Projects with the Volunteers - #3

Ashley Erikson comes from Boise, Idaho. She is the third of six girls in her family. She will be back at Utah State in the fall, where she is still debating her future life direction (i.e., major). She is a true outdoors girl--lives in the land of kayaking (certified guide), fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, and anything else she can find to do outside! Loves reading and traveling--she was always looking for her next good book, and she and Rochelle took off for a week to northern Indian and an Ashram! (She was going to meditate and decide on her major...hmmm) Ashley was in charge of the tutoring program with the children for the summer. She instructed the volunteers at the beginning of each session, then spent her days overseeing their work with the children in the mango grove. This summer, the tutors worked in a variety of subjects, as the teacher would send a child with a special need in math, science, english, whatever. We had to laugh a few times when the math exceeded the knowledge of the tutor--compound interest, and quotient something or other (which our American kids would do with a calculator--we don't have those in school here!) The children adored Ashley (just looking at her you would say, "what's not to adore"), and she did such a great job. The teachers were singing the praise of the tutoring program by the end of the summer, but particularly the praises of Ashley.

Ashley was also in charge of the evening meals. That meant planning food for anywhere from 50 hungry souls down to 10, depending on the week and the numbers of volunteers here at the time. She worked closely with the cook on the menu, but one thing, you could always find Ashley at about 5:30 in the afternoon, usually with many helpers--big and small, cutting a beautiful bowl of fresh fruit to go with the dinner, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. The Indian food, while tasty and nutritious, is not known to have many fresh raw fruits or vegetables--something we Americans crave.

Ashley has a huge, giving heart, and comes by it naturally. We received some wonderful gifts from her family for Rising Star--a projector, and an all day outing to MGM (India's version of Disneyland) and three new bikes. She also came equipped to make yummy desserts and other fun dishes with foods from home. How we've missed her chocolate pudding cake! She also showed us all how to have fun with the children--water fights, fairy walks with the little girls, wild races with the boys (she always won) or just swinging from the palms. Thank you Ashley for making life so joyful for us all this summer at Rising Star.

Pictures: Ashley and Kaity Gale, water fight with Joseph Stalin, fairy walk and evening devotional at dinner, one of Ashley's tutors with Archana (she got it!), Ashley in the Mango grove, swinging from the palms, and dressed in sari at last brunch at Marriott.

Projects with the Volunteers - #2

Rochelle Cronquist from Atlanta Georgia, is a small, but very powerful (personality, body strength, and determination) young woman. She is a Junior this year at BYU majoring in Public Health with a minor in International Development. She has run a marathon, spent several months in her favorite country, France, on a Study Abroad program, and counts this summer as her third trip to Rising Star. She has been in charge of all special projects, including after school activities, projects in the colonies, evening devotionals and assorted other things that fall under the category of "special projects." The other coordinators finally came to the conclusion she had way too many jobs to survive the summer. There was, of course, a lot of help from the others, but basically Rochelle handled many tough jobs on her own. She is lovely in a sari, but never afraid of getting dirty--she did a lot of that!

When I think of her, my favorite picture will always be handling the workers and the volunteers as they began in July to build three toilets in the Bharatapuram Colony, with the large group that came with Sally Reed from New Caanan, CT. Getting the contractor to understand that the three workers with him were not to do all the work, but rather teach the volunteers how to set bricks, mortar, plaster, build a roof, and paint the three "squatters" as we dubbed them was almost impossible. The contractor would fail to have the materials, they couldn't figure out why a group with materials and one mason should be at each site, and they would start at 7:00 when we would not arrive until 9:30 and a good portion of the work would be done. In the end, because of Rochelle's perseverance and determination the volunteers completed the project and felt satisfied, and the job turned out great. (note the pictures.) One man told us that he had to carry his wife everywhere, and he was so happy now that he had a toilet right by his home and he no longer had to carry her all the way up the hill where it was private. Always sweet stories of sacrifice and perhaps making a life a little easier.

She also led a group of volunteers in August to redo the walls of the barber's shop and put on a new roof. He was thrilled--small project, but great rewards. They completed this project the last day before they were leaving to go home. Rochelle had announced to me that she would stay as late as necessary to make sure the last of the painting, etc., was completed. She did!

Rochelle was outstanding in all that she did--tough as nails, and always a lady even when climbing on the top of the roof to paint under the eves. There was no job that was too daunting for this incredible young lady! Thank you Rochelle for being an inspiration to us all.

Pictures: Rochelle with Joyce and Ron at our farewell thank you at the Marriott; Rochelle and Kelsey Holloway putting the finishing touches on the barber shop; Rochelle and the happy barber; finished toilets (two of them--they completed three); and building the toilets with the volunteers. Rochelle carried a lot of bricks!

Projects with the Volunteers - #1

I thought you'd enjoy knowing a little bit about our projects that the coordinators have guided our volunteers in this summer. There have been several smaller ones that were not for the full summer, but there have been some that have followed through the last three months. We have had close to 100 volunteers who have spent up to four weeks with us. The volunteer program is under the direction of Amy Antonelli, and she was here for part of the time in early August. She had invited 5 very talented and dedicated women to run the program for the summer--she trained and taught them, and they came in May prepared to handle anything and everything! In the next few blogs, I will share with you their portions of the program and tell you a bit about these great leaders.

Kaity Gale is from Seattle, Washington. She will be a senior in Anthropology this fall at BYU. Next year she plans to start a Masters program in Public Health. The first week in October she will marry Peter... Kaity's program was unique, as she designed her own program and presented it to Amy a year ago. She was a volunteer herself in August of 2008, and after working with the people in the colonies, felt it would be a great thing to set up interviewing and story gathering in the colonies, with translators to assist with the language barrier. Her goal for the summer was to get the stories of these people, whose lives have been so different; they have been shunned and removed from the mainstream of Indian life. Within 20 years, the colonies may be a thing of the past, as leprosy is on the decline with proper medical help more available to prevent the horrible disfiguring which so easily identifies them as leprosy affected. The curse of leprosy hopefully will be gone, just as it has disappeared from the island of Molokai in Hawaii.

Kaity's work had the approval of Padma Venkataraman, who laid the groundwork for Kaity in the colonies. Kaity was amazed at how quickly the residents in the colonies accepted her, and with her the stream of volunteers who accompanied her and visited with the people. She opened doors with games (Jenga and Badmitton were two particular favorites), picking up garbage, singing songs and dancing, and just laughing and having fun. Her most joyful experience was getting to know the individuals so closely, and making so many good friends. She loved hearing their stories--some happy and content with life, even with all their problems, many so unhappy with the struggles they've been faced with. Her project was one of building trust--with the people of the colonies, and with Padma as her project developed. Padma was not sure how the people would accept so many coming to ask questions.

Kaity plans to compile her material (she has over 150 single spaced pages) into a book with individual stories or as a history of the colonies. A portion of the material will be used for her senior thesis and academic articles. As she has spent her time with these people her own knowledge of the Tamil language has increased greatly. There were also several wonderful translators helping, including Esther and Rhadika who are both here at Rising Star from the US and speak Tamil. We had several darling young men from Chennai, who spent a good portion of their summer back and forth on the train to be with Kaity and her group. The volunteers loved going out with her, and many were exceptionally good at the interviewing and making friends. Our smallest grandsons who were here in July, Jack and Match Hanson, were really loved by the people--and they in turn loved the experience. There were several of the residents who wanted to adopt them into the colony!

This program provided a unique opportunity for our volunteers this year. It will not be repeated next year, but something else will be available to give the volunteers a wonderful experience with the colony people. We feel so lucky that Kaity was able to be here with us, and with her training lead this outstanding endeavor. She has been incredible.

Pictures: Padma and Kaity (note picture of Padma's Dad behind); Sammy Stapley (volunteer), Raja (translator) and one of the residents; a game of jenga with Paramasivan; beautiful Kaity; Esther dancing with Maria. With the exception of the first picture of Padma and Kaity, all photos by Mark Olson and family.

Back to India

We have returned to the land of color (and heat!) A few problems were here to greet us, mainly having to do with the construction. We can't seem to leave and have everything move forward in a straight line.

We had two wonderful weeks at home with the wedding of our granddaughter, Katie, to Chance Krainik, being the highlight. The family gathered and celebrated for many days, which also was wonderful. We really loved having the opportunity to connect with the whole family at once. We have missed our August in Laguna and February in Huntsville trips with everyone. Katie was such a beautiful bride, and we liked her new husband very much. The evening celebration was colorful and a lot of fun! Cotton candy, popcorn, photo booth, candy table, ice cream stand and cupcakes and small hamburgers and hotdogs, made it all so festive. We all stayed and danced and enjoyed a remarkably warm Laguna evening for many hours. Our daughter-in-law Natalie had directed the creation of all the flower arrangements, along with her twin sister Monica Sedgwick, and Elizabeth Tempest, Katie Hanson, and Amy Curtis assisting. They were spectacular. We were grateful to be able to be there participating. Jenny and Chris and Katie Wilson did a fantastic job with all the planning and arrangements.

We returned to another volunteer session already in progress with about 20 super volunteers doing all the great things they do: work in the colonies with the medical program, the ongoing anthropology work also in the colonies, tutoring the children and painting in all kinds of places: houses, toilets (built by the last group), and the murals in the children's rooms and now up the stairwells. The groups also have switched off digging for all the pipes that connect the various buildings. On finding them, they have painted markers so we don't lose them again! Luckily, we had two nights of rain, so the ground was a bit softer than normal. It was a huge job, no matter.

Happy to be back--more of India and our experiences in the next entry.