Day 3

The best way I can describe today is MANUAL LABOR all day long. We cleaned six of the classrooms, which included scrubbing walls, organizing junk and setting up all of the desks. In all honestly I will say it is exhausting. I love the way sweat just drips off my face every second. Funny story was I went to turn on the faucet to fill up a bucket and it shot out at my like a hose. I looked down and saw that it looked like I had wet my pants, big time. If it was cold water I wouldn’t have cared but it was hot. We did all of this before lunch and then we went to the junction. The junction is 15 minutes away but you can get everything and anything you could imagine. It has tailors, ice cream, food, clothes; you name it. I tried to bargain with an Indian man for ankle bracelets for 30 minutes. Sweet thing had no idea what I was saying to him and I had no idea what he was saying to me. Both of us just lost and confused; in the end I left with anklets not knowing really if I got a deal or not.
After the junction we had a doctor come speak to us about what the plan is for tomorrow. We are leaving at 5 in the morning to a leprosy colony with over 100 people. My assignment when we first get there is to do hypertension. We will also be giving them this medicine and doing foot treatments that will help heal the ulcers on their feet. These sores are the size of a tennis ball and so deep. I won’t lie it is…well, NASTY. I am glad we can help heal them so they don’t look as bad.
For the last 2 hours before dinner I had the lovely privilege of stamping hundreds and hundreds of library books. Why would anyone want to be a librarian?
Anyways, as much as I would love to describe each spot on the wall I cleaned I am not going to. Instead I want to talk more about leprosy and Indian culture for those who don’t know much about it. Every symptom looks different on each individual person. Loving these people makes it so much easier to do things you never saw yourself doing. Some of the others had no fingers or toes and many have become blind. There was a particular lady who lost the pigment in her skin and had green skin. I cannot imagine what they have all had to go through but I am so fortunate to have been surrounded by each one of them.
In India I have had to be careful and remember not to hug my cousin Matthew. Here men and women go through different security lines at the airport. Touching or display of affection in public is a definite NO NO. I learned that Indians have arranged marriages and many turn into love afterwards. I loved hearing that they marry a partner who will help provide and is a hard worker. There is no such thing as giving up or falling out of love. They meet in the middle and marry to help serve the other person. Marriage here is a matter of survival so they do not have the luxury of falling out of love.
Last piece of information I learned today as we passed the Beer Factory is that the beer plant smells like the dirtiest diaper that I don’t think a baby is capable of producing! I am not kidding you the smell was repulsive. For those who drink come to India and you will think twice. I don’t know how the Indians walk around and not pass out. Good grief!
Today has been a very long day and not the easiest one. It was 108 degrees and tomorrow where we are going will be 120. I heard it snowed in Utah and I hope everyone there is whistling while they shovel. Don’t take the cold for granted; I would give anything in the world for a cold drink of water. Goodbye until tomorrow, I can’t wait to start working with the people again! I definitely missed not having that experience today.

Ps here is a picture of my feet from the heat...I guess that is normal out here ha


"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give"

Day 2

Yes! Jet lag is finally gone and my feet are looking somewhat normal. My luggage is still traveling the world at the pace of a turtle so who knows if I will ever see it! Anyways, today began in the Leprosy colony where I was able to help these people smile and realize that they are beautiful inside and out. We were split into groups and I had the opportunity to wash the elderly’s feet that were affected with leprosy. I have learned how to say, (hi, how are you, my name is, beautiful, and what is your name) These five phrases basically make me fluent, Sike!



The people here are very easy to talk to and can usually understand what you are trying to say to them. This lady began to cry and pinch my cheeks, while bowing to me as I washed her feet. She wanted me to stop because she felt so bad that I was taking care of her. This was a tender mercy moment for me. I tried to hold back the tears as I sat thinking how amazing it is to do such a small deed and have someone be so grateful in return. It just shows how badly these people have been cast out. Their families have most likely disowned them because of leprosy and their social status is diminished. The Indian people have the most beautiful smiles you have ever seen. They are so happy and so generous! One man spoke very good English and was joking around with me as I filed down a toenail that looked like a thick branch coming out of his toe. I was very good at this thanks to my dad who taught me how to saw down branches in our yard! After washing feet I walked down the road and found a couple of people sitting in a hut. I asked if I could join them and they bought me a little packet of juice. It tasted like sweet apple juice, not bad. Our advisor was saying that is very rare that they buy anything for anyone else because of the scarce amount of money they have. The lady learned our names and loved when I would take pictures of her. She made me show them to her every time. I would tell her she looked, “Nalarga”, which means beautiful. I won’t do a spell-check on that but that word means good and beautiful.





Down the road there were leprosy-affected people who have become artists and their work is exquisite. I have never seen anything like it in my life! These paintings are what give them a sense of worth. Later it was time to head back to the hostel and get to work. My job was to wash down all the walls that the boys and girls live in at the school. I was lucky and had some surprise helpers that were the highlight of my day. These helpers were four little boys who go to school here and were playing near by because their parents were helping work around the school. They were so willing to help and we made a game out of it. At my house we call it a POWER; which is who can clean the most in the shortest amount of time. The kid’s faces lit up and they went to town on those walls! I am for sure adopting later in life.


One thing that I have learned is that these Indian children are the hardest workers with the most optimistic attitudes I have ever met. Many children in America have been given so much and sometimes because of this I feel lack the will to work hard. Technology and everything else we have make it so our time is so consumed and appliances are able to do most work for us. I know my brothers and sisters work hard but many times are wondering what they get in return. This is not the case here and I have learned so much from everyone around me. I thought I knew what hard work was but I was mistaken big time. The Indians work all day, both men and women. Children have learned what it is to work by example and they see that nothing in life is handed to you for free. I hope that I will be able to teach my kids how to work hard and have the attitudes that these children do. It still shocks me how these kids are what pushed me to keep going and I have never have had so much fun. Our group finished the fastest because of our generous little helpers; we helped sort the entire library books into different sections.
Dinner was on the roof and the view was amazing. It is so green and the sun was setting as we were served on a huge green leaf for a plate. Not long after we ate it was back to work. We were able to clean and organize all the desks for 3 classrooms tonight and we will finish the rest tomorrow. Luckily the weather had cooled off the only downfall was my legs wanted to fall off. I find myself thinking a lot about life while I am here and how valuable every breath we take is. Life is so fragile and it is pointless to sit and think about all the things that we don’t have or things we want. Just being grateful for the little things we have that mean something are things that last forever. You can have nothing and still choose to be happy because life is what we make of it! Everyone in this world is going through something, many times far worse than we think. Love yourself and the life you have; do everything you can to be charitable towards others and you will find it hard to be ungrateful.

DAY 1

Today I flew in from Mumbai to Chennai at 6 am and from there we got a taxi to take us to the Marriott hotel, where the group of Rising Stars was to pick us up. Still no luggage of course and I am going on eating my 5th power bar, which Audrey was willing to share. Don't let me forget to mention I am a walking marshmallow. My ankles, fingers, and calves are swollen from the airplane and it is so annoying! Driving to the hotel I learned that basically anything goes in India and if you aren't careful you will get run over by a car. It was a mad house on the street but I held in my gasps fairly well! It was so cute to see families on scooters trying to get to and from their busy lives. I would describe the homes to you but to be honest there are rarely any. They make houses out of woven materials that look like tiny shacks. It is basically called the slums and a lifestyle that broke my heart. Many people are sitting on the dirt selling fruit and little kids are running around without shoes. There are areas that smell so bad you can taste the air. I have never seen so much garbage in my life and it makes it worse that these poor people are living in it. Cows, dogs, and goats must think they are humans because the frolic around everywhere. During the 2 hour drive to our village I had seen enough to want to take all of the people home with me. I now understand what a privilege it is to live in America. It is fun to see little boys just hanging on to any car to get a ride to and from school. The way they stare at us here is so funny. I went to go buy a drink and a bunch of them yelled, "Hey, look it is the Americans!" I really should have dyed my hair black.
On the drive I saw the Victoria Secret Plant where they make all the Victorias Secret clothing. Who would have known, a job well done! Pulling up to the Rising Star Village was quite the sight to see. There is so much land and in the village before it the people were ecstatic to see us. They were so friendly and jumped for joy. The biggest house in the village was owned by a police officer because he bribes people for money. The government here is very sketchy and most of the people in office are gangsters. If you hold an office you cannot be tried, that is why it has become so corrupt. The place I am staying is hard to describe but is truly amazing! It's like a palace compared to what I have seen on the streets. We are staying in bunk beds and the facility is brand new. We are the second group to stay here which was exciting. We were given a tour today throughout the colony and everything is being built so fast. This week the children are on Spring break so it is our job to work hard to get all the classrooms put together and create a new library. The children have not yet seen the additions that have been made and we have the opportunity to organize everything and paint the walls before they get back.
We have Indian style toilets, so if you are wondering how it works all I can say is just squat! ha I took my first bucket shower tonight and it was a dream come true after not having showered since Saturday. They give you a large bucket and you fill it up with water then just rinse off. The weather here is SO HOT, actually hot doesn't even cut it. Once I got out of the shower I was dripping sweat again. I have had 2 great Indian meals already that surprisingly were very good. The meals lack protein but weren't too spicy to eat. Today has been a long day but I am anxious to go to the leprosy colony for the first part of the morning and work the rest of the day! These people need to be shown love and I am so glad I have the chance to not hold back from fear of leprosy but to touch the faces of these wonderful people and show them there are people who care!

Journey begins...

When I was told how long the flight was I had no idea what I was really in for. I think we can all agree that it would be completely out of the ordinary to have everything go smoothly from SLC to Chennai. I am traveling with my cousin Matthew and his friend Aubrey which made this experience much more enjoyable because we were able to laugh at the cards we had been delt. The anticipation getting off the plane was too much to handle. I took NyQuil and slept like a gem. I woke up and noticed that my ankles had transformed into kankles from sitting so long! Gosh dang. We arrived in Amsterdam for a 2 hours layover and Aubrey and I enjoyed our last Big Mac, mmm Good! Things were looking good until security check and Aubrey’s passports and mine beeped red, no go! After we resolved that the security lady informs me to stand still and she began to pat me down all over, even a boob grace. Way more up close and personal than I had wanted but quite funny! Danke! Finally we landed in Mumbai to be told our bags had not made it onto the flight from Amsterdam. They informed us that our bags would get to the village in Chennai in 2 days. Laughing/Furious at our luck I called our hotel to get us a taxi and they told me that our reservation was for 11 am not 11 pm. Holy cow, could it get any better?!? We walked outside of the airport to see guards standing there with guns; I did not want to move. At this point it was midnight and we were homeless with nowhere to go and no clothes to change into. This lovely Indian man helped get us to another hotel close to the airport since we only had 5 hours until our next flight to Chennai. The people here are surprisingly very nice but Aubrey tells me its only because they want our money! I will give everyone the benefit of the doubt. The drive to this hotel was one I will never forget. There were dirt roads full of people lying around in garbage and stray dogs everywhere. The conditions were like nothing I had ever imagined. Families huddled together in piles of filth made me realize how blessed I am. This was the biggest culture shock and something I had only seen in movies. Our hotel was a hole in the wall consisting of cockroaches and a bed as hard as wood. My eyes have been opened to how different others lives truly are. It amazes me how awful the living conditions are here; I am so grateful for this experience. We will see what tomorrow brings...

Leaving on a jet-plane

So I am not very well educated on how to blog, so I am going to try and do my best! Tomorrow I leave for India with Rising Star foundation and I have been waiting for this day for a long time! Ever since I can remember I have wanted to do something like this and it is finally a reality. I will be in Chennai, India for 3 weeks helping in a leprosy colony offering medical treatment and spending time with the children in the villages. I am so anxious for the experiences I will be having. Packing for India was a breeze because they provide clothing for us when we get there. My whole suitcase is basically full of FOOD! I have the best mom in the world and she got me everything anyone would need. I will be spending my birthday out there on May 29th and in the Indian culture you give treats to everyone on your birthday. I loaded my bag with candy, ha happy birthday to me! I hope I don't get run over by the herd of children thinking this is the coolest candy lady ever! Once I spend time with all of the children I am worried I will have to be dragged back to the U.S. I will be living in a hostel and get to wear traditional indian clothing. Showering will be with buckets and I get to use indian style toilets. I have heard the mosquitos dominate in India so I will have a net around my bed and I will be wearing shoes to prevent parasites from entering my body. Tonight I will pull an all nighter in hopes that I will be able to sleep on our 22 hr plane ride....YIKES! Pictures and experiences to come, hope you enjoy! If you don't see me on June 15th don't be surprised, this is my new calling in life.