India, what an unforgettable place. If you’re ever looking for a place that will hit you in the face with culture shock, this place would for sure be the one to choose. Oh but was it beautiful; the clothing, the food, the people. It’s a place that’s now filled with several beautiful stories that will forever be engrained in my memory.
During my time in India I got to work with an organization called Sarah’s Covenant Homes, which is a home for disabled children. Within the seven homes there are several disabilities but they can range from a heart defect to Cerebral Palsy. Our first week we started off in Ongole, which is a small town filled with street food, clothes shops, and tuk tuk services. What’s a tuk tuk you ask? It’s their means of transportation and it’s quite possibly the raddest thing ever!!
In Ongole there are a total of three homes, we visited all of them but only got to work with two of them. While in Ongole we got to stay at the girls’ home which is called Faith home and got to live with the staff and kids there. At Faith Home there is a total of three floors and each morning we would start off on a different floor throwing a VBS for the kids. VBS looked like storytelling, dance parties, tons of coloring, playing with their favorite toys, and singing their favorite songs.
Here’s a closer look into what a day in Ongole looked like:
Around 6 am (still in “bed” or as we would say, on our sleeping mat) we’d wake up to the lovely sounds of wet clothes being thrown against cement. This was by far the funniest and most unusual thing about India, but one of my favorites. Every morning bright and early some of the girls and a staff member would come to the top of the roof, which is where our room was located, and do their laundry. In order to ring their clothes out they would slam it against the cement. Nonetheless, it was an interesting alarm clock to wake up to.
With the sound of clothes slamming against the cement was also the sweet sound of our new found friend, who they call Sweetie, peeking her head through our window shouting “Good Morning Sisters!” Very early mornings became a pretty normal thing for us at SCH, but we didn’t mind it at all.
We’d then get ready and grab some breakfast before we started the day. On our way down to breakfast, and anytime we’d walk down the stairs, some of the girls would be standing outside of their rooms. They would always shout “Hi sister!!” and then proceed to do one of my absolute favorite things they’d do, they say “Friends?” and make the ASL sign for friends, which is placing one of your index fingers on top of the other and rotating them out, and then pointed back and forth from myself to her. I’d then nod my head yes with a big grin on my face, reassuring her that yes, we are friends, and then waved goodbye to let them know it wasn’t time for VBS yet. “See you!!” they’d say excitingly and I’d reply back with “See you!” When I say this happened daily, I truly mean it, and it was most certainly one of my favorite parts of the day.
After breakfast we’d head up to our first round of VBS, three of us would go to the younger girls’ class and three of us to the older girls’ class and then we’d rotate after about thirty minutes. One group would do a skit and then play music/have a dance party, while the other three would be in charge of the art project and singing songs. We taught them about the story of Jonah, David & Goliath, the Good Samaritan, and the walls of Jericho. My favorite part of VBS with the girls was having dance parties and getting to see them laugh uncontrollably at mine and theirs ridiculous dance moves.
After VBS with them we’d go to lunch, every day for lunch the women at the home would cook for us a meal which usually consisted of rice and curry, which was of course delicious and most of the time SUPER spicy.
After lunch we had VBS with the boys’ at the boys’ home. Since the number of boys were fewer than the girls we would all teach with them. VBS with them looked similar to what it did with the girls, we would do storytelling with them, do arts and crafts, and sing songs. At this particular boys home majority of them had Cerebral Palsy and had very little upper body movement so each of us would spend time with one of the boys individually, helping them draw or play with their toys. I had some of my favorite moments at this particular home because the Lords love shined so brightly through those kids and through the staff that worked there.
During our time in Ongole my team and I got to join in on a trip to the beach with some of the girls from Faith home that we were staying at. This was by far one of my favorite days in India. The weather that day was super foggy and rainy, but all of us were so excited and the smiles on each of the girls face was enough to warm your heart. When we got to the beach we all sat in front of the waves and let them crash over us. The girls giggled and waited patiently for each wave that would come and hit them, laughing hysterically each time they were hit. Compared to the beaches near my hometown, this beach was completely empty but our laughs filled the emptiness. Beach attire, oh beach attire, so very different from that of America, we wore kurta’s and long pants, making sure our shoulders, knees, and ankles were covered. After only fifteen minutes of being on the beach, my teammates and I ran hysterically towards a rather large wave which left me with a nice rather large gaping hole in my pants. I must say it was rather fun making sure my underwear couldn’t be seen the rest of the time while on the beach, especially being on a beach in India. Leaving the beach we were all extremely exhausted and soaking wet, but it was all extremely worth it seeing the smiles on the girls’ faces.
Our last few weeks we were in Hyderabad, which is a more westernized city in India that reminded me of home in several ways. While we were there we got to go to the movies, to the mall, and also ate at, wait for it… BUFFALO WILD WINGS. Friends, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life (ok, I know that’s dramatic…)
Hyderabad has a total of four homes and each home is filled with some of the sweetest kids I’ve ever met. Our days in Hyderabad looked different each day, depending on which house we visited. During our time in Hyderbad we got to spend time with the kids but we also helped cleaning in some way at each of the homes. One of the houses we cleaned their carport and two of the houses we detail cleaned their kitchen. On the days we weren’t cleaning we also held VBS with the kids. We also got to help them with their classes, helping them color and sitting in while they learned.
India held a lot of my favorite things that I’ve come across on the race, such as, spicy noodles, Kurta’s, Chai Tea with cookies (!!THE BEST THING EVER!!) and jillebies, which is SUCH a delicious snack, if you ever go to India you MUST try them. But all of those wonderful things could never beat the fact that I got to love on some of the most adorable kids each day while I was there.
