Christmas and Wedding!

We received some great pictures and wonderful reports about the children's Christmas program and the party on the last day of school.  We were very sad to have missed it, but with our own schedule here in the US we were not able to be a part of it.  In addition to the "Dance Master" Shaun Parry having prepared the children for the program, the Marriott folks from the Chennai Marriott, came and brought all the food for several hundred, and gifts for all the children.  It must have been a fabulous day, and a great send off for the children for the holidays.

We also have had an outstanding couple of weeks--a terrific visit with all our family, old fashioned Christmas Eve with our home-grown Nativity, (two year old Seth looking a bit large and old for the baby Jesus),  and a great Christmas where our focus was on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  It was such a perfect celebration where Santa was almost left out of the equation.  (There were a few children that were still happy he hadn't completely departed.) The marriage of our Grandson, Alex Wilson to Christina Koelliker  followed the Christmas celebration.  The evening of December 26th we had a fun party for the bride and groom at our home with about 75 guests from Christina's family and ours in attendance.  It was a beautiful occasion, with good food, lots of laughter and a few tears from the parents.  Alex is our first grandchild to be married, and even the Grandparents (us) were a bit nostalgic thinking of how fast the past 23 years have gone.  He has been such a great example for the 17 siblings and cousins following, who have truly looked to him as their guide. Now we will share him with his lovely wife and her dear family.

On Saturday, the 27th, we all journeyed to San Diego to the beautiful Temple for the marriage. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe that the marriage and sealing that takes place in the temples, is efficacious for all eternity as well as for this life. It is very sacred to us.  Alex and Christina had chosen, both by choice and by the way they have lived their lives, to be married there.  The sealing/wedding was performed by Ron, as he has received the power to perform this ordinance in the temples.  It was a great day for all of us.

The beautiful reception in the evening was the frosting on the cake!!  Food, flowers, music, bride and groom--all was perfect (including the red velvet cake!)  We felt so happy we could be home and a part of this very special family celebration.  The cute couple are off to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, for a short honeymoon before returning to cold, snowy Utah to continue their studies at BYU. 

We have loved having the Elizabeth and Bob Tempest family here for the entire holiday, and our son Matt and Natalie Hanson and their family, are now also with us for a week, after being delayed with a bad bout of the flu.  We feel very blessed to have the Andy and Katie Hanson family and Jenny and Chris Wilson family in residence here in Laguna. We are sad to leave them again, but they are excited for what we are doing.  They join us in wishing all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.  We will be back in India by January 13th, after a Rising Star Outreach Board Meeting in Washington D.C. and are looking forward to the continuing challenges.   

Home!

It's nice to be home for Christmas--my bed feels good, the house looks beautiful (thanks to our daughter Elizabeth and her friend Dana Earl who flew from Utah to have Christmas ready for us). The lights outside are all up--thousands of them, carefully strung by our son Andy, and his sons Blair and Ben, our son-in-law Chris, and his sons Alex, Nate, and Jeremy.  Jenny had stocked the frig with everything we love, including blueberries, blackberries and raspberries--lots of them.  Katie had placed fresh flowers, hydrangeas, and orchids in all the right places.  It is spectacular inside and out.  Laguna is as charming as ever, always enhanced by the beauty of the Christmas season. We have been blessed with beautiful sunsets, as well as much needed rain.

Our wonderful family has greeted us with so much love, and we feel gratitude beyond measure that we can be home with them.  The grandchildren have all added inches and pounds and beauty.  Being in Church with our dear friends of so many years, was like a bit of heaven.

There is a slight restlessness in my soul, however.  I realize part of me has been left in India--I miss the children, the warm rain (we've frozen since we have been here), the wild roads, the cows, the colors and the Indian people.  Our landscapes down the freeways look like backdrops, waiting for someone to bring their paintbox and add the color and the excitement--even the garbage!! The driving is so orderly... and boring! The quiet is almost unnerving.   Who would have guessed! 

It's good to be home for the holidays... but for a few more months beginning in the middle of January, it will be good to return to a land we have truly learned to love.  

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas--at this wonderful time of year, we rejoice in the gift of God's Son.  All of His children are precious--those near, and those far away. May you feel the peace and joy of His love.

Lovingly, Joyce and Ron

Coming Home!

Ready or not, we're due to be on the airplane in three days.  It's very difficult to imagine--after five months, this has truly become our home.  We miss our family and friends and home so much, but this is our life right now.  Christmas and home feel like another world.

Today while working on leaving things in a tidy way, and trying to decide what to put into the suitcase, I found a little friend who had decided she would like to try being an American puppy instead of an Indian puppy.  She has decided I am the only one--Indian or American --that has a soft spot for an Indian dog.

This week we were invited by our new Hostel Warden to attend a Seemandhan for her daughter-in-law.  This is a blessing that is for a mother-to-be, who is somewhere in her third trimester of pregnancy, but only for the first born child.  The flowers and some of the ritual reminded me of a wedding, but the purpose is to bless the baby and the mother with health and happiness.  Part of the ceremony was adding a bracelet onto each of the mother's arms.  The "elder" women present were invited to come place a bracelet on each arm.  The first bracelet is made from the neem plant.  It is followed by gold bangles, silver bangles and then glass bangles. The sound of the bracelets is for the baby to hear the lovely sound the bangles make as the mother moves her arm.  Sweet sounds for the baby.  After delivery, they are all removed. There was also a food blessing with each parent being fed pieces of a cutup banana, and then the whole thing was followed by a feast up on the roof.  Very interesting and we felt honored to be included.  I likened it to the baby showers we give to honor the first born baby.

This morning our three 8th standard children set off in the dark for a long drive to Chennai for the official testing. There are several benchmarks for the students, including 8th standard, 10th standard, and 12th standard.  As they pass each of these tests, they can then move on to the next standard--or not.  They left at 6:00 a.m. to be in their seats and ready to go by 9:30 a.m.  They are probably not going to do too well, as this group of kids came to us late, and are not our best learners, but the teachers wanted them to have this experience and also use the test as a benchmark.  The testing lasts all week--five days.  They went up last Monday, but the tests were cancelled, due to the rains.  Chennai was pretty well under water for a few days.  It is going to be a long week for these three.

As we will be beginning our major building projects when we come back in January, I'm taking pictures of some of the wonderful figures that are hung outside new building projects to ward off problems.  I thought the fellow pictured above was particularly attractive!

Next blog from the USofA!!  Happy Holidays to all.

Children On the Town!

Last Sunday four of our children had a special treat.  The Courtyard Marriott in Chennai were having a Christmas celebration, which included decorating a life size gingerbread house.  We were called and asked if we would like to bring four of our "Rising Stars" to be part of the celebration. We considered who we thought should be taken for this very exciting event, conferring with our school director and our general manager.  We chose two boys and two girls, all from the 6th standard.  Three of the children are 11, and the other little boy, Krishnamoorthy, will turn 10 this month. Each of these children are doing well in school, have good English skills, and generally are all around good citizens.  We pieced together some outfits for the boys, while the girls seemed to have more clothing choices that looked very nice. The only thing we laughed about (to ourselves) was the big tennis shoes that the girls wore with their chiddidars (traditional Indian dress.)  The boys on the other hand, had new sandals on one, and black lace shoes found in the storeroom for the other.  

We started with a buffet breakfast, with everyone from the new General Manager of the Chennai Marriott, down to all the cooks and servers making such a fuss over them.  The kids knew many of them from their visits to Rising Star, and of course the Marriott employees know the children.  The children were very impressed with the many choices for breakfast--I can assure you, that there are no choices here--they eat what is served or they don't is their choice. I was surprised with the things they chose--most of it American.   After breakfast, we went to where they were decorating Christmas cookies with frosting to stick on the gingerbread house. There were photographers everywhere, and our children were at the center of the flashes.  The local TV station had a reporter there, and she interviewed our girls.  I asked the girls if they spoke in Tamil or English, and the reply was "when the questions were in English, we answered in English, and when they were in Tamil we answered in Tamil."  Of course.

The bathrooms were a mystery to them--the boys wanted to know where the water was in the toilet area, (everything is washed down with a small bucket of water in an Indian toilet),  and the girls were amazed that the water turned on when they put their hands under the faucet. They were very concerned that it wouldn't turn off, and surprised when it did it all on its own. They didn't brave the American toilets at all.

They had a big jumping house set up, which the boys loved, but the girls would not attempt.  It was such fun to see the difference in all the non-Indian children, who were in a great majority, to our four beautiful unsophisticated children, that had never seen such a thing as a hotel, or all that was presented to them.  It was truly magical for them and for us!

My vivid picture of the day is Shama, one of our most beloved housemothers, sitting on a low stool with her umbrella, next to our lake (it used to be our playground), small bucket in hand filling bigger buckets for the girls.  Half of the girls were still getting soap out of their hair in the shower, when the water pump quit!  "Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink"--or bathe in, we might add.  The rain has been incessant for several days.  Our huge wells have filled up by a third, at least.  I've never seen rain come down like this.  We have been without power a good portion of the last few days, but until this morning we have had water for all uses other than drinking.  It was quite laughable this morning.  One of our boys brought a small fish to live in our house.  I couldn't figure where it had come from, but as I am looking out the window at the "lake" I can see little fish jumping.  Anyone out there able to explain this to me?

School has been closed the last few days--when the government declares that schools be closed, it means schools are closed! Apparently you can get in big trouble if you don't close. Even private schools.  I suspect no one checked this morning, because after two days with all of us locked in the hostels (locked in by the rain) we were all a little crazy.  By the time the children ran their short distance to the school, they were soaked. Now we'll probably have everyone back sick.  I took a few children with my umbrella, and had to come home and completely start over on my clothes for the day.  To complicate things, the puppies have not left for their new homes.  Their new owners keep telling me that it is not auspicious to take them in the rain!!  Of course I am their adopted mother, which is also a 24/7 job when it rains like this.  At the moment they are locked in our bathroom, because the electrician is trying to fix another electrical problem (joke) and they were spending their time where one of the main panels resides.  Why do I care???

We have been concerned about the news out of Mumbai, but here at the land we feel very safe. No one would have a desire to brave our muddy-rut roads to do harm.  We are not being cavalier about it, but do feel that we are in a good spot.  Ron, unfortunately, had to go to Chennai today.  He called to say they were swimming through the streets in their vehicle.  We have heard that 60 people may have drowned or died in this last rain period.  The rivers run wild with this amount of precipitation all at once, and they live so precariously near the rivers.

This week, picture us not "Walking in the Sand", but walking in the mud!

Our Boys

 




Since we live in the Boys Hostel, we spend most of our evenings having a group of the older boys (6th, 7th and 8th Standard) with us for study time.  They usually come shortly after 7:00p.m. and stay until nearly 9:00.  For many, calling it study time is a very loose term, but they start right after they get home from school, knocking on the door to ask if tonight "they come for study."  I guess they say, "We come for study tonight?"  Two of the older boys who come are on the verge of being sent home, for incorrigible behavior, but when they come for study time, they are great. Wish we could convert the behavior in our house, to their behavior with their house mothers and their peers.  It's a sweet time, so when we spend nights in Chennai, they miss it, and so do we. One added bonus has been that they get to spend some time on the computer, which they adore.  We are still waiting for our desk top computers to arrive, and the number of laptops that we use in the computer class is small, so time on Grandpa's laptop is frosting on the cake.

I am including pictures of several of them, and since I haven't figured out how to put names on them, I will identify them.  Unfortunately, I'm missing pictures of a couple of them--later I will include those.  Boy reading magazine is Deepenraj, Rajesh has basketball, and Grandpa is shown with Madanraj and lots of little friends.  Arulraj is second down on the right and Shankar is busy coloring.  Krishnamoorthy is behind two of his pals on the playground (center).

Our 8th Standard boys are Kartik and Satish.  Satish is pictured above by the vegetables, getting some out for the cooks.  He is nearly 16, very handsome and extremely sweet.  He is so good with the younger boys, and has flourished with the attention he gets from us.  He is way behind where he needs to be in his studies, but he tries hard--we have a difficult time getting the older boys caught up: there is too much ground to cover.  Kartik is the youngest son of one of our long-time employees Mani.  Mani's home is in Chennai, and he is always our driver when we are here.  He is also the land manager, so he directs the work of all our men that work on the land.  Kartik had a major hip surgery this year, and consequently got even further behind in his 8th grade work.  His reading in both English and Tamil is poor, but he comes to "study" faithfully every night.  He is thoughtful and kind-- a little on the heavy side, so he's a big boy. Truly a gentle giant.  Kartik is 14. He is pictured in upper left.

7th Standard includes Rajesh and Shankar.  They are both darling boys, loving, friendly and great athletes.  They both excel in school, particularly Shankar.  Unfortunately, Shankar is one of our boys that spends a lot of time with the General Manager, for behavior unbecoming to a Rising Star!  He's got such potential--can it be channeled?  His father is very crippled with leprosy, and lives in Delhi.  His mother lives nearer in one of the colonies.  Rajesh is a leader of boys.  His mother is one of our house mothers, and his father is dead.  He is a baptized member of the church, and next week will give a talk in Primary, which he volunteered for.  Rajesh has a younger brother, Vignesh, and older sister, Priya who live here.  Shankar is 13, and Rajesh is 11.

In the 6th Standard we have a wide range of ages, sizes, and abilities in the boys.  There are two brothers, who are new to Rising Star this year--Modanraj and Deepanraj.  They are struggling to keep up, but Modanraj (age 14) has taken to working hard, and really trying to excel.  The younger brother, Deepanraj (12 years old), has quite good English (they both do), but would rather play, talk, look at story books or do anything other than work or study.  The boys mother died about 4 years ago, and Modanraj always carries her picture.  The father is very interested in the boys progress, and I think comes down quite hard when they are not doing well.

The other two boys that are 6th Standard, are young, and in the case of Arulraj on the edge of finding a new home.  We are working hard with him, but school is not high on his priority list, nor is following the rules.  He has a sad life at home--father gone, and mother very crippled. We keep hoping he will see the value in what is being offered to him here at Rising Star Outreach.

Krishnamoorthy, also 6th Standard, is just the opposite from Arulraj.  He is a stellar student, and while being one of the youngest in his class, is a solid citizen all round.  He is so kind and causes no problems anywhere.  We love having him around.  He shows for a lot of love from his family; you can really see what their home life is when you see how they behave.  Both of these boys are 12 years old.

It is a joy to get to know these young men.  They are like children everywhere:  the individual time spent with them is invaluable.  They truly thrive with the personal attention.  We insist that when they are in our house that they speak only English, so there are a couple of them, except when they forget, who are pretty silent.  We have high hopes that each can rise higher, than they might otherwise have.  We thank each of you that support a child--what a great gift that is.

Life OUT of the Big City!

We've had a week of not much internet connection, hence the lack of blog entries.  We're getting closer to a secure source, but we're not quite there yet.

This story is actually about life IN the big city.  Sara Tempest sent us a great article from the International Herald Tribune entitled "Urban Cowboys Struggle with India's Sacred Strays." The story is about the attempt to get the cows off the major highways in New Delhi (which they are committed to do before the Commonwealth Games, which will be in New Delhi in 2010.)  In the article it talks of "dozens of men who spend their days roping cattle on the streets of [New Delhi] as a part of a long and frustrating battle to rid India's capital of stray cows.  Since the slaughter of cows is banned throughout most of India, "there is perhaps no more stereotypical image of India than that of a stray cow sauntering down the middle of a busy street, seemingly oblivious to the traffic swerving around it."

These "cowboys rely on rope lassos and brute strength to capture the beasts, which often charge into traffic or kick or buck violently in an attempt to escape."  We have heard that there is a similar program in Chennai of trying to rid the city of it's thousands of cows, but we've not seen it in action.  I have included a picture, but this cow lives in Changleput, which is a much smaller city, and while there are cows everywhere, the town itself rather looks like there should be cows wandering in and out of the wild traffic.  This is an interesting problem that we have not encountered in Laguna Beach!

This week life Out of the big city, has us creating and using what Ron calls our "Indian tractor." We have had such a problem getting any heavy equipment in to smooth out our playing field, that Ron came up with a great design for our own dirt spreader--we think we should write John Deere and see if they wouldn't like to add it to their line of products.  It requires three men, and the one at the back has to be able to make the appropriate noises to keep the operation moving forward.  The guys were hilarious, and so proud of the fact that it really worked!  So was Ron...

We are also getting down our new walkways, which will allow us to walk from one hostel to the

other without slogging through mud in the rainy season, and sand in your shoes on dry days.  I have included only one picture of this, but we loved this man carrying the tiles on his head, as all building materials are moved.  It has been so fun to watch them making their cement, creating the base with very large rocks, moving the materials around, leveling with a long stick, and finally putting the tiles in place.  Next week a picture of the finished product!

Divali (or Dewali or Deepvali)

We have just completed the designated five days of the most important Hindu holiday in India, which is celebrated by Hindu and non-Hindu alike.  It is also a  special occasion for Hindus throughout the world.  Divali, as most of us here call it, is known as the Festival of Lights.  We have thought of it somewhat like Christmas, New Years and 4th of July, all rolled into one big holiday.  As I have read about Divali, I realize our celebration at Rising Star, was very small, compared to how it is celebrated throughout India, but our children loved what occurred, and seemed happy with it all.

A little history that I have learned about Divali.  The festival is calculated by the lunar, Hindu calendar.  It will appear somewhere in the end of October or early November.  The word Divali means "rows of lighted lamps" so, it is traditionally marked by lighting deeyas (or diyas), which are made from clay and filled with oil or ghee (they remind me of the ones we purchased in the holy land that are replicas of those from Biblical days.)  People get ready for this great holiday by cleaning their homes and surroundings, the purchasing and wearing of new clothing and giving charity to the needy. The stores were jammed the week before Divali began.  Fireworks are a big part of the celebration, which was one thing we did with the children:  firecrackers and sparklers are especially important.  Sweets are distributed (ours were more in the form of several sweet dishes as part of the meal), gifts are exchanged, homes decorated and oil lamps are lit.  We also had two goats, alive on Sunday, but covered with a curry sauce on Monday! Don't quite know how that fit into the Hindu holiday! We had a lot of nice clothing in the storeroom that people had donated to us, so each boy and girl got a new article of wearing apparel for the day, although for the evening excitement the girls had lovely outfits (many new from their families) especially for the holiday. 

Being the festival of lights, one thought is to wake up from the slumber of ignorance and pursue knowledge.  As light dispels darkness, so should knowledge dispel ignorance.  Through learning, man is expected to advance to the stage of enlightenment in which he realizes that God is the Light of lights, and that God brings warmth, love, and illumination to all being and therefore there can be no light greater than God.  The aim of Divali celebrations is to get man moving on the spiritual path and ultimately attain illumination by becoming one with God.  As they light the lamps in their houses, those celebrating divali are reminded to light the lamps of wisdom, goodness and God-consciousness in themselves.  It is through this, that they can attain the "Light of Lights"--God.

The festival is held in honor of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity.  They pray to Lakshmi for good luck in the coming year.  The lights are left burning all night, so that Lakshmi may feel welcome and enter.  The more lamps that are lit, the more likely it is that Lakshmi will be tempted to visit them.  Hindus believe she brings wealth when she visits.

Our employees all took at least two days off (plus the weekend)--family gatherings are very important, so many of them have to travel quite a distance to be with family.  Including the weekend, our children were out of school for four days, so that in itself was a celebration for them.  Our fireworks were very minor, but across Tamil Nadu they were incredible--even the most humble home has a display that makes our big 4th of July celebrations look pretty minor. I have never heard so many firecrackers in my life!  

It was exciting to be a part of this great holiday.

 

Birthday!

Joyce survived another birthday!  It's never been my favorite day, but this one was memorable, to say the least.  Jenny had informed the world that her already old mother, was going to turn a year older on the 21st.  You get to this point, and it seems like it would be nice to just coast past the day, without too much notice, but that was not to be the case this year.  She had asked a number of people to email me, to let me know that they were sympathetic, happy, understanding, thinking about how old I was, whatever!  I received close to 85 emails, and a few late ones are still coming in.  What fun it has been!  I was up at 3:00a.m. and went to the computer, and started reading emails.  I've never had such a nice night awake!  The real day began at 7:00 a.m. with the children putting signs all over our door, knocking loudly, and singing happy birthday at every opportunity.  They had wrapped all sorts of little packages, with toys from somewhere, made beautiful pictures, written cards in their best English, and found all kinds of reasons to be in our house with us, watching each new thing that arrived from someone.  One of the teachers gave me a beautiful blessing (Hindu or Christian?), everyone wanted to shake my hand (very traditional), and the traditional wish of "many happy returns of the day" was uttered all day long.  Never have I had more hugs and kisses.  The cook had made several delicious dishes and invited us for a special birthday lunch. Ron gave me a pretty gold necklace and earrings, and the women have been especially pleased with that, as it signifies that I am a married woman.  They all wear a gold chain that rests inside their saris or clothing, and I think they have been worried about me not having one.  Anyway, I do now.  Memorable day--a never to be forgotten birthday in India.

Our daughter sent me some of her thoughts on India, after her visit, that I wanted to share. Some of it was a bit effusive about her mother and father, so I have edited out a little, and some I have left.  Just remember, these comments come from a loving daughter who always says only the best!  Once again, I reiterate what a joy it was to have her here.  She wrote this as a letter to someone, and copied me on it.

"India was wonderful and horrible all at the same time.  It was great to be with my parents.  They both look great, their skin looks so good and they have a glow about them  Probably because everyone sweats 24/7 there due to the heat and humidity.  They feel good and they are happy.  It was a relief to see them doing so well, thriving in fact.  And this despite the very difficult living conditions they are in.  India is not for the weak stomached or faint of heart.  It is taxing on every level.  Nothing works well.  Most things don't work at all.  It is frustrating for them but they are learning new depths of patience.  The school and the children are a beautiful oasis in a country that is indescribably poor.  Living conditions for the majority of the population are beyond anything I could have imagined.  I have seen awful in Africa and parts of Mexico but that was nothing compared to this.  It is just so expansive in India... there is no end to it.  This was the horrible part of India.  After a week at Rising Star Outreach, Ann Tempest and I flew to Delhi for a few days.  We took a 5 hour car ride to the city of Agra where we visited the Taj Mahal.  The Taj exceeded my expectations.  It is magnificent.  I was so glad to see this wonder of the world, but the traveling was very difficult.  The roads in India are so dangerous.  There are no rules, or if there are any, no one follows them.  And then it is mile after mile of desperate poverty, filth, beggars, etc.  After a while I just had to close my eyes.  You just can't physically take it all in.  Needless to say, I was happy to get home.  The journey back was over 31 hours and by then I was quite ill with an intestinal bug.  I was pretty sick for 4 or 5 days.  Now that I am home and back into life, it's hard to believe I was really there.  While I was there, I was worried that would happen.  I don't want to forget the feelings I had there.  The work of Rising Star is miraculous.  The children have opportunities now that will change their lives and future generations.  The children are so beautiful.  They are happy and loving.  Joyce and Ron are Grandma and Grandpa to 171 students.  It is such a great thing.  What my parents are doing is incredible, admirable and inspiring.  They are giving so much but I know they are receiving much in return."  

Thank you Elizabeth.  She gives us way more credit than is due.

Week of Firsts!

We wondered if the sacrifice that our General Manager offered this past week on his birthday, as he attended the Temple  (most costly religious edifice, second only to the Vatican) in Andre Pradesh, resulted in our most recent additions.  He came to work on Monday with a baseball cap on, covering his newly shaved head.  He had given his beautiful hair to be used for wigs, fertilizer, other things to help the poor.  When, night before last, we were blessed with five new puppies from mama Snowball, (we still have two of her last batch), Ron asked Maren, our GM, if this was his doing.  He laughingly said, I did pray for prosperity for Rising Star, and we received all these new puppies!  Needless to say, we didn't need five new dogs--we've all agreed that we really don't need any dogs but we are not very good at getting rid of them.  We have worked on the neutering program, but it got bogged down in the three bid rule for everything we do or purchase.  This month, for sure!  We now have nine Indian dogs--they all look alike in India except for their coloring--and they are everywhere.  We have not helped the problem!

Our other excitement of this week, was the delivery of our first batch of milk from the village. 

We gave a micro-finance loan to five women in the nearby village to purchase 5 water buffalo. They will provide our milk (we will purchase it from them), which will then help them to repay the loan on the animals.  We have been told that the milk is very rich and will be nutritious for our children.  The rest of us think maybe we will continue to drink the milk we buy from the market!  (Cowards that we are.)  The milk will be picked up by us twice a day, we boil it, add protein powder in the morning and a bit of sugar in the afternoon, and it is then carried up to the children's rooms to be shared.  They love it--we're hoping they like the water buffalo milk as much as they have liked what they have been drinking.

Work has proceeded this week in spite of the rain.  The low wall around the playground, a pad for the big generator that will be coming to keep us in power at the school and the hostels, and a guard house at our front gate are all under construction.  The soccer field is still a bumpy, muddy surface, but all we need is a big piece of equipment to smooth it out.  That has been hard to come by.  The kids had a great game on it on Thursday, in spite of obstacles.  

Rain!

The rains have started!  Probably not the real monsoon yet, but enough in the last two days to make a big mess of all our roads, play areas and walking between the two hostels and out to the school.  Today, we finally loaded a big bunch of kids into the vans and drove them to the school. Anyone who was out at the wrong moment really got soaked.  Tonight we have a load of laundry still strung all over our room, that failed to dry--it has been inside hanging since early this morning.  Lots of moisture in the air!

Yesterday, we had a group of the older boys that went out to work on the big piles of sand that were dumped on Saturday, to try and reduce some of our lake areas.  They were so great as they organized themselves, carrying loads on their heads, and tossing the wet, heavy sands into the low spots.  The tool they use to toss the sand is like a large, short-handled hoe, and it is quite effective when used appropriately.  The boys worked for a couple of hours and the five or six mountains, were reduced to flatland.  This was all in the rain.  Next, the little boys were climbing out windows (not literally, but nearly so!) so they finally came out in the downpour and played on the playground.  They were such a mess, when it was all over, but I think the housemothers would not have kept their sanity without having them out for a while. Big problem with these rainy day weekends, is finding creative things for 140 squirrels to do!

It will be a new experience to observe when the day after day rains begin.  The average rainfall is 51" with about 40" of those in the fall monsoon (September through December), so we all may be web-footed by the time it's over.  Our wells (three of them) are so low, it's a bit scary. While we don't drink the well water yet (we're working on a reverse osmosis plant right now) it would be very bad not to be able to shower or flush a toilet!  We have noticed a change of the bugs that we are seeing in abundance, a lack of flies, louder frogs, and many more mosquitoes. 

One of our number (Amy Kirby -- doctors wife) had a funny experience (only in India is this funny).  They live in what we call the DLH (darling little house.)  It is cute looking, but is not very big, so they are tight with Karl and Amy, and their three little children.  They have had a lot of things not working quite right in the DLH--the toilet (American), the toilet (Indian), the electrical outlets (they burn everything up), the bedroom door handle (Karl had to break down the door the other day to get out), and several coconut trees that had not been picked and were dropping their heavy loads, barely missing the children!  They also came home on Saturday from celebrating Karl's birthday with a day out and discovered they had no water!  They had been at the beach surfing, so finally the parents came to our place to shower and get the sand off.  They are the best sports I have ever met about many difficult things!  The other day, however, took the cake.  Amy was in using the Indian toilet (the squatter we call them), and they had a drip of water that couldn't be stopped, and it made everything very wet. Her foot slipped and went down the hole of the squatter--a long ways!!  Luckily she didn't break an ankle, which surely could have happened.  Today in the rain, there were four workers over trying to solve the problems (they had all been there before), but Ron was assured tonight that they had a working American toilet, among other amenities.  I haven't talked to Amy yet!

The Feast!

It was quite a week, culminating in our great feast for all the parents and family members from the colonies who came on parents day to visit their children.  Christin Harding, from Boston, and her cute daughter Ann, were the directors of the production, with Ann Tempest as photographer and our daughter Elizabeth as a helper.  We planned for 450 people, and I don't think we had more than about 300 to 350 that we actually fed.  It was a very large amount of food that was prepared, with people coming from the village to cook in huge pots over wood fires all the biriyani that was served.  It was so much that it seemed worthwhile to hire that portion of the cooking out--money well spent to have it catered. Have you ever had a main course for a party for 350 people catered for under $40!  I'd like to bring them home with us for the big party we're doing for our grandson's "night before the wedding" celebration.

The preparations had been ongoing through the week.  Christin knew what she wanted to do (although she had come expecting to serve 30 to 50!), and she bought fun fabric in two patterns that stretched on the ground all the way through the mango grove nearest to the hostel.  Down the center she had the lovely traditional flower leis spread--orange, green and white, with a bit of red.  Almost India flag colors (minus the red.)  Banana leaves were at each place to serve the meal on, and except for the wind coming up and having to get the boys to try and hold everything down it all looked so pretty.  Christin is a fabulous party giver and caterer, and had recipes that were mostly followed by the Indian kitchen staff and all the American helpers who chopped fruit, broke green beans in small pieces, and assisted with potatoes, onions, garlic, etc.

The dishes served were lovely--biriyani in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian (with chicken), onions in a delicious curd, a potato dish with green beans, and beautiful fruit platters for dessert, followed by Hershey's chocolate bars that Christin had hauled from home.  (The chocolate almost caused a riot!)  We all thought it was quite memorable--not sure that the colony people felt the same way, but if it ultimately benefits their children they will think more fondly of it!

Christin is planning a cookbook, that will come out in December when she gives her annual Christmas party for her many friends of the Boston area.  Proceeds will benefit Rising Star Outreach, and help us on the path to funding our kitchen/dining facility.

Our week with Elizabeth here was so wonderful.  She was such a help and joy to have around--I really wanted to write her family and suggest they might get her back at Christmastime!  Becky Douglas was also here for the same period of time (actually she just left today) and that was also joyful.  Everyone here loves her so much--it is fun to follow in her shadow.  

We had our first Rising Star India Board meeting yesterday, here in our apartment in Chennai. We have some wonderful members on the board, including Padma Venkatramen (daughter of a former president of India); a retired high ranking government minister; a member of the Rotary International Board of Directors, who is also a member of the Madras Rotary Club that has given so much to Rising Star Outreach school and the micro-lending program; the head of all the Marriotts in India, Pakistan, and two other countries; and a man who heads up the Cobra out-sourcing program here for a big US law firm, and employs 50 attorneys.  It's a powerful group all interested and dedicated to Rising Star.  We were appalled with the report on the bombing of the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan.  30 employees killed (mostly security people, and about 10 hotel guests.  The person responsible parked a large garbage truck across the street from the hotel.  He set himself on fire, then ignited the 25 kg of explosives as the security people were rushing to aid him.  It was the largest blast ever in Pakistan.  Scary!

Always we must refocus on the children--it's why we're here and what makes us happy.

Playground!

Yes, the playground equipment arrived, and never have we seen joy like we observed when the cement was dry and the children were allowed to play on it.  The sound of joy is real--I don't know that there has ever been heard a prolonged sound of pure happiness as we heard that first day. The children have never really played like children in that way as they did that first hour or two. What would it be worth to have a bottle of that kind of joy to bathe in once in a while.  

It was a hard week, leading up to the installation.  The contractor and his  workers had not showed up all week, and Thursday was the day the play equipment was coming.  The ground was completely churned up, with no sand, only our red, clay dirt.  It had rained on Wednesday night so there were lakes everywhere.  It was discouraging--understatement!  We went over to our nearby village and talked to the Punjaet (local mayor) and shared our problem.  Pretty soon a group of about 15 men showed up with their primitive tools and several loads of sand, and began the process of smoothing about a half acre of ground.  By the time the playground people arrived the land was not perfect, but was ready enough for the installation to begin.  The workers from the equipment company spent the night Thursday night, and finally completed the job of getting each of the pieces painted and cemented into place late day Friday.  It was ready for play on Sunday afternoon.

The rest is shown in the pictures and engraved in my memory in sound!

The week of calm?!

Yes it has been calm, with a few hitches along the way.  We figured with the children gone, we would sail through all our projects, and be ready for a very busy weekend, and week following, to come.  Things do not always go as we plan, however.  On Monday last, we got word that a new volunteer was coming the next day.  Eugenie and her grandmother, Lynn, were on buddy passes so they flew when they could.  The grandmother is only here for 10 days, and they didn't realize that we would have no children here.  We were sad, and so were they!  Lynn got very sick that first night, and we were in Chennai, leaving Erin here to figure it out.  She got our wonderful Indian doctor, Senthilkumar to make a house call at 3:00a.m.  We were on the phone with Erin from 2:30a.m. on, so our night was also a little short.  We headed for the property first thing Wednesday morning, found her better, but she slept for most of the day. She's a real trooper, and by evening she was up and working on liquids.  The rest of the week Lynn and Eugenie have gone with the mobile medical van to colonies twice, visited two other colonies in search of our children for pictures and stories of them in their homes with family, have had day trips to Mahabalapuram, Dachina Chitra, a long (13 hour) day at Spencers Mall (hundreds of stores) as they waited for the driver to return for them. Eugenie will be with us until December, but we're sad Lynn has to return home tomorrow.

In the midst of all their activities, we have been awaiting a contractor who has only done half the job of moving dirt, and leveling the area where the new playground equipment is to go.  (More on that with picture, hopefully, next week.)  Anyway, promises, promises...  Each day we have waited, and again today with three phone calls and "we're on our way", "we're almost there",  still nothing.  The equipment is now set to arrive on Thursday, but we'll believe that when we see it, also!

We did have an exciting activity a week ago.  One of our kitchen helpers, Angelie, decided after great turmoil and more dramatics than we could believe, to marry one of our former drivers, Ganjendran.  He has recently been released as a driver because of some rather unstable behavior, including drinking poison (??) when Angelie told him she had changed her mind.  We were not too keen on having him drive our children and others with that kind of  nonsense!  Anyway, after great tears from Ganjendran, throwing himself at Ron's feet trying to encourage Ron to intervene, Ron insisted they have a three day cooling off period.  After that time, Angelie decided to go forth with the wedding, four days hence. Erin went to the wedding last Sunday and took the photo above (hopefully it's above--having trouble getting pictures on again.)  The grooms family were very dour faced, and most unhappy, as apparently Angelie's family is of a lower caste than his.  Sad. We just hope he treats her and her darling daughter Archina kindly.  They are currently living with his family. The beautiful flowers, which are solid down the back of her hair, were done by two of our house mother/teachers and the cook, the night before.

Busy weekend coming up includes the arrival of Eric Ottesen:  he is in charge of the Sabin Foundation which donated $90,000 for the purchase of our land.  We're excited to have him see what has been accomplished, and hope to interest the foundation with continuing help on the next phase of building for the school.  There is a group of four coming to do a big activity with the parents of our children, spearheaded by a woman from Boston (group includes our daughter Elizabeth (Yea!).  Becky Douglas is also flying in.  These arrivals are scheduled for the wee hours of the morning Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  On Sunday afternoon the children will all return.  We will let you know about that wild scene.

Auspicious and Inauspicious Days!

We have discovered that things get done (or not) according to whether the day is auspicious or inauspicious!  It was definitely an auspicious day last Saturday.  In addition to being Parents Day it was the day the children were to leave the property with their relatives to go home for a two week holiday. You can not even imagine the excitement on the part of both the children and the parents (or family member that came to claim the child. )   It is our first experience of seeing first hand this mass exodus from the property and it was lots of fun.  The parents came as near to 10:00a.m. as they could.  We had let them know there would be a program with their children being highlighted.  We had an awning set up and rented some chairs, so we would have a captive audience.  Behind this plan, was Padma.  With the property spread out the way it is, she has a hard time gathering the parents together to talk about their micro-loans, and other things that relate to their children and their relationship with Rising Star Outreach.  She teaches at that time, also: hygiene, finance, parenting, etc.  They all love and trust her, but sometimes they would like not to talk about their loans!

The morning went according to schedule, and after the program and discussion the parents are free to talk with the teachers; mid-quarter exams were the week before the break so the parents are always anxious to find out how their children are doing.  For many families (probably most) this is the first generation to have a real school experience.  There's a lot of pride in that.

An example of a day being inauspicious, when our new General Manager was to begin, he was scheduled to begin on a Monday.  He called on the preceding Wednesday to let us know he would be starting on Friday, not Monday, as Monday was not an auspicious day!?  Our chief accounts officer was offered a brownie one day.  He asked if he might take it home to eat it the next day, because the present day was not auspicious for eating the brownie.  We figure it all has to do with the horoscope.  I've wondered how many days I have jeopardized all kinds of things by not being more in tune with auspicious and inauspicious.

The snake hunters have not shown up for the last two days--inauspicious I guess.  They have found a number of small to big harmless snakes, but so far have not come up with the cobra. We keep hoping--it would make our walks around the property less worrisome.  The children never think about it, which is a bit scary.

Ron and I have been in Chennai since Sunday.  We were told (and read parts of it in the paper) that a couple of our missionaries in Bangalore were put in jail.  The Hindu's have been attacking the Christian worship centers, and somehow our missionaries found themselves in the middle of it.  Our missionaries in Chennai have not been wearing their badges identifying themselves for several days, but on Sunday they had them back on.  The church is not officially recognized in India--the name on the front of the building reads, "The Indian Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."  Monday and Tuesday we have worked to try and put our apartment in order.  We now have beds, but we have spent the better part of two days looking for bedding.  There is definitely not a Bed, Bath and Beyond in this part of the world.  We think the apartment will make our lives a bit easier (and less expensive) than the Marriott--our peanut butter sandwich tonight reminded me how much I shall miss the Marriott, however.  It's also going to take weeks to get an internet hookup in the apartment, so we're back to Bluetooth even in Chennai.

 

Happy Birthday Ron!

Indeed, we did have a very fun celebration on Monday, September 1, for Ron's natal day!  It started with the older girls coming early in the morning to serenade him with a rousing rendition of "Happy birthday"--they do a second verse also which says "May God bless your year..." repeated four times.  Nice.  Staff and children all added loving wishes as they met him. Throughout the day he received many nice emails from family members and friends--he loved that also.  

That afternoon we took the Kirby family, Vicki and Gordon Gibb, Erin, Katie and Emily and Nickesh, to Dakshina  Chitra which is situated on about 10 acres of well cared for property, and is a community service project of the Madras Craft Foundation.  They promote and preserve the cultures of several states of India, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.  The architecture of these different communities includes various buildings that have been brought and reconstructed on the site, making several village-like areas showing the differences between one community and another.  They are beautiful, mainly wood construction, although some in brick and stone.  We never see wood used in building in recent years--all wood that is used in India is imported now.

There are many crafts people who are working on site, and sell their wares directly to the public.  Also, they have many interactive things going on--making pottery, grinding rice, palm leaf decoration, pot painting, terra cotta doll making, block printing, basket making and others. 

It's lots of fun and very informative--come on over and we'll take you there!  After that stop, we went to a fun restaurant called Kabob Court for a delicious dinner.  One of the dishes was a beautiful seafood platter--including a large lobster.  We did end up with a biriani that was so spicy that Ron said if he'd had tonsils, they would have been burned right out!  We had not one but two beautiful birthday cakes--we got a little mixed up with two Hot Breads bakeries on the same road, and we had ordered one from each!  We had to eat the second cake the next night for dinner--darn!

The Kirby's six year old made a hilarious card for Ron, including such descriptions of him as "Faster than a speeding auto-rickshaw...with a flat tire", and "Stronger than the smell of Indian garbage."  It was so cute, complete with great pictures. 

It was a happy day for all, I think especially for the Birthday Boy!

Cobras and other bad critters!

Yes, cobras are around.  I was wondering if it was like a snipe hunt, but we've had two major encounters in the past few days.  One night, one of our drivers came back late with someone, and since he gets to his home on a bicycle, he decided to spend the night at the school (not sure who gave him permission to do that!)  As he was walking over to the school, squarely in the middle of the road was a very large cobra--head in that cobraesque pose!  He turned around and quickly decided it was much safer to jump on his bike in the dark night, and peddle rapidly down the road.  This morning as the children were walking to school, they all gathered in a group to watch possibly the same cobra in the mango trees right by the path.  So sad to have missed it--I must see one before we depart or it won't be a true India experience.

This is one for the books.  As Gorden Gibb says, this doesn't happen in Provo, Utah!  Mary, one of our very fine teachers, travels by bus from her home in Kancheepuram every day--about an hours ride.  Last Friday she was sitting in her seat on the bus and a man standing beside her set his package down--slightly on her foot.  It so happened, that in the package was a scorpion fish (you might check that out on the internet--I've never heard of such a thing.)  It totally nailed her foot with it's nasty stingers.  They stopped the bus, and some man jumped off the bus and ran into a pharmacy and got an antihistamine and an antibiotic, to give to her right on the bus! Drugs are easy to come by.  By the time she reached the school her foot was three times it's normal size and hurting.  Dr. Kirby said the good drug samaritan gave her exactly what he would have given her.  They pulled more stingers out then she went to sleep for a couple of hours and woke up with the swelling down and feeling better.  We will now keep our eyes open for scorpion fish as well as cobras!

The roads carry our most dangerous enemies...moving vehicles!  Right now we are on our way to Chennai to go to the bank, then meet up with our friends to celebrate Ron's birthday.  First hand I can describe what I figured out last week about how the system works on these crazy highways.  What I realized is that it's the old adage that "might makes right", or the big guy always wins!  The big trucks and buses are at the top of the pecking order--whatever they want to do is okay, because they are the biggest!  Next, in order are the big cars, then lesser sized vehicles,  auto rickshaws, motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, down to the lowly pedestrian, who has absolutely no rights at all.  Dogs, chickens, and humans all command about the same respect on the roadway--you don't want to hit a cow or a monkey, however, or you are in BIG trouble.

Our storerooms are all filled with coconuts right now (a few less on the trees to land on my head.)  We are going to make our own coconut oil so we don't have to buy it--both the men and the women use it as hair dressing every day.  We are going to make a lot of oil from all these coconuts!

Our main crop right now is sesame.  Three women have been coming each day with their sharp curved blades to harvest the stocks. They receive 40 rupees a day--less than a dollar.  They are bent almost double for the whole day--tough work.  Murugan, our gardener, has been carrying bundles onto the school rooftop to spread it out to dry.  His wife cleans the school each day--she has not been happy about the sesame droppings up three flights of stairs. 

We've also had our peanut crop.  Vicky Gibb came rushing over a few days ago to see if we were on fire in our house.  It was across the hall in the kitchen.  They were not on fire, but were roasting the peanuts at a very high temp in a big wok type of pan.  Apparently, they pop open with the heat--they were burned black, but the peanuts inside were delicious.  The children had bowls of them for their afternoon snack.  Lucky children! 

The Kitchen

Kitchens are always exciting places, the hub of activity that makes us all happy, and that is no different at Rising Star Outreach.  Our kitchen is temporary, as we are awaiting the building of our new dining area and kitchen.  This will be a separate building from the hostels.  At present the kitchen is rather primitive, by our standards, but very adequate to produce some wonderful meals.

You may remember from a previous entry that one disadvantage to where we live is that we are right across the hall from the door into the kitchen.  It is continuously visited by many people, big and small, and is therefore a very busy, happy, loud place!  The kitchen is presided over by our head cook, Padmini, and her husband Govendaraj.  They live here with their two children, who are both in the school.  There are many helpers in the kitchen, including Vijaya and Magesh, two beautiful women who sit on the floor and do all the chopping of the vegetables. Vegetables are a big part of every dish.  The protein often comes from the lentils, so many of our dishes are vegetarian.  Chicken is included twice a week, eggs, three times a week, and fish, twice a week.  The children get milk twice a day, and in the morning it includes protein powder. The after school snack is milk and lentils or fruit. Their diet is really very good, although by our calculation they probably get too much white rice, which is pretty much empty calories. Everyone loves the rice!

Some of our favorite Indian dishes that they prepare here are Dahl, Biryani (vegetarian, or with chicken or egg), Masala (with chicken or egg), Samba rice, Brindal sauce, and onion curd with yogurt, tomatoes, curdled milk, and something green (parsley?).  Idli, a rice pancake, is good for breakfast, and of course many good breads:  naan, parota, chipotte, and puri.  They also do a great side dish with beet root, as they call it.  The beets are chopped with onion and always many spices.  The curd dishes are served, I think, to soften the spice--Indian food is spicy!!  So many dishes are based in the curry sauce, with peppers and other hot ingredients added.  Even the children's food is spicy.  (Remember, all towns, foods, personal names and words in general, have many spellings, in case you think my spelling is bad--it is!!) 

In the morning, the children begin with their milk (it's always boiled), then a bit later they get their Samba rice, or some noodle dish.  They carry big pots to their rooms (six girls rooms and six boys rooms) and eat sitting in a circle on the floor.  Every meal begins with Hindu and Christian prayers, and songs.  All eating is done with the fingers--right hand only.  When finished, they bring all the pots and dishes back to the kitchen area, washing their own plates and returning them to their rooms.  At lunch time, taking food to their rooms is repeated.  The staff are served on the floor in one of the downstairs rooms:  teachers join in this meal, as well as cooks, cleaning ladies, gardeners, after the teachers and office staff.  Their meal has more variety than the children's  food--we often take our dish and receive a plateful from someone in the circle who is doing the serving.  Today's lunch will be a vegetable dish, with cauliflower being the main ingredient--it's delicious if you can tolerate the heat!  For dinner, the children sit in big circles out on the front area--part green, part dirt.  The pots of food are placed in the center on the ground, and the children are served by the older girls or boys, or by the housemothers.  The staff eat much later, also outside (all this is of course contingent on the rain.)

Everything smells so good, and to watch these beautiful women in their saris, with the flowers in their hair, working so hard, just adds to the anticipation of a great meal.  The children are thriving with this wonderful food, and so are we!

India Independence Day. August 15, 2008

Independence 

Day 

Celebration and

Honoring Amy

Antonelli

What an exciting day for the people of India, and all the children and staff here at our little community.  It has been 61 years since India regained her Independence, and by our assessment started a giant (perhaps impossible) task of putting her many diverse peoples and cultures together under one government.  One language was impossible, except by naming English the official language, and dealing with the problem that most of the lower classes of people speak very little, if any English. 

Our children and teachers worked all week on a wonderful program of song, marching, dance and speeches in both Tamil and English.  The children, of course, loved it, and so did all of us watching.  I was so glad the volunteers were still here to make such a wonderful audience.  The town of Chennai was filled with flags and vendors in the street trying to sell car flags and stickers every time the traffic stopped.  I kept holding up all our purchases, but it didn't stop the sellers (mostly children risking life and limb) knocking on the windows trying to sell us more.

Indians are very proud of their country--there is so much that is good and beautiful.  It seems sad to me that the systems in government and business are often run with money under the table and a perpetual skimming off the top.  The infrastructure of the country leaves much to be desired: the schools, medical care, waste management and transportation are difficult, at best, and that means the people suffer.  There are so many who are poor and destitute. Driving the streets of Chennai is hard.  The people in the little villages around us look to have a better life than those in the cities.

We celebrated again on Saturday.  We had some of the members of the Rising Star Outreach India Board with us, as well as members of the School Committee (comparable to our school Boards--required by law.)  Samuel Ambrose has been the Chairman of the Board, and his term was completed.  He was honored as the outgoing chairman--he has done so much to help us stay on track these past three or four years.  It was Amy Antonelli's last day, and she too was honored.  She has been so tremendous these past four years.  We can't imagine going forward without her.  Four of the children spoke about their love for her and what they would miss most in her absence.  It was very dear and made us all quite teary.  Parts of the Friday program were repeated for our guests, much to the delight of the children, and then we served a nice lunch to all on the rooftop.  The meetings were completed, and at the conclusion we were exhausted!

A Morning on the Rooftop

The rooftop of the Girl's Hostel is a heavenly place.  It is off limits to the children (they're all at school at the moment anyway) but there is a nice awning with tables and chairs.  The volunteers eat up here every evening and have all their planning sessions, scripture reading, and other activities here.  The breeze is nice, and the view is nothing but mango and coconut trees, and this morning blue skies with clouds.  It is truly beautiful.  The property owned by Rising Star Outreach is one grove of trees after another--15 acres.  They are mature and during their season grace us with wonderful fruit.  There are some fields planted, as well, with sesame and some nameless plant that flowers and is planted like cucumbers with it's own mound and water well for each plant.  There are many other species of plants, none of which I'm familiar with.  The birds are plentiful, with Kingfishers, small parrots, and a host of others, some identified, some not.  We have time for all that later.

We had a little girl (Manimegalai--age 8) fall from a tree last night and break her arm.  They took her to the hospital in Changleput where she spent the night (with dear Amy by her side for the night) and she was to be operated on this morning.  A driver went to get her parents from the Colony where they live, and Dr. Karl Kirby and Amy are with them, also.  It's a government hospital and a bit scary.  We haven't heard anything yet.

All the women who work here are always dressed in their beautiful saris.  Many of the girls who are here (volunteers and staff) also wear them on Sundays.  I have not been so brave yet.  It requires at least two house mothers to dress those of us who have not worn them every day for most of our lives.  I think it is perfect that these women whose lives are so hard, and who have very little by worldly standards, choose to clothe themselves in such a lovely way.  The wage for most of these people is just over $2.00 US (100 rupees) per day, but they all look better than most of the rest of us (I'm speaking for myself.)  Something to think about.

Thank you for those who have posted comments.  Lets me know that someone is out there reading this.  Sorry for the long space between reports--it's not easy to get out on the internet here on the property.  We are still alive and well, and getting a better rhythm to our activities. 

Tamil--the language of Tamil Nadu

Neither of us have ever been great linguists--the best I can do after many years of being around Spanish-speaking people is make sure the proper beds get changed, the sheets washed, and the roses get fertilized, so I haven't had a lot of hope of learning Tamil.  Not only is the written alphabet (some 260 characters) completely unrecognizable, but the names are long, and the sounds are all v's, t's, k's, g's, and s's and combinations thereof.  To our ears it all sounds like that look that comes up on your attachments when it doesn't open properly--;sdlkfalsdfjSFskjfasfjasf--you know!  

Anyway, we're determined to give it a try as we know it will enrich our experience if we can converse a bit in the native language.  We have a tutor for this project:  his name is Deepan raj, and he is 12 years old.  Ron got a program in Tamil before we left home, so every evening we put on the program and Deepan raj comes to help enunciate and help us with breaking the words into syllables in sounds we can understand.  He is so darling, and so patient--I'm sure he can't believe how slow people can be.  His English is quite good--his accent is so easily understood as compared to most of the adults who speak English.  Anyway, last night he also brought his older brother, Modan raj, to be a part of it.  They both love the computer, and look forward to the day when our computer lab will be a real part of the school.  Thanks to Melissa Mitchell and others, that day is getting closer.  Don't hold your breath, however, until Ron and Joyce spout forth in Tamil--it won't be soon.

Yesterday was Parent's Day.  The first Saturday of every month the parents of the students that are able to travel, start arriving around 9:30 with picnics, gifts, and all the brothers and sisters, to visit their children.  Our children were all dressed so beautifully.  The boys had sharp-looking shirts, and the girls the prettiest, most colorful dresses I have seen.  They were dressed and ready before 7:00 a.m.  The families set up with mats and blankets under the mango trees and hug and love the children, as well as feeding them all their favorite treats.  The girls get flowers for their hair, and the mothers or grandmothers, aunts or dads, comb and brush their hair and add the flower leis.  They look so beautiful.  Thank goodness for 14 acres, as there are a lot of people that come and they are playing ball and games all over the place!  At the end of the day everyone is tired, some are very, very sad, (the little ones, especially) but they know it will all take place again in another month.