Learning, Living, and Loving

     My last few days at Rising Star were absolutely amazing. I was put in the education group for both Monday and Tuesday, and it was so great to be able to spend more time with the kids.  I got a chance to get to know some of them better, and to say goodbye to the ones that I had drawn close to.  I have this little reading buddy named Ebinezar.

      He is fifth standard, and all fifth standard students have a homework assignment to read for fifteen minutes every night. Kala, my house mother, asked me to read to him the first couple of days, and soon it became our nightly ritual.  Together we plowed through versions of A History of Trains, Rupunzel, Rumplestiltskin, and Heidi.  One of my favorite memories of Ebinezar happened about a week and a half ago on a Tuesday.  We had not been able to read for the past couple of days because they had not been able to print off the reading homework paper because the printer had been broken. I kept on asking Ebinezar what he thought would happen next in Rupunzel, and telling him how excited I was to read with him again.  Tuesday night as I approached the hostel where the boys lived, I heard him yelling "Becky! Becky! We get to read tonight!."  He was standing outside with a flashlight waiting for me.  It made my week to see how excited he was to read Rupunzel with me.  We sat down together and read for well over 15 minutes.  Afterwards, he gave me a sweet henna tattoo on my palm.  Dang I love that kid. He is so sweet, and incredibly compassionate. On Friday, something happened and Ebinezar stopped talking to me. I thought he was mad at me, and tried to talk with him about it several times, but he wouldn't speak to me. Finally one day at lunch I was sitting next to him and he says, "Becky, do you have a passport?" I answer, "Yah I think it's somewhere in my room."  Ebinezar responded with "If you lose your passport, than you don't have to go back to America. Don't find it, and you can stay here with me."  My friend, at that moment all I wanted to do was pick you up and carry you back to America with me.

Ebinezar giving me my sweet henna tattoo.  I loved it buddy! 

 During our 2 hour free time on Tuesday Emmalee, Benson, Kaylee,Taylor, Becca, and I all went on a stroll through the Indian countryside.  It was great to interact with the villagers, and walk through rural India. Most of the men were at work so we met many of the women who were at home with their families.  I liked that because many Indian women tend to become quieter and less animated as soon as a male presence is around.  We met two little village girls from Rising Star who were on their way home. These cuties are new to Rising Star, so they mostly spoke Tamil. They were both five, and it was an awfully long way for them to walk by themselves so we walked with them. They loved it when we swung them up by their hands, and would giggle hard every time.  Benson, I am sorry my friend but it was not as cute when you tried to giggle.

Benson and Tay

Walking the Rising Star girls home.

  We had dropped the little girls off and were rushing to get back to Rising Star for play time when we met a group of village women who got really excited when they saw our cameras.  They started gesturing to a grass hut, and speaking rapidly in Tamil. We walked over to the hut and when we looked inside we saw a mother holding a small little baby girl on her lap. They pointed at our cameras and then at the baby. "Photo, Photo" they said. We took some pictures of the mother and her baby, and I got a chance to hold this precious little girl. While we were leaving Satya, the mother, asked me in broken English, "Send me photos?" It was then that I realized that for us this was a great opportunity to interact with villagers, make new friends, and have cute pictures of a baby to put on facebook. For her though, this was most likely her only chance to have pictures of her baby girl taken. She lives in a grass hut in Southern India, and just like any mother, wants to have something to remember her baby by. I am going to do my absolute best to make sure that she gets the pictures. Her grass hut is at the end of the village on the left side of the road about 1/4 of a mile from the yellow church. If you're going to India let me know....:)

I love this lady.  I  hope that everything in her life turns out well. 

  It was so hard to say goodbye that last night. Shaun Parry's dance group, Life Dance, and the choir performed for us. Those kids are amazing. I was truly awed by how much talent the kids at Rising Star have.  After the performance this huge mass of little boys suddenly converged into a spontaneous mosh pit. I do not know who taught them to hip thrust (I'm pretty sure it wasn't anybody from India), but hip thrust they did and it was hilarious.  Darn. I want to post some videos but the computer will not let me. Check my facebook and they should be up pretty soon.  When we left the kids that night there were lots of tears. I held Eshwari while she cried and soon I was crying as well.  Our director, Rachel Ostler, literally had to pull me away from the Rising Star Children. These kids will forever have a piece of my heart.  They taught me so much more than I was able to teach them, and I am eternally grateful for it. I hope that I can go back soon. Truly truly, we are all children of the same Heavenly Father.  I know that he loves all of us the same, and that we all have a place in this world.  He has put us on earth to help each other, and these beautiful children were able to show me a bit of that.
 
 

I love you!!!

Peace---Becca

     

Sun, Sand, and Seashells

Alright, I am paying 100 rupees for 30 mins of internet so this is gonna be just a quick run down with lots of pictures ;)

Saturday was absolutely fabulous! We spent the day in Mamalapuram, which is on the coast of India in the Bay of Bengal. We took a 1.5 hour bus ride to an area on the border of Mamalapuram, and then were dropped off at some sweet ruins. There were several temples carved out of pure stone, as well as some intricate wall carvings.

Arujuna's Penance. The natural cleft in the wall represents the Ganges River. In ancient times, priests would poor water down it during ceremonies into the pool below.  Almost all the carvings are representative of gods. There is one mortal (dude doing the yoga pose with his ribs jutting out) on the wall. He is supposed to be the king of something or other.

The view from inside the temple carved out of stone

Becca Pickup and I chilling in a cool little man made cave thing.

I love the detail on this temple.

At Krishna's Butterball the first thing Emmalee and I took a picture of was us with a goat.

Krishna's butterball

Temple of the three main Hindu Gods

Emmalee, Becca, and I. I love these girls!

We were closely followed by sales dudes the entire time we toured the ruins. They were relentless. The hardest people to turn down though were the cute little girls whose families put them out on the streets to sell jewelry. Seriously, how do you say no to that face??

We did some shopping around Mamallapuram, and went out to eat at a resturaunt called Moonrakers. It was delicious, and I ordered Vegetable Fried Noodles in honor of my Panda Express craving.  Oddly enough, they tasted eerily similar to Panda Express chow mein.  While shopping I had some shoes made for me (six bucks baby). It was really cool to see them made! This guys just hunker down and pound out leather with a rock....k it was a hammer which is still equally awesome.

Austin and I waiting for our food.

Kaylee, Kiran, Aubrey, and Emmalee 

Caylee and Alyssa. Aged 15 and 17. I love these two! I don't know that I could have done something like this in high school

This young whippersnapper sold me some stuff. Pretty sure I could marry him for his smile. He was  pretty honest too! I left his shop feeling only a little suspicious that I'd gotten ripped off.....which is unusual for India.  Prices change dramatically as soon as they see pale skin and blonde hair. Always try to at least half the price that the shopkeeper told you. Today I haggled a souvenir down from 1300 rupees (22ish dollars) down to 400 rupees (8 dollars) and I am still not entirely sure that I got a good deal.

We took another rickshaw ride from Mamalapuram to the beach and it was absolutely amazing! We spent several hours swimming in the Bay of Bengal.  I couldn't get over how warm it was.  It was my third time at an ocean, and I loved it. Some of my group went to find the resort swimming pool but I opted to stay at the bay with Emmalee and Austin.  I can swim in a pool anytime, but how often do you get to take a plunge in the Indian Ocean?

It was a great day and I left feeling sun burnt, salty, and exhausted. Haha although I must say that since coming to India I have yet to not feel exhausted. We have been constantly busy, and I love it.


Sunday

I cannot get over how much I love Sundays. I never want to leave the church building once I get inside, and I am sad that I only got to enjoy 3 sabbath days in Chennai. The members are amazing, and there are so many things about it that I will miss. This branch has baptisms and confirmations on a weekly basis. They have two sisters preparing to serve missions (that made me want to cry. It's hard to watch many women be oppressed in India. To see girls close to my age prepare to serve missions is truly a miracle. They have to get permission from their parents, many of whom aren't members. Either that or face estrangement from their families.  Instead of an arranged marriage, they get to serve a mission. One of the girls just received her call to Temple Square).
Also, I can't get over how fantastic the Branch President's mustache is. Truly it is the coolest stache I have ever seen. It's almost a handlebar, but not quite.

Emmalee, Trisha, and I in front of the church on Sunday

Raj (on the left) is a Rising Star student. He is 15 years old and comes to church every Sunday. The boy on his right is his older brother.  Raj is planning on going to BYU for school with the help of his sponsor. He's a great kid, and I am glad I got to know him.


Well, I only have two minutes of internet left so I really must go. I love you all so much and I am excited to tell you about my last couple of days.

I love you!!!!

Peace----Becca :)

A Giant Emo Chicken

            

The colony we went to today is said to be the poorest one in our circuit. As soon as we pulled up, I could immediately tell a huge difference. The colony was in a narrow fenced in portion surrounded by fields. People sat in the dirt, and stared at us as we pulled up.  We sat in the bus for a minute, and then a few of us ventured into the colony. Many people did not even live in grass huts, but instead had a home that consisted of nothing but a tarp held up by sticks.  This colony was a smaller one, and many of the leprosy afflicted were not there that day. They could not afford to take even one day off from begging/working and so we had about five people to treat.  We wandered from hut to hut, greeting everyone we saw with a bow and the word "Vanakuum." One elderly couple sat in the doorway of their hut. The woman was toothless and wore nothing but brown rags. They had been married for 60 years, and both of them just sat there and smiled at us. She gave me a big hug, and later when we were washing feet she came through the line, and kissed all of our hands.

There was this cute little interpreter who lives at the colony named Mary. She wore a button up shirt, and had this bright, intelligent personality. I immediately noticed something different about Mary. It turns out that she was a Rising Star Outreach student until about three years ago.  She failed her eighth grade exams, and her parents had her married within a year. When I met her she was balancing this beautiful baby boy on her hip, and when we asked we found out that he is her son.  Shawn Perry was her dancing teacher, and he said that even though she claims to be 21 there is no way that she is older than 17.  Mary now lives in the same devastatingly poor colony that she was raised in. Everybody does drugs, and most people drink excessively. It broke my heart to look at her with her perfect English and bright personality. In her face I saw the faces of the children I have come to love in the past couple of weeks. I especially thought of the girls. Unless you come from an upper caste, it is basically impossible to succeed as a woman in India.  Mary started crying when she talked about Rising Star. When children are admitted to the school, a memory book is made for them. This book contains photos of their family, pictures they drew, and messages from volunteers that got to know them. Mary proudly brought out her memory book, and showed us every single page. Once again she was holding back tears. I wanted to put my arms around her, and just bring her back to America. She could live in my apartment, eat my food, and have the opportunity to go back to school. For now though, all we can do is pray for her and offer our help if she asks for it. 

Mary with her beautiful baby.

 Rising Star hires the greatest employee, and our driver for the day is no exception. His name is Anandan and today was his birthday! Happy Birthday my friend! Someone hunted down a piece of chocolate cake, we put together a goody bag, and then the entire bus sang happy birthday. In India it is tradition that the person who is celebrating their birthday give gifts to everyone else. So Anandan made a quick stop and came out with chocolate bars for everybody. What a great guy :)

Anandan likes to stop at cool places on all our drives, and today was no exception. I was deep in thought at the back of the bus when I suddenly began to hear rumors involving a temple and a Giant Emo Chicken. My first thought was that maybe Emo Chickens were an important part of the Hindu religion, and that we must be going to temple with idols of Giant Emo Chickens. My second thought was that that would be ridiculous because I am pretty sure that the word emo has yet to make the trip to Chennai. In retrospect the Giant Chicken idea is a little odd as well, but I promise it kind of made sense at the time. I asked someone about it, and the temple rumor was nullified. (Apparently hinduism does not involve the worship of chickens.) They (Reba..cough cough) were pretty darn confident that the Giant Emo Chicken was a done deal though. I was still puzzling out the concept of a huge chicken with oddly colored feathers and a depressed personality when Anandan pulled up. It was an EMU farm! 

This is the emu lady. She was so sweet, and loved my blonde hair.

This fellow tried to eat me. 

Haha apparently the United States is not the only country that does not have emo chickens in our encyclopedia of feathered friends. We got out and took pictures of the emus. They were a little vicious, and a flock of them kept making a strange sound in their throat that sounded suspiciously like war drums. Maybe I am just paranoid though. :) Thanks Anandan for our wonderful visit with the Emo Chickens. I will never forget it :)

Anandan (Driver) and Kiran (volunteer)

Velu and Seankar

All of our drivers are very protective of the volunteers. They make sure that you do not get ripped off at stores or chased by creepy men. In my case Anandan walked next to me for 2 minutes and in that time he saved me from an angry emu who could apparently fit his head through the fence, and he stopped me from stepping on an wayward machete. These men treat the female volunteers like their own daughters, and I know that we are always in good hands when we are with them.

As we drove home that day, we talked a lot about Mary and the difficulties that the Rising Star children face even after graduation. I started thinking about the magnitude of the problems that India has, and I tried to puzzle out where you should start to fix them. Is it better to create more jobs? Improve the education system? Promote human rights? There is so so so many social problems in India, and they all just seemed overwhelmingly huge. I voiced my thoughts to my fellow volunteers. “Where do we start with a country like India? How do we even begin to create a lasting difference?” Sean Perry answered very simply with, “We start right here.”

I love you all so much! I hope that you make today a great day. In the words of my fabulous Auntie Deborah, “Enjoy the Moment”

I love you!!!!!

Peace---Becca

Benson "The Hairy One"

Ebinezar, my little reading buddy, giving me henna

I love these two!

Kala, my amazing House Mother