Second Job Description

In January the director  called me in and said he wanted me to now work improving the hostel.  My title would be Child Welfare Manager. 

We have a building where the children live called the hostel.  The boys live on the east side of the building and the girls on the west. There are between 17 and 20 children in each living quarter with one house mother.  In total there are eight living quarters.  This is a very, very nice building by Indian standards.  Our children come from the leper colonies where they live in a thatched roof hut - period.  There is no running water, no power, no toilet, nothing to prepare food, no refrigeration, etc, etc.  They have a dirt floor and roof.  All food preparation is done outside over a fire.  The shrubs and trees out back are the bathroom and  a bath is taken at the village well/pump.  A bath means washing off with water.  Most don't have and can't afford a bar of soap.  Laundry is done in what ever water source there is ie: creek, pond, wash tub where large rocks are close.  They scrub and scrub the clothes then beat them on the rocks and lay them out on shrubs, rocks or grass to dry. 

At our hostel they sleep on a clean floor where they are safe. They have separate bathrooms, sinks with soap, running water and separate bathing stalls. There is even hot water for bathing.  Every morning all the children have chores.  Some wash clothes, some sweep the living area and some do general cleaning.  All of the older children, girls and boys, are assigned a younger child to bathe and dress.  The girls also comb and braid their long hair.  It is a beautiful site to watch how loving they are to each other. 

We have a beautiful new dining hall where they eat 3 meals a day and they can consume lots!!  When they come to us they are often malnourished.  They have brown hair instead of pitch black, their belly's are swollen and they are lethargic.  After a few months their eyes sparkle, their hair is black and they run with energy. 

There were many things to put into order when I started at the hostel. 

Sleeping mats and wash buckets were replaced,  plumbing repaired, mosquito nets placed on windows, rules agreed on and posted in each room, tooth brushes handed out and clocks mounted.  Protein food items were added to the diet meaning peanuts, chicken, red rice instead of processed white rice and protein powder in the morning milk.

We started a weekly meeting with the house mothers.  This was a great improvement.  They were able to voice their concerns and make requests that in the past had not been addressed. 

The older girls needed underwear which they were so excited to get.  They knew someone really cared.  The underwear weren't so important but the attention was. 

I created 7 power point lessons to teach good hygiene - how to wash your hair, how to brush your teeth, why soap is important, what deoderant is for, how bodies change during puberty, etc.  Some targeted the young children and some the teenagers.  The children were fascinated to watch bacteria and learn how those little germs make them sick.  They just needed to be given the information.  These kids want to do good and want to be good.

Our Work in the Colonies

This is a great video of yesterday in the colony.  Some of the pictures are pretty graphic.  I love these people.  They smile everyday!

http://vimeo.com/21796849

Village Life

Audry is one of our volunteers.  She shot this video of Thottanaval Village.  Thottanaval is where Rising Star is.  This video is great! 

http://vimeo.com/21687075

You Tube trailer

This shows a good over view of what we do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwNSwPMuJPY&feature=player_embedded  

Meet my friend King Kong

Yes, that is his real name - King Kong.  He works at the Marriott Courtyard in Chennai.  The Marriott is one of our sponsors so they come to Rising Star every other month with food, games and fun.

Meet my friend Jennifer

This is Jennifer.  She is now 8 years old.  Her story is amazing and inspiring.
Jennifer is the oldest of 3 children.  India encourages parents to have one child but they don't enforce any policy for limiting the size of a family.  When a couple marries, they move into the husbands parents house and the new bride becomes the cook and housekeeper.  The mother-in-law is the authority for everyone.  The bride's dowry becomes the mother-in-laws possessions and the bride now lives a life of servitude.  Women really don't have any rights until a son gets married then they wield power with a vengeance.  A daughter is a huge liability and even more - a daughter with leprosy is of no value.  Jennifer contracted leprosy as an infant. 

  Her mother gave her poison but Jennifer survived.  She was treated for leprosy and is now cured. Then the grandmother/mother-in-law told the couple they had too many children and they had to get rid of Jennifer.  So one day her mother put 3 year old Jennifer into a dumpster then her father, mother, sister and brother moved from their small village to the city of Chingelput.   The next day Jennifer's maternal grandmother found her crying and hungry.  She took Jennifer home, cleaned her up and fed her.  They lived in a colony that the medical team from Rising Star goes to every 2 weeks.  On the medical teams next visit this grandmother approached our doctor and asked if Rising Star would take Jennifer.  
Now Jennifer is a kind, beautiful girl who excels in school.  She is clean, sleeps in a clean, safe place and eats 3 meals a day.  She talks about her past openly and remembers all of it.  She also tells people she hates her mother.  When asked what she wants to do when she grows up her immediate and confident answer is "be ä doctor."

Usha

This has been a wonderful day which fulfilled a 10 month project. Usha is a very sweet, soft spoken, 9 year old girl. She has feet that are completely flat. Painfully flat. She has ankle and knee pain now and will have hip pain in a few years. Daily she comes to me rests her head on my shoulder and says "Auntie, feet hurt. Auntie, knees pain."

Last summer we had an orthopaedic intern here who took impressions of her feet and said he would send special made shoes to Rising Star for Usha. When I arrived in October she would regularly ask if the shoes had come. They never did show. 
I asked Dr. Susan if she thought a surgeon here in India could do surgery to help. She had Usha seen by two different orthopaedic surgeons at different facilities who said she needed exercises. When asked more they said yes, she needs surgery and they really didn't know the procedure but if we insisted they would do their best. There were x-rays taken at the first appointment.

When I went to Utah over Christmas I took the x-rays to Dr. Tom Rogers in American Fork for his opinion. Dr. Rogers is a very fine podiatrist. He took one look at the x-rays, at the pictures I brought of her feet and said the feet need surgery to re-construct the arch. Exercises won't do any good. He offered to make orthotics (a temporary fix), He also offered to do the surgery at no cost and would ask IHC to donate the facility charges. I was so excited to tell Usha.

In January I made impressions of her feet using casting plaster (for broken bones), packed then in bubble wrap and kept them until new volunteers came to Rising Star. Heidi and Holly Hyte took the impressions to Utah the middle of February and delivered them to Dr. Rogers.

We have a wonderful friend who lives in Lehi, Nikki Shirliff.  She is Dani's mother.  She picked the orthotics up from the doctor's office, used them to buy quality running shoes in the right size and delivered them to Stacy. Stacy is an MBA student at the 'Ú' . Stacy arrived at Rising Star today with shoes and orthotics. I can't tell you how excited I was to take them to Usha.

When I got to Usha's hostel she came down and saw the shoes in my hand. She knew what they were. She has asked about them many, many times and I always said they were being made just for her. Her eyes were glistening. I explained she had to wear them only a few hours the first day because her calf muscles will get sore. After an hour of wearing them she came to me with a huge smile and said, "Auntie, no pain." This has been a beautiful day.

First Job Description

When I came to Rising Star in India I had no idea what I could contribute.  On arrival I was asked to get the medical clinic organized so it would function as a clinic.  I was shown a small room with an examination table, a desk, computer and lots of 'stuff'.  It was full of odds and ends that no one knew what else to do with.  It had a case of Burt's Bees Baby Lotion and Cream Kits.  What do we do with a case of product meant for babies?  We will never have babies here.  I found decks of cards, old and crumbling cotton dressings, empty bottles of evaporated alcohol, wool blankets (in the cold season from November to January the temperature drops to 75), two cases of essential Lavender Oil, two old blood pressure apparatus with rotted tubing, 1000 tubes of lip gloss (the humidity here keeps all skin areas moist - I don't even use lip gloss here) etc., etc.  I spent a couple of weeks going thru everything, sorting, cleaning, organizing and labeling.  We then removed everything from the room and tiled the floor then painted the walls.  We replaced the shelving, the desk, put in a small refrigerator for medicines, an autoclave to sterilize instruments, the examining table and a metal cabinet for medicines to be stored in.  Then I went thru all the medical records for 184 children from the past 7 years - repaired the worn books, glued in a sheet to keep track of all immunizations given and put them into sets according to the hostel family each child lives in. 
Each evening from 4 to 6 I helped Dr. Susan with medical exams.  The children would come to see her with all sorts of complaints.  Some of these patients we called the TLC group.  They really didn't have a medical problem but wanted to be touched, loved and told they are just fine.  I still give lots of hugs. :) :)  Some of the kids have a serious problem that has to be addressed.  We have been thru tonsillitis (remember 184 children) and pink eye. 
One of the true concerns is when a child finds a white area on their skin.  All these kids come from the Leper colonies.  They know Leprosy first hand.  The first sign of the disease is a white patch on the skin.  It's  called dry leprosy.  When it moves to the wet stage it is too late.  So when a child comes in and asks us to look at a patch we take extra care especially to calm their mind. 
This was my job description thru the end of December.

Beautiful India

Three weeks ago we were blessed to have Jean Shifrin here at Rising Star.  She is a photo journalist who has an incredible talent and resume'.

 

 Jean with another lady was the first reporter to get into Afghanistan in 1992 and document the terrible treatment of women in the Muslim world.  She has prepared this slide show as a gift to each of us who are working at Rising Star.  All her work is copy righted.  I hope you enjoy.

http://www.shifrinphotography.com/gallery/india/

Guess the Gender

For some ridiculous reason, who knows why, parents will dress male children as girls until age 5 then dress them appropriately.  I have learned to not assume whether I am holding a girl or boy. 

This is a boy !!!

David Archuleta

David Archuleta and his mom were here for 5 days.  He has been a sponsor for Rising Star for a year.  He even worked in the colonies.  He is a delightful, talented, spiritual young man.

Sunday night he spoke at a fireside for local church members.  He told his story about American Idol.  His family had encouraged him to try out but he had just gotten a summer job doing lighting and sound at a local theater and didn't want to quit that opportunity for something that he most likely wouldn't get past the first round.  He really struggled with the decision.  "Who am I?  I don't even  like the sound of my voice and there are lots of really talented people who will try out."  His parents had always taught them to pray about any question so he thought about praying if he should go to try out in San Diego but then why bother God with such a trivial question.  "Surely Father doesn't care if I try out for some contest."  So he decided he should go  ahead and ask.  The answer he got was "Ï have given you a talent.  Go to the audition and I will use you for good."  He never thought he would make it thru any round but he kept getting voted in.  His whole attitude now is he wants to use his singing to lift others and let the Lord do with him what ever He needs.  I am very impressed by his attitude.  He won't wear the expensive clothes they try to dress him in because he doesn't want fans spending lots of money to dress like him. 

For more pictures click here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVURh-gZVEM

Life for Children in the Colonies

When I see the children in the colonies I just want to cry.  They have no play area, no school, no place to bathe. 

The water for the whole colony is from a central well.  They often have brown hair instead of black - a sure sign of malnutrition.  They are happy, loved and well cared for by their family.

This colony has a short slide for them to play on.  I'm sure it can only be used 9 months of the year.  In the summer it would be much too hot.

They are dirty and usually have near nothing on. 

Click here for more pictures :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072612&id=1257014966&l=97f83a20b2

Temples in India

There are thousands of Temples in India.  Every small village has 2 or 3.  Here are a few of the 'Gods' they worship.

There's even a tea pot temple ???

Click here for more pictures :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072607&id=1257014966&l=57f147aa48

Hansen's Disease

I am blessed to be taught by a very special lady, Dr. Susan Hilton.  Dr. Susan is amazing.  Yesterday driving home from our daily colony visit one of the volunteers asked her to explain Leprosy.   Her answer tells it all.

The leprosy bacteria was finally identified by Dr. Gerhard Hansen in 1873.  It was first written about four thousand years ago.  Leprosy is the only disease that affects the entire person : Physically, Spiritually, Mentally, Economically, Emotionally and Socially. 

Physically it disfigures horribly.  The hands are slowly – over years – reduced to stubs.  The feet often need to be amputated.  Eyes sink into the socket, the nose and cheeks relocate on the face.  The bacteria first attacks the nerves making fingers, toes and limbs numb.  The result is some terrible household accidents.  I have seen deep knife cuts and terrible burns when they stepped into the fire pit and didn’t feel the flesh burning.

Spiritually the ancient belief is the person has sinned against God and God has cursed the victim.  This person believes he has done something very wrong and cannot see God again.  Sometimes they become angry or despondent and certainly many have withdrawn from any worship.

Mentally they slowly loose memory, reasoning power and control over body functions.  Some show classic signs of mental illness.

Economically they are not allowed to hold a job or integrate in public.  Just last week we saw a new patient in one of the colonies who was a professor at a college here.  When he was diagnosed he was immediately fired and cast out.  He speaks very good English.  What a terrible waste. 

Emotionally they believe they are un-loveable by family or friend.  They will marry with-in the colony because no one would ever go into a colony for marriage.  They have children who are not affected but who must also live a life of shame and poverty.  Suicide in the colonies is very high.

Socially they must leave their family and home to group together with others who also have the same mental and emotional concerns.

These people most often have a smile on their face and always help each other.  This disease doesn’t even give them the blessing of dying.  Leprosy does not kill the patient.  It slowly consumes them over years but death will be from starvation, pneumonia, sepsis or some other complication. 

Leprosy is a terrible disease.

Bird Migration

The Kannchipuram area is a major fly way for migrating birds from Australia to Russia.  In January and February there are thousands and thousands that stay a few days in the sanctuary.  They have been protected for 200 years because the droppings fertilize the water and the water is used to irrigate the rice fields.  If you look close you will see thousands of birds.  It was a beautiful place.

Click here to see pictures :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072585&id=1257014966&l=3642245db5

Raji and Nagu

Raji & Nagu

Raji was affected by leprosy when he was 15.

He was abandoned by his parents at 15.

He married Nagu at age 24 (she is not a leprosy patient).

Raji's fingers became paralysed at the age 30.

Raji roamed the streets of Walajabad, Chengalpat and all around Tmilnadu collecting trash for 40 years.   This is how he earned money to buy food to support and raise his children.

Raji’s  right leg had to be amputated to save his life at age 45.

He was able to educate his children with the money he earned but never saved any for his future.

As is the norm these wonderful parents have been abandoned by their children who had to leave  and sever all ties with the leprosy colony to be allowed to hold a job and function in society.

Raji and Nagu now live in each other’s company. They have been married for 50 years. 

Every time we visit their colony, they come together and collect their medicines.

When Raji gets sick, Nagu will not move an inch away from him and Raji will never leave Nagu’s side when she is sick.

You have to wonder how they keep smiling with so much pain in their lives.

Raji explained  " I will live as long as my wife lives, because she has been my world for past 50 years and I know nothing other than her, please treat her first.  I never felt any pain when I was neglected by the society, when I lost my fingers,  when they amputated my leg, and when our son and daughter abandoned us to live in the city.   I bear all these pain because my wife was beside me, she is my pain killer, so please keep her healthy because even at this age she cares for me than for her"

In this world where people take antidepressants when their favourite football team loses; where couples divorce for silly reasons and where people commit suicide for nothing Raji and Nagu teach us

"Life is so precious, life is to live, it will be more valuable when you live for the one who loves you, and your pain will disappear when you love the one who loves you"

Pungal

Pungal is one of the many Hindu festivals here.  It's to honor the harvest like our Thanksgiving.  They offer food to the gods, decorate their house and beat drums.  Six of us were invited to one of our teachers houses to celebrate with her family.  It was fun.  They cook over an open fire outside and have satalite TV.  The dishes are disposable banana leaves freshly cut.  You eat with your fingers.

Click to see more pictures :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072114&id=1257014966&l=41817417da

Snakes in India

We've killed a snake a day for the past week.  Two Vipers, 2 Kraits, a garden snake and this poison yellow belly.  I'm glad we have anti-venom in the medical clinic.  This is right in front of the Élephant House where I live.

Click for pictures :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072111&id=1257014966&l=6a0a98efff

Rising Star Medical Services

These are a few pictures of the medical clinic side of our work.

Clic here to see pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065843&id=1257014966&l=0b1dbaf856