These orphans have already stolen my heart!

Recap of Sunday, January 23, 2011

Waking up this morning felt amazing! I was so eager to get the day going and see what was in store. We had an early breakfast this Sunday morning so we could get ready for church with the children. When we walked down the stairs to the outside of the orphanage, the children were lined up and ready, reaching their hands out to us begging for some personal attention time.

There is one particular girl that has caught my attention. Her name is Eleckia and for some reason she just touched my heart. The first day we were here she told me that she was sad because her brother wasn’t going to be able to come to the orphanage but that she was happy because we were there to spend time with them. This is a 7 year old telling me this mind you. It is incredible to witness how the little things mean so much to these children because they have nothing!

  

This is me and Eleckia and one of her friends.                   Sweet Eleckia!

Eleckia and I walked hand in hand, to the church building about a ½ mile away.  That is what the children like to do; grab your hand and hold on for dear life. The attention that they crave is fulfilled by a simple hand-hold or smile and that to me is how I wish I could be, satisfied with just the very simple things in life. We get so  caught up with the luxuries in life that we forget how important simple things like talking and smiling are to relationships. 

We all sat down in the church room and listened to the children sing us a song, first in Tamil (the official language of Salem), and then one in English. One of the volunteers on the trip, Pastor Mark, preached a sermon as Dr. Jay, the father of the orphanage, translated. Now the children may not have been paying super attention, but to see them close their eyes and pray to the lord while they are living in a majority Hindu country touched me. Their little hands in front of them with their palms together put a smile on my face. 

Dr. Jay Nantz in church with some of the children.

The children clapped wildly when Pastor Mark was through with his sermon and a short testimony. His testimony had the kids enthralled as he spoke about being a police officer for 20 years and then being called by the Lord to become a preacher. In India, police officers are corrupt and evil and certainly not respected like in America, so Pastor Mark had to explain to them that it is not a bad thing to be a cop in America but that it is a respected career. 

After Church, we got the chance to listen to a few of the testimonies of the children. They told us how long they had been at House of Peace, what happened to their parents and a little bit about what they liked to do and how old they were. When the subject comes up about age, it breaks my heart. Every time I would try and guess their age, I would be off by at least 5 years. The amount of malnutrition in India is astonishing. I met one little boy that looked to be about 7… he was 15. These children are so poor that they can’t afford food to help them grow. 

This is Circus… the nickname that they gave to this 15 year old because he is loved by all, both young and old.

After Circus told us why he was at House of Peace, his father killed his mother by pouring kerosene all over her and lighting her on fire, I was heartbroken and wanted to know how I could personally help these children.  I learned that you could be a sponsor parent to the children at House of Peace and the other 5 schools that are a part of the ICMC association (Indian Christian Mission Center). This means you would make a $25 donation each month (or however much you can afford that month) to ICMC in their name. You are also able to send them pictures and Christmas cards and birthday cards or any other holiday cards so that they know there is someone out there that loves and cares about them. They told us that sponsorship isn’t about the money for ICMC but that the communication with the child makes a world of difference to them. I am sure that I will go home with a few sponsor children of my own.

We all walked back to House of Peace and got to see the children’s living quarters. They were basic big open rooms with little boxes not much bigger than a large shoe box lining the walls. This is where they keep all of their belongings. There are no beds, and only enough space to but 3 outfits, one uniform outfit for school, one dress up outfit, and one play outfit. Makes me appreciate my closet full of clothes so much now and feel extremely guilty that I freak out every time I have something to go to and HAVE to find the perfect dress when they wear the same dress EVERYTIME there is a special occasion.  Goes right back to living with the simple things in life, something I will strive to do upon my return to the states. 

What their rooms looked like

We got to witness some of the older girls dancing to some of their favorite songs… don’t worry our volunteers got involved as well. The smiles on their faces while they were dancing were so fun to watch. They felt SO because we wanted to watch them do what they love. 

Anne McDonald dancing with some of the girls

We headed off to another wonderful Indian lunch with an array of items. They like to serve you, so they walk around and serve the food up right on your plate. After stuffing out faces, we got a chance to witness one of our volunteers, Brett Bruster, meet the child that he sponsors. Talk about seeing a special moment!! His hands were shaking when his little boy walked in. The boy had recognized his sponsor in church that morning from a picture Brett had sent to him. That is how special these sponsors are to them. It is their only way of getting special attention from someone that cares about them it comes from half way around the world. 

We loaded up in the van again and headed out to The Promised Land, another location of 5 combined schools where Dr. Jay has over 1000 more children that he takes care of. This location also has 2 colleges that are filled with mostly the children that grow up in the orphanage but open to the public at the same time. As we walked on to their schoolyard they were sitting on the ground in perfect little lines evenly spaced apart unlike I have ever seen from children of that age. They waving their little hearts out sitting criss-crossed because they knew we were coming to spend the day with them. Dr.Jay introduced us as “Auntie Emily,” or “Uncle Dave,” and the children would repeat what he said and clap for each of us. They sang us a song both in Tamil and English and then sat up on their knees and repeated a prayer to the Lord that Dr. Jay said out loud.  This experience was truly amazing to me; 1000 children sitting on their knees praying out loud to the Lord for all to hear and we can’t even mention the Lords name without being chastised in public school. 

Then it was their favorite part, biscuit time!! The volunteers walked up and down each isle passing out cookies one at a time to the children. Upon receiving their cookies, each child stood up, shook my hand and told me thank you in English, which is quite difficult for a majority of the children. It took all of 5 minutes for the children to consume their cookies and be set free from their perfectly straight lines and flock to all 11 of the volunteers.

We were almost tackled as they came at us so fast. Of course they were grabbing our hands and wanting pictures taken of them, but they also wanted to show us all around the property. They showed us their rooms, their rice fields, their field they play in, their cricket area and their half burnt down kitchen that yes, they were still using. Exhaustion is an understatement for what we felt after several hours of being drug around by these sweet little children. You would have 10 at a time leading you around the property of the Promised Land literally hanging on your arms and legs and wanting to be the one closest to you. 

 

Aaron Crownover with some of the Kids

Me with some of the kids in their rice fields

We were finally called in for tea and got a little break from carrying them around and having them jump on our backs. Them offering us tea became something that the staff did often, always wanting to make sure that we were taken care of during our stay here. After tea, Dr. Jay showed us the new generator that had been bought through donations to the school. Turns out, Brett Bruster had donated $15,000 to ICMC before he had even visited the orphanage! Now that’s pretty amazing if you ask me. This was by far the most massive generator I have ever seen, a little bigger than two dumpsters put together. Periodically throughout the day the power will go off so there will be no fans or lights on the entire campus. With the help of this new generator, there will be enough power that this will no longer happen. Dr. Jay and his staff won’t have to worry about loosing power ever again!

One of the kids at the Generator dedication

Against the children’s wishes, we headed back to House of Peace where we had another wonderful meal. There was not much talking going on around the diner table as everyone was struggling to keep their eyes open. It may be 9:00 PM, but we are more than ready to hit the hay. I can’t wait to see how tomorrow, our first distribution, will go. I am so eager to see the children’s faces when we put that new pair of shoes on their feet. 

Always Remember to Charge thru your challenges as this week I will be faced with multiple challenges, both mentally and physically!!

Emily