Shell-Shocked: Rising Star

I started volunteering with Rising Star Outreach ( http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/) on Monday. A group of seven of us got picked up in Chennai and driven two hours to the tiny village of Thottanaval. Rising Star's goal is to help leprosy colonies become thriving and self-sufficient. They have a school for kids who have a family member affected with leprosy. The kids are provided with nutritious meals, medical and dental care, and a good education. They also have medical teams go out to the colonies and provide health and dental care. They also do micro-finance and help the leprosy-afflicted set up businesses so they can support themselves so they don't have to beg. Having leprosy is a huge stigma in India: up until a few years ago, it was legal to beat a person with leprosy if they touched you. Rising Star is working to change that stigma. For the three weeks I'm here, I'll be working in the school, as well as going out to the colonies with the medical team.

The first day we got here, we had lunch, had our hair strewn with jasmine, and headed out for to play with the kids for their recess. It was amazing how friendly and loving they all are. As soon as we got there, it was "Aunty - play with me. Aunty - come chase me." They call us all "Aunty" and I'm "Shelly Aunty." It's darling. The kids sleep on campus at their hostel and are broken out into "families." We were assigned into our families. I'm with about 17 boys, the youngest is 5, but the majority are about 10 years old. This has been the first real exposure to boys I've had. Growing up in a family four daughters, I'm not used to boys. But, it's been a ton of fun so far! One little boy, Veerin, has stolen my heart. He's got the sweetest smile and is so charming and knows exactly how to use it. He has a huge lump over one of his eyes. It started growing one day and they're not sure what it is, but it seems like it's starting to get better.

Every night we eat dinner on the roof of the hostel and get to see the sun set over the mango grove that surrounds the playground. Each night we have to say our high and our low for the day. Some days they're silly, other days they're poignant. One of my lows this week was about a little girl with growths on her face. All the kids here love digital cameras and love to have their photos taken so they can see themselves. I was taking some pictures of the kids and this little girl came up to me and wanted to see the photos. I asked her if she wanted her picture taken, and she said "no, I don't have my photo taken because of my face." And she covered her cheek with her hands. My heart just about broke right there.

This week has been a little unusual because the kids were out of school for three days for a Tamil holiday. So we tutored some of the kids who were a little behind in English and Math for the first few days. But every day we head over at 4:30 to to play with them at recess. Dinner is at 6 and then we break out into our families until 9.

Wednesday we headed over to a colony to help build a community center. Basically it was manual labor that I'm sure could've been done a lot faster and more efficiently if we weren't there, but it's the thought, right? Basically we formed a line and passed huge bowls full of sand and rocks down. It was 100 degrees in the shade that day, so you can imagine how hot it was in the sun. I thought the most I've ever sweat was when I was in Italy during that huge heatwave where thousands of people died....but this was much worse. I was soaking wet by the time we finished. But - it felt good.