Rising Star: Day 16: Last Day

The last day at Rising Star was a sad day.

My group had to give the entire school immunizations and these kids are pretty dramatic when it came to needles.  It was surprisingly fun though.  Perhaps that sounds a little sick and twisted but getting 200 immunizations done made me feel really productive and like a real nurse.  Interacting with the kids was fun too...if they weren't screaming or crying.

After we thought we were done the nurses asked us to do one more thing.  We had to look through each page of each child's book/medical chart and right down all of their diseases they have ever had.  It was long and tedious work in a very hot room but we got it done and went outside to join the water fight!

The entire school had a water fight for our last day here! It was amazing.  Usually these kids are taught to conserve water like crazy so this was a very special experience for them.  It was quite refreshing and just what we needed for our last day.

After dinner we had to go say goodbye to the kids.  This was the terrible, no good, very bad part of the day.

These children are amazing and love you so fast.  My boys, who I thought cared less if I was there or not, really had a hard time saying goodbye.  The worst was saying goodbye to Nageesh though.  She is the sweetest girl and wrote me a little note and wrapped up a yarn necklace she had made me.

I will miss those kids.  I will miss being loved instantly and completely.  I will miss being called Auntie and pulled on and climbed on.  I will miss talking to them individually and finding out what struggles they have encountered and what dreams they have for the future.  They are such good examples of strength and commitment.  They represent what India is really about to me:  love and working toward improvement.  Rising Star is doing amazing things for these children and I hope they grasp what it will really mean for their future and not waste the opportunities available to them. 

Rising Star: Day 15: Over-nighter Part 2

We started the day with more Dosa and I can't even tell you how sick we are of this stuff.  We all swallowed as much as we could while discussing things like syrup and bacon.  Probably not the best ides when all you have is flat bland bread and spicy dipping sauces, but we passed the time with day dreaming.

We went to a village and I was the dressing undo-er.  If they have previous dressings I cut them off and send them to the washing stations.  It was going as normally as possible but then a man came in who could not stand so he scooted on a little pillow everywhere he went.  He was also almost entirely blind.  His dry skin was coated in flies and he had wrappings on both elbows and knees.  The line had slowed down and he was the last one in so I brought all of my supplies to him on the ground and called over three other girls.  I started undoing all of his wrappings and he had the biggest ulcers I had seen outside of the hospital.  Instantly the flies started attacking the raw skin and we all grabbed washing rags and got to work.

After the washing was done I held a clean wet rag to the biggest ulcers on his elbows so that flies wouldn't get to it and infect it.  Bri oiled his skin and the other two girls worked on the sores under his knees.

The image of all four of us on the dirty ground caring for this man will always be with me.  It is easy to judge people.  It is easier to judge people who are different than you, but it is difficult to judge people while serving them.  We were lost in service for this man.  He was completely vulnerable and poor and dirty.  We went down to his level and did everything we could to help ease his suffering.  We got the head nurse to come wrap his ulcers before all others in line so that the flies would not get into them.  This in itself is a miraculous thing.  In India a line doesn't mean much.  You have to push your way into a bathroom stall because it is survival of the fittest here.  We demand a line in our clinics and it is followed but for this man's fellow villagers to allow him to go first after they had waited for 20 minutes is amazing.  They truly are compassionate people - especially in the rural areas where we were at.

After this man was helped everything was done except the long line of those waiting for their wounds to be wrapped.  Bri and I asked if we could set up another wrapping station.  The surprising part - the head nurse said yes!  She usually didn't let us do the wrapping part so it was an amazing opportunity.  I had never worked this station before so Bri directed me and we got a lot of people taken care of.  It was great nursing skills practice.

After the colony we went to this awesome place: Five Falls.  We went on basket boats down this river next to these waterfalls and it was beautiful.  We saw enormous bats hanging from these big trees - creepy.  There were monkeys and goats everywhere as well.  It was a lot of fun and a good break.

We traveled home after that and got in pretty late and went to sleep.

Rising Star: Day 14: Over-nighter Part 1

At 515 this morning we loaded the vans and were off for a two day adventure.

I was in the back of the van where there the A/C doesn't get to you and I was sitting on the bench sideways... not good for motion sickness.  Eventually I got adjusted to the movement and settled in for the long drive.  We drove up passed these beautiful mountains (mountains if you are from the east but hills if you are from the west) with big boulders and tons of palm trees.  We get to the bottom of this one mountain and stop right on the side of the freeway.  There was a dirt path up into this village that was both too steep and too narrow for the vans so we made an assembly line all the way up this winding path to the clinic and started unloading the van.

This was the beautiful view from the top of the hill where the clinic was set up

Everything was done until we realized we needed to bring up some chairs.  By this time everyone had ventured up to the clinic except me and Karen.  I gave two to her and took four myself and started up the hill.

The clinic had been set up and everyone had a job so I took the job outside at the desk.  I wrote down people's names who needed wristbelts.  Wrist belts is a tool for those without fingers that enables them to hold things and protects their hands.  I would screen the patients before entering and see how many fingers they had still intact.  I also handed out shoes to those that were screened from past visits.  Rising Star had taken down measurements from a previous trip here and had leather shoes made to protect these people's feet.

Leprosy amazes me.  It is such a simple disease yet it causes so much destruction.  There is an easy fix if caught fast enough and even if nerve damage does occur simple precautions would erase almost all of the side effects that people quickly identify with Leprosy.  Precautions are essential so Rising Star tries to protect as many people as possible by providing shoes and feet covers, wrist belts, and education.  These small and inexpensive things protect these people from digit and limb loss, ulcers, and infections.  I'm glad I was able to see this step of the process in caring for these poor people.

Although this was an interesting job, it was out in the sunlight... I had to wear my sunglasses to protect my vision and looked like a crazy person the whole day.  It might look lame on pictures and be strange to those that don't know my eye situation but it is better to wear sunglasses than to not be able to see and be in incredible pain.

When the patient line slowed down I went inside to give my fellow students some extra practice in taking my blood... we decided against it because the needle supply was running low.

After we were done at the colony we packed up with the help of the villagers and lots of the colony's kids.  They all wanted to thank us and this was their way of doing it.  They walked up and down that hill with their new shoes and bandaged limbs to help us.  That is just the kind of people that Rising Star helps.  They are not looking for handouts.  They are not begging in the streets.  They do what they can and appreciate the medical help when they can get it.  

We drove to a dam. At first we were all a little skeptical when Dr. Susan said that was our activity for the afternoon, but I am so glad we went.  It was a little oasis.

 There was a large park in front of the dam with this water feature dedicated to the Goddess of Love.

I tried to take a picture without my glasses on... FAILURE

We spent a good deal of time on top of the dam because it was beautiful and the air was clean.  It did not smell of garbage and urine so we all wanted to take in as much as possible.

            

We may have done some yoga poses....

 We found a playground as well and had some fun on a spinning thing that I think should be on every american playground.

After the Dam we continued on to the hotel where we ate an early dinner - we tend to have two meals a day here: late breakfast of Dosa and early lunch with spicy curry.

Today we ate at the hotel restaurant and it was fantastic.  We had a fried rice kind of thing that had no spice so we filled up on that and naan.  .... we may have poured all the extra into a bag under the table so that we could eat it later..

After dinner we went to an Exhibition - translation: a FAIR!!

There were little shops and vendors and carnival rides.  We went on the dragon boat ride that was super sketchy.  The man cranked the machine to start and stop us... pretty scary but a blast!

The biggest drink at the carnival was sugar cane squeezed into a cup with some lime juice.  It tasted like sugar water with a very strong plant/dirt taste.  Not too bad and really interesting to watch them make.

We also got cotton candy for 15 Rupees or 30 cents!  I love how cheap everything is here!

We went back to the hotel, did some homework, and went to sleep.  It was another awesome day in India!

Rising Star: Day 13: Safety Squad

This morning my group went to another Leprosy Colony and it was great.

We set up a clinic and did some more wound care.  It was a pretty slow day so I'm glad we had Shaun Perry with us.  I can't remember if I have introduced Shaun Perry but he is the director of Promethean Spark and Life Dance.  He had the whole village dancing outside the clinic.  It was really fun to watch these kids do their Indian dancing and trying some of Shaun's moves.

Tonight we taught Safety tips and First Aid stuff to the older kids.  I taught Fire Safety because these kids go home to their villages and cook over an open fire each day.  Rachel and I role played her making food and I would stop the scene and ask the kids what she was doing wrong.  They were so cute and got really into it.

After teaching fire prevention we taught them Stop, Drop, and Roll if they did catch on fire.  It was a lot of fun.

Other groups taught CPR, and Snake bite first aid, and safe baby holding.  This is important for this population especially.  Generally, children are handled pretty roughly because they just don't know how fragile a baby really is.  It was great to see the boys getting excited to practice holding a baby the right way.  They teased each other but really got into it.

The boys love their WWF here so they taught me this card game they play with all the stats of WWF fighters.  I won! ... with a LOT of help from some of the boys.

Rising Star: Day 12: Church/Eyes

Today was not a very pleasant experience.  My eyes have been pretty irritated for a few days, but today they went berserk on me.

They are breight red and very painful.  They are pouring out tears and are very sensitive to light.  After closing my eyes the entire sacrament meeting I put my contacts into Marissa's empty medicine bottle with some tap water.

Normally I would have taken them and thrown them away in such dire circumstances, but being in India, I don't have many contacts at my disposal and I couldn't remember how many extra contacts I had brought, so saving them at the time was necessary - until I got home and found I had another two contacts with me.

I then sat through the next two hours without being able to open my eyes.  I probably looked like a crazy person and I felt ridiculous, but I was in some serious pain.  For the rest of the day I laid down with my eyes closed.  By nighttime they were a little better, but not by much.

Perhaps it's just me, but I have always feared not being able to see.  I think it may be something that only those that need glasses or contacts will ever understand because when you don't have contacts in or glasses nearby and you can't see it is not only frustrating, it can be a bit frightening.  I faced my fear today and I did not enjoy the experience.

I wish my day had gone a little better so that I could have enjoyed church but I can open my eyes a bit now so all is well.

Rising Star: Day 11: Pondicherry

Pundicherry

We went on a little adventure to a French colony called Pondicherry.

On the way we stopped at auraville.  Apparently a man had a vision of this town being the center of the world where everyone could come to receive insight.  The center of this town is a large golden sphere building surrounded by beautiful gardens.

We walked along this path to go to the viewing area because we are not allowed inside.  Inside privileges are only for those who are "sincere and serious about receiving their own insights and revelations". Also you have to denounce any religion current, past, or present.

So we could not enter.

We got about halfway down this nature walk when a guard stopped us and asked for our tickets.....we did not have tickets.

We had to turn around and walk back in the very hot sun to the visitors center where we had to watch a movie informing us about the big gold ball. Inside everything is white and in the very middle of the sphere shaped room is a glass ball.  Apparently if you are "serious and sincere" staring into this glass orb will enlighten your mind. Pretty crazy stuff but we got the free tickets and started the walk back to the ball.

The structure and ground were pretty fantastic.  Impressive to say the least.

On the way back we took a bus back to the visitors center.  We were on a time crunch so we all started in our own bench to make the bus appear to be full so we could leave but the driver didn't buy it and we had to wait.  In India a full bus means every seat is filled and the aisles are stuffed full of people standing back to back.

Hannah and I were on a bench together when a man came and sat next to us.  Our bench was full so him sitting there was very awkward.  He put his arm on the back of the seat and it was a very uncomfortable drive.  Everyone made fun of us after that. 

We eventually got to Pondicherry.

We pulled up to a huge statue of Gandhi!  SO COOL!

There was a big crowd next to the statue forming a circle - turns out they were filming a Bollywood movie!

We split off into small groups and were told to meet back up at the statue in a few hours.  Me, Bri, Sarah, and Nicole set off with a few goals of things to find and buy.

Number one on the list was American food...actually, anything but Indian food.  After walking through some sewage scented streets we saw the bonbon cafe.  What a beautiful sight!

I'm not sure why it is really called a French colony because the only thing French about it was the bakery but I am sure glad it was there.  We had some pizza and pasta and French fries to share - we indulged just a tad.  Amazing.  Nothing has ever tasted so good.

Best part about this find was that when we walked in the whole place was filled with people from our rising star group.  Somehow each small group had found their way there.

After eating we walked a few blocks to the bazaar.  It was really neat and very different than anything you see in the States, that's for sure.

It is outside but the stalls are all packed tightly in and there is a ceiling made of tarps, all pieced together to cover the majority of this good size block.

There are different parts if the bazaar: fruit, vegetables, spices, clothing, and random things like bangles or biscuits.

We explored in there for a while then made our way out to the street where stopped at several places including a jersey store and a music/movie store.

By this point it was extremely hot outside and we were all drenched with sweat so we decided to head back to the Gandhi statue which was on the beach.  We walked along the beach and looked at the cart stalls there while enjoying a "cold" Merinda and the cooler breeze coming off the Bay of Bengal.

Merinda  is like orange Fanta and those two drinks are all over the place here.  I prefer Merinda over Fanta because the Fanta here is really carbonated compared to what I'm used to.

We were pretty early so we had to wait awhile for everyone else to show up.  We found some crabs on the rocks and watched them for a while.

While waiting many Indian men took our pictures constantly.  We learned before we came to India not to stare but I don't think that is against any social norms because it happens constantly.  After the tenth photo this man took I grabbed someone's camera and started taking pictures of him.  He got the idea and moved on.

It was another good, but hot day!  Still no elephant siting, but I'll keep working on it!

Rising Star: Day 10: Nursing School

Today we got to experience nursing school, India style. They had a huge sign to welcome us in. It said "hearty welcome students and faculty brigham young university Provo ut USA"

They took us to a room with a large group of their faculty and showed us a power point about their school.  It was interesting but very detailed and the man read every name and title, every date, and every chart.  They then offered us tea (this happens everywhere and we politely decline) and biscuits (a bland short bread type cookie - these we accept).

We then got a tour of every lecture hall and lab room.  The tour took us through the hospital where we saw every floor, every unit, every nurse, and practically every patient....it was interestng... And thorough...very thorough.

The people here are so kind and respectful.  Their hospitality is beyond anything I have ever experienced.  They do anything possible to make our visit as amazing as possible.  

Some random tid-bits : 

I saw a chameleon on a tree. It was blending in so yes, you can call me eagle eye.  

I was the one who just happened to stop and stand on the spot of the sidewalk covered in bird poop and a drop of something green fell from the tree above me and landed on my hand.

By the end of the tour we were so hungry and tired that Hannah called a chair a cheet.  Her problem with words occurs often when she is tired.

When we got to the food courts restaurant there was only one menu (a step up because they usually don't have menus in the restaurants) and they didn't have most of the items on the menu so we had naan (flat bread).  The power was out so all the ice cream was melted so we couldn't get that either, but this sign made up for it. 

Ice cream is a safe haven here.  A chocobar is usually only about 15 rupees which is about 30 cents.  It is sweet and cold.  Two of the four things you crave here: sweet, cold, salt and lettuce.

We got back on the van, drove home, had dinner, and went to our families.

I told the boys a scary story and made them all jump at the end even though the whole time they were saying "auntie, more scary!"

Bri made us nutella tarts using peanut butter, honey, and cake mix.  The first two ingredients we all brought for our daily  lunches and is readily available but cake mix we found in the pantry = vital to our success here.

What I learned today:  Indians are proud of their success and they want to continue to improve and grow as a nation.  They may have limited resources, but they are trying.  They have the desire and that is a huge step.

Rising Star: Day 9: Dentist Day

Today we escorted some of the students to the dentist.  We each had a buddy that we were in charge of.

My buddy's name was Sarathi and he is 7 years old.  He was quite nervous to go the dentist and he started to cry when he saw the little drill tool.  He made sure I would stay his side the whole time. It was pretty cute that he wanted me there but sad to watch his eyes well up every time they picked up the drill.  

He made it through and we played in the waiting room for a very long time.

We eventually got back and had play time!  Soccer!! Scored a goal and our team won!

I also had the chance to watch Life Dance perform.  This is the school's dance team and it is incredible. Shaun Perry is a Broadway dancer and he started a program called Promethean Spark.  It is a dance program that teaches life lessons.  He has this program in many countries including  India and Kenya.  He leads these kids in dance routines and teaches them things like goal setting and teamwork.  The best part about Life Dance is that they are amazing and they travel around and perform.  This gets Rising Star's name out there and teaches the country of India about Leprosy and the effects of the social stigma.  I watched them practice their "Leprosy Section" of their routine and it brought me to tears.  The children were asked to picture a Leprosy-afflicted person from their colonies that they know personally and make dance moves to mirror their actions.  It was incredibly sad and powerful that these children know the everyday effects of this debilitating disease.  The song is by David Archuleta who is a big supporter of Rising Star.

This is a link to their performance last year but they are 20x better now.  The main dancer boy is named Joseph and he is a wonderful young man and a beautiful dancer.  I have a friend going to see them perform in Bangalore this weekend so I hope I can get a video of their newest performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOs_cLlKEUw

That night we taught each of our family houses about dental hygiene and the boys were a lot better for us tonight.  They are starting to warm up to us a bit.  I have one boy who lives in the family next door who wants me to draw something for him each night so that he can learn how to draw and then he has to paint it for me.  I drew a lion for him.

It was a long but good day.  Things are going great here but I can not believe how fast time is going.  I have been here 2 weeks and I have loved it!  It is hard and hot and tiring but I am learning a lot and serving others - while also playing with kids.  What could be better!?

Rising Star: Day 8: Sports Day

Today was a free day for us!  Apparently India had no gas all day so our scheduled all day trip (including a 8 hour van ride) was cancelled!  It was a pleasant surprise because the constant travel has worn us out and we were going to have to leave early.

It was Sports Day here at Rising Star and it was pretty neat.  They had a mini Olympics and many dignitaries from the surrounding villages came.  They even had white doves to open the ceremonies!  Impressive.  One of my favorite parts of the ceremonies was when Sally Read (President Madame- that's what the Indian people here call her) hoisted up the flag and Jasmine fell out of flag.  Small details like that is so typical of this culture.

There were races: running, potato sack, and spoon (a small lemon is put on a spoon in their mouth) and there were also pyramid building competitions and my favorite: yoga demonstrations. Oh India ....

Nageesh won the lemon spoon race!

Everyday at 4 there is play time for the kids and this is where you really start to bond with the children here.  There is a huge soccer game everyday and I usually play with them.  The boys are crazy and it is super hot so I'm usually drenched with sweat and have blisters on my feet  by the end.  It is so much fun even if they don't play by the rules (hand balls are very common).

Tonight they had a movie night for the kids and it was pretty entertaining.  I walked into the Dining Hall where they had it projected into a screen and Subastri immediately got up and led me to where her and Nageesh were sitting.  Nageesh has sort of claimed me and I'm okay with that since she is the sweetest girl ever.

The movie was an Indian movie so I had Nageesh translate parts of it for me..... Interesting is all I can say.  Very different.

Each night we go to our own houses.  Two of us were each assigned a family house and we go from 730 - 900.  Usually this is time for us to help them with last minute homework and get to bed but school hasn't started yet so it has been just fun time.

After we got back to The Elephant House we made brownies and cookies ... with no oven. we cooked it in the microwave and it was delicious!  I will never take sweet things for granted again.  It was gone in about two minutes.

We then played Pictionary and it got intense.  It was a super close game with two big comeback runs.  My team won by one square!  As the indians say, "Suuupa"! (super)