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!