Unconditional Love

Before leaving for Rising Star, we knew we would be working with those afflicted by leprosy.  However, we did not take into account how big the circle of influence was in regards to those affected by the disease.  There are those who have the actual disease, but then there are their children.  They would normally live their lives in a leprosy colony with limited opportunities for an education, a job, or even marriage.  Rising Star Outreach provides a way for these children to break out of this stigma and become their own person, unattached from the disease.  They do this through their boarding school, where the children attend school from kindergarten to 10th grade, enabling them to take exams to further their education for the last two years of school in other schools.  These ‘Rising Stars’ are the future in helping to break the curse of leprosy and are really the ones we came to help.

Cami Dressing the Part

A normal day for us was getting up early for breakfast and attending a morning meeting with other volunteers in the courtyard.

Elephant House Courtyard

Depending on the assignment for the day, the women mostly had to wear chudidars, while the men wore modest shorts or trousers and shirts.

Volunteer Chudidar Closet

When we were reminded of our assignments for the day and went over any other pressing issues, we had an uplifting thought and then a prayer.  Then we were off.

Leaving Elephant House

The morning was set aside for the different areas of service:  education, community outreach, or medical.  We were usually done with these assignments by noon.  If we were off-campus, our outings were usually linked with a cultural experience in the area as well.  One day we visited a Hindu Temple . . .

Hindu Temple & Holy Man

. . . and another day we biked around the zoo.

Biking with Brian

White & Blond?  Instant Celebrity!

We were always back to campus by early afternoon and had a couple hours to eat a late lunch,

Volunteers’ Kitchen

. . . take a refreshing bucket shower,

Heavenly Bucket Showers

Our Squat Toliets

. . . or just rest.

Teak Room = Our Home

Family Bunking

Our Digs on Arrival

Most days, though, we tried to get together an Uno game with each other in the common room (aka Mango Room) and pull some other volunteers in as well.

Mango Room

Sometimes the Uno tournaments got a little intense with elimination rounds.

Uno Tournament

Then, as school let out for the children, we were able to become their families.  When we arrived at Rising Star Outreach and attended our orientation, one of the best words of advice given to us in regards to the children was to ‘just love them.’  If we are truly honest with ourselves, it is the children who showed us the most love . . . and you couldn’t help but love them in return.

Maria

6th Standard Girls

Navitha & Emma

Nishanti, Suba, & Mymonisha

As we would approach at the start of playtime, the children were waiting outside the hostel and ran to meet us.

Playtime with Cami!

Teaching Walk-Overs

Split Demonstrations

Just Watching

Natural Beauties

They would come calling “Auntie” or “Uncle”, grabbing our hands and pulling us to the play area to practice cat’s cradle,

Teaching Hannah Cat’s Cradle

“Spider Man” (aka Witch’s Broom)

. . . paint nails,

Manicure #1

Mani/Pedi Spa Treatment

Pedicure #5

. . . watch videos of our own kids on our phones,

Cami’s dance videos were a hit!

More Spectators

Scrolling through Emma’s Photos

. . . or play sports with the boys.

Sweet Praveen

Injured Praveen

After an hour of playtime, we would say goodbye and separate for dinner.

Dinner Preparation

The volunteers eat the same food the kids do, which is prepared by the Indian cook in the dining hall.  It is the same food they would have on a normal day in their villages, which is a lot of red rice and sauce with boiled eggs.  The volunteers would supplement these dinners with cut vegetable salads and cut fruit.

Typical Volunteer’s Meal

During our dinner, we would always take turns going around the table to share our highs and lows of the day.

Volunteer Roof-Top Dining

Sometimes they were little things (like the heat), but other times they were bigger (like a child mentioning to another volunteer that they missed you when you didn’t show up for play time).  Our continual high every day was seeing our own children dive in and learn to give their love freely to these children.  They created memories and relationships that have even led to individual sponsoring.

Emma’s Sponsor Child, Sangeetha

Picking a Sponsor Gift

Cami’s Sponsor Child, Abisha

Later in the evening, after we had cleaned up our own dinner, we returned to the hostels for ‘story time.’  The children would watch for the volunteers to arrive again as they got ready for bed.  It was fun for us to hear our names called by certain kids as we got close.  The girls and I always visited the girls’ hostel while Chris and Caleb visited the boys’ hostel.

Usha & Cami – Instant Friends

In both hostels, we would sit on the floor with the children in their rooms, next to their sleep mats.  There were many requests for stories, but the ones they liked the best were stories from our own lives.  Sometimes those were the hardest as trying to relate 1st World humor or problems to those living in a different environment didn’t always make sense.  Emma started depending on her scripture knowledge and the children looked forward to hearing her tell scripture stories.  The younger girls and I sometimes would just talk and ask questions about the girls’ lives.  Other times, we would sing songs.  The most requested songs were from “The Sound of Music,” David Archuleta, or the hymns.

Ready to Sing!

As ‘lights out’ was called by the house mothers, those that were still awake, would call after us “come again tomorrow night, Auntie!”  Then, before we knew it, all our ‘tomorrow nights’ were gone.  Some of the girls I had gotten close to kept reminding me to come to their room that last night . . . and to bring my phone (electronics are usually not allowed during story time as they rile the kids up, instead of calming them down).  When we arrived, the girls were all having giggling fits.  As we tried to figure out what was so funny, they went to their cubbies and pulled out handmade cards they had worked on the previous night for us.

Farewell Notes

Then they ushered us all together so we could have one last picture together.

Girls from “G1”

It was the sweetest gesture.  Our stories that night somehow took on the theme of miracles.  The girls started sharing stories of miracles in their lives and it hit me that this whole experience had been a miracle for our family.  Our eyes were opened to the true meaning of unconditional love . . . as receivers and givers.

Stephenson / Bertha Volunteer Group

Before our departure, we were given ‘fun awards’ by the long-term volunteers.  They had all been thought out and given cute names then drawn out and designed on construction paper for us to bring home.  These will be a fun memory as well:

As we closed up our experience with the other volunteers, we were asked to share what we’re taking home with us from this experience – not something physical but a special memory or something we’ve learned.  Not sitting near our children and having them answer on their own accord was humbling for us as parents.

Last Group of Volunteers

I loved the quote by Mother Teresa that the directors put on their mural just before leaving,  “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”

Working on Volunteers’ Mural

Our lives have forever been changed because of this experience . . . and it is all due to love . . . absolute and unconditional love.

Sad to Leave