Successful day!

This morning we combined two groups and headed off to work at the construction site. On our way we stopped at a leprosy colony where the leprosy afflicted people paint and draw. They sell their art and it is some of the most amazing work. It blows my mind how talented many of these people are with no fingers or any previous experience. There were hundreds of painting to choose from but I ended up finding the perfect one. I was so excited when I found out the man who painted it was there sitting next to me so I got my picture with him and the piece of art he had created.
Down the street was the construction site and we hauled bricks from one location to another for a couple hours straight. I tried carrying some bricks in a bowl on top of my head. I realized that it is not the most comfortable thing unless you have a rag on your head. I truly appreciate a good brick building after participating in the process and seeing the amount of time it takes. These women are saints walking around in their long draped outfits hauling everything you could imagine on their heads. Before India I always wondered when I saw a construction worker they were never working, but more or less sitting on top of a cooler underneath a tree. Well now I understand that it is exhausting in a very short amount of time and breaks are much needed. I wish I had kept track of how many bricks we did hauled today.

On our way home we got ice cream at the junction and it was the coldest it has ever been; SCORE! Teresa was nice enough to buy everyone one. The first thing I did was run to the bucket shower and get rid of all the red dirt. After I wiped off my face I noticed my face wipe was dark. Gross! We had a half hour break and left on our way to have play time with the kids.
Today we were all exhausted from staying up last night and working with energy we didn't have to expend. I knew I would regret just being lazy later on so I played soccer with a couple of boys and played catch with the girls. Rahtig came up to me today and yelled Eliza while showing off his Indian dance moves. He never ceases to crack me up! I loved watching the two kids, brother and sister, walk around together today holding hands. These kids were the ones that Amy brought over from the colony so they would not have to beg anymore. They are so close to each other; it was neat to see the brother and sister bond that they shared.


Dinner tonight really hit the spot and this was not because it was something different than usual but because I was starving! Afterwards the volunteers played sardines!

Matthew and I braced ourselves for the kids once again but to our surprise they were more mellow than usual. Mellow would be considered an understatement but if you had seen what they were like before there would be no confusion. One boy continues to speak to me, not in English, and he does it just to bug me. I start mimicking him in their language. The kids laugh so hard when I do this!
We tried to just sit down and start reading so that children would not be running around like baffoons. One thing I loved about tonight was how a kid named Argay kept bringing me books and was always trying to hold my hand. I realized it was one of the boys who have fallen asleep on me last night. He is so quiet but I taught him how to read tonight and say, “I love you!” The way he sad it made me want to squeeze him to death.
After reading I noticed a kid today that had not really caught my eye before and I noticed him folding his underwear and laying them out to dry on the bars. He walked into the other room and began to fold all of his clean clothes; nicely setting them on the shelf. This little boys name turned out to be Joshua and he looked younger than all of the rest. I was so impressed; I kept thinking was there something in it for him. It wasn’t till shortly after I noticed Nagaraj, (the leader of the pack), directing everyone to clean up. I love how everyone listens to him and stops talking once he says something. If we didn’t have him in our family I don’t want to know what chaos would be going on. I need to pay him to come to my house and get order in line!
Joshua still impressed me because he was such a good listener and did everything as soon as he was told. It took the others quite a bit to actually start helping. My favorite part was when Nagaraj started to speak and began handing out everyone’s blankets. Let me remind everyone that this kid is the same age as everyone else! I am pretty sure he will be the next President. He brought me into the other room and said to me that he wants me to take pictures of his pictures that he has of Jesus. I absolutely loved this! As I was leaving another little boy in a different family played a role from a movie and was the best little actor I have ever seen. I hope he gets discovered.
The night ended and I just kept thinking about how different my life is going to be without these kids to look forward to every night.