After our holiday we took a few days off to recuperate after our traumatic (no, this is not an over exaggeration) train journey. These days were pretty much spent doing nothing...
I did get my first hair cut in India though! Kinda cheating as I went to the poshest one in town as apposed to a little street side thing... But I was still nervous the whole time!! He did do a good job in the end, it just wasn't exactly what I asked for!!
A lot of the spare time was spent doing random doodles. This seems to be the thing to do for me when I'm bored of doing nothing!
On Monday 16th we started back at school. It was an easy day as the teachers decided that the kids were just gonna play so we spent about 3 hours playing with them! It was really nice to see all their smiling face again. And I think they were just as excited to see us again!
Tuesday was slightly different to normal. We usually go to the school but on this particular day there were about 10 volunteers who wanted to go and check it out. So instead we spent the day at babycare!! This is run by the same organisation as Hatibagan is, but its for babies aged 6 months - 3 years. The day starts at 9am and finishes around 3/4pm. It was a long day!! There were about 20 adorable babies there. As usual, there's the ones who keep themselves to themselves and get on with things, ones that sleep all the time, the odd one that hits the other ones, the one that won't let you put them down, and the ones that are always crying! So there was always something to do! We didn't get back to the guesthouse until after 5pm. Shattered!
Wednesday is usually a Freeset day but seeing as Steve (our supervisor type thing) isn't back from New Zealand until 28th, we had to do something different. Josh stayed home cause hes not feeling too good, Ellen went to school again and me and Naomi decided to go to Mother house (Mother Teresa) just down the road to see if we could volunteer for a day.
We had breakfast here with the rest of the volunteers, which consisted of bread and chai. After a song and a prayer, the various volunteers dispersed to their different assignments. There are about 7 houses in Kolkata that you can volunteer at. As we were only getting a day pass, we were sent to help out at Prem Dan.
Prem Dan (The big white building), as you can see, is located right next to a railway track/station which has quite a large slum along it. We got a bus here - another interesting experience! Hanging out of the doors of vehicles is starting to become a regular occurance!
This building has a men's side and a women's side. The men work with the men and the ladies work with the ladies. We walked into the main area where the ladies are being looked after and the pain and suffering of these women hits you right in the face. Nothing is sugar coated or hidden behind doors. The first lady we saw had no eyes, and the skin on her face was pulled tight as if she had been seriously burnt or something similar. Around her were ladies with huge open sores, missing limbs, broken (visible) bones, mental problems, cancer, anorexia.. anything you can think of there was someone there who was suffering with it. Even some as young as 20 years old. It was really hard to see this, as you can imagine.
Behind where you see the lady standing by a curtain, is where all the beds are laid out in rows for the ladies to rest on. Where the women here are cleaning is where the ladies eat their meals, or are able to sit in a more social surrounding.
We started the day by doing some laundry. The clothes and sheets go through a long process of cleaning before being taken up bucket after bucket to the roof to be hung out to dry. I wasn't doing this for long before I was asked to help clean mattresses. Its not as bad as it sounds, they were made of plastic and you literally just had to wipe them down. After this we lay them on their metal frames which make up the beds, and put 3 different sheets on each one. This process is done every day by the sisters and volunteers.
We helped the ladies to the toilet who couldn't go themselves, change foiled sheets, clean the ladies where necessary, give hand lotion and massages, and just be a friend to them. I bet your face is crinkled up in a form of disgust isn't it? "She had to change foiled sheets?" - I would be the same if someone had told me before hand that that's what I would be doing. But trust me, when it comes to it, something kicks in and you just get on with it. You want to protect the ladies dignity as much as possible, and they're gonna be far more embarrassed by you so squirming isn't going to do anyone any good. And actually, this day is probably one of the most rewarding I've had yet. We finished the day by feeding some ladies that couldn't feed themselves. I fed one who couldn't even sit up... Ever fed someone lying down? Rice.everywhere. Took about an hour to only get a quarter of the way through the meal, then she fell asleep...
We left Prem Dan around 12.30pm and went back to the guesthouse until around 6.30, then we went to Assemblies of God church to watch Dr. Benny Prasad. http://bennyprasad.com/ . You should check him out. He's an Indian musician with an amazing life story and a truly inspirational testimony. He used to be classed as "useless", at 16 he was given 6 months to live due to being given the wrong medicine for his asthma for most of his life, and wanted to commit suicide, but after an encounter with God, everything turned around. He now holds world records for visiting every country in the shortest amount of time, hes met presidents, played at the Olympics etc etc etc. He created the worlds first guitar with built in bongo drums and a harp. You really should have a listen, hes pretty amazing.
We went to school again on Thurs 19th, I spent almost an hour trying to teach a boy to write 'cat'. Every time I asked him to copy the 'A' he would write a 'H'. In fact, every letter I told him to write turned into either a 'h', 't' or 'o'. He just didn't get it. It gets quite frustrating. I stuck it out through all the lesson, and by the time it came to lunch, he still didn't get it.
Yesterday (Friday) morning was spent at home doing various odd jobs as there was gonna be loads of volunteers at the school again. Then at 3 we went to Shishu Bhavan to register with sisters of charity so that we can do some regular work at the various Mother Teresa houses.
I did get my first hair cut in India though! Kinda cheating as I went to the poshest one in town as apposed to a little street side thing... But I was still nervous the whole time!! He did do a good job in the end, it just wasn't exactly what I asked for!!
A lot of the spare time was spent doing random doodles. This seems to be the thing to do for me when I'm bored of doing nothing!
On Monday 16th we started back at school. It was an easy day as the teachers decided that the kids were just gonna play so we spent about 3 hours playing with them! It was really nice to see all their smiling face again. And I think they were just as excited to see us again!
Tuesday was slightly different to normal. We usually go to the school but on this particular day there were about 10 volunteers who wanted to go and check it out. So instead we spent the day at babycare!! This is run by the same organisation as Hatibagan is, but its for babies aged 6 months - 3 years. The day starts at 9am and finishes around 3/4pm. It was a long day!! There were about 20 adorable babies there. As usual, there's the ones who keep themselves to themselves and get on with things, ones that sleep all the time, the odd one that hits the other ones, the one that won't let you put them down, and the ones that are always crying! So there was always something to do! We didn't get back to the guesthouse until after 5pm. Shattered!
We asked Josh what he was doodling on his hand.... And this is what he did.
Me and Naomi outside Mother house.
We had breakfast here with the rest of the volunteers, which consisted of bread and chai. After a song and a prayer, the various volunteers dispersed to their different assignments. There are about 7 houses in Kolkata that you can volunteer at. As we were only getting a day pass, we were sent to help out at Prem Dan.
Prem Dan
Prem Dan (The big white building), as you can see, is located right next to a railway track/station which has quite a large slum along it. We got a bus here - another interesting experience! Hanging out of the doors of vehicles is starting to become a regular occurance!
This building has a men's side and a women's side. The men work with the men and the ladies work with the ladies. We walked into the main area where the ladies are being looked after and the pain and suffering of these women hits you right in the face. Nothing is sugar coated or hidden behind doors. The first lady we saw had no eyes, and the skin on her face was pulled tight as if she had been seriously burnt or something similar. Around her were ladies with huge open sores, missing limbs, broken (visible) bones, mental problems, cancer, anorexia.. anything you can think of there was someone there who was suffering with it. Even some as young as 20 years old. It was really hard to see this, as you can imagine.
Indian volunteers cleaning.
Behind where you see the lady standing by a curtain, is where all the beds are laid out in rows for the ladies to rest on. Where the women here are cleaning is where the ladies eat their meals, or are able to sit in a more social surrounding.
We started the day by doing some laundry. The clothes and sheets go through a long process of cleaning before being taken up bucket after bucket to the roof to be hung out to dry. I wasn't doing this for long before I was asked to help clean mattresses. Its not as bad as it sounds, they were made of plastic and you literally just had to wipe them down. After this we lay them on their metal frames which make up the beds, and put 3 different sheets on each one. This process is done every day by the sisters and volunteers.
We helped the ladies to the toilet who couldn't go themselves, change foiled sheets, clean the ladies where necessary, give hand lotion and massages, and just be a friend to them. I bet your face is crinkled up in a form of disgust isn't it? "She had to change foiled sheets?" - I would be the same if someone had told me before hand that that's what I would be doing. But trust me, when it comes to it, something kicks in and you just get on with it. You want to protect the ladies dignity as much as possible, and they're gonna be far more embarrassed by you so squirming isn't going to do anyone any good. And actually, this day is probably one of the most rewarding I've had yet. We finished the day by feeding some ladies that couldn't feed themselves. I fed one who couldn't even sit up... Ever fed someone lying down? Rice.everywhere. Took about an hour to only get a quarter of the way through the meal, then she fell asleep...
We left Prem Dan around 12.30pm and went back to the guesthouse until around 6.30, then we went to Assemblies of God church to watch Dr. Benny Prasad. http://bennyprasad.com/ . You should check him out. He's an Indian musician with an amazing life story and a truly inspirational testimony. He used to be classed as "useless", at 16 he was given 6 months to live due to being given the wrong medicine for his asthma for most of his life, and wanted to commit suicide, but after an encounter with God, everything turned around. He now holds world records for visiting every country in the shortest amount of time, hes met presidents, played at the Olympics etc etc etc. He created the worlds first guitar with built in bongo drums and a harp. You really should have a listen, hes pretty amazing.
We went to school again on Thurs 19th, I spent almost an hour trying to teach a boy to write 'cat'. Every time I asked him to copy the 'A' he would write a 'H'. In fact, every letter I told him to write turned into either a 'h', 't' or 'o'. He just didn't get it. It gets quite frustrating. I stuck it out through all the lesson, and by the time it came to lunch, he still didn't get it.
Yesterday (Friday) morning was spent at home doing various odd jobs as there was gonna be loads of volunteers at the school again. Then at 3 we went to Shishu Bhavan to register with sisters of charity so that we can do some regular work at the various Mother Teresa houses.
The gates into Shishu Bhavan.
Me and Naomi registered to do Wednesday and Saturday mornings at Shanti Dan. Shanti means "peace"; dan means "gift of." This is a home for mentally disabled and abused women and girls. Its going to be challenging but we are both looking forward to getting stuck in. Josh and Ellen have registered to do Wednesday and Saturday afternoons at Kali Ghat, the home for the dying and destitute. This will also be a really hard one to work at. It is very similar to Prem Dan where we went previously, but smaller and has less patients. I am hoping to volunteer here at least once at some point in the next few months. After 3 weeks we can change which home we work at if we wish, or add more in. So This is a possibility. We are hoping to do a couple of afternoons at Daya Dan too, which is a home for mentally and physically disabled children.
So hopefully, 3 weeks from now, our weeks will look a bit like this:
Monday- am and pm - Freeset
Tuesday- am- School. pm- Nothing
Wednesday- am- Shanti Dan. pm- Daya Dan
Thurday - am and pm- Freeset
Friday- am- School. pm- Daya Dan
Saturday- am- Shanti Dan. pm- Nothing
Sunday- am- Church. Evening- Church.
The weeks are gonna turn busy now but I'm so excited to have more projects to work with. The weeks are gonna start flying by with only Tuesday and Saturday afternoons and Sundays (Apart from 2 church services) off!
Now, I was trying to pick a bible verse to sum up this past week. But I couldn't pick just one.
As a brief background, I have been struggling a lot with deciding what to do with myself when I get home. Whether or not to go to university. Its been pretty stressful and I've done a lot of thinking, worrying and praying. On Thursday I was reading the bible and was lead to James. If you want to read it yourself, the bit that really spoke to me was James 1:7-27. Its all about considering trials as 'pure joy' '..because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance...' Going to university would really be a leap of faith. I have to put it all in Gods hands and trust that, if its his will, everything will fall into place and work out. I have always been so caught up thinking that I don't have a gift or a talent. That God doesn't really have a plan for my life, or if he does its totally hidden. But in James 1:16 it says 'Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.' I have come to believe that part of Gods plan for my life is that I DON'T KNOW his plan for my life. I have to put ALL my trust and faith in him. 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight' - Proverbs 3:5-6
Holiness over. Now time for a bit of a giggle... Twilight.... In Bengali........ Enjoy! (You will notice that they mix Bengali with English which is pretty funny!)
Peace, H x
