Our first real day at Rising Star. We were on construction detail. This was near the campus and recently donated land where they are able to grow a garden. They were digging irrigation ditches today and having volunteers digging holes for trees and moving piles of rocks from the fields. It was honestly hard work, biggest workout since the Tiger Temple;) It was fun having work to do where you can see an end result and rewarding to see what we had accomplished at the end of the day. So proud of Sam who didn't complain once and really liked the hard work. He didn't want any help digging his holes and didn't have to ask twice for him to jump in and help hauling rocks down our assembly line we made. We were a hot and dirty and sweaty mess when we were done and the bucket showers back at RSO were a welcome relief.
After showers I was ready for some rest in our air conditioned room. We got caught up on blogs and posting some pictures and ate our packed lunch. I went over to the dining hall for the kids hoping to scope out the girls I sponsor who actually live in the village and sometimes are hard to spot since they leave right after school. I saw Keerthika. It was amazing, she looked like herself but just a couple feet taller. You could still tell she was shy and sweet but could speak English and we could communicate. She was so young when I came, maybe 6 and you could tell she could kind of remember me but they have so many visitors. I told her I would bring photos of when I was here last time and she could see.
Around 3 I went out onto the field and played badminton with some of the girls that were in 7th grade and were confident and funny and liked to chat. Sam engaged in soccer with the boys, which looked WAY TO HOT! They don't get as many boys here as girls and so I think the boys are excited to have some male volunteers to play with.
At 4 p.m. we met the girls in the lobby after school. I felt like I was waiting for my cousins to come home from missions, like I haven't seen them for so long I am nervous and excited. The girls came around the corner and I could tell Divya could remember me but was also tentative. I look older and different and that was when she was 7. I showed them pictures of when I was here last time and they remembered me coming to their village and Divya's mom giving me a coconut to drink. They loosened up and then I didn't want to keep them too long but heard about how school was and that Divya graduates on Saturday. I may not have a chance to see her after this week again. She will be moving to another school for 11th and 12th may be in another area. I will definitely continue to sponsor her there. But she is in 10th standard and leaves on Friday. I told her I would like to come to her village and see her mom again. She got really excited and I said this time I will take a tuk tuk, since last time was so hot and I wasn't sure if I could find my way back. Looking forward to that. Fun to introduce the girls to Sam too and he was sweet and friendly.
At 4:40 we went over and played with the kids during their free time until about 5:45. There are over 200 kids living in the dorms from age 5-16. Everyone was busy doing their own thing. Sandy brought nail polish with her and we did nails of the kids and then some of the girls wanted to play tag- after a few minutes of that I was sweating to death and just couldn't do it so I played with her on the swings and talked and painted her nails. I found like the big sister of the group and she sat on the bench as all the girls and boys would come and say hi to her. She was really mellow and pleasant and mature beyond her years. It is so difficult to remember these girls names since some have about 6 syllables and I can't remember them all and they want you to. I wish I could.
In the evening we brought over dinner from the kid's kitchen and spilled part on my shirt since everything felt heavy after yesterday. We talked about our highs and lows today around the table, My high was seeing the girls, my low was spilling dinner on my shirt ;) Sam's high was doing construction and low was his last game of soccer in the crazy heat. Not bad lows and great highs.
Before bed we received our medical training for the next day when we will go out with the medical staff and treat people with leprosy and other ailments in the colonies. They have come a long way since I was here and it is much more organized and more protocol and I think it will be more affective and better more engaging work for the volunteers. I am looking forward to it. I was surprised when Sam asked to do the bloodwork. He thought that seemed interesting- maybe because it involved needles and some technology to read the blood work. He isn't intimidated about the work. I am so proud of him.
Who needs a gym when you have a pile of rocks to move
Seeing Keerthika for the first time in 7 years. So sweet. She has grown up so much but still has that sweetness about her that I remember the first night when I met her at Rising Star in 2008
Painting Nails
These girls were hilarious and spent afternoon play time with them
Sisters serving together xox
So excited to see my two sponsor girls: Divya and Keethika
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