Monday morning I woke up around 4:00 am absolutely not feeling well with diarrhea, vomiting and a loss of appetite. It was a bad way to start the day. When the restaurant at my hotel opened for breakfast at 8:00 am I bought two 7ups with the hopes of it settling my stomach which seemed to help. By the time I checked out and made it over to the Marriott Hotel to meet up with the other volunteers of Rising Star Outreach and make our two and a half hour trip to the RSO Campus I was feeling better.
It was so great to meet up with the group and start to get to know everybody. We all happen to be L.D.S. and were all excited to get started with the program. Halfway through the trip, I started feeling ill again. With all the bumping on the road and constant stopping and going it was inevitable that I would use the throw up bag I luckily saved from the plane. Once I had released my inner sickness the world started to become a better place again and I was able to take the rest of the journey with ease.
As we drew closer to the campus we passed through the village on our way in. There were grass roofed huts that were quite the site to see as the roofs nearly came down to touch the ground. When we reached the road that led to the campus, there were piles of rocks plopped down in the middle of the road. Derek, the volunteer coordinator with us, explained that a month ago the road was starting to get paved but nothing more has occurred since then. "This is India (TII)," he explained, which is a common phrase to express that not everything goes as planned here in India.
We finally reached the outside gate to the campus, which is a huge lot of land full of mango and coconut trees. They showed us to our rooms at the elephant house, boys on one side and girls on the other. Our rooms are accommodated with air conditioning, and bunk beds. In our group we only have three boys and about ten girls, the smallest group this summer. The bathroom is accommodated with several bucket shower stalls, and squatter toilets, along with one western shower and one western toilet for emergencies. The kitchen is stocked with American food including cereal and peanut butter and place chill our water bottles. There is also a comfortable hangout room equipped with guitars and comfortable couches.
After and orientation we had the opportunity to go play with the kids at their hostels which are on the other side of the campus. They call us Auntie and Uncle, which is the cutest thing in the world, and they all opened right up to us. I showed a few of the boys a "secret handshake" that became a big hit and once I made my infamous elephant sound the requests never ended for "one more time."
After a few hours all of us were completely worn out when we returned for dinner on the rooftop. Our meal of red rice, sauce, and (luckily) some chicken was accompanied by a lightning show of an approaching storm. There is a tradition here that during our meal we all get a chance to stand up and share our High and our Low of the day. It was a great way to hear the best and worst of everybody's experiences that day. After dinner we head back over to the hostels to an assigned "family" group led by a house mother for family time. My housemother is Grace and volunteer that I am paired with is Hillary. Male volunteers can't go to the girls' hostel but the female volunteers can come to the boys' hostel; therefore, my family group is made up of very rambunctious boys. Already, I have a great amount of love for these children. When we came back it was safe to say that we were all worn out in the best way possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment