This day was day 156, which was last Monday and our first day of ministry at Sarah's Covenant Homes.
Each morning my team has gotten in the habit of starting the day with group worship. It doesn't matter if you sing the whole time or just want to read your bible/journal, but more often than not we're all gathered around in our pj's listening to Stef or Bethany play guitar or closing our eyes listening to an iPod playlist someone has made up. It's been an awesome way to begin ministry days, so we've brought our morning tradition along to India with the new team we're paired with (team Yebo – Kristi Bezy is the leader of this team, who I was also paired with month 2 in Pretoria). So we gathered in our living room (oh yeah, we have an apartment this month !!) and did worship this morning at around 9.
After worship, we waited for Sarah's Covenant Home's volunteer coordinator, Naomi, to come pick us up to go sari shopping. We were able to go to the marketplace with her and sort through some of the most beautiful fabrics to find our saris. Most of our American clothing is inappropriate here, so as teams we all went in to purchase sari's for us to wear and get more excited about being and working in India. We still have to take our sari's to get tailored, but mine is black with white design, and has accents of maroon and dark yellow. For those of you who know my style this is pretty typical– they didn't have any good navy blues or olive greens from what I saw, and trust me, I saw it all. My teammates were laughing at me interacting with the Indian salesman because I literally had him open every box, and we got into a good rhythm of him opening a box and me shaking my head "no" quickly–I just knew what I wanted! I finally found a few options and chose the black one because he said it was the best fabric, and was the cheapest price of them all too. So it helps being picky sometimes :).
We then went back to the apartment for lunch, which was pb & j's (typical Racer lunch food), and then had a meeting with Sarah. Sarah is the "Sarah" of Sarah's Covenant Homes, and she wanted to give us an introduction and overview of the organization herself. She is a really sweet woman who moved here after meeting her husband (who is Indian), and started this ministry after realizing the desperate need for special needs kids to be taken care of. The government literally lets these children waste away in the basement of storehouses–they are truly the untouchables here. She now has just over 100 children at SCH spread between three different locations. You can read more about the organization at schindia.com or read some of the childrens' stories at sarahscovenanthome.blogspot.com.
After meeting with Sarah, we went to two of the three locations to get our own first-hand impressions of the kids. We were told beforehand that we needed to prepare ourselves to not compare things by our American standards, but to realize how incredible these conditions are compared to what the rest of India is like and especially compared to where these kids would be without the home. We walked in to the Victory house, the first location, and kids came running to us with excited looks on their faces. Visitors were here! We were greeted with sloppy kisses and hugs and handshakes, and then taken to a courtyard area where they were all gathered and playing. Carrie, one of my teammates, looked at me with a sullen look on her face–she wanted to show me the children who couldn't play outside. These children were laying on beds in two separate rooms, just staring at the ceilings. They couldn't move, not even to swipe flies off of their faces. It was so sad to see. The "ayahs" (nannies) looked at us, relieved to see there were people here to lighten their load, and Carrie and I swooped in and started picking up some of these children, bringing them outside to feel the sunshine on their faces.
While some of the children were blind and/or developmentally challenged, you could tell the change in their expressions when they felt the touch of our hands and the warmth of the sunshine and fresh air. They just needed someone to move them from their lives of laying on their backs. This was my favorite part. I'm more of a holder and cuddler when it comes to kids; I'm not the first person to start playing games or run around right away, and I tend to gravitate towards the babies, but some of my other teammates love it, and people like Stef were bouncing balls or jumping rope with the children who could. About half of my team was overwhelmed (understandably–a little girl seized twice when Carrie was walking with her), but the other half was energized.
Later in the day, we visited another SCH home, and I held a Downs syndrome girl for the entire time. I tried to put her down, but she started to cry, and did the most precious after-cry sigh in my arms when I picked her back up. It melted my heart completely. I absolutely love ministry this month and I can't wait to see what else it brings.
In the afternoon, our squad leaders came to visit, and came right as a couple of us were watching the sunset on our roof and singing/playing the guitar. It was an incredible moment and you can see almost all of the town we're living in from our roof.
All in all, it was a great first day of ministry.
By the way–it's almost my birthday (Feb 16 !!) and I still have about $1,100 left to raise to stay on the Race. Would you consider making a donation to my account as a birthday gift to me this year? This has been a life-changing journey for me and the opportunity of a lifetime to serve and experience the Kingdom, and I'm so appreciative of everyone who has helped make this happen. You guys rock! Thanks :).
