Why not Christmas in India?

Spending a Christmas, with Rising Star Outreach, would be a Christmas never forgotten.

I changed a normal school day into Christmas and the kids loved it.
No one knew what my plan was, so it caught the whole campus off guard.
During recess I had a volunteer dress up as Santa and run onto their playing field.
It didn't take long for kids and staff to come running.
I had Santa carry a huge bag of treats for every child on campus.
Santa was a Super Star!!

Hobi's in India-Rising Star Outreach

It's been over 2 months since we've been in India.  I hate to admit this but it has taken me about that long to get through my photos and video footage.

I ran out of steam when I got home.  School is almost out and I still haven't been in the classrooms to show what we did.  That's next weeks MUST DO!

I did put together a video of our adventures.  The kids love watching it over and over.  So do I.  Memories offer sweet feelings.

Enjoy!

The Return to Abraham

This is Vandaloor.

Vandaloor is a leprosy colony.

This is my friend Abraham.

He has leprosy.

I met him last June.

He remembered me

As you can see leprosy has taken it's toll

on my friend in 9 short months.

                                             

                                             June 2011                                                 March 2012

                           

It's as if a decade has passed.

Leprosy attacks the nerves in the feet and hands.

Slowly the face begins to droop 

around the nose and

vision is impaired. 

Abraham has missing toes and fingers.

I can see the biggest change in his eyes.

Last year I could see he was strong.

He took me into his home and prayed for me.

This time he kept more to himself.

I think he's going blind.

I'm sad to see him like this. 

He loves his daughter and grandkids a lot. 

It's odd to feel I know this man like I do.  

We've never exchanged words.

But my heart tells me I know him.

Someday we will find each other and he will

shake my hand, with his perfected hands,

and we will fill in the gaps to our story.

I am glad to have known Abraham.

A Soft Heart

Recently my family  spent 2 weeks in India 

volunteering with an Organization called Rising Star Outreach, 

who's mission is to "Lift Leprosy" 

among the leprosy afflicted there.

I questioned how a trip like this would turn out given the young ages of my children;

 6, 8, and 10.

I am pleased to say it was WONDERFUL!

 I admired my 8 year old daughter

 as she held up limbs infected with leprosy while another cut away rotted bandages.

I smiled as my 10 year old son

 helped his dad wash and rub the exposed disease. 

My heart was touched 

when I witnessed my 6 year old son

 overwhelmed with compassion for

 people missing fingers, legs, or hands.

“I want to hug them all day.” He whispered in my ear. 

“I can’t stop hugging them.”

(This lady was as a little as he is!) 

My hope was to have my children see the beauty in serving others, 

especially when “OTHERS” are...not always beautiful.

At first, my 6 year old didn’t want them to touch him.  Perhaps he was afraid he would magically turn into one of them. (Missing fingers or have deformities)  

After some gentle assurance he knew would be safe if they touched him. 

I encouraged all my kids to love those with leprosy by 

offering a smile 

while making eye contact.  (A simple gesture of respect that leprosy afflicted people don't normally get. )  

This could be a challenge in itself because some of them can be scary looking to a child.

Without communicating in the same language 

my young family was able to express 

friendship, love and kindness to a people often rejected and mistreated by giving them a

 "HEART."  

It was my 6 year old's job to deliver a heart 

each time someone new sat down to have their wounds cleaned and re-bandaged.   

We got the same reaction every time. 

 First it was confusion.  

They stare at the heart unsure of what to do with it.  

Then, I would motion them to place the heart over their heart.  

As they did this I tenderly gave a gentle tap over their hands and the heart indicating it was now theirs to keep.

Often times their eyes would meet mine and I could tell they were moved by this.  They understood the language of LOVE.

A tender touch:

A little Kindness

softens HEARTS!

When YOU become a Rising Star Volunteer you are changing history.  

You are teaching the World that being HUMAN is what life is about.  

You aren’t just changing bandages- you’re changing a 1,000 year old stigma. 

Video: Arriving In India

After a day of jet lag in a Hotel, we were excited to visit Rising Star Campus! This is a SUPER way to gain 200 friends fast! They are NOT shy. According to them YOU are there to play with THEM! They call all women "Auntie" and men "Uncle" They especially LOVE men. Sam was swarmed all the time. The boys just wanted to listen to him tell stories while they climbed on him. They love attention from Dads.
Most the kids at this school come from leprosy afflicted homes. They live here at the Rising Star campus like a Boarding School. This is where Sponsors are SO helpful! For $30 a month you are paying for a child to live here and be educated, fed, and cared for. They are so lucky to live here. Rising Star takes GREAT care of them! (If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child I can pick out one of my favorites for you!)

200 new friends and more

Today we arrived at Rising Star.

I'll let the pictures do most the explaining.  

On the drive this morning I saw some fun things.

A Car wash

A Model: (ha ha..yes he was posing for me)

Lots of men standing around:

a cute little family on a bike (mom is holding a baby too)

a truck load of grapes

a "Holy Cow"

some kids at school

women shifting the wheat on the road:

My kids meeting 200 new friends...

These girls loved my India toes (painted the colors of their flag)

they buried them over and over.

It was a fun day in the sun!

How time flies...

I am in India...with my family!  It is such a good feeling.

The first step off the plane I smelled the familiar Indian air, slightly foul mixed with humidity.  It made me smile.

As we left the Chennai airport for our hotel chaos surrounded us.  Hundreds of Indians lined the barricades at the baggage claim.  They stand there staring as I gather my chicks and push through the crowd. It was similar to the red carpet events in Hollywood.  

We are the celebrities.

I loved watching them look at my kids.  I loved my kids bulging eyes at them!  There is so much going on, so much noise.

We pile into 2 cars and begin our journey.

  I am in a car with Jennica and two volunteers from Utah (Trina Goodwin Wright from my HS and her sister Daneen).  I am like a kid at an amusement park giddy with excitement.  I am so happy to be back in India with my family.

I'm sitting in the front seat next to the driver, who is driving from the right (or should I say wrong) side of the car, with my video camera out the window.  

Let the madness begin!  

We are "Beep, beep, beeping..." all the way to the hotel.  

Traffic isn't bad at all, it's still early in the morning, but enough is going on to keep us all peering out the windows with our camera's. 

Jarom, my 10 year old, is ahead of us in another car with his head and arms hanging out the window absorbing the energy outside.  Men on motorcycles are zooming by close enough for him to high five the drivers,,,AND HE DOES!  

My heart swells with excitement when he turns to me in traffic and mouths 

"This is the BEST car ride ever!!"

Later in the afternoon I am riding in a Tuk Tuk with Jace (6 years) on my lap and he whispers in my ear that he thinks he will live here when he is older. 

I take a look around me and all I see is run down buildings, garbage and crazy traffic and I wonder what provoked his comment.

By 3pm most of my company is unable to stay awake.  I even heard:

"No Mom, lets NOT have dessert can we PLEASE go back to the room and take a nap?"  I never dreamed I'd hear that from my kids.

By 4pm most of us are asleep, including myself.  The jet lag won this battle today.

Now I am alone in the dark.  Everyone is asleep except me.  My clock reads 23:48.  

I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I have a gut feeling that it means I have a long night ahead of me.  It's all good though.  At least I am not in an airplane!

 Flights to India are not complete with unexpected events!  Yes, crazy things happened on the way here.  

Just when I thought we were almost here we had to make an emergency landing in Bangalore.  A poor man had a heart attack on board so we landed at the nearest airport, then we sat on the runway for an hour before we took off again. 

Once we were finally here

Trina and Daneen's luggage never showed up!!

 And since our flight was late landing we missed our shuttle to the hotel.

We started off with lots of patience at the airport!

Arriving at Abu Daubi aiport for our 3 hour layover 

 a little staring contest goes a long way

Off ALL the TV shows in the world they are watching

The Christmas Story

(the one about the boy shooting his eye out with a BBgun)

I have more pictures but don't know where to look for my camera in the dark.

I'd hate to wake up the kids while the night is still young.  If they wake up (they have been sleeping since 3pm) I wouldn't know what to do with them.

Tomorrow begins our day at Rising Star!

Oh yum!  I just found some Naan in the darkness!  Sam must have ordered room service