for leprosy patients, where they teach them weaving, pottery, embroidery, etc. It has been very fun so far! there is one man here that has been working there for 25 years. He has lost his hearing and some of his eyesight due to leprosy. He is also mute. He works in pottery, and makes these tea pots called "Magic Pots." you turn the pot upside down, pour water in a small hole, turn the pot right side up and the water doesn't come out the bottom. They are very beautiful and very well engineered! unfortunately, he is the only person that knows how to make them! since he's deaf and mute it makes it VERy hard to teach anyone. I got to watch him make a couple the other day and i hope to learn how to make them. I hope that I can be an encouragement to him. I also got a chance to watch a couple weavers! They make tea towels, skirts, handbags, etc. They are setting up a loom for me so that i can weave too! I'm very excited! It is a little difficult to communicate there sometimes since they don't speak much english. i think sometimes they talk about me and laugh..but not in a mean way. They are very nice, it's just a little awkward at times.
last saturday, it was Diwali! That is the biggest holiday in India and it's a very big deal! People celebrate with special foods and setting off fire crackers. We got to celebrate by going to our traslator's hostel. She has lived in this hostel since she was 6 months old! It is a very big orphanage with several cottages and kids ranging in age from about a year old to 18. It was great to have some time with younger kids!! There was one boy, Barat, who was sitting all alone and he wouldn't smile! I played with him a lot and i got to see him smile as the day went on! He has only been living there for a couple of weeks. I know his father left them and his mother is still alive but isn't able to care for him. He is very cute. Hopefully as time goes by he can get to know the other kids and feel more comfortable and happy there! It breaks my heart when kids don't smile!
Sidenote story: While we were having snacks with the kids at the hostel, a woman came around to all the volunteers to give us a sweet. The sweet is similar to a glazed doughnut and sticky..so the woman had the sweet in her hand, and she was rolling it around..rolling it all over her hand and breaking it up and smooshing it back in a ball again. and then she almost forcefully shoveled it into my mouth. (ew!) I am very germ conscious, especially here in india. seeing her roll around a sticky doughnut in her hand and then putting it into my mouth made me want to gag. It would be extremely rude for me to reject anything from her, so i had to eat it! ew! I really hope her hands were clean...I hope nothing like that happens again. it may have been my grossest experience thus far..
2 weekends ago, we went into Chennai again for an A.R Rahman concert. He did the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire. So we went to Chennai on Saturday night, spent the night in a christian hostel. It was a nice hostel, but there was no a.c..so it was 91 degrees in our room. all night. It was an experience! At least it only cost us about $4 each. on Sunday morning we went to the church service at the hostel. It was half Tamil half english. I really enjoyed having english and Tamil! It's so amazing to hear people singing praise and praying in different languages! :) It was a very good service. Later that night was the concert! It was AMAZING! mmm so good. after the concert, we took a bus for about an hour and a half back to the center of chennai, waited for 2 hours for the train, and finally boarded the train at 3:40. That train ride was one of the dirtiest, uncomfortable and..interesting experiences of my life. We had to ride in general class, so there were no seats availible, so we stood and sat on the really dirty floor. It was crowded and extremely smelly. And since we hadn't slept, i was very tired and cranky and i couldn't handle it. I don't think i've EVER been that dirty before in my entire life. But, i survived the train and luckily we had the morning off so we could sleep until the afternoon. It was certainly an India experience!
Whew! Anyone who read that whole thing deserves a gold star. I'll try to post more often so it won't be such a huge chunk of information! i am working VERY hard to get pictures up on here shortly!!! We are not able to upload photos at the computer lab, and it takes too long at internet cafe's. Our only chance is at the girls home, and it's very slow! I will try my very hardest to get them up shortly! I think that's all the latest news..
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Delia
p.s: Comments are greatly appreciated.
On saturday, it will be one month since i've been here! Crazy how time is flying by! So, what's been going on you ask? Lot's of things!
At the boys home, our projects are coming along. On Wednesday, the grounds were prepared for the vegetable garden, so they had an inauguration ceremony! the head of Agriculture from a local college came and ceremoniously planted the first seed. Then Gabby , Kate and i (Gabby and kate are the 2 other americans with me) planted seeds. It was a very big moment! all the kids watched and were very excited! After that, we got to give out awards to the kids for athletic achievement. Earlier in the week, they had a sports competition where they played volleyball, ran races, etc. It was very fun watching all the kids compete. they are all very talented and they enjoyed having us there watching and cheering them on. Working with the boys has been very fun! They LOVE when we take pictures and whenever they see a camera, they don't stop asking us to take a picture until we take one!
Some higlights about the boys: One boy, Ganesh, is the youngest at the home. I really want to take him home! He is just so cute and tiny and he gets bullied a lot by the older boys. Another boy has really big and happy looking eyes that i've nicknamed "Mutte Kann". that means "egg eyes" in Tamil. He laughs every time! he makes me laugh with his funny facial expressions too! . One boy, Yenu, has a BIG, bright white smile! He is very good at art and sports. He is very friendly and always smiles. We can see his smile from a mile away! I've also gotten to talk to some kids and found out they were Christians! It was very exciting. These are just some of the boys that i've gotten to talk to. They are all so cute and precious. I hope to get to know all of them well..but that is hard being that there are 120 of them! i will try my best!
It is taking longer to develop relatioships with the kids due to the language barrier. I am trying very hard to learn tamil, and thankfully, we have a translator, Kalai, who works with us. With time i will learn more and be able to converse more with the kids on my own.
At the girls home, we have enjoyed quality time with them. We don't have many projects to work on at that home so we just are able to just spend quality time with the girls. They are all very sweet and well behaved. There is one girl, Sophena, she is very tiny and so cute. I asked her how she was in tamil the other day and she looks up with a huge smile and said "Nalarge!!" (that means good in Tamil. i don't know how to spell it!) The girls like teaching me tamil. Another girl, Sangeetha, is also very tiny and she is one of the youngest along with Sophena. (i think they are both 8). We call her "Sassy Sangeetha" she has a very spunky and sassy attitude, it's very cute! It's been a little easier getting to know the girls since there are only 15 of them, but i will be able to know them better once i can have a conversation with them in Tamil! I'm hoping to buy a sewing machine for the girls so i can teach them how to sew! I also plan to teach them some embroidery and do some art projects with them. They love doing art projects!
I've also had the opportunity to volunteer at the hospital that i'm staying at. they have a rehab center for leprosy patients, where they teach them weaving, pottery, embroidery, etc. It has been very fun so far! there is one man here that has been working there for 25 years. He has lost his hearing and some of his eyesight due to leprosy. He is also mute. He works in pottery, and makes these tea pots called "Magic Pots." you turn the pot upside down, pour water in a small hole, turn the pot right side up and the water doesn't come out the bottom. They are very beautiful and very well engineered! unfortunately, he is the only person that knows how to make them! since he's deaf and mute it makes it VERy hard to teach anyone. I got to watch him make a couple the other day and i hope to learn how to make them. I hope that I can be an encouragement to him. I also got a chance to watch a couple weavers! They make tea towels, skirts, handbags, etc. They are setting up a loom for me so that i can weave too! I'm very excited! It is a little difficult to communicate there sometimes since they don't speak much english. i think sometimes they talk about me and laugh..but not in a mean way. They are very nice, it's just a little awkward at times.
last saturday, it was Diwali! That is the biggest holiday in India and it's a very big deal! People celebrate with special foods and setting off fire crackers. We got to celebrate by going to our traslator's hostel. She has lived in this hostel since she was 6 months old! It is a very big orphanage with several cottages and kids ranging in age from about a year old to 18. It was great to have some time with younger kids!! There was one boy, Barat, who was sitting all alone and he wouldn't smile! I played with him a lot and i got to see him smile as the day went on! He has only been living there for a couple of weeks. I know his father left them and his mother is still alive but isn't able to care for him. He is very cute. Hopefully as time goes by he can get to know the other kids and feel more comfortable and happy there! It breaks my heart when kids don't smile!
Sidenote story: While we were having snacks with the kids at the hostel, a woman came around to all the volunteers to give us a sweet. The sweet is similar to a glazed doughnut and sticky..so the woman had the sweet in her hand, and she was rolling it around..rolling it all over her hand and breaking it up and smooshing it back in a ball again. and then she almost forcefully shoveled it into my mouth. (ew!) I am very germ conscious, especially here in india. seeing her roll around a sticky doughnut in her hand and then putting it into my mouth made me want to gag. It would be extremely rude for me to reject anything from her, so i had to eat it! ew! I really hope her hands were clean...I hope nothing like that happens again. it may have been my grossest experience thus far..
2 weekends ago, we went into Chennai again for an A.R Rahman concert. He did the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire. So we went to Chennai on Saturday night, spent the night in a christian hostel. It was a nice hostel, but there was no a.c..so it was 91 degrees in our room. all night. It was an experience! At least it only cost us about $4 each. on Sunday morning we went to the church service at the hostel. It was half Tamil half english. I really enjoyed having english and Tamil! It's so amazing to hear people singing praise and praying in different languages! :) It was a very good service. Later that night was the concert! It was AMAZING! mmm so good. after the concert, we took a bus for about an hour and a half back to the center of chennai, waited for 2 hours for the train, and finally boarded the train at 3:40. That train ride was one of the dirtiest, uncomfortable and..interesting experiences of my life. We had to ride in general class, so there were no seats availible, so we stood and sat on the really dirty floor. It was crowded and extremely smelly. And since we hadn't slept, i was very tired and cranky and i couldn't handle it. I don't think i've EVER been that dirty before in my entire life. But, i survived the train and luckily we had the morning off so we could sleep until the afternoon. It was certainly an India experience!
Whew! Anyone who read that whole thing deserves a gold star. I'll try to post more often so it won't be such a huge chunk of information! i am working VERY hard to get pictures up on here shortly!!! We are not able to upload photos at the computer lab, and it takes too long at internet cafe's. Our only chance is at the girls home, and it's very slow! I will try my very hardest to get them up shortly! I think that's all the latest news..
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Delia
p.s: Comments are greatly appreciated.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
PEOPLE! PEoPLE EVERYWHERE!
First week in India!
The first week here has been great! We started work at both the boys home and the girls home. the boys home has about 120 boys ranging in age from 5/6 to 18. The girls home has about 15 girls ranging in age from 8 or 9 to 14 ish..i think. At the boys home we all have different projects to work on. I'm going to be decorating some rooms and helping with planting and upkeep of a vegetable garden. We've gotten to hear some of the stories on how the kids got into the orphanage. At the girls home, there are two girls that are sisters. Both their parents died of HIV and the older sister who is 10 years old, recently found out that she is HIV + as well. Very dad, but God is defiantely doing a great work at both homes. We have a translator that we are working with that is with us to talk to the kids. I've been learning some Tamil. Eru! that means wait! that's the only word i know how to spell but i do know some other words.
On Monday, we went to the boys home. We got to meet the boys, play games, and get a run down on some of the projects that need to be done. Trying to learn names has definately been a challenge! They all have very long names that are very hard to say, but with practice I'm getting them. They think it's funny when we try to say their names! There is one boy that looks boy that looks like a young Indian version of George Clooney. (side note: I've found that I've been seeing the Indian versions of people i know. It's strange..) They are all very well behaved and it's fun to see all of their personalities and see how much potential they have.
On Tuesday, we took about 90 of the boys to the Circus! The Circus was pretty similar to any other Circus, except it was like 90 degrees with no air circulation and flies everywhere. But besides that it was great! The kids don't get out much so this was an adventure for them , and they seemed to really enjoy the circus.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we went to the boys home and began our work on the projects and played with the kids.
Friday was a very exciting day. We went to Chennai which is the closest large city. Luckily, we brought our friend Kalai who has been our translater. She helped us out so much! We got there at about 6 am, went to breakfast and then took our first Auto ride. If you don't know what an auto is, it's like a taxi but it has 3 wheels and is very small..and a little scary. The entire time, i could stick my hand out of the vehicle and touch the car next to us. So we took the auto to Marina Beach where we got to see the Indian Ocean! :) It was kind of nice to see a beach of fully clothed people! Aftger the beach, we went to Spencer plaza which is like a big shopping mall. There we went into shops and...got our noses pierced! Pictures to come.
Saturday, we took the girls to a small zoo. After lunch, we hiked to a little waterfall. The kids had a blast splashing around in the water!
So it's been over a week and I'm starting to adjust to the culture, communicating with a language barrier, getting stared at, etc. It's been a great experience so far! :)
Thigns that are different about India:
1. animals are everywhere. even in the middle of the road.
2. when the cars here go in reverse, they either play music or a beeping noise.
3. people bobble their heads from side to side to say yes or ok.
More to come later! If you could continue to pray for health and safety for me and the other two girls with me that would be great!
Love,
Delia
The first week here has been great! We started work at both the boys home and the girls home. the boys home has about 120 boys ranging in age from 5/6 to 18. The girls home has about 15 girls ranging in age from 8 or 9 to 14 ish..i think. At the boys home we all have different projects to work on. I'm going to be decorating some rooms and helping with planting and upkeep of a vegetable garden. We've gotten to hear some of the stories on how the kids got into the orphanage. At the girls home, there are two girls that are sisters. Both their parents died of HIV and the older sister who is 10 years old, recently found out that she is HIV + as well. Very dad, but God is defiantely doing a great work at both homes. We have a translator that we are working with that is with us to talk to the kids. I've been learning some Tamil. Eru! that means wait! that's the only word i know how to spell but i do know some other words.
On Monday, we went to the boys home. We got to meet the boys, play games, and get a run down on some of the projects that need to be done. Trying to learn names has definately been a challenge! They all have very long names that are very hard to say, but with practice I'm getting them. They think it's funny when we try to say their names! There is one boy that looks boy that looks like a young Indian version of George Clooney. (side note: I've found that I've been seeing the Indian versions of people i know. It's strange..) They are all very well behaved and it's fun to see all of their personalities and see how much potential they have.
On Tuesday, we took about 90 of the boys to the Circus! The Circus was pretty similar to any other Circus, except it was like 90 degrees with no air circulation and flies everywhere. But besides that it was great! The kids don't get out much so this was an adventure for them , and they seemed to really enjoy the circus.
On Wednesday and Thursday, we went to the boys home and began our work on the projects and played with the kids.
Friday was a very exciting day. We went to Chennai which is the closest large city. Luckily, we brought our friend Kalai who has been our translater. She helped us out so much! We got there at about 6 am, went to breakfast and then took our first Auto ride. If you don't know what an auto is, it's like a taxi but it has 3 wheels and is very small..and a little scary. The entire time, i could stick my hand out of the vehicle and touch the car next to us. So we took the auto to Marina Beach where we got to see the Indian Ocean! :) It was kind of nice to see a beach of fully clothed people! Aftger the beach, we went to Spencer plaza which is like a big shopping mall. There we went into shops and...got our noses pierced! Pictures to come.
Saturday, we took the girls to a small zoo. After lunch, we hiked to a little waterfall. The kids had a blast splashing around in the water!
So it's been over a week and I'm starting to adjust to the culture, communicating with a language barrier, getting stared at, etc. It's been a great experience so far! :)
Thigns that are different about India:
1. animals are everywhere. even in the middle of the road.
2. when the cars here go in reverse, they either play music or a beeping noise.
3. people bobble their heads from side to side to say yes or ok.
More to come later! If you could continue to pray for health and safety for me and the other two girls with me that would be great!
Love,
Delia
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