Quiet after the Big Week!

The children are all gone--a few of us old folks are here for another day or two, but the house mothers and cooks will be gone by mid-day.  We feel a bit lonely and are missing all the activity!

It was a wild week, to put it mildly, but it turned out so well.  The children's excitement for the Marriott Day of tree planting, and the Annual Day with the wonderful program, was only exceeded by having their parents or family member come to take them home for 5 weeks!  That was the happiest thing of all.

The busy week began with the Courtyard Marriott team coming to plant 12 trees in recognition of Environmental Month.  It was a truly wonderful day, with a group of about 30 coming to help the children get the trees in the ground (we had pre-dug and prepared the holes for them). They sponsored an art competition, complete with prizes, about awareness of the importance of clean, green, and being ecologically friendly. Lunch under the mango trees is also included when the Marriott team comes.  The children loved every part of the day, but it pointed up to us they need more time for art in their lives; they loved the drawing and we should encourage more of it.

After an exhausting previous week completing exams, and the big Marriott day, they had an all day session of practice on Tuesday for our Annual Day program.  It is very hot, and as you can see from a couple of pictures they were tired!  I wish I could lie on a cement floor and sleep like that.  Tuesday evening for us was an evening out with our friends Vickie and Gordon Gibb.  It was to be their last night before returning to America and resuming his teaching at BYU.  The American team piled into our new bus and headed to our favorite truck-stop/roadside stand for parrota and omellet.  Not too fancy, but mighty tasty.  We are so sad to have them leave--their contribution has been huge and they have become very dear friends.  After the Marriott Day on Monday, they were honored by the teachers and the principal.  It was very touching to hear the tributes to both Gordon and Vickie, and the love they have for them.

The finale on Wednesday, Annual Day and heading home, was another exhausting effort, but a big success.  We have had 5 very hot days in a row, with not a bit of moving air to cool us. Wednesday, was no exception.  The program was long (just handing out the awards for the children's achievements took a good 45 minutes!)  There were speeches and recognitions, then the program the children had worked so hard on.  It was darling--song and dance and a great "English Drama" created by Amy Kirby and Sara Zabawa.  The children and their families loved every minute of it.  We were melted puddles by the end of the three hours!  

Following the program, we had a lovely lunch on the rooftop for the Board Members and other special guests, prepared by our great cook Padmini.  A Board meeting followed the lunch.  It was a marathon day, but so satisfying.  Our great sadness was that Becky's plane from Boston to New York did not make it in time for her to catch her flight to India, so she was absent--greatly missed by all.  

Children left with their parents ready for a well deserved rest, and we are quiet!  We will be in the US by next Wednesday, stopping for a few days in Washington with Natalie and Matthew and their family.  Next update from home.

April!

What a busy, exciting month April is shaping up to be!  Ron and I have attended several events in the role of the Directors of Rising Star Outreach, India, as Honored Guests, recipients of gifts for Rising Star Outreach, and the representatives as the giver of gifts.  From Assan Memorial Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology we were invited to their Annual Day, and Ron was asked to give awards to some of the graduating students.  At the Rotary Club of Madras Central we symbolically received the gift that they had provided of 40 desktop Dell computers; and from the Women's India Association, we cut the ribbon to begin a new project of making sanitary pads for underprivileged women that came about from a Micro loan from the Agel Foundation.  We felt very privileged to be here to represent Rising Star Outreach on each of these occasions.  We have found the Indian people to be wonderful friends, with giving hearts and concern for the needy and underprivileged.  They continue to provide more and more help to Rising Star.

One example, is the groups that want to come to the school and be with the children.  This past week a team from the Cobra Legal Solutions came to spend a large portion of Good Friday with us.  They were so well prepared, having arranged ahead of time for awning covers, sound system, and coming prepared with games, relays, prizes, skits and dramas.  What fun it all turned out to be.  Our amazing cook Padmini had prepared a fabulous lunch for not only the children and all of the employees, but also for all the lawyers with us for the day.  Everyone ate together, with the Cobra people serving the children, and all of our employees (drivers, land workers, office administration) participating.  Not only did all our employees participate in the food, but also had a wonderful time playing musical chairs, and participating in the races and other games.  The children loved it!

The Marriott group come every month, and they will be with us next Monday for Environmental and Conservation day, bringing trees to plant on the property, and a contest they have planned for the children.  The people who come to visit show the children so much about what they can become:  attorneys, managers, people with good jobs who have achieved because of attention to their education.  Through fun, many things are taught, and our friends from Cobra and Marriott are so generous and loving--they brighten our lives as well as the children's.

On April 22, Rising Star Outreach will have their Annual Day--the last day of school, until June, and special guests, including all the of the Indian Board of Directors of RSO, the Punjayet from our neighboring village, District School leaders, and of course all of the parents of our dear children.  We will have a full program, including a talk by our Guest of Honor, Becky Douglas. Everyone is so excited that she is coming--even if it is only for two days.  The children have a wonderful program of song and dance and drama prepared, and then they will head home for the spring break.

Many of our Rising Star friends will also be heading home at that time, their jobs completed, including Gordon and Vickie Gibb, the Kirby Family, and Matt and Sara Zabawa.  We are going to be very sad and very alone with them gone.  We will go home for two weeks in May.