The festival for the children and widows from the village went very well. Instead of a meal te widows were given a banana and water. After the program they were each given their sari. Many were very old and using a stick to walk with. The teachers were given a ticket to invite 10 widows from their village. They all greet you with Namasta, and you can see a gleam in their eyes as we greeted them. We were introduced and treated as stars with our names written out on paper going across the stage. We then went up on the stage and Kusuma thanked us for coming and helping the children. Then the children performed some of their talents. After that the children distibuted the sari's to the elderly widows. After the husband dies a widow is not suppose to marry again. She is a widow til death. As the widows were leaving they greeted each of us and thanked us. Many touched our faces or kissed our hands. It is an amazing experience, and one that I never forget. It really makes you appreciate all that we have. It was so nice to see the children assisting the widows in getting around.
Some of the things we were able to do with the funding raised was the dental clinic. Dr Dan Rauk, whose mother helped start the orphange worked very hard doing the dental work for all of the children. We also were able to get all of the children's eye tested and new glasses. There was still a need for more sweaters, so we purchased more of those. The children were very appreciative for the sweaters we brought and for the new ones. Sandles were also purchased. This time of year most of them do not wear the shoes, but in feb. the summer heat will start and for several months the sand will be to hot to walk on. They will need the shoes at that time. Also the girls hostel is in much need of repair. They have a serious water leaking problem throughout the building. Which causes the building on te outside to look very bad. This is the most expensive problem right now, so much of our funding will be to put in new PVC pipe that will go throughout the building making it much easier to fix problems in the future. After the work is finished the building will be painted inside and out. This will be a major accomplishment when it is finished. Five years ago, Kimberly and myself were on a team that painted the entire inside of the building and we hired the outside done. It looked very nice then, but is in need of it being done again.
The last day at Reach Home we took the dental assistance out for dinner with us. They are nursing students that lived at Reach Home and grew up there. They had never eatin in a restaurant. Then we gave then a gift of a new chudidar and new shoes. They were very grateful and surprised. The evening was very nice and we ate outside in the patio of the restaurant. I ofcourse enjoyed a bottle of squirt.
The final day at the orphanage is a hard one as all of the children love the attention and hate for us to go. I became close with the 9th grade girl that we sponsor, so it was difficult to say goodbye. Lots of hugs and well wishes. I also was able to meet children of other people I know who sponsor a child here.
We probably have 5,000 pictures to share between all of the team. It will be fun to look at all of them. I'll select a few and not make family and friends view all 5,000. Ha.
At 11:20 PM it was off to the train station for the midnight train to Hyderabad. This is the worst part of the trip. The travel home. Many hours of rushing and waiting. When you board the train at night it is difficult to find your bunk. The stack them 3 high, and of course I got the top bunk. So you put all of your bags and belonging in the bunk with you and climb up.
Right now we are waiting in Hyderabad to catch our flight to Deli in the early morning.
We have a 15 hours lay over, so Pete arranged a tour for us to take up some time. Not much to do at the airport. Our plain home leaves around midnight for a 15 hour flight home. Actually because of the time difference it looks like it will only take 2 hours. We lose 13 or so hours someplace. It would be nice at this point to beam me up Scotti and take me home.
love to you all and see you soon.
Penny
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