Recap from Saturday, January 22, 2011
Charge Thru Challenge, Emily
Waking up this morning, I am sleepy but for some reason ready to go! We ate breakfast in a little cafe around the corner from our hotel that was completely non-English speaking. Trying to order bottled water was like trying to stop the sun from coming up, it’s not going to happen. We finally got a little assistance from one of the volunteers that is with us on the trip. His name is John Jackson and he has been coming to the house of peace for 10 years now and has picked up a little of Tamil, the local language. Whatever he ordered us to eat, it was quite tasty. It was similar to a cake pancake with some sort of spicy potato mixture in the middle… With my weak stomach, I stuck to the pancake and water.
Our First Indian Breakfast
Getting to know the team members John Jackson, Brett Brooster and Katie Lentile
From there we all re-boarded the little packed bus and headed to the train station to catch our train to Salem. Talk about a culture shock…. If you have ever seen “Slum Dog Millionaire” it is exactly like that. Thousands of people everywhere… sleeping on the ground, using the restroom on the side of the train deck, flies swarming around, and packed into box cars like a bag of jelly beans, literally standing on top of each other. You know in movies when there are several people hanging out the door of the train as it is leaving the station, which is exactly what we saw. I am still not sure how these people stayed on these trains, but it didn’t look like this was their first rodeo.
Lucky for us we were in “first class” on the train… whoa, hold your thoughts… first class is NOT what you are thinking it is. The only difference is we had fans and were not sitting next to a cage of chickens.
Our First Class seats on the train
My seat was across from a mother and her two young children. It was such a joy to watch them interact with one another. These children are NOTHING like American youth. They are appreciative of one another and are very polite. One girl even drew a picture for one of the guys On our trip with us, Aaron Crownover. It said “Thank you for visiting India and enjoy your stay,” in perfect English… I was amazed! They loved having us there.
In old western movies when the villain is chasing the hero on a train and they go between the boxcars and are hanging off the edge and all you can see is the tracks going by under them, well did you know you can really do that! I know, I’m sure you already knew that, but have you stood there… Between the cars there is an open space where you can stand and watch the county-side go by. This was amazing!! We passed several little villages over a 6-hour drive and it was so interesting to get a taste of the country-side of India. The houses looked more like huts, but the scenery was beautiful throughout our drive.
When we arrived in Tamil Nadu, Vijay and Herbert, representatives from “House of Peace,” greeted us with leis made of beautiful flowers. They offered us all a drink and walked us to the cars we would be riding in to the House of Peace.
It was only about a 15-minute ride to Salem, but the kids were waiting when we get there. When we pulled up the kids attached immediately. I had a girl run up to me and say “Auntie,” what is your name and grabbed my hand. It was at that moment that I realized this trip was going to be so incredible. Auntie and Uncle is what the children call us because they believe we are their family.
After we settled in, the kids walked over from their rooms and attacked us. Literally jumping on our backs hugging us and holding our hands, and most of all wanting “one photo.” You would have thought that these kids had never seen a camera. They wanted me to take pictures of them over and over, single shots, funny shots, group shots, you name it, I took it. After an hour of playing with the kids and watching the sun go down from the roof of the orphanage, the kids got called down for supper. Whew… that was only the first hour, yet I am exhausted already!
Sunset on the rooftop in Salem the first day
Our group had a little time to regroup before we headed down to a room with a huge square table where we sat all together and ate a wonderful Indian supper of rice, Nam (wheat tortillas), spicy grilled chicken and bananas. We reflected on our journey to the orphanage and were all very eager to get going that next morning. Off to bed we went for our first nights rest in a bed in over 3 days!!!
Our accommodations were quite nicer than I had anticipated. We each had a cot bed and a bathroom in our room. Now the shower was a little interesting. You fill up a bucket from a faucet in the bathroom and use a cup to pour the water over your head, and that is your shower. It was a little hard to get use to but fun at the same time. Just another part of being in India and adjusting to the way things will be for the next week.
I love hearing about all of this! While I have never done any service with children overseas, there is definitely a HUGE difference with American kids and those abroad. Even with those who are in the most 'need' it's an entirely different mindset.
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet to hear about the little girl who called you Auntie-- it's amazing how total strangers, especially children, can open their hearts so easily.