I cannot believe that today is our last day in Salem… I have had such an amazing experience and I am SO not ready to leave this place. I have some pretty crazy thoughts going on in my head.. what if I just stay and spend some time in India with these kids? Of course I can't do that, but wouldn't that be incredible! This morning was lazy and so wonderful. I got to spend some time just talking about our trip with my new friends. I can’t believe I have only known these people for 10 days, yet I feel so very close to them already. I have definitely made a few life long friends from this amazing experience. We are all different ages and come from very different places, but we understand each other so well. That is the power of the Lord. He brings people together from every walk of life to learn from one another. It boggles my mind to think when he made me in my mother's womb, he knew I would come to India and have this amazing experience! He knew I would meet these incredible volunteers who share the same joy and passion as I do for helping those around us.
At around 11:00 this morning, 200 men and women with leprosy and several children of beggars around Salem lined up outside the orphanage. Every other week, Dr.Jay and the staff of ICMC give out scoops of rice and a little money. Because our group of volunteers is here, we were able to hand out shoes to the adults and cookies and toys to the children. Aaron, one of the volunteers on our trip, said something that stuck to me and helped to describe just what this trip has done to me. He said, “The first day I got here, I freaked out when a mosquito bit me, convincing myself I would get Malaria. Now it is the final day and I am hugging and shaking the hands of Lepers.” So true!! We were so cautions when we first got here, but we quickly learned that God is in control and he will take care of us. The people of India pass by these lepers everyday and don't give them even the slights glance. Everyone deserves a chance in life to feel loved. I hope that our team of volunteers were able to do that for them. To me, it feels so wonderful to just forget about yourself completely and do whatever you can to help someone who just needs a little help.
Leper praying with us
One of the beggar children. These people use their children to beg for money, as people are more likely to give to a child than a leper.
Giving rice to the children
Most of the ladies didn't have a bag to put the rice in, so they used their shirts.
One of the local lepers
In the midst of passing out shoes, rice, cookies and toys, one of the children at House of Peace, Princess walked into the room. She pointed at one of the lepers and then told me that he was her father. It broke my heart right then and there. You could see the shame in his eyes when we all realized who he was. Not being able to take care for your child has got to be extremely tough for a father. Princess seemed very happy to see him, but even more excited about getting dressed up for this evening's closing ceremony. By admitting princess into ICMC, she has been given more opportunity than her father could ever dream of giving her. When you are born with leprosy, you are automatically shunned from society. There is no way to overcome this, so you do what you can to survive. It is so ironic to me that these individuals are just cast of by society for something they had NO control over!! And guess what... Leprosy in India isn't even contagious! I know right.. you always thought, you touch a leper and you will become one too... So not the case!! Makes me so irritated that the world has come to this. Why must we cast off others who may be a little different than us. I am just guilty of this as anyone, but seeing this will certainly change my ways. I will forever do my best to accept people JUST the way they are without judgement. I'm not saying I will be perfect, but I am certainly going to try.
This is Princess with her father
After all of the lepers were taken care of the girls got dressed up in the sarees that we bought yesterday and the guys put on their dhoties and we headed out to the Promised Land for one last farewell ceremony. It was so fun getting all dressed up in the traditional Indian garb. It took almost 30 minutes for some of the older orphans to help get each us into our sarees. I couldn't imagine doing this every morning when I got up, but today it felt really nice!
(L to R) Wendi, Katie, Me, Brooke, Anne
J and I ready for the ceremony!
Before we got started with the children's performances, Dr. Jay had us all line up in front of the children. He gave a little speech about how thankful he was that we had taken our time to come and be with his children. As a group, we sang together one last time, "This is the Day that the Lord has Made." This is clearly one of the children's favorite songs, because they sing it every chance they get! Why wouldn't we close this journey with that song. After all, we will rejoice and be in this day!! After we sang, Dr. Jay uncovered a huge plaque that would be placed on the new College of Arts and Sciences at Promised Land! ARE YOU SERIOUS?? They had just dedicated their new building to us!! How amazing! Our names will be on the front of that building forever! and ever! Now that is pretty cool. I can't wait to go back once the building is built and see my name and remember what an impact this trip has made on my life.
The Plaque
The children sang and dance for us for hours! Some individually and some in groups with their friends. You could see how excited they were to show us their talents. Although I was sweating like crazy under the multiple layers of my saree, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the ear to ear smiles on the little kids faces. Of course we passed out biscuits to all of the children again this evening, but keep in mind there were over 2000 boys and girls combined in the 5 locations of ICMC, so passing out cookies took a LONG time. Each orphan walked down the line of volunteers, shaking each hand and saying thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Afterwards I got to do something I have been waiting to do all week, I told Parimala that I would be her sponsor! She looked at me with the sweetest smile and said so you will write to me and send me a picture of your family.. and I looked at her and I said of course I will and gave her the biggest hug possible. The joy I felt after I told her that was something unimaginable. Once again, the Lord is showing me that it is the little things that matter in life.
Kisses from Parimila
How could you not love her!
Now of course Parimala’s two best friends stole me heart away as well, so I ended up with three sponsor children, and I am SO glad I did!!! They all gave me little notes and presents to remember them by. Their notes told me how much they love me and miss me and how much God loves me and told me the names of their brothers and sisters so that I could pray for them when I was back in America. These sweet girls gave me a necklace, a bracelet, a hair clip, some marbles and a pen. These things were probably the only belongings that they have, yet they wanted to give them away to ME as gifts. These are the most unselfish children I have ever met. I can’t wait to send my three new children a package filled with toys and pictures of my trip. Unfortunately all I had with me was some extra hair ties on my wrist, and you guessed it... they got them! And the thing is, they were SO excited they they would have something to remember me by! These children just continue to amaze me! Before I left to go back to House of Peace, I asked them what they wanted me to send them. All they said was bubble gum. You better believe they will have more bubble gum then they will know what to do with it.
Indhumathy, one of my other girls, is on the left
Indhumahty, Sangeetha (my other child) and Myself
Spending this last evening with the kids was bitter sweet. I loved their sincerity of love, but strongly dislike the fact that I have to leave them and go back to my life and these children don’t get an escape from their life. I feel so very blessed that I have been able to take this trip because I have changed for the better in so many ways. The Lord has truly blessed me and shown me the power of his love and forgiveness. Tonight will be a restless night, as we have to leave out of Salem at 4:00 AM to make our train to Chennai at 5:00. I will spend tonight reflecting on everything that has happened over the past week and a half and relive all of the joy and happiness that has been a result of loving these children. Man I'm going to miss this place, but I have faith that I will return.
Charging thru a pretty tough day....
In Him,
Emily
No comments:
Post a Comment