February 18, 2010

Chenecua doing a bible story A home in the slums

Children of the slums
Beautiful girls in the slums

Todd giving out candy to the children

First full day in Kolkata. We all took showers and went to bed last night as quickly as we could, we were beat. This morning we woke up so early, I think it was about 3am but we thought the light outside our room was sunlight, so we thought it was later. Once I turned on my phone and saw how early it was, I sent Katelyn a text and fell back asleep for another hour. Just to be awakened by the Muslim prayer chant that served as our alarm clock each morning at 5am. We all decided to get up and get ready so we could be down to breakfast by 7 and leave for the slums at 7:30. Breakfast was pretty good: toast, porrage, hard boiled eggs, and banana. I did not feel good when I woke up so the team prayed for me, that was real nice. We then headed to see 3 slums with Shaji. He runs Kolkata City Missions. He took us to 3 different schools where we got to visit the children, sing songs to them, and read them bible stories. I got to read the story at the first slum school. The kids were so cute. Three boys at this first school kept acting up so the teacher had to seperate them, typical boys. At the last place we went to, they prepared a whole performance for us. The little ones sang us songs and the teenagers were doing dances. Everyone loved that we were there. We were treated somewhat like royality, which we didn't like. We didn't want them to feel like we were better than them or anything, we just wanted to mix in with all of them. This place is beyond what anyone can describe. The sights, sounds, and smells are amazing. Dogs are just like humans, walking where ever and just blending in. Same thing with cows. We actually had to drive around a cow today that was just laying in the road. Traffic here reminds me of China. No order, just chaios. The smells have not been as bad as I anticipated. Even though there is complete utter chaios and loudness constantly, this is what they know, this is life. Now we are back in our room ready to turn in for the night. Tomorrow Chenecua, Kim, Rupee, Todd, and Melanie are speaking at the slums to 60 women. Should be another amazing day in India! Cannot believe tomorrow is Friday already!