Paperwork mostly...

Hello all,

The past night and morning have been uneventful. Last night Kumari and Xavier had some things to do at the new house, so I was alone with the kids for most of the night. I did fine by myself, and Priya was in the house doing homework if I needed anything, so I wasn't to worried. For most of the time the kids were doing their homework. Whenever they finished something they would bring it up to me for me to check and sign. Several of the younger ones had to recite a song in Tamil without looking at their books. They could have been singing gibberish, but it sounded fine to me, so I signed that they had memorized the song. That is what a lot of their work is like, memorization. Memorization and repetition. Several of them had to write the number 1 through 100 five times. Others had to write the same sentences in English ten times. A couple had to memorize a song in English. This is all well and good, but many have no idea what the sentences they are writing mean. Subala was singing me a song in English, and when she got stuck on a line I pointed to it in her book; she just shrugged and shook her head no. It reminds me of how I am learning some of their rhymes in Tamil, but if I saw it written in Tamil I would have no clue, and if someone asked me what it meant I would have no clue.

When Kumari came back she brought freshly boiled peanuts with her, they were very good, but I think I ate too many of them. She then taught me to make dosais, which reminded me of pancakes. I explained pancakes to her, but she got really confused about the whole maple syrup part. I explained it was sap from a tree, and she just laughed and said "you come from a very different world, my friend." We've had two other moments like that. One was when I asked her if the leaves fell off the trees, and then tried to explain autumn to her. The other was when I was talking about snow. She had a lot of questions about snow, like do we need umbrella's? She said that she had seen pictures of the red autumn leaves and the white snow, but she thought they were just photo-shopped to look pretty. Then again, I have been pretty ignorant about Indian life as well. I took a while for Kumari to explain to me that the vegetable in the curry that I had eaten at the neighbors was actually the inside of the banana tree. Or the time that they explained to me that having squirrels and lizards in the house was normal. One time Priya said to me, "I think India is too different for you, no?" I replied that yes, India is very different, but I am enjoying it a lot. "Okay," Priya responded, "you come back every year then." I just smiled and shrugged.

After dinner I went to the bathroom, but the light was burned out. First a little bit about the bathroom, it is incredibly narrow, but is a fair length. The half the toilet is on is raised a step, and the other half has a spicket that goes into a very large bucket. The toilet does not flush, instead you fill a pitcher from the bucket and dump it into the toilet. The extra water in the toilet drains out, and you hope that your business goes with it. I mention this because it took me a while to get used to. You use the same pitcher to pour water on yourself when washing. Anyway, the light was burned out, so I told Kumari. She didn't have any light bulbs, so we decided to take one from a less important light. That bulb didn't work in the bathroom either, so we went to put it back in the back room, and it didn't work their anymore. So we started switching around light bulbs all over the place, and pretty soon none of the lights were working except one. Then, out of nowhere, the fan in the Xavier family's room stopped working. Kumari threw her hands in the air and declared that she was sleeping outside because it was going to be so hot without a fan, and because she was done with this out of wack house. We rearranged the lights one by one, until finally they all worked (which was strange because we were sure at least one of them was dead) and then the fan burst into life. I don't know what kind of ridiculous wiring they have in this house, but it had us juggling light bulbs for over a half an hour.

I woke up around seven this morning, and had breakfast with the kids and saw them off to school. Kumari and I talked about what would be needed to get an FCRA number. This is a number that you need to get funding from organizations outside of India. There is a lot of paper work and you need to show that your foundation has spent over 6 lac (600,000 rupees) in the past three years. While Kumari uses more than that, a lot of the food, clothes, supplies, etc., come as gifts or through agreements; she doesn't have enough receipts to add up to the 6 lac. She did, however, buy the piece of land (with a lot of outside help) for 5 lac. I discussed moving that land out of her name, and into the WIDE trust (it is being used for the orphanage in the first place) so all she would need to come up with receipt-wise would be 1 lac. She already has an application pending and we should find out while I'm here, so if it doesn't go through I will help her rearrange things and send in a new application. For the most of today I played secretary. There will probably be an inspection soon, and there are a lot of forms that needed to be filled out, and information that needed to be typed, including the history of each child. I took the typing jobs, and created spread sheets which include all the children's information, and typed up the daily schedules and meals, which are supposed to be posted on the walls.

While we did this Xavier went to the school to speak to one of the teachers. Friday Naveen came home with a lot of cuts and bruises. He had been beaten by one of the teachers. Apparently two younger children at the school told their teacher that they were afraid of Naveen, so the teacher pulled Naveen out of his class and beat him excessively. Physical punishment is accepted in Indian school, but Kumari and Xavier will not stand for it. Xavier basically tore the teacher, and the head master, apart and threatened to pull his kids out of the school. Schools depend on high numbers, so many schools in the area want Kumari and Xavier to enroll thier children in their school. This gives Kumari a lot of pull in the school system here. Xavier told the teacher that if he heard of any other instances like this one, he would send "the Mistress" (Kumari). This is a huge threat because a lot of the teachers are afraid of Kumari and she could easily get him fired. They do not hit the children in the orphanage, and they won't let the teachers hit the children in the schools, even if it is acceptable.

Kumari would have been upset if anyone came home bruised and bleeding, but Naveen is a special case. His sister Maha, one of the oldest and certainly the most responsible here, watched as her father and some of his friends beat their mother to death with steel rods and logs for the fire, and then hung her from the ceiling fan. Maha was four. They are terrified that Naveen will turn out like his father, and all last year they let him do what he wanted until he settled down. If he said he wanted his grandfather, they would immediately call him and off Naveen would go. This year, much to Kumari's relief, he decided that school and being with his sister is most important, and he hasn't left the home since. Kumari is afraid that because of this incident he will no longer want to attend school, and any possibility of him making something with his life and not going down his father's path will be lost. There more I hear about each child's background, the more I wonder how Kumari can handle it all, and the more I respect her for what she does.

I am going to rest now, I'm going to have a very late night because I am going to a wedding, and then to the wedding celebration early tomorrow morning. I am so excited!

Peace,
Robby

This is Naveen. The girl peaking into the picture is Sandhiya.

One of the two dogs exhausted in the heat outside the front door.

On the front porch.

Prince, Kumari's little trouble making son. He is the biggest cheater, and when I took the kids to the field Kumari lied to him and said she wanted to take him somewhere. He stayed home, thus letting the other kids play and have fun without being bothered by him.

Ashrams

Hello all,

Last night was fairly quiet. I took a pretty long afternoon nap with kids because we were all so tired from running around in the hot sun. The children slowly awoke, and we got some non-active games going. We played a lot of this memory game and also this number game, which I enjoy a lot. All the little ones that don't know how to play huddle behind me and whisper the pieces that I have to each other, and whenever I make a play they pat me on the back and say "ah, very good sir, very good," even though they don't really know what is happening. The game isn't too competitive, though, and usually all the players show eachother their hands and we help them figure out the best move. Naveen's grandfather came and visited him, and brought him a little bag of these seeds to snack on. Naveen shared them with everyone, and offered some to me. Normally I only take food from Kumari, but I had had these seeds before, and figured it was okay. They tasted like gasoline, and I barely ate one and it made me feel bad. One of the older boys tried one and got Kumari because they weren't good. Kumari threw them away (I felt bad for Naveen), but it was too late for me. Luckily I didn't vomit or anything. Apparently Naveen, who is five or six, has a habit of making other kids sick; one time he found colorful tablets on his way home from school, and gave them to the other children saying it was chocolate. He honestly thought it was candy, but it was medicine and several of the kids got sick.

Later I went to the kitchen and Kumari tought me how to make chappatis, which are kind of like tortillas, from scratch. She also showed me how to make palia. I am starting to figure out all of the foods, and hopefully when I come home I will know how to make it all too. Kumari has promised that first I can watch and take notes as she makes a dish, and the next time she makes the same thing I will help. I have also graduated to the full Indian spice level. At first Kumari used no chili in my food, and I told her that I was surprised the food was not spicy at all. When I found out she was holding back on me, I told her no, I wanted the full Indian flavor. So little by little she has added more chili to my food, and every time she is terrified it will be too hot. At this time I am even eating James' cooking, which sometimes Kumari complains of being too hot.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night, probably because I took such a long and late nap. I woke up a little later than normal, 9 am, and Kumari insisted that I must stay home and rest because I didn't feel well the other evening. I, however, had wanted to see the ashrams today, and convinced her that I was fine. I ate puttu for breakfast, which is my favorite breakfast, and got ready to go out. We called an autoricksaw, and we were off. This was my first time in an autorickshaw, and after the motor bike ride, it seemed very calm. I think I am starting to get used to the hectic roads here, which kind of scares me. The roads are crowded with people, bicycles, motor bikes, autorickshaws, buses, trucks, and large bulls pulling wagons. Technically you are supposed to drive on the left side of the road, but even that simple rule is ignored. Thus traffic jams frequently occur when two cars come right at each other, and then both refuse to back up or turn. Soon motor bikes are flying around them and autorickshaws are pressed against their tails so that they can't turn or backup even if they wanted to. In short, it is a mess.

The first ashram we visited was the Ramanasramam. This is the oldest and most famous ashram in Tiru. Ashrams are places for meditation built where holy men either reached nirvana, were enlightened, or lived their life. This ashram attracts a lot of rich westerners during the winter months when the weather is actually tolerable here. It is huge and right at the base of the mountain. It was like entering a rainforest, everything was green and the screeches of peacocks were omnipresent. There were flowers decorating everything, and it was incredibly clean, even by western standards. When we entered we were asked to remove our shoes, and we wandered barefoot past the tables where the poor could recieve free food. We looked through the library, and visited the main temple. All of the gods here are so strange, beautiful, and bright. We then entered the main meditation hall, which was made of carved white stone, and was very open and bright. This was the first time since being in India that I have seen other white people, and honestly it was a little angering. They came to India and spent all day in the ashram, many even all night since there are well kept huts you can rent. They came and stayed in a false India, the real India stopped the moment you passed through the gates. Even the beggars seemed beautiful when put in this setting. For that reason I felt a deep dislike for it, and I got angry with myself when I started to fantasize about retiring here in my old age.

We left and visited a newer ashram, the name of which I have now forgotten. Kumari had actually met the guru it was built for before he died. Outside there were men dressed in saffron clothes, the clothes of spiritual men. Kumari said that they are actually beggars, but when western people see them they are tricked into thinking that they are men dedicated to serving the gods, and then give them money. We had to take off our shoes here too, and at this point the sand / dirt was very hot. We went inside the silent temple, and walked around. There were pictures of holy men and gurus lining the walls. There was a picture of Jesus, and I contemplated the significance of his image being hung in a Hindu temple. Then I noticed that the guru next to him was "smoking the ganja" and realized that Jesus being up there probably wasn't that big of a deal. We then went to the meditation hall, and there were singers there, so Kumari and I sat for a bit. This hall was not a pretty as the other one, and kind of reminded me of a warehouse, but the singing was very beautiful.

We came home and I bathed and had samba for lunch. Then Xavier and I took the motor bike to get more water. He stopped and talked to a man, and I was proud of myself for being able to understand several of the words, and thus figure out what they were talking about. It was just about the weather, but still I was excited.

It is time to rest, and the power will go out soon, but I will write again tomorrow.

Peace,
Robby

This is the large tree outside of the first ashram, it is hundred of years old and very sacred. I didn't take that many pictures inside the ashrams, even though Kumari said I could, because it felt improper.

Inside my first autorickshaw. How touristy of me to take this picture!!! Still I was excited...

Terrace Games and Cricket

Hello Family and Friends,

Last night was a lot of fun. After resting, I woke up around 4:30 and had my afternoon tea. The children were still sleeping so it was very quiet and peaceful, so I sat outside and watched the wild dogs roam around. As the children slowly woke up, Kumari and I went through some of the games sent to them from the Netherlands which they didn't understand because the directions were in Dutch. I knew some of the games, and I taught them to the kids that were awake. There were also two pairs of funny little stilts, so when everyone was awake we went to the roof and had relay races. We played boys against girls, but who knows who won because at the end everyone was just running around and yelling and laughing.

The children then organized a game similar to duck duck goose (though much more fun) on their own, and got Kumari to play too. I was taking pictures, but then Kumari said that if she was playing then I had to play too. There was a complicated song in Tamil that went with it, so whenever I was "it" Ajith would stand up and yell the words for me. It was fun, but I was always ducking under the clothes-lines which everyone else, including the adults, could run right under. At one point Kartic and I were both running in opposite directions, and he was going to beat me, so when we crossed paths I picked him up and ran with him, which all the kids thought was hilarious. Finally we played "fire on the mountain," and by that time it was getting dark. We came down from the terrace and helped Xavier load an autorickshaw with things for the new house down the street.

The children were tired and playing quietly, so I sat with Priya and an older boy named Jana. (It is pronounced like Jenna. His full name is Janathon, and when he wrote it I said, "Ohh, Jonathon," but he said "no, not Jonathon" very firmly). Jana had a lot of questions about me and Priya helped translate. Priya and I then discussed college and family life and compared them in the US and India. Priya mentioned that she used to take Nicky and Sandra to different places in Tiru, and offered to take me to the waterfall on Sunday (today). When she asked Kumari, though, Kumari seemed very hesitant so I jumped in and said it wasn't necessary. I think she likes having me here on the weekends because I take over the kids, which lets her do work around the house.

I had dosais for dinner. I eat at the same time the children eat, but the Xavier family and James don't eat until 9:30, when the kids have all gone to sleep and there is no more work to be done. Though I was a little worn out, and usually sleep when the kids do, I asked to sit with Xavier's while they had their dinner. It was a really fun time and I feel like I am getting close to the family. It was also fun because I love any chance I can get to interact with James, who has a strange personality, speaks a little English, and Kumari claims is "a little off." I tried pickled mango, which was quite salty and spicy. Xavier asked about "the rule of Obama" and Priya lamented over Michael Jackson's death. Kumari and I then made plans for the coming week. She didn't realize that I was coming to India for the sole purpose of staying with the kids, she thought this was just one stop in my travels, so she has now made it her job to make sure I get the full India experience for the next month I am here. She mentioned an ashram that we will visit. This ashram attracts a lot of old western people who just want peace and to "sit" (meditate). They made fun of these westerners for a little bit, and then Kumari said that we should visit at noon, because that is when I can see the most westerners sitting. I replied that it didn't matter when we go, because I see plenty of westerners sitting at home.

The next morning I was woke to a very angery Kumari. She was yelling in Tamil, and all the kids were very quite. Apparently Kumari went outside and found some of the girls washing the clothes and using a lot of water. She was angry for two reasons. First of all, the water pump ended up running for an hour (it takes 15 minutes to fill the tank) so now the electric bill will be very high (there isn't a water bill). Second of all, there is a hired woman here who is supposed to clean the kids and wash the clothes, and she is not doing her job. This washer woman is very strange; she has large, protruding teeth, and is constantly chewing her tongue and staring at me with her big yellowing eyes. I have asked Kumari what her name is, and Kumari always says that her name is not important. She doesn't know any English, though one time she did come up to me randomly and recited the ABC's. I nodded and smiled awkwardly, and then she walked away. Kumari is angry that she pays her (though not very much) but still the other girls end up doing her job while she sits or sleeps.

After pongal for breakfast, I decided that I wanted to take the kids outside the house, so Priya and I took them to a field down the road. It is a field of dirt, rocks, glass, bones, coconut husks, and other random tid-bits. The boys brought a cricket bat and first I watched, but then was batting and even bowling (pitching). Those that know my baseball background probably won't believe this, but I was actually pretty good. Some men and teenagers came and watched us for a little bit, and then approached me and asked me to play with them. I excitedly asked asked Priya, and she said it was okay if I went and played with them. My kids didn't teach me the rules and these locals didn't really speak English so the first several minutes was composed of them pointing at things and saying yes or no. After a little bit I figured it out, and did really well. My team won by a landslide, and the local men were very nice and shook my hands and showed off the little English that they knew. This was my first time really interacting with people outside of the home without Kumari's guidance and I did really well, and I think I made a couple friends too. Some of my boys came and watched and cheered me on from the side.

We came back and I was dead tired, but for the first time Kumari let me into the kitchen to help her make fish curry, Tamil style, so I took her up on the offer. I took vigerous notes, and seeing how eager I am, Kumari now seems pretty excited about showing me how to make all the local dishes.

I'm pretty exhausted, and my bed looks very inviting, so I am going to take my afternoon rest now, everyone else has been asleep for an hour.

I'll write again tomorrow.

Peace,
Robby

Dinesh playing duck-duck-goose, Tamil style. (That red fabric is dropped instead of saying "goose")

The children sitting in a circle on the terrace playing. You can see the mountain (or as we say in Tamil, "maleh") in the background. Just about everywhere in Tiru there is a good view of the mountain.

Weekend Fun

Hello all,
Last night was fairly similar to the night before it, I played games with the children and (finally!) I am getting the names. Anitha showed me how to write my name in Tamil, and I proudly wrote it in the front of my sketch book. When Maha saw it, however, she burst out laughing. Apparently the way we pronounce Robby can't really be translated to Tamil. They spent probably a half an hour pondering my name and writing it probably twenty different ways. After each try they would look back up at me and ask me to say my name again, and each time they would say Robby???!!! with a sort of shocked and confused look and then scratch out whatever they had just written. The girls finally came to a consensus about the spelling, but who knows what it actually says. They then asked for my last name, and I just said "no, no, no, no, first name is enough!"

Right before dinner Xavier started yelling at the children and it was a little scary because I had never seen him like that before; he has always been very good with the kids. I asked Kumari what was going on, and she said that someone had called about all the noise. Apparently this happens fairly often, and there have been threats of kicking Wide out of the neighborhood due to noise. Already people around the house we are moving to this coming week have complained about what the noise will be like. The people in the area make points saying that the other orphanages in Tiru are quiet, but Kumari counters with the fact that this is the only orphanage here that takes in young children and that is why it gets loud. Either way, Kumari can't wait to have a house on the land we visited yesterday because they will own it, so it won't matter if people complain. Once the kids quieted down Xavier spoke to them softly, and was soon back to his normal self.

This morning marked the beginning of my first weekend here. First I ate breakfast and was greeted with a chorus of "good morning sir." Most of the children call me sir, despight me insisting on Robby; saying sir, however, is custom and Robby is too hard to say. Kumari got her mother's medicine together and sat with me while I ate. Kumari's mom is beautiful and very old. The one vision that always comes to my mind when I think of her is from my first day here. She was sitting outside and her leather-like feet were literally covered with black flies. It was so strangely beautiful. I have never seen her walk, but every time I look she is laying down in a different room. Whenever she sees me she smiles, nods, and presses her palms together, and I do the same in return. She got very sick several months ago and is now on a lot of medicine; all the children fight to be the one to give it to her. Kumari told me that sometimes her mother misses her mouth when she takes her pills, and the children like to see who can find them. Her mother, however, always insists that she swallowed them, even when they are visibly on the floor around her.

Kumari went to the market and I stayed with the children. I tought them to spell their names in English. Most know the letters, and were able to get their names fairly well, but letters like n/h and i/j seem to confuse them. Some of the younger ones came to me with one of the other's names written down and insisted it was their own. I'm pretty sure they were just copying from the person nearest them that knew what they were doing. After practicing their names for a little while they all demanded I put a check on their papers to prove to others that they had done it correctly.

Santhosh came up to me and asked me to play snakes and ladders. At first through his accent all I heard was snakes, and I almost panicked. Several of the children are here because their fathers were bit by snakes, so now I am terrified of running into one. When he pulled the game out, though, I realized my mistake and several of us played. I feel no shame in admitting that I came in last, it is a game of chance after all. Priya then tought me a new game with coins and numbers. It involved a lot of thinking and Priya and I played with some of the older kids. Priya won.

A boy that used to come here but now goes to a university came and brought the kids candy bars. My instincts from home were to make a little speach about not wanting to find the trash everywhere, but I held back. There are no trash cans here. When I asked Kumari where the trash can was on my first day, she looked very confused, then Prince skipped up to me, took my tissue, and threw it over the side of the porch. That is how it is done. When we are playing on the porch at night sometimes the wind comes from that direction, and the heavy stench of garbage comes with it.

The kids seemed pretty calm, so I decided to bathe. It is my first time washing since being here. They do not have a shower, instead there is a big bucket and a pitcher. The same bucket and pitcher that we use to rinse the toilet after we use it (since it does not flush). I bathed and shaved. I kind of enjoyed using the pitcher and how heavy the water felt coming down all at once. I was warned back home not to bathe naked, and thank goodness I didn't. While rinsing my hair some of the children come up to the strangely low, glass-less, and shutter-less window and waved to me. The children, and some of the adults, don't wash with water. Instead they rub scented talc powder all over themselves and into their skin. After washing, Gold (his name in Tamil means gold, and I have been told to call him gold) and I took to motor bike to get more drinking water. This was my first time buying something here, and was fairly uneventful; I motioned to my empty tank, the man said fourty, and I handed him the cash.

We ate lunch, and now everyone is resting, so I thought I would give an update.
I hope all is well back home!

Peace,
Robby

Just a handful of the kids; they love cameras and looking at pictures of themselves, and were all fighting to be in this one.

Kumari peeling ginger. The room she is in is where all the children sleep on the floor. I am in my room taking the picture. The hallway leads to the kitchen and to the room that the boys who pay rent stay in. To the right of the hallway is the door to the Xavier family's room, and the bathroom comes off of their room. It is one level, and the ceilings are tall, though the doorways are short (I have hit my head many times). On the terrace we hang all of the clothes.

Hello all,

Since I last spoke to all of you a fair amount has happened. First, from 2 to 4 we all rested, which is common here. The power is turned off from 4 to 6 by the government as a way to save money, and without the fans it is way too hot to nap. The weather, though, isn't too bad. It is very breezy, and Kumari says that throughout the next couple is weeks the breeze will turn into all out gusts. Still, it is nice and makes it seem a little cooler.

When we woke up, the children soon started rolling in. They take auto-rickshaws to school, which is a considerable expense, however it is much too far to walk. The children come in in groups of 6 or 7 as different auto-rickshaws drop them off at the end of our narrow dirt road. Kumari and I got out the colored paper that I had brought with me, and who knew that children could get so excited over neons? We colored for over an hour, and when each child was finished they brought their pictures to me and we talked about them in a broken mixture of English and Tamil. When they would come up to get different colors they would point to the colors and I would name them in English, and some of the younger ones who only speak Tamil were able to pick the names of the colors up pretty quickly. With the older ones that speak a little English, I quickly learned that coffee means brown, and rose means pink. After coloring I worked on the kids names, and am starting to pick them up pretty well. When Ajith Kumar, the most outgoing of the boys, started playing hand games with me, I was soon flocked by the kids, all wanting to play and all wanting to be the one to teach me a new rhyme. It is funny that most of their rhymes are in Dutch, because the two other volunteers that had been here were from the Netherlands. A little more about Ajith; he is almost like a cartoon character with all of his dances and facial expressions. He is so well liked in town, that Kumari takes him to the market with her and he goes off on his own and comes back with bags and bags of food that merchants have given to him for free. If he doesn't go one week, all of the merchants ask where he is.

As it got darker Subala, Sangeetha, and Kasthuri tried to teach me Tamil. So far I have picked up the words for mountain, sun, moon, okay, no, yes, sit down, come, and go. Subala put a little gold plastic ring on my pinky finger, and it wouldn't go past the first knuckle. Throughout the night she kept coming up and checking to make sure that I had not taken it off. For dinner I had puri, and then the younger children went to bed. I was writing in my journal, and when the older children saw me writing with my left hand they thought I was pulling a prank, and insisted that I try and write with my right hand, because they did not believe that I couldn't. The six older boys that pay rent and have their own room were very interested in learning more about me and in showing off their English. They all wanted to arm wrestle me, and thank goodness I won, though the seventeen year old seemed pretty close. Then Prince wanted a turn and I let him win and he started dancing and laughing at the older boys, it was pretty funny.

The night got pretty cool, and I went on the terrace and watched the lightning in the distance. It rained a little during the night, and it was very comfortable sleeping weather.

For breakfast this morning I had puttu and semia. Then we went and visited the land that Kumari bought on a loan, and which a foundation in the Netherlands is going to build a large home for the kids, in the Dutch style. Getting to the land required a motor bike ride. I road on the back of Xavier's bike, and Prince sat in front of him. There were no helmets and nothing to hold on to. I had seen in passing that people riding on the back of a scooter do not hold on to the person in front, so instead I gripped the bottom of the seat the best I could. It was a ten minute ride, and when I wasn't worried about being hurled off, I was thinking about how dirty gasoline causes a lot of bikes in India to blow up. If I thought riding in a car in India was terrifying, riding a scooter is even more so. My leg came just inches from speeding buses and auto-rickshaws. I did, however, get to see more of Tiru, which was nice. It is such a lively and colorful place. All the steriotypical images that come to mind when thinking about India could be seen on this ride; I saw a vendor fighting two monkeys off of his fruit, I saw a naked toddler playing in a puddle, I saw holy men meditating in the lotus position, and I saw women carrying food in baskets on their heads. One thing, though, that you can't see in all of India is the famous temple of Tiru. It is incredibly tall and pristine and old. Just the outside was awe inspiring. I could have pointed my camera in any direction in Tiru and I would have gotten a good shot; it's too bad my hands were glued to the bottom of my seat.

As we neared the land, which is on the outside of Tiru, I got to see more of the rural farming areas, with lots of mud and palm frond huts, goats, cows, rice patties, and other kinds of fields. The farther from town we got, the bumpier and rougher the roads got. Luckily Xavier was nice enough to try and avoid the worst parts. When we got to the land I could tell that Kumari was very proud of it. She was glowing showing me where it started and began. Later she would show me the deeds to the land, which had her picture stapled to it. The land is nice and flat, and being an acre, there is plenty of room for her to have a garden and even a playground. It is surrounded on two sides by government land, which can be used for animals, or for the children to play. The neighbors are peanut and okra (which they call lady fingers) farmers, and they gave us sacks of raw peanuts, which are very strange to eat. While pealing off the dirt covered husks, I couldn't help but think of the fact that many farmers use human manure in their fields. However, the peanuts were gifts and it would have been rude to not eat them, so I kept popping them in my mouth with my dirty fingers.

On the way back, I rode on the back of Priya's friend's bike. He is well off, and had a very nice bike. I don't know if it was because he was showing off, or if it was just typical young man behavior, but he drove much faster than Xavier. He talked on his cell phone for a bit, his ring tone was classical Indian music, which I thought was a funny combination of the young and the old. An old woman stopped us and invited us inside for 'fresh sweet coconut from the tree' but I graciously declined because I was thirsty and out of water. I immediately regretted it though, because I probably won't ever get the chance again.

Back at home Kumari declared, "good, now you have seen the land. It is your land too now, because you are now part of the family." That basically sums up the way she has treated me so far.

The farmer by his well (which was very deep, and pretty dangerous looking)

My first full day

Hello all,

The rest of yesterday was a lot of information all at once. First Kumari and I went over finances and discussed how the home has been run so far. It is tough because she can't get government funding since all of her children do not have certificates. When a child's father dies and the mother can't take care of her children she is supposed to get a certificate for her children declaring them half orphans. Most of the mothers are illiterate and don't understand the process, so many do not get the certificates. Kumari is now only taking children with certificates in the hope that one day they will all have them and she can get government funding. For example, she has one opening since she had to send a child away that had symptoms of leprosy, and yesterday afternoon a man came with the news that the father of a young boy, Dayanithimaran, just died due to a snake bite. Kumari, however, won't take him until his mother gets the certificate.

Kumari and I visited the new home we will be moving into next week. It is very nice, but also more expensive. She has been in the same place for six years, and the law says that when you rent a home for seven years you own it, so she is being kicked out by the person she is renting from. Finding a new place was hard because landlords are afraid the children will hurt their property. The rent she will be paying is a couple thousand rupees higher a month than it should be since it will be used as an orphanage. The new house will have a room for an office, so Kumari and I are going to start organizing the finances and creating files for each child out of the heap of paperwork she keeps in a box for her new office.

Walking through the streets to the new house gave me some the chance to see a little more of Tiru. The mountain is even more beautiful than I imagined, and no picture does it true justice. I saw several large monkeys, about the size of a child, just eating on people's rooftops. There are lizards that look like albino geckos everywhere, and skinks which they call snake lizards due to their scales. They say there are a lot of poisonous snakes, but I have yet to see any. There are a lot of street dogs too, and though I would never touch one, they seem friendly enough and basically ignore you as you pass them. In the kitchen there is a little squirrel type animal's nest with babies in it. This is the second time it has had babies, and Kumari took them down to show the children and they loved it. Each house is colorful, with saris hanging out to dry. Kumari stopped to speak to a couple women, and I got a lot of stares and a lot of smile. The people here are beautiful and seem friendly. Also, I have now realized that I am, without a doubt, the only westerner here, and probably the only one the people of Tiru have seen in some time.

I had a lot of time with Prince, who's English vocabulary consists of light (since his shoes light up, which he is very proud of), water, cards, some of the colors, and bike. He and I played a card game. I had no idea what the game was, and in the end I had no cards, so I'm pretty sure I lost. It was funny, though, arguing with him while he took my cards.

I have picked up a couple Tamil words, and food names. Kumari is teaching me how to cook and make tea the Indian way, which I am enjoying.

Last night I finally met the kids. They were a little timid at first, but after Swetta approached me to look over and sign her homework I was soon flooded with them. Anitha and Maha are the two older girls, and they knew English fairly well and helped me interact with some of the younger ones. I have to admit, I am having the hardest time with names, but I am hoping that after a couple days I will pick it up. They know even less English than I was led to believe, but I am making it work pretty well. They are all very well behaved and helpful.

There were two sad moments with the children. One was when a little boy learned that no one was going to pick him up for his sister's wedding which was today. The other was when Maha told Kumari through her tears that the children of Mercy Home were making fun of her for coming from the poor orphanage.

A little about Mercy Home, it is a well off orphanage in Tiru with many sponsors, and it has a large building with a room for each child and a playground. The children there, however, are made to do work while they are there. They are all failing school because they are given no time to do their school work. Thankfully Kumari is of the mindset that education is the only way her kids can advance, and many of the Wide children are at the top of their classes with the help of Kumari and Priya's tutoring.

This morning I had puttu for breakfast, and sat and pealed ginger and drank tea with Kumari. We talked about sponsors and she spoke with a reserved anger about a man named Patima. Years ago he ran a scam were he gathered some children for a day and invited westerners to see his "orphanage." They began giving him regular donations, and when ever they arranged for a visit, he gathered children for his fake organization. One, however, visited unexpectedly, and found his huge home and many cars, and no children. Everything was taken away from him by the police. Now he is doing it again, and is getting a lot of sponsors while having no organization. A year ago he told Kumari he would cover all of Wide's expenses under one agreement, that she would say that it was his orphanage and that she worked for him. She refused because she has taken care of some of these children for six years now and she has put her life into this. Ever since he has spread lies about Wide to try and dissuade potential volunteers and sponsors. Kumari is strong though, and ended the discussion saying "let the dog bark at the mountain, the mountain will remained unmoved and it is the dog's voice that will hurt. I will remain unmoved."

Peace,
Robby

I made it

I am in Tiru, but first a little about my travels.

BWI to JFK went without a hitch, if you ignore all the electrical problems and the very bumpy ride. JFK to Dubai was long (close to thirteen hours) but the plane and the food were very good. I got stopped at Dubai security, and was yelled at by several security guards in Arabic, but they let me go when they realized that I had no idea what was happening. I was proud of myself for how calm I was able to stay.

Dubai was a little disappointing, I was in the airport for seven hours, and it was like being in a mall in the US, with everything in English and Arabic. I slept there for a couple hours, and wandered around for the rest of the time.

I was one of two westerners traveling to Chennai, the other was from France and spoke Hindi, so she doesn't really count. The airport in Chennai was more like a warehouse, and was frankly a little scary and hard to navigate. I asked this one family about the immigration papers. They didn't speak English and laughed at my fruitless efforts. They stopped me to go through my bags, I was the only person they did this to, I wonder why (please note the sarcasm). Leaving the airport there was this small fence with hundreds of people yelling and stretching their arms out. Amongst that crowd of people I needed to find Kumari. Luckily she found me first (it probably was not that hard) and pulled me towards her and her daughter, Priya.

They had hired a driver, and we got in. Driving in India is also scary. There are no lanes, and seem to be no speed limits. People use their horns heavily, and every horn sounds different. I tried to put my seatbelt on, and quickly learned that there was nothing to click it into. The drive took us through Chennai, and from looking at this 'city' I quickly learned just how under developed India really is. We stopped to get drinks, and I got a lot of stares.

Kumari, her 19 year old daughter Priya, her husband Xavier, and 4 1/2 year old son Prince are all very nice and welcoming. We got to Tiru a little after 1 am last night, and I slept until noon, which they understood after my 35 hour travel with little sleep. The home is even worse off than I realized. While driving up to it Kumari pointed out what looked like a parking lot and explained that it is where the children play; that is when they are not burning bodies in the building next to it because the pollution is too bad. When I enter Wide Childrens Home, I had to carefully navigate the floor which was littered with thirty six children sleeping on the floor. They set a small room aside for me, and I felt bad when I saw that all of Kumari's family was sleeping in a small room the same size as mine. The house is very open, made of cement, and is colorful. The street it is on is very narrow and crowded.

The children had already gone to school when I had gotten up, but I am very excited to see them when they come home a little after four. I am going to go and eat now. Kumari just hired a chef named James, who is apparently a little off in the head. In all, the home is very welcoming, and the people very kind, loving, and curious. I will post pictures when I get some.

Peace,
Robby

Less than a week

Hey everyone, in less than a week I'm going to be in India and I have mixed emotions, but it is mostly excitement! I'm going from BWI to JFK, JFK to Dubai, and then Dubai to Chennai, India. Kumari Xavier, the woman in charge of the orphanage, will pick me up and we will drive to Tiruvannamalai, a small temple town in south-eastern India.

At the home I will be working with the children on their homework and their English, along with just having some fun with them. While they are at school I will work with Kumari to find sponsors and get grants, along with other administrative duties.

I can't believe that only a little over a month ago I contacted non-profit organizations in India to see what kind of response I would get, and now I'm seriously getting ready to leave. It is a little scary going by myself, but I think it is going to be quite the adventure and I'm ready to make a difference.