We walked through the village outside of the Rising Star campus at 6:30 am. We saw the villagers going about their daily routines. They love to smile, wave, and say "vanakkam" and waggle their heads which is how they say "hello" in Tamil.
This post has a lot of pictures but I couldn't help it. India is a remarkable place and many things are better expressed through pictures.
(You can't see very well, but there is a hut hiding in all those trees.)
Many of the house are painted bright, crazy colors :)
If you look closely there are two birds on the right tree.
Many of the oxen had painted horns. This one had blue.
Lily pond.
Women working in the rice fields.
cute kids!
It started to rain this afternoon. So lovely (and cool) but you can't really tell from the photo.
Life dance. One of the most amazing things I have seen in my entire life. One of the long term volunteers is teaching a dance class every afternoon for any of the kids that want to go. It was so fun to watch. At the end they performed a dance they created to "Somebody Out There" by David Archuleta. The song is about how we all have somebody out there watching out for us. They interpreted the song beautifully. These beautiful children are the angels that are touching their parents lives. Slowly they are helping to remove their families for the negative stigma associated with leprosy. They are angels who are already doing great things.
Today my group went with the medical clinic to Moot. It is a colony with only 7 elderly people left living there. It was a really wonderful experience. We had several stations, checking blood sugar, blood pressure (that was me, above), trimming toe and finger nails, washing and oiling feet, and dressing wounds. (Since there were so few patients the volunteers did not get to rotate jobs, but I will get a chance to wash feet next week.)
Dr. Susan with a patient.
Most of these beautiful people are severely disfigured because of leprosy. For example the woman above moves around on her hands and one good foot because her other leg is gone about mid thigh. Despite their poverty and physical ailments they were all so happy and especially excited to see us. Jayraj would dance around and sing, he even did the macarena for us! I have learned first hand from spending time with them that joy is not dependent on your circumstance. They have what most would call "nothing" but they are still full of joy and happiness. Why? I think in part because they are grateful for what they have. Instead of dwelling on the negative or wishing for more they are able to appreciate what they have and find joy in their simple lives. They inspire me to be more grateful, to find joy in the little things, and simply to love life.
I love your words and insights
ReplyDelete