In my 23 years of life, God had blessed me with so many incredible experiences and opportunities. And as I sat on the beach this time, overlooking the Indian Ocean, I thought, “Why me? Why am I here? Why have I been the one allowed to see what I have seen? And what do you want me to do with it?” “To whom much has been given, much will be expected” – I would undoubtedly count myself in the category of someone who has been given much and I want to make sure I do much, with that much.The first week we spent serving the kids in a local fishermen's village which had been significantly affected by the 2004 tsunami. The 120 of us who came to serve there as part of a big HOPE Youth Corps were split into three main groups which we all took turns in joining: there were those painting (and brightening up the school’s otherwise white walls) whilst another team did construction: building benches for lunch times, and pathways through the hot sand. The third team did teaching.
Then the kids taught us a dance! We must have practiced this dance at least 15 times over the 14 days! It was quite the hit! And all 120 of us performed it together with the kids on the last day.We were also able to go and actually visit the kids' homes and the villages where they lived. We traveled on a ‘bullock cart,’ which, funnily enough, is essentially a cart being pulled by two cows. It took us around 30/45 minutes to get from the school to the villages on this cart, in the hot sun, but these kids would walk that journey every morning and afternoon to get to and from school.
And then we arrived at Hemalatha’s. Considering their house consisted of one small family bedroom (with one bed for a family of four) and an even smaller side prayer room, they were proud of what they had and gladly welcomed all of us foreigners into their house to have a look around – and by looking around, that literally consisted of going in, staying in the same spot and turning my head –I had then seen the whole house.
As I was taking pictures of Hemaltha and her house she ran to get her whole family together and motioned for me to take a picture of them together. It took some encouragement and pulling from Hemalatha to get her dad in the picture but eventually I was able to take a family photo of them. And when I showed them the picture on my phone they were beaming – but then it dawned on me that I couldn’t give them the picture! I don’t know if they had ever seen a picture of their whole family together before! Why would they have? And I just take family photos for granted often complaining at my dad for his constant camera snapping at various family occasions, but for Hemalatha, seeing that picture of her and her family meant the world! Just at that moment though, one of the girls with a Polaroid camera came by and I asked if I could use her camera to take a picture for them. I will never forget Hemalatha’s face as she watched the picture of her family develop on that tiny little Polaroid snap. As she held onto the photo and watched the picture become more and more visible, she looked up at me, eyes a light and ran to give me a big hug and said “thank you thank you!” – what a privilege the ability to capture memories is.
On Christmas Eve we put on a Christmas carnival for all the kids in the village that went to the HOPE Foundation School and there were animal balloons, face painting and our very own Santa Claus.Then on Christmas day, we drove a few hours out of Chennai to spend Christmas at the Arias Home of HOPE, which is an orphanage for those infected by HIV / AIDS. The orphanage is even further out than the local village because of the stigma associated with HIV – they are kept as far away as possible.
One of the most incredible moments for me was when I was meeting all the kids and asking their names and then one of the kids ran up to me and pointed at his friend and said “Do you know Surya? This is Surya! Have you see Blood Brother?” The kid was speaking really fast, asking lots of questions about his friend who he was clearly very proud of. Then my mind started ticking over, ‘Where have I heard the name Surya before?" I had never seen the film Blood Brother but I had heard of it and knew it was about orphans in an AIDS home, and then staring at this kids Surya’s face brought me all the way back to a year earlier!
I had been casually on Facebook when I had seen a post from a friend in the States with a picture of a kid on (which I pieced together was the young boy I was staring at now) – and the post had been appealing for prayers for this boy who was in critical condition. He had been given less than 10% chance of living by the doctors and the post was trying to spread the word and get as many people to pray as possible. Most of the time I find it hard to connect to those abstract posts about people I don’t know. But for some reason, that time it hit me more and I decided to pray for this kid as although it was hard for me to connect with what he was going though, he was clearly very loved, so I prayed anyway. All those thoughts and memories rushed back as I stood, a year or so later, in front of him! There were so many different emotions, even writing this now (and now I have seen Blood Brother, which documents what Surya went through, so the story is even more real for me), but I remember as it dawned on me I said ‘Surya! Yes I do remember you! I prayed for you!’ and his face lit up and he smiled such a warm and grateful smile and said ‘Thank you! Thank you!”We ended up sitting next to each other as we had a big group morning devotional and when the guy at the front said ‘Let’s bow our heads and pray,” I felt Surya’s little hand outstretched and he taps me to hold his hand as we prayed. I don’t remember focusing too much on the actual prayer as I just remembering being in awe at just how incredible and big God is as I held onto this little kid’s hand. Against all odds Surya did make a full recovery. The doctors could not believe it. He still has the disease in his blood, but for now he is able to resume his life again as a happy nine-year-old kid. We spent most of the day playing with the kids and they showed us their rooms and their photo albums of their families.
Finally we spent Boxing Day at a Leprosy Colony. I was a bit apprehensive and nervous about coming into contact with leprosy patients as, unlike the kids with HIV who really don’t look any different from us, leprosy is immediately evident and noticeable in how someone looks, usually effecting the extremities of someone’s body (the toes, fingers, nose etc.). Yet I knew that for these people their whole life they have felt rejected, unworthy and for the girls especially, not beautiful, ugly even and certainly not desirable. I really didn’t want to be another person who reinforced any of those feelings for them by them seeing fear in me or a sense of distance between us. I also knew that because of the language barrier, physical touch was going to be one of the best ways we would be able to communicate with them. So many of our prayers going into the colony were for us to really be like Jesus who was able to make everyone and anyone feel loved, valued and important – as they are to God - and for us to not hold back in showing them that love. It may have been the only bit of love they had felt from ‘clean’ people in a long time.
As I spent time in the homes and bedsits of those who have been ostracized by their families and loved ones because of this disease, it occurred to me that these leprosy suffers would give anything to feel pain! Leprosy is a disease, which affects the central nervous system so that sufferers lose sensitivity in their nerves and no longer feel pain. As a result of this, if they hurt themselves, trivial things that could have easily been treated end up getting infected and worse because the patient doesn’t feel any pain. I spoke to one woman who had her leg wrapped up because she had stepped on a massive nail that had gone through her foot. Because she hadn’t even noticed it, it had become infected. One man dragged himself around with his hands as rats had eaten away at his toes in the night, and he just hadn’t felt it! How these people would long to feel pain! Yet how we long to fight off and run from anything that may cause us pain! Even that very point helped me to see how needed and life saving pain really is. It helps us stay away from things that can hurt us and eventually kill us – and nothing conveys that reality quite as clearly as leprosy does.
I was so inspired by the love the leprosy patients showed us, welcoming us into their homes, making us coffee. In their little, they gave us so much. Many of us chose to sing to the people there as a way of communicating and one woman began to cry as we sang. (I’m assuming not because it was bad singing!)
One of my highlights from the colony though was speaking to a man who reminded me of a modern day ‘Solomon.’ Despite his tough situation he was full of faith, wisdom and perspective on life. He described his leprosy as a gift from God as it has made his relationship with God what it is today. He talked about being content with whatever lot God gives us. One of the volunteers thanked him for giving him tea and he said don’t thank me, God is the one that has brought you here, God is the one that has given me the tea to be able to give to you. He brought everything back to God. Who he was as a person, what he had to give; everything came back to what God had given him. It really helped me take my eyes off of the physical, the people, the things I see and start to recognize God and the way He is working behind it all.“Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” -- (James 2:5)
It has been tough to come back. My heart still feels there, connected to all the things I saw and the relationships I built. Who would have thought 14 days could change me so much. But I know that I am here, where I am right now, also for a reason. I really want to take away with me ‘The simple life’ mentality that I enjoyed so much in India. If I have food, shelter, love, nothing else really matters. Really, it doesn’t.
I don’t need to stress out about not having an outfit for the next party coming up (it’s amazing I even have a choice of clothes!) or get impatient when the guy serving at McDonald’s takes too long (this happened the first day I landed back! And I had to remind myself that I am lucky I even have money to buy food!) Nor do I need to worry if things go wrong with my car, or phone or laptop – all these things are added comforts and a bonus in life. As I saw out there, I could live a content and happy life just fine without them.