Water Fight kids against Volunteers

WATER FIGHT DAY!!!! Hooray!! The kids and the volunteers waited all day Friday for the big water fight to begin! Not only is it super hot but so much fun to see the kids all excited! I love playing with these kids and the water fight was something new and it was so much fun!





All the Volunteers filled up water balloons and dumped out their cereal containers so we would have buckets to throw water! The problem was that there was only one place to fill up with Water! This corner of the play area became the war zone! You couldn't fill up with out having water dumped on your head. It was an evening full of laughter and smiles! We ran around throwing water for hours! I enjoy moments like this where the kids are stress free and just enjoying themselves completely!


The picture above is of Miranda Rigby. She is the summer coordinator over education. I fully believe that she has the hardest job of anyone coordinators here. I know that they all work very hard in the different groups but working everyday all day in the school doing tutoring and making sure the kids are where they need to be and that the volunteers are where they need to be seems so tiring. I know that personally my tutoring days are the most draining. Working with the kids is an amazing experience and I love them all, but sometimes they don't want to read or listen or do their work. It's mentally exhausting. Miranda has to be in charge of the kids and when they don't behave and she has to be the bad guy. Not only is she at the school from 9-2 she goes back sometimes for extra tutoring at 4. Then back again at 7. Then she has to come home and work on the kids school work for the next day all night long. Her job is never ending and yet every morning she is smiling and excited to be there. She is a role model to me. She is only 18 years old, graduated this summer and she is the most organized and mature person I've seen here. I absolutely love working with her and being around her!



Krissy is in a family of girls. One of the girls in her family is new and doesn't speak English yet. Her name is Varalakshmi. She adores Krissy. Vara was teased by older girls in her family for having her head shaved. They called her ugly and said she looked like a boy. Krissy simply told these older girls that she thought they were beautiful and that she loved them and that God loves them. She then told them that Vara is beautiful And that She and God loves her too. The older girls have then since treated her with nothing but kindness.


Benson has to be one of the funniest people I know. I had so much fun with him during the water fight. He would get the kids to go against me and soak me! Every time I tried to get him back he would take my own water and dump it on me! I had a blast trying to get him back and getting the kids on my side!



Once everyone was exhausted we slowly ended the water fight and headed to dinner. Everyday as playtime comes to an end I realize more and more that our time in this beautiful place is almost up! I'm so saddened by this thought. I love these kids and feel like I can't live without seeing their faces everyday. The thing that gets me through the thought of leaving them is knowing that I will be back! I don't know when but I know that The Rising Star Outreach campus will always be home! And these kids will always be family. I will miss them terribly while I'm gone! Thank goodness I know that they are well taken care of with so many people who love them!

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Colony day #3

Thursday was colony day for my group but before we went into the leprosy colony we went into the near by village to a preschool to weigh and measure and hand out vitamins. The kids were adorable. At first they were scared of us but by the end they laughed and played with us!


This is the front of the school. It looks more like a little shack! There wasn't very many kids but they were all so sweet!



This is what the inside of the school looked like! The holes in the side is so they can get air circulating through the school!





This picture shows a hammock on the boards across the ceiling. This is where the kids take their naps. I'm sad






This little guy was so scared of us. If you can't tell by the picture! It took him about 45 minutes to warm up to us! His eyes are beautiful!


He didn't like getting weighed and measured. All around this wasn't his favorite day!


As we were helping these kids one of the rising star nurses started talking about all the kids that are at the rising star school that come from the village we were in. I can't tell you how hard that hit me when I think of these kids and now know them personally and realizing that if it weren't for the rising star they would be living in that village. I can't imagine them on the streets dirty and getting no sort of education. I'm so grateful for what the rising star does for these children and for their families.



This is Vida a house mother. She is only 22!


I asked Anand to write my name in Tamil on my hand and he started to write it in English. My favorite part is that he started spelling SHA. Haha he is great!





We had such a small leprosy colony to go to that they sent half of our group to the leprosy colony and half of us to the art colony. The art colony is where some of the people who have leprosy sell their paintings to make money. We were able to spend time looking at beautiful paintings and meeting the artist!







This is Austin and I in front of the art colony! What an amazing experience to see these people making money and supporting themselves!




After we went to the art colony we headed next door to a retirement home! We spent time with these amazing people! We had the opportunity to spend time helping them get their lunch and sitting with them rubbing their arms and hands!












This little baby was the cutest thing ever. One of the ladies who serves lunch was holding her little baby. She walked up to me and put her in my arms. She wasn't the happiest but I loved holding her.


After we left the retirement center we headed down the street to see these beautiful ladies make pearl necklaces. They were amazing! This is another rising star micro loan business. You can buy these pearls right off of their website!








We had to be the luckiest girls ever! We spent the day enjoying people from all ages. We spent time at the pre school then the retirement home! Then we got to celebrate being I. India by getting Parodda! Oh my heck it was heaven in my mouth. Fluffy tortilla's served with some kind of Dipping sauce and an egg! YUMMY!!!


What an amazing day! But hey everyday here is amazing! I wish my family was here experience this with me! But I hope through my blog they can!


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Family Night

This post is kind of a combination of a few nights with the boys! This
Is my favorite time of my night! I look forward to spending time with these boys and their house mother Kala every night! The first night I went in with the boys it was crazy. Five of them would jump on me at one time! They didn't know us and were so excited to have new volunteers with them! Spending an entire hour with 20 overly excited boys seemed too long! As the kids got to know us better each day the better the night was! I want to spend more and more time with them as the days go on! I can honestly say I love these boys and will miss them terribly when I leave!
Chenelle and and I both bought henna in the junction. So for the past few nights we have been spending lots of time doing henna for the boys! I can say I'm not an artist but I will say I'm pretty proud of my little drawings!


The first night we did henna, Kala sat the boys in a line outside her bedroom door. I sat on the floor and had two little helpers on each side of me. Vishva would sit the kids down in front of me and translate what they wanted. There are a lot of young boys in my house that don't know English very well. Then Vijay would take a picture after each drawing. They were so sweet to the younger boys and I really enjoyed having them by my side!

Kala has to be the sweetest woman alive! I am going to miss her so much! I'm so thankful that I was put in her family! She has been like a second mom to me. She doesn't say much but she has such a peaceful presence about her that reminds me of my mom. Every night when we come over she pins in a string of flowers. They smell so good and it's so fun to get one when we come over.








There are a few kids that have to read each night for 15 min! Chen loves to read with Ruthish. He is so smart! He loves to read and his English is getting better by the day!


Ruthish put henna all over Chen's arms! My favorite part about him drawing is that he put his name in Tamil on her arm and asked her to sound it out. During our tutoring sessions at the school when the kids come to a word and can't read they either skip the word or just mumble something. We usually have to stop them and then we ask them to sound it out. After Ruthish asked Chenelle to sound out the writing on her arm made me think that this is what it must be like for them in tutoring. There is so much to be done in the school but these kids are smart they just need the one on one time tutoring from volunteers to help them learn and grow quicker.


Whenever We are with Anand our driver, he calls Chenelle Ruthish because he see's it on her arm and can't ever remember how to say her name. He also can't say Krissy so he calls her Krazy. He calls me either Sham or Smithsa. I seriously love hanging out with Anand and his fun personality.


Kala is pretty amazing person! She was so sweet to take the time to put henna on the palm of my hand! She is amazing! As I've gotten to know Kala she also has an amazing story. She has two very handsome smart boys. They are both serving missions in India. Kala was asked by a family if they could take her boys to Arizona to finish school out there. She agreed and they lived in Arizona for five years. One of her boys has been serving for 11 months and the other for 12. What an amazing person to let her sons live in America and be away from them for so long! She is so proud of them! She showed us pictures and talked about them you could see her love for them in her eyes.








When I leave every night I see all the little boys sleeping on the tile floor! This melts my heart. They sleep in the same spot every night. They are so stinking cute I just want to bring them all home with me! Can I mom? They are sometimes hard to handle they fight like cats and dogs, they punch each other, pull one another's hair and yell. But at the end of the night they lay down next to each other and they truly love one another.








The boys have chores every night before we come over. This is a picture of the kids doing their laundry. After they hand wash their clothes they hang them out to dry out on the play ground! This is M. Vijay and Vishva helping Kala!








P. Vijay loves spending time with Ben! He spends all of family time jumping all over him! It's nice to have Ben in our family because the boys need someone to wrestle with. I try but sometimes they can be too rough for me.

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A walk through the village

I swear the power is out here more than its on! One of my favorite parts of my day is coming back to my air conditioned room sent from heaven! Well on Wednesday the power was out more than it was on! Sitting in my once heavenly room was now like sitting in a Bikram class with winter gear on! Krissy was still out with the medical team so Chenelle and I decided to take a walk off campus and see the village!



The land around the campus and in the village is stunning. We were both feeling a little nervous walking through the village alone. We hadn't been outside the campus without our group and leaders. We were also nervous that monkeys might come out of the forest and want something. Don't worry we came prepared with food to throw if they came after us!






The buildings in India are pretty cool. They are always so bright and colorful. I don't think I've seen a brown house! I've seen green and neon blue, purple, pink, orange and a mix of the rainbow. I love how colorful everything is here. Not only are the houses and buildings colorful but the cars, clothing and even their cows have paint on their horns. (I think they are cows anyway)





As we came up the road a little ways we came across four beautiful women sitting on the side of the road. As we approached them they stood up and welcomed us! Their smiles as big as ever! They came up and touched our hands. One of the women looked down at my ankles. I only had one ankle bracelet on. All the women wear lots of jewelry here. That is how beauty is measured here. All the girls young and old wear earrings, toe rings, bangles, nose rings and ankle bracelets. But they wear them on both ankles, I bought two but one broke. They spoke a little English so I pulled out the broken one and said "it's broken" the lady took it from me and fixed it and out it on me? This to me was an amazing act of kindness. The fact that they would stop and take the time to talk to us and then help me fix my anklet and shake my hand. The love was apparent and I enjoyed our brief time talking with them!





As we continued down the street in this small village we passed a government school! The kids were outside probably getting ready to go home. They were so excited to see us walking by. They waved and yelled and came running closer to us. When they noticed I was taking pictures they all stood close together to strike a pose. By that I mean stand up straight with their hands to their sides. I haven't figured it out yet but when i ask to take pictures the people I've met always stand that way. Usually I have to beg them to smile! It's a good picture if I catch them off guard because then you see their personalities.


I am sorry if you don't like this next image but I had to post it! This is something that I would never see back home but I'm sure it's a common thing to see in villages in india. This man was just taking a shower to cool off from the hot summer heat!


Lucky for Chen and I the medical bus was driving by and Krissy got to join us for the rest of our walk!
As we were walking we kept talking about how we wished the junction was close enough to walk to. We wanted so bad to have a Pepsi or coke! Lucky us found a cute, slightly stinky. Okay really stinky shop! We bought one Pepsi, 2 mango slice juices, 2 Miranda juices, a bag of chips and some markers. We thought about the four women who showed us so much kindness when we were so nervous. They had a little boy so we bought him some markers. The Pepsi was frozen. Oh my gosh made our day. But before we could drink it we came upon the four women but there was a man with them! So we went home with a pack of Lays chips!