Home is a wonderful place to be. It's cozy, warm, personal, comfortable, known and yours. It's a place to be yourself and feel yourself with those you love. My home is safe and I can be me. Singing while I clean the house, dance in the kitchen when I make meals, doing cartwheels in my front yard or scaring my siblings at night when the lights are off are normal activities that take place in my life. Normally I do these at home, but when I am with family and friends and comfortable it doesn't matter where I am.
I lived life with a family this month, in a house. A safe place. A place where I was myself. A place where when I danced around (all goofy like), they laughed. A place where I could help and it was accepted and admired. A place that felt like home.
I lived life in an orphanage. But it wasn't a typical orphanage. It was a house, a home. Kids of all ages, heights, shapes and sizes, backgrounds and stories. Each with unique and fun personalities and all willing to share anything and every thing!
Building relationships with the woman and children day in and day out was so rewarding! Every morning they served us breakfast with a smile. From that moment on we got to know each other!
After breakfast I asked the women in the kitchen how I could help! Some days we made chapatti which I loved to do, other times I made chai tea, rice dishes or just sat on the floor peeling garlic or snapping peas.
Tea time and taste testing (more like trying new foods) was a big part of our day. They always kept us well fed and nourished! One day Le, Aubs and I purchased ingredients for no bake cookies and made them for everyone in the house! It was so neat to bless them with a sweet American treat!
I formed the closest relationships with the women and girls in the house. Whether it was cooking, laundry, dancing or just asking them questions about themselves, I lived life with them and got to know their personalities.
'M' was the head of the kitchen, she planned meals and coordinated all the food ingredients needed for the day. For safety reasons I am not allowed to share names- but I would rather it be that way than to bring potential harm to any of them. When it came to cooking, there was always plenty of food! No one went hungry and everyone could have seconds, thirds, fourths or fifths.
Dinner time was one of my favorite parts of the day, not because it was food time but because we all sat Indian style on the floor eating together. We ate off round metal plates as one giant family. Noises fill the air, and smells of rice and spice seem to always linger as we pray together, eat together, tell stories together and laugh together. It is such a beautiful way to end another great day in India. Words cannot begin to describe the sights, smells and sounds that made my life in India worth while and remarkable. I would love to go back one day… Maybe The Lord will have that in store. 🙂
Pray for India!
Kaleena DiDi
