Monday, March 24, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
School days
The days have been flying slowly by, to use a play on words, and we are realizing our time here is winding down to an end. We still have enough time to fill our lifetime quota(yah right!) of nose wiping, mess cleaning and random other baby tasks but to just be with the kids is coming to a close. It's something we knew would hit hard but even with a month left, its hard to face the inevitable end!
But to get to an exciting part, we used the last bit of the donation fund to allow 4 of the kids to attend school! The children start school at the tender age of 3 and are thrust into learning english, addition and subtraction, basic sentence structure, etc. It's amazing what they need to know even to get in! Ali and I went through the admission process with Ranjani, Subash, Bharthi and Sharda, which consisted of them sitting in front of an administrator and answering questions about objects, all in english. These children DO NOT speak english at all, except for the few phrases we were told to teach and numbers/months/alphabet. They were scared to death, barely opening their mouths to breathe a word, but the teacher saw potential and allowed them in. We were all so excited and relieved because failure to get in would mean another year of waiting before admissions open again. However, after all that, the school would not allow the students any monetary concessions and were charging each child Rps 25,000 to attend, roughly
$625. Obviously, money is a bit of an issue for so many children so Sumathy and Ranjith found another school that accepted their previous admission and charged only Rps 11,000 each ($275). The school has a great reputation and though it is a bit farther away, the education the children will receive is worth it.
Sumathy and Ranjith personally give a huge internet "THANK YOU" to all who donated before we left and after we got here. All the money has been put directly towards the children's benefit, Susan and I made sure of that, and the impact every dollar has made is tremendous. So thank you again from Susan and I for the support you have given us this entire time. The experience has been so extremely rewarding, even at the most trying of times! A special shout out to Natasha Latta for her amazing package filled with goodies for the kids, those puzzles and flashcards are perfect and will be well used. Another big thanks to Laurie Irwin for her package of baby wipes, coloring books and miscellaneous toys. These children receive the gifts like its Christmas and love hearing about people from home and seeing pictures on the internet.
There is so much happening every day and so many stories to share, it's almost impossible to record it all. One of our favorite things, though, is taking 11-yr-old Venkej (i'm impossible with spelling the kid's names right!) with us when we go to the store or wherever. The children rarely get time out so when they do, it is all new. We went shopping last night for some groceries and allowed him his very own pack of bubble gum and an ice cream. Oh man, his face was priceless! He couldn't stop smiling the whole way home. Becca took some of the children to the hospital for check-ups this morning and he accompanied her. The highlight? Riding the elevator up and down, up and down, up and down..... things we take for granted! His favorite American slang is "fo'shore" with a head nod and fist pound. We are teaching them well :)
But to get to an exciting part, we used the last bit of the donation fund to allow 4 of the kids to attend school! The children start school at the tender age of 3 and are thrust into learning english, addition and subtraction, basic sentence structure, etc. It's amazing what they need to know even to get in! Ali and I went through the admission process with Ranjani, Subash, Bharthi and Sharda, which consisted of them sitting in front of an administrator and answering questions about objects, all in english. These children DO NOT speak english at all, except for the few phrases we were told to teach and numbers/months/alphabet. They were scared to death, barely opening their mouths to breathe a word, but the teacher saw potential and allowed them in. We were all so excited and relieved because failure to get in would mean another year of waiting before admissions open again. However, after all that, the school would not allow the students any monetary concessions and were charging each child Rps 25,000 to attend, roughly
$625. Obviously, money is a bit of an issue for so many children so Sumathy and Ranjith found another school that accepted their previous admission and charged only Rps 11,000 each ($275). The school has a great reputation and though it is a bit farther away, the education the children will receive is worth it.
Sumathy and Ranjith personally give a huge internet "THANK YOU" to all who donated before we left and after we got here. All the money has been put directly towards the children's benefit, Susan and I made sure of that, and the impact every dollar has made is tremendous. So thank you again from Susan and I for the support you have given us this entire time. The experience has been so extremely rewarding, even at the most trying of times! A special shout out to Natasha Latta for her amazing package filled with goodies for the kids, those puzzles and flashcards are perfect and will be well used. Another big thanks to Laurie Irwin for her package of baby wipes, coloring books and miscellaneous toys. These children receive the gifts like its Christmas and love hearing about people from home and seeing pictures on the internet.
There is so much happening every day and so many stories to share, it's almost impossible to record it all. One of our favorite things, though, is taking 11-yr-old Venkej (i'm impossible with spelling the kid's names right!) with us when we go to the store or wherever. The children rarely get time out so when they do, it is all new. We went shopping last night for some groceries and allowed him his very own pack of bubble gum and an ice cream. Oh man, his face was priceless! He couldn't stop smiling the whole way home. Becca took some of the children to the hospital for check-ups this morning and he accompanied her. The highlight? Riding the elevator up and down, up and down, up and down..... things we take for granted! His favorite American slang is "fo'shore" with a head nod and fist pound. We are teaching them well :)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Back at Balagurukulam
This is our second day back after our two week break up north, and we had an exciting trip to the hospital this morning. Last night Sumathy told us to be up at 6 am to bath and dress 11 of the babies, and to be ready to depart at 8. Baby mayhem ensued, as usual. The infants have been moved down to the main dormitory, where all of the other kids sleep, and so it was extra messy waking up the babies and dodging all the extra waste piles that accrued in the night. Apu, one of the youngest at 10 months or so, was sitting in a constellation of bright yellow mounds of poop, but didn't start crying until I picked her up out of it and Becca dumped cold water on her head in the shower. We got them all ready but then had to sit for about an hour before the taxi showed up.
The hospital was nice, much better than the "Emergency Room" I visited with Sumathy a few weeks ago where we took one of the kids to get an injection of some kind for their cold. Becca, Kate and I took turns watching smaller groups of the kids in a waiting area while they were whisked off to get X-rays done, visit with the doctor, and have blood drawn for HIV, Hepatitus and TB tests. Not surprisingly the last one wasn't terribly pleasant. The other half of the babies had their tests done the day before, and somehow they knew the results the day after. I was a little confused since I didn't think that HIV test results came back so quickly, but didn't have much time to think about it since Sumathy whispered it to me while we were pinning Rupa to the table for her injections. She also said that the family doctor who had visited at the orphanage suspected that two or three of the kids might have HIV. Shortly after telling me that, the nurses screwed up by poking Rupa two times before getting the needle in a vein. I was holding her body still and standing over her head, trying to whisper something reassuring, when the second nurse let go of the arm the needle was in. Rupa reflexively bent her arm, stabbing herself deeper with the needle and causing more bleeding (and screaming). It was a chaotic moment, and even though Sumathy had told me that all of the tests from the day before had come back negative, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous since they didn't even sanitize the table in between children. I'm not sure they even changed their gloves. Thankfully, Kate and Becca took turns with that chore. We all left a little shell shocked and probably just a little less relieved than the kids were that it was over.
Most days are not this intense. It does feel good to be back, plus the kitchen has running water now and the internet is hooked up here, so quality of life has improved a bit.
Here are a few pictures (finally):
This is a group of napping 3 year olds.
This is Sumathy and Ranjith during a badminton break.
Apu, sitting in one of the saree cradles.
At the second wedding we went to. I'm not sure why Indians don't smile for pictures, but they were actually having fun even though it doesn't look like it.
Dolled up in our saree's and presenting the groom's gift from the bride, Vanna White style.
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