Day 13: Mamallapuram!

Saturdays are our "days off." This Saturday we are going to Mamallapuram.

 

It is right on the ocean, it is a beautiful city known for its detailed stone carvings.  We were soo excited to have another day to have a tourist experience and see a different side of India!

Mamallapuram, India!

There are so many beautiful temples here. 

As we got near the city we began to see all of the buildings adorned with stone carvings and statues.

We were dropped off at these ruins.

Look at all of that detailing in the stone.  

It was beautiful.

They were HUGE!

As we wandered into the city, we passed this HUUUUGE lily pond.  

You would never guess from far away that those were beautiful lily's and flowers.

There was a mermaid statue in the center of the pond.  I'm not sure which Hindu God this represents.

The streets of Mammalapuram.

There were children begging EVERYWHERE as their parents sat on the side of the road, dressed nicely, talking on their cell phones and staring at us expectantly to give their children food or money.

It is such a sad cycle.

It takes just as much time to teach your children how to beg as it does to teach them to be self sufficient.

This was especially bothersome, because we were coming from a part of the city where even the most severely disabled would work long, hard labor to make enough to sustain their families.

Mammalapuram is known for its intricate and beautiful stone carvings.

They were AMAZING!!!

It was so fun to watch the men carving in the streets and see the finished products in every shop.

This was literally the smallest man I have EVER seen.  Notice he is the same height as that motorcycle. A fully grown man.  He couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall. It was the strangest thing to see this tiny little person.  Not a midget, because he was perfectly proportionate.  Just tiny.  We later learned that the smallest person in the world is from India.  A woman that stands only 18in. tall. So cute.

We found this amazing leather sandal shop!

We watched this man making the sandals as we shopped.

Someone might be getting a pair of these when I get back to the USA.

(cough cough...Jordan...cough cough)

They are pretty AWESOME!

Krissy, Sam, and I found this awesome little hat stand.  They were only $2.00 so we couldnt resist picked the biggest ones and playing tourist for a day. 

 Even if I never wear this hat again... that 100 rupees was well spent!

Notice no matter where we go, we force the guys to come with us as body guards haha, sorry Benson.

Annund insisted we go visit this beach.
None of us really wanted to because we were visiting a beach for the second half of the day with our entire group...buuuut soo glad we did!!

We ended up finding this lil guy.

Yep! We had to!!

We rode horses on the beach.

In India.

Wow.

I'm serious when I say, every day here just gets better and better.

I'm not coming home.

You can't make me.

Can you tell how happy/terrified we are?

So fun!

My hat flew off about 3 seconds into this horse ride. (See video)
Thanks Benson for chasing it down.
It actually looks great on him, don't you think?

Annund and Benson were nice enough to take lots of pictures!!

Once again, these guys are awesome!

I have LOOOVED the group of volunteers and staff our here.

I've always wanted a picture of me like this.

I always thought it would be with Jordan... but this will do!! ;)

Comin back!

Ahhh!! I just love this.

Found Krissy!!

The time of our lives.

Annnd we're back. 

Safe and sound.

Just one more picture..

They pretty much had to pry us off these things!!

Seriously though.

Thanks Ganesh, Annund and Benson!!

This was our fun group for the day!

It's so much fun having Annund hang around, he is able to get us the best deals instead of tourist prices.($2.00 horse ride on the beach...score!!)

..and he points out all of the cool temples and fills us in on traditions and culture!

(double score)

 

I thought it was funny they had this carving.

NO ONE in any of the shops could tell me what it was haha!!

..maybe just for American tourists?

 

Annund gave me a Hindu history lesson with all of the statues of Gods.

I loved it!! I totally want to read more about Hinduism and other religions when I get home.  It is so fun to hear about what other people believe and why they believe it.  

The Mother God.

Shiva.

Next it was off to Ideal Beach, a resort in Mamallapuram for swimming in the beach and a nice swimming pool!

We got ourselves a snapple, some cute swimsuit wraps, and hit the beach!

We don't look like tourists at all do we?

The beach was sooo beautiful!!

We ate a wayyy over priced disgusting lunch underneath these beautiful cabannas!!

The food was gross but the view was unreal!
So peaceful, seriously India is the most beautiful place on Earth.
In EVERY sense of the word.

 Sand crab!!

 

Just dancing on the beach!

 

Goofin off at the pool!!

 

Chen and Krissy in paradise!

 Smile!!

We ate porota on our way home.

It is a delicious, almost tortilla like bread, they dip it in chutney.

(we take it home and dip it in Nutella, haha shhhh.)

We made it back just in time for movie night!! We are lucky enough to spend Saturday night with the kids in the outdoor lunch hall and watch movies! Tonight it was Nannie McPhee.  I thought it was interesting that the moral to this story was that she would not be around for long, but would be there as long as the kids really needed her and then they would be left to use the lessons she taught them to move forward in life without her.  I feel like this kind of describes our journey here.  I could honestly stay forever.  I am not ready to go home.  I feel that the Lord brought me here this summer for a reason, and although i may not know what that reason is, I know that I gave EVERYTHING I had here in India.  I will be leaving with absolutely no regrets.  I have loved these children and the people here wholeheartedly, and although I wish I could stay FOREVER, I know that I was here for the perfect amount of time.  I was here to do all that the kids, the leprosy afflicted patients, the villagers, and my Heavenly Father needed me to do.  

I find comfort in knowing that I will be back someday. 

Day 12: Medical!

Yay!! Another medical day!  I look forward to medical days.  Every day here is beyond amazing, but medical days are full of life changing experiences.

As always it was a looong drive to the colony. We had to drive out and around through Chennai to pick up the nurses so it took about two hours to get to the colony, when we later found out on the way home it is just a short 40min drive if we took a different route.  When we arrived at this colony, I was shocked.

A creepy little cemetery across the street from the colony.

Entrance into the small colony.

Looking down the road from the van, the colony is just this small lane of tents made of sheets and tarps.  There was one grass shack and the small church at the end.

Our first view of the colony.

I was told this was the poorest colony, but they have ALL been poor.  There is poverty everywhere here.  The villages outside the school are literally grass huts and naked jungle babies everywhere, but this colony, was by far, the worst.  It was so far away from any civilization.  There was a gate and barbed wire around a tiny row of homes. (If you could call them that)  As we entered the gate and looked down the row, I think everyone was in shock.   They lived in tiny little shacks made of sticks, garbage, and sheets or tarps if they were lucky.  It literally looked like a hobo town out of a movie.  They had a community shower, which was just several mosquito and fly infested buckets of water behind a ragged curtain, hung between the trees and fence.  I have never witnessed anything like this in my life.  These people live like this every single day.  This is where they wake up; this is where they raise their families.  No running water, no toilet, no kitchen.  Just a pot over a fire and barely a roof over their heads.  As soon as we got out of the van there was a lady crying and holding her hands out to us.  She had just been diagnosed with leprosy and sent to the colony.  She was silent our entire visit.  You could see the lice crawling in her hair, and see the pain in her eyes.  In America I feel that even I myself would take pity on this woman, but here, in this colony I just wanted to help her.  I wanted her to know that we loved her. 

Getting set up in the small church down the street.

Soon after we met this woman, a man wanted me to hold this baby.  He was the cutest chubbiest little boy! He was so good and just snuggled up to me as soon as I held him.  I felt so much pain, thinking about this precious little boy growing up in this colony, I thought about my friends babies back at home, and how blessed they are to be born by beautiful parents, in America.  How many opportunities these children will get throughout their lifetime that would only be in this child’s wildest dreams.  This was the saddest, poorest place I have ever seen in my life, and to think of raising a child here… and then I met his mother.  His mothers name was Mary; she was a beautiful girl and a former student at the Rising Star Outreach school.  She dropped out after 8^th standard, and when we asked why, she would not give us any details, we later found out it was because of her arranged marriage.  She told us she was 21, but Shawn, the dance teacher knew her from the school and she was only 16-17, her little sister is still a student at the school and I know her well.  Mary was so smart, her English was amazing, and honestly one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen, she did not belong here.  It really hit me hard in this colony what these people’s lives might be like.  At first I was worried that I would not be able to handle seeing blood, or infection, or the physical effects of leprosy.  I never would have imagined that it was the unseen effects that would be the hardest to handle.  Seeing Mary back in the colony, stuck in an arranged marriage with a 6 month old child at 16 and having NO way out was the most emotionally difficult thing I have had to handle while I have been here.  I just kept thinking of little Ruthish, or Basha, or Vishva, or Veera, or ANY of my little boys, I can’t imagine them living in these colonies.  To think that this is what they come home to for the month that they are away from the rising star breaks my heart.  I can’t bear to think that they might not take advantage of the opportunity they have with the Rising Star Outreach program, that there is a small percent that drop out and go back to the colonies because of family pressures.  I can’t get Mary out of my head.  I wish I could help her.  At least with the patients I can clean and dress their wounds and there is hope that their ulcers and infections will get better.  Mary, a woman in India, is seen as a second-class citizen, without her education, and belonging to a leprosy-afflicted family, she has nothing and there is nothing I can do to help her.   Mary told us all about her drunk husband and showed us ALL of her photos and sponsorship letters from the Rising Star Outreach.  Her sponsor is Shawn Bradley, NBA player Shawn Bradley.  I wonder if he knows or cares how she is doing.

Ready!!

This man had gangrene in his ulcers.

So sad, we tried to clean out as much of the infection as we could.

He will eventually lose his leg.

I was at the bandage removal station today.

 This man was blind.
Such a little sweetie.

Leprosy attacks the muscles around your toes and fingers, this is why most of them have mangled or missing toes, and their fingers are curled and and missing.

These people have such positive attitudes.  It is amazing to work with them and feel their positive energy, when all you want to do is cry.

They just move on down the line through each station.

Once we set up our stations in the small church they had built at the end of the row of houses, we were surprised to see that there were only 5 patients we were treating.  Mary told us this was because the men and women in the community with leprosy could not afford to miss work and receive treatment.  This is so sad to me, that they have to work sunrise to sunset, manual labor, to raise barely enough money to scrape by and survive, and they cannot put their own health first.  We are so blessed in America.  People complain about not being able to afford health insurance or prescriptions, yet these men and women can’t miss a day of work to get treatment for their leprosy and gangrene because they have to go cut crops and they are still smiling and acting like they don’t even realize how sad their lives are.

I forgot to mention that TODAY is Annund’s birthday!!!! He turned 36! We love Annund.  He seriously has been the best driver/body guard.  We put a little treat bag of our American treats together to give him at the van this morning.  He loves American treats and always wants to try anything we bring with us!! We made a pit stop on the way to the colony this morning and we were all so confused at what was going on and why we were stopping!  Annund left the bus, and when he came back he had the BIGGEST smile on his face!! He pulled out one chocolate bar for every one saying “chocolate party, chocolate birthday party.”  It was awesome!! He was so excited to eat chocolate with us for his birthday!! We all sang happy birthday to him, and it was such a fun way to start the day!

When we left the colony, since we were done so quickly with so few patients, Annund wanted to take us on a little adventure for his birthday.  He just kept saying “Emo Chicken, Emo Chicken,” “Big Chicken,” we were sooo confused at what we were about to see haha.. and when we pulled up, it clicked.  We were at an emu farm.  Biiiiig Chiiicken!! Annund loves the emu farm.  We fed the emus and got back on the bus to our next stop

"Emo Chicken!"

We pulled over off the side of the freeway and Annund hopped a fence.  When he returned he had a HUGE armful of sugar cane.  This day just got a little better.  He gave us each a stalk of sugar cane, showed us how to eat it, and we gnawed on it the whole way home!! Yumm!! He said people in India brush their teeth with it. With sugar!! Sweet! (Literally)

Annund was so excited about his birthday surprise, I'm not exactly sure he knows how birthdays work... isn't he the one that is supposed to get all the surprises?

Yumm!! 

Fresh Sugar Cane.

We made a quick stop at the Junction for Coke’s and ice cream, and then it was back to the Rising Star!

At the school, the kids had planned a HUUUGE water fight; all of the volunteers were invited if they wanted to participate…umm HECK YES!  We had a BLAST at the water fight!! There were girls waiting outside of the elephant house for us and they blasted some of the other volunteers with water balloons. Krissy, Sam, and I filled up our buckets and somehow we all ended up soaked before we even got halfway to the school!!! I didn’t bring my camera to the water fight, but I saw a few floating around, so I will try to find some fun pictures and post them later.  

Veera dumping water on Krissy!

The kids LOOOOVED the water fight!!! This was seriously a highlight.

We did henna again during family time.  Seriously, the kids LOVE it.  It keeps them entertained and allows us to get to know them better one on one! It has been so fun.  I am going to miss these boys so much!! They are starting to ask when we are leaving and how many more nights we get to have family time.  It kinda bums me out that they are so used to volunteers coming in an out of their lives so much.  I have loved these kids SOOOO much and I will miss each and every one of them for a loooong time when I get home, it’s hard to think that by next Monday we will be replaced, with new volunteers who will love them, bond with them, and then leave.  I seriously wish I could bring them home…. SO BAD.

Overall I think today was the hardest day for me emotionally, so much to process from the colony, as well as starting to realize how soon we are leaving.  As much as I’m not ready to come home and I wish I could just move in, I am also ready to see my family, to eat American food, and sit on an actual toilet lol.  Today is the first day I have thought… when it’s time to go home, I will be ready.  I cannot wait until I get to come back here, and I hope it will be very VERY soon.  India has my heart, but I am really starting to miss home.  Once again, I just wish you could ALL be here.

Good Night!

Love You! 

PS. Internet was shut down for a few days, so look for lots of blog posts in the next couple of days to catch up!