Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Day 5 - Rourkela

Last day visiting Rourkela. I now have 111 new children. We bought nail polish for the housemothers. The housemothers are the only parents the children have....10 children per one housemother. We pulled them all aside for chai and sweets and handed out nail polish. You should have seen the grins as they polished their nails. Such a little gesture meant so much to them. Later we decided to go buy ice cream for the kids. This is only the second time that most of the kids have ever had ice cream so it was a huge hit! The older kids put on a show of song and dance since it was our last night. Such pride went into the performance. It's amazing how attached the children and volunteers got after only 3 days. I am called "Uncle" and the girls in the group are "Auntie".


The drive home was filled with reflection about the kids. After only a couple of days, the chaotic drive home didn't even seem out of place. The bus overstuffed with 60 people or the full dump truck that almost hit us head on...par for the course. The water buffalo on the road that our car literally skinned, no big deal. The motorcycles and people walking on the road that we nearly knocked into the ditch...all part of the drive. Such a different feeling from the first time we drove this road. All of a sudden, the chaotic nature of the road had organization. A strategic structure. Thy type of horn pattern or headlight blink began to make sense.

Each evening has ended with a huge meal back at the hotel talking about the day we just experienced. Dewali fireworks in town have begun. The train horn continues to echo through the night.

Tomorrow we catch a train back to Ranchi and then hop in a car for the 30 minute ride to Sooch Village, home to 140 more Miracle Foundation children. We spend a couple of nights there, sleeping in the orphanage before we head back to Delhi.  Unfortunately, since the anti-government group the Naxals have have been active in Ranchi, we probably won’t go outside Sooch’s walls.

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