Another one of the things that we are trying to do while in India is to SERVE. To HELP. To LIFT. To STRENGTHEN. To LOVE the people here. There are SO SOOOO many opportunities here to do good and so one of our goals as a family is to try to do something for others once a week during our time here. Already we are trying to help in small ways by carrying food and water in our cars to pass out to homeless people and beggars who come to our windows and yes that is nice. But we want to be deliberate in our service and seek out those that are downtrodden that are lost, that are alone and to help lift their burdens.
So one day after breakfast we headed out to a school for blind and deaf children, young adults, and adults to see what their needs were and how we could help. We passed out American chocolates as we met everyone, shook hands with many, and tried to learn names as best we could and we found out ways that we could come back and serve. Such as teaching in English, or recording our voices for blind people to listen to. Even the kids could help by reading stories and having their voices recorded for others to listen to. They suggested sponsoring a lunch or dinner or other meal for the children (a mere $50 for all of them) or even helping with technical issues (Adam) or getting funding or older computers for the blind and deaf to use.
The program they had set up was amazing though and literally reached to the old, the young, the fatherless, the husbandless, the abused, the lame, the deaf, the blind. Pretty much to anyone that stood in need and this organization was helping in so many areas and doing so much good. They had a blind dance program for young people and their students had won competitions world wide. They had trophy after trophy for their blind cricket players that had taken home the championships year after year. They seriously give children with disabilities HOPE and a chance to make a life for themselves and to be apart of mainstream society. It was inspiring to learn about. So much good is being done by these people and they are helping their students to get SKILLS to be able to work and survive on their own. Its really such an awesome program!
A new fruit Adam and I just learned about this past week. I forget what the names of these are, but they are very similar to coconuts in both taste and texture once you break them open. Inside is a little jelly like thing that has coconut tasting water in it and then you can scrape out a softer inside to eat. It tastes almost exactly like a normal looking coconut but is much smaller (like the size of a plum). Or at least the edible part is the size of a plum. So interesting. They look nothing like coconuts to me!
After our adventure at the deaf and blind school we headed out for lunch and went to an Indian place that Naveen had suggested for us to try some traditional dishes. Although the kids weren’t crazy about the food, they did eat parts of it and at least filled up their tummies and Adam just liked that it only costs us $10 total for our whole family of 6. Can’t beat that. Even at Mcdonalds! Speaking of Mcdonalds. Don’t ever go if you are in India. At least for anything besides the fries. You will be disappointed. Happy meals don’t come with fries, there is no chicken in their nuggets (at least from what I could tell) and they don’t have burgers whatsoever (the cow is sacred in India). It wasn’t a big deal for me though and I just ended up giving my two chicken sandwiches to some homeless elderly people asleep on the street. I think it made their day and at least helped them to have their bellies filled for a few more hours! đ
After lunch Adam needed to head into work (he’s been working from 1 pm until about midnight every night trying to work both American and Indian hours) but the kids and I wanted to play at the park, so Naveen our driver took Adam to work while we played.
While at the park though I started to notice a LOT of homeless looking children like this one with mismatched clothes, no shoes, and often very dirty. I had some left over chocolates left from when we had visited the blind and deaf school and so I began handing them out. Oh my goodness did it attract a LOT of attention and before I knew it I was literally surrounded by 20-30 screaming children grabbing at my arms, pulling me every which way, and fighting each other, grabbing from each other and pushing each other all over. I at first tried to give each one a candy, but putting it in a hand, but the other kids would grab it out of that persons hand and steal it and it just became a joke. After a minute I realized that these children had completely consumed me and that I didn’t even know where my OWN children were and that worried me! So I quickly did the first thing that came to my mind to get OUT of my current situation. I grabbed a big handful of candy and I just threw it as far away as I could. And then I ran to try to find my children!
Luckily Adalynn was right where I left her (sitting on this swing of sorts) but the other boys I couldn’t see at first. Luckily I found them just seconds later a little further down in the park but man did it freak me out for a minute and I realized that I really needed to be careful when and to whom I give out candy too. Those kids had just swarmed on me so quickly and so powerfully that I had completely all but forgotten my own children and I didn’t ever want to have that feeling again. Plus the kids had been so rude to each other and aggressive and cruel (even taking candy from the smaller toddlers) that it didn’t leave me with a good feeling like I had hoped AT ALL. I will need to figure out a different way to bring smiles to childrens faces. If anything it just seemed to cause more contention between them. I could tell these were tough kids who were used to street life. It made me very sad.
These were some of the little kids that swarmed me. This was before I passed out the candy. They were all just so interested in Adalynn at this point. I should have left it at that.
The hardest part though was that after I finally got away and found my kids again, we had 3 little girls that continued to follow us all over the park begging and pleading for money and more candy. They just wouldn’t leave us alone and literally were puling my arms and trying to drag me, and wouldn’t let me go. It really kind of scared the kids. They just wouldn’t let up. We tried walking away from them but they continued grabbing me. We tried sitting on a bench with all the kids sitting by me and although they let go of me they just continued to beg in front of us. One even had a cut foot with quite a gash, but I had no idea what to do to help her or how to help her. I just felt very helpless and so did the kids.
Eventually though an idea popped into my head and I looked at the kids and said, “hey guys, why don’t we sing a song to these girls?” I couldn’t believe how immediate things softened up after that. The girls went from little aggressive beggers to children again and they started to sing with us and smile and the whole experience changed from one darkness to light. We sang them I am a child of God & Childs Prayer and I even hugged each one afterwards (although they did give me the strangest looks ever at that!) But eventually the girls were called away by a group of men (who I think realized the girls were bothering us) and we were able to get away peaceably. Here are a few pictures of the little girls while we were singing to them.
I ended up taking my 4 kids back to the restaurant we’d been eating at in hopes the girls wouldn’t come back and frighten the children again and eventually we did see the girls and all the other homeless looking children leave the park. So we eventually went back to await Naveens arrival.
And the kids were able to enjoy themselves again. Sure was a stressful and crazy situation though there for awhile and one where we all felt very uncomfortable. I think I’ve learned a good lesson though that there is a time and a place to hand out chocolates! And doing it when there are so many children around, with no place to escape, and where my children can easily get away from me is NOT the place! But this is the only negative experience we’ve had so far compared to the many many other good ones, so no biggy. I will tell you what though. I have rehearsed this situation over and over and over in my mind since then and keep feeling like I really missed an opportunity somehow. I felt a bit like it was the story of the good samaritan. I mean this girl had this huge gash on her foot and came to me for help and yet I refused her. I literally did not know WHAT to do to help her. My driver wasn’t there. I didn’t know if I should take her to a doctor or where I could even find a doctor. I didn’t know if her mother was nearby or if she had a mother. I didn’t have bandages or a way to help and I have learned that money is not the best way to help these kids as it often reinforces begging and usually goes into the hands of slumdogs or drunkards. Its really quite sad. But I’ve thought a lot about this and wondered what I SHOULD of done or COULD have done – especially with my kids in tow – so that I would have been like the good samaritan and not left someone hurt by the wayside. Anyway, something to keep thinking about and hopefully something I will feel inspired to do better next time. India sure is filled with different and crazy adventures that we often don’t get confronted with in America. Sure is amazing to be here though! Life is good!