Missing Home

Just spoke with my hubby - he's out for dinner with some friends. I had to report to him that although I'm pretty sure there are no poochies in my hair (lice) yet, I may have managed to pick up some scabies on my right hand. That's what I get for hanging with the toddlers and babies so much. One of the other volunteers has put a homeopathic remedy on the infected area on my hand so we'll see what happens - it might just be heat rash....

I brought some shampoo with me this time for lice, which I'll use before I leave just to be safe - I'll have to hope that the bumps on my hand heal before I leave and that I manage to avoid ringworm too... hazards of the job.

One of my house mates went to dinner the other night along with Sarah and Levor. They had a dinner meeting. They went to quite a nice hotel and when Katie came back she was telling me about what she'd had to eat, including a caramel brownie for dessert! I told her that I felt like I was on a reality TV show and that she had won reward and was now back at our camp telling me all about it.... I mean, come on.... caramel brownie with ice cream??!! I love the Indian food but that sounded pretty tasty to me.

We are off to a wedding tonight so maybe I'll be treated to some Indian sweets.....

Introducing.....

A number of the children I am getting to know here are sponsored by friends and family, so I thought I would find out a few more details for each of you.

Trisha - sponsored by Mez, Cath and the girls.
Trisha arrived at FFC when she was 8 months old in 2005. She had been abandoned at Tirupui (may not be the right spelling) Hospital and was placed with us via the Social Welfare Department. She went into foster care at around the age of 1, but her new mother didn't bond well with her and so Trisha came back to FFC and has been well loved by her family here ever since. She is an extremely gregarious girl whose sweet smile melts my heart everytime she aims it at me - which is often. She is very athletic and seems to be particularly good at soccer and throwing a ball. She loves it when I chase her around the playground, giggling and laughing when I catch her and throw her in the air; sometimes she just wraps her arms around me with an outpouring of love that only a child could give. Although hesitant at first, she quickly realized that she LOVED the Smarties in her gift bag.

Naveen - sponsored by my friend Eden's in-laws
Naveen came to us through Child Line in 2004 at the age of 4 having been abandoned at the gates of a theatre. I thought he was only about 4 years old when I met him as he is quite small, but everyone assures me he is 8 (Eden, the hoody was a bit big, but he'll grow into it). He is a very smart boy ("brilliant" in fact, or so I'm told) who listens to his teachers and is well liked by his school and house mates. He has been a bit shy with me so far, so I am hoping to get to know him better before I leave.

Surya - Sponsored by Marci, Rod and the Boys
Surya (pronounced Soo-ri-ya) is a very quiet and shy 6 year old boy. He is the oldest of 3 boys. One of his younger brothers is also at FFC with the youngest still with his mother. Surya's father died some time ago and his mother simply couldn't provide for all three children so she enrolled the two eldest with us. She comes to visit them when she can. Surya is also a smart boy and goes to school outside of FFC. He likes to play ball and was thrilled with the toy cars in his sponsor package. He had a tough time when he first came to us but has settled in nicely now and has become more outgoing with his house mates.

More introductions to come....

And Hoto... I'm afraid you'll have to rustle up your own dinner for a few more days.... I'm sure Marmalade Cafe is doing well by you.....

Ongoing Support and Kindness

Just a quick note today to say thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts and words. Your ongoing love and support help me each and every day.

Only 1 week more week here - the time is flying by.

Vellarusu

A few nights after I'd arrived, we had word at the guest house that a new child had arrived. He had come through Child Line, an organization that acts as a staging place, holding children until they can be placed in homes or orphanages as needed. Anyone from the community can call Child Line and report a child in need. Many of our children come to us through this group.

The young boy that arrived was dirty, a bit banged up, and appeared rather shell shocked. He said his name was Vellarasu which means Powerful Government in Tamil. He is about 3 years old and quite small for his size - about 10 kg. He is beautiful - huge eyes and very solomn looking. They asked him if he was hungry and he said no and then Levor asked him if he would like a toy and he replied "yes". Levor gave him a stuffed chicken which caused the lad to shriek and burst into tears..... the chicken WAS a little scary looking.

The next day I went to the toddler room to check up on him and there he was singing and dancing with the rest of the kids in the preschool - he is adorable. In the afternoon, we received a call saying that his parents were coming for him. This was a bit disconcerning of course as he had obviously been living rough. Vellarasu told us that his mother was dead so we weren't sure just who was going to show up.

His father arrived, along with his aunt and his grandmother and wanted to take the boy and confirmed that the mother had passed away some months previous. Vellarasu told his dad that he wanted to stay and go to school. There was much discussion that followed amongst the family. They sat outside in discussions for several hours. We fed them and Vellarasu visited with them. In the end they decided to enroll the boy with us and left. We were all relieved as the marks on the boys face and back told a story of their own.

The day after that I went and took half of the toddlers outside to play. Vellarasu was the only one who understood the concept of "catch" with a large ball. When I offered to pick him up for a cuddle, he didn't hesitate and he laughed and laughed when I tickled his ribs. He is eating and sleeping well and has confirmed that he is very happy to be with us. Children adapt amazingly well... of course there is a lot to be said for having 3 meals a day, biscuits and milk in the afternoon, children to play with, and lessons to learn.

Earning My Keep

Whew, what a day. After scrubbing our house from top to bottom last night with one of my roomies (and sweating like I'd just run 10 km) I didn't think I'd have any manual labour for a while. I was wrong though.

We have a room in the office building where we keep the community donations. Like many things here it was crammed full and extremely unorganized. So all of the visitors to the orphanage along with about 10 staff members and a couple of kids put in about 9 hours cleaning it up. We emptied first, cleaned it and then spent about 5 hours sorting everything and putting back what was useable. It was mind numbing, physcially demanding work. I again looked and felt like I had run about 10 km - face red, hair and clothes soaked with sweat and covered in dust, cobwebs, dirt and bug and mouse droppings.... yum..... I'm quite a treat right now as I came directly to the web cafe after leaving site.

But it is rewarding to see a job completed - so I'm satisfied with my work today.

I don't like spiders and snakes....

Or cockroaches. I really don't like cockroaches. We have a number of them here about the length of my baby finger and twice the width. When I say "here" I mean residing in our guest house. I'm ok with them as long as they don't run at me which they only do when threatened in some way (it's their defense mechanism - just like the 20 or so geckos in our rooms make the loud shrilling/clicking sound to ward off their enemies). I take my "shower" in the morning and keep a close eye on the 3 that live behind the door in one of the bathrooms. Shower being a relative term. We use a big bucket that we fill with water and with the use of a small jug to pour over myself, I have a "shower".

Of course cockroaches don't bite so that's good.... unlike the snakes and the dogs. There has been quite a problem with snakes (cobras and vipers mostly although as Sarah says "there are no nice snakes in India - they are all deadly poisonous) recently as Podanur grows and buildings go up, the snakes have no where to go so we see them more. Some months back they had a cobra come up out of the toilet in the office bathroom. No one used that loo for awhile. And there is a large tree near the office that has a number of holes in it. Cobras have nested in there (because that's where the rats are) and recently they had to call in the snake catcher as the kids saw a snake up in the tree. I guess it was a bit Elmer Fuddish as he covered up one hole and then sprayed some sort of concoction in another. The snake came out a third hole and bit him on the ass - literally. When he grabbed the snake by the tail, it whipped up and bit him on arm as well. He still managed to get the cobra into a bag and climb down the tree though, before collapsing in heap. Needless to say, he went off to the hospital.

I haven't seen any snakes yet for which I am most thankful. I was a bit nervous walking home in the dark last night after talking to Hoto as our driveway is long, dark and sides with an open field - perfect snake space. But it doesn't bother me too much.

The dogs can be aggressive and there are loads of them. But as long as you don't approach them or "look them in the eye" they seem to mind their own business. And the free roaming goats don't bother me although I might turn and run if one charged me.

The crazy traffic can be somewhat startling and I know Hoto would have a fit if he saw how close the motorcycles, cars, buses, and big trucks come to the pedestrians (including me). But that doesn't bother me too much either. It's just the way of things.

What I'm really afraid of? The ducks. The ducks near the office are incredibly mean. They hiss, they chase, they bite.... horrible things. I'm not sure why we have them... they're meant to be for the kids but no one can get near them.... I saw them out on the road near the office today and they actually chased away 2 dogs. I gave them a wide berth but they still hissed at me.

I'd take a cockroach over a duck any day.

Malathy

Malathy is the child that I sponsor here.

Not much is known about her history. We believe that she is about 6 years old (so she was only a year old when I was here last). Malathy has many challenges. She is blind and her left hand and foot do not have the full number of fingers and toes that the rest of us have. She also had a club foot (which has been operated on and with the help of a brace and hand crutches she is learning to walk). Most recently it has been confirmed that she is also quite mentally challenged.

Two days ago I went to the Big Baby Room where she resides to spend some time with her. She was just at the end of her nap so I played with some of the other babies until she woke up proper. Once she was awake and had pushed herself up into a kneeling position I went and knelt down beside her crib on the floor. She was on hands and knees and was rocking herself head to toe. I gently placed my hand on her back, softly calling her name and she jumped in a startled fashion. Then I rubbed my hand on her head, all the while, quietly talking to her. I rubbed her cheek with my knuckle and she stilled. Then slowly I opened my hand and she turned her head so that my hand pillowed her cheek and head... and she sighed and just stayed that way, perfectly content. It was a wonderful moment for me.

I saw her yesterday as well and she was very content to sit in my lap running her hands over mine as if trying to memorize each detail through her sense of touch. She wouldn't let the other babies come near, pushing them away when they crawled over to check me out.

So we sat and rocked and touched hands while I whispered that I loved her.

Privacy

It doesn't exist. I am in a web cafe near FFC and am sharing my small booth (and I mean small) with 3 young boys who are just too interested in me to mind privacy at all. They are staring at the screen, watching everything I type. Other, older boys stick their heads over the wall to see what I'm doing. It's all very India.

Well I made it. It was a long trip... 11 hours to Korea (1 hour at the airport there where everyone deplanes, goes through security, and re-boards), 6 hours to Singapore, 20 hours in Singapore, and then 4 hours to Coimbatore. We arrived at around 11:30 at night. Sarah managed to whip through security, but they were more interested in me - or rather my bags. One of them had the letter D chalked on it which means "doubtful". I had to open the bag and answer a few questions. They seemed to think that I had my bags stuffed with gold jewelry. They were disappointed to see diapers, children's clothes, toys, and craft supplies. Needless to say, they waved me on. (The boys have gotten bored of not being able to read my blog and have moved on to someone else's stall).

The guest house has been revamped; bedrooms where the bathroom used to be and bathrooms where the kitchen used to be. An extension has been added and a kitchen installed there.

I am currently sharing the house with 2 other volunteers. Katie, a tireless lovely young lady from Nebraska, and Barbara, a homeopathic clinician from Nelson, BC. They are both wonderfully enthusiastic and I am really enjoying their company. My room is inbetween theirs so I have to go through one or the other to get out. Our rooms are separated by curtains.

Privacy at it's best.

I felt a bit out of place when I arrived. Mostly just missing Hoto I suppose. But after a few days passed, I am feeling more comfortable. The children are wonderful. It's fantastic to see how much progress some have made and sad to see so many new faces.

My sweet Malathy (my sponsor child) is doing well. With the help of a physio-therapist and an operation, she is up walking with assistance. Her mental capacity is limited though, so one day she will be moved from the big baby room to special care.

For those new to FFC, there are a number of "projects" or houses spread out over 4 properties. Special care is where the mentally challenged children and adults are along with our extra special care cases. The guest house shares space with small boys house and Sofie's house where the more capable mentally handicapped residents are along with some physically challenged kids. I was amazed and so pleased to see Muthulakshmi this visit. She was in the toddler room 5 years ago and took her first steps then (she has CP). Now, she is very mobile and communicates quite well verbally (with a bit of signing to help). She even has a bit of English!

Today is mostly a rest day and tomorrow is Republic day. There will be an official flag raising and all of the children will attend the celebrations, each showcasing their area (singing, dancing, karate demonstrations, etc). I am looking forward to sharing in the fun.

Love to everyone. And sorry for the typos - my keyboard is ... well.... it is what it is.