I Am Home!

December 16, 2008
The last week of the first part of my trip was quite crazy. Lynne and Ratnam got back the 5th, but their flight was 5 hours late, which meant that it messed up the normally good timing to get over jetlag. We spent the 5th playing with the babies and Ratnam slept pretty much the whole day.

During the day though they got a call from the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers-in-training who had come for diwali, who wanted to invite some kids to their campus to play with them and it had to be the next day because they were about to go back home. The problem is getting sixty kids arranged to be ready to go on an outing takes a lot of planning. Lynne and Ratnam went through the list of kids to pick who would come. They took the oldest kids first because they thought they could get the most out of the people to be their role models, since these people will become probably the most paid and respected people in India in a few years. They also took some little kids that were easy to manage because they are the kids that the officers-in-training want to play with. We called Jayapaul at 6:30am on the 6th to get the kids ready since they wanted us there at 11 and it takes over an hour to get there. At 8:30 we set out to the hostels to make sure that they were looking presentable. They all looked very nice, but some how that process took over 2 between the 4 hostels, which meant that we were late. The hosts didn’t mind too much. We went to their cafeteria and all the kids sat down while the hosts handed out cookies, crackers and tea. The hosts went around to different tables to talk to the kids. Almost all of them found a table that they liked the most and spent most of their time with them, luckily most of they were different table so all the kids had some one to talk to. Every so often the kids got up and sang a song for the person sitting with them. At around 1 they served a nice lunch for the kids. After everyone finished they took us to their clubhouse, which had ping-pong tables, Carrom boards, and chess sets. The kids had a blast in here. They then took us to their pool to look at it. They then continued our tour through their campus. Their campus was so big that some of the kids got really tired and I ended up having to carry one on my back for a while. At around 4 we headed home and everyone was exhausted.

On the 7th Lynne and Ratnam had to go all the way back to the IAS officers campus because the officers-in-training had raised Rs. 75,000 and they wanted to formally present a check to Lynne. While they did that I had my last classes. At around lunch they came back. After my two classes in the afternoon I came back and helped Lynne and Thanuja who were sorting the 9 suitcases that they had brought from American that were pretty much all toys for the kids. We also sorted the frocks into hostels so that we could go try them on the next day to make sure that they fit.

The 8th morning we went over to 4th hostel to try on the dresses unfortunately Suma had some how messed up and a bunch of the dress were to short, which is a big problem since they all sit on the floor. We swapped a couple to try to make it work, but the biggest girls getting frocks they just didn’t fit. In the afternoon we tried them on at 3rd hostel. All the biggest dresses were shorter then the smaller ones and they were way too wide for any Indian kid. Again we tried to switch them around, but they just did not fit 7 of the girls, meaning that I had to see Suma again which was not going to be a happy reunion.

The 9th we brought all of the toy filled suitcases over to 6th hostel to start laying out the Christmas presents for all the kids. We had to do it somewhere where no kids would be, so that they wouldn’t see then until the day of Christmas. The morning we spent separating the toys into young girls big gifts and young girl small gifts, then older girl big gifts and older girl small gifts. We also did the same for the boys. These big gifts were really quite big and Lynne got them all for 5 dollars or less. The young girls had nice dollhouses and baby dolls. The young boys had cool cars. The older boys had big remote control cars and the older girls got cosmetic things like nail polish, hairbrushes, hair things, body butter, body wash, mirrors and other things. After we sorted we headed back for lunch. Right after we finished we went back to 6th hostel to lay out bags for every kid and the started giving out the big gifts. We started with the boys because they had the most toys. After we finished the boys we started with the girls we worked until 9:30 and pretty much finished giving all the big gifts except the older girls cosmetic packages. So we took all the supplies and their bags back with us so that we could make the bags back at the house in our nighties with coffee the next morning. We worked for two or three hours and the packages came out nicely for the girls. We then had to go to the office so that Lynne could finish off the accounting with Hafeez from when she was gone. I worked in the office organizing the applications and did the SSA for the months of October, November, and started the December one. It took quite a long time because there is a lot that they have to buy in three months. At around 5 we went back to 6th hostel to put out the general gifts like towels, pencils, erasers, toothpaste, and pens. We had to go back early because one of Ratnam’s friends came over for dinner.

The 11th was a more relaxed day we hung out at the house in the morning to play with James and Luke. We then went back to 6th hostel to put out the belts for the older boys, the nighties that we had and filled out gifts that we thought were lacking a little bit, We did something else but I am not remembering. The 12th you guessed it we went back to 6th hostel where we stuffed all the bags and put labels on the gifts that were too big to fit in the bag. The presents are pretty much done except that we did have enough nighties or towels. We then came back for lunch. Lynne had planned to take me to this big handycrafts festival but it didn’t start until the 13th. It is actually the same place where I went when I went to visit TT , but all crafts makers from all over India come for about 3 weeks at the end of December to increase the number of shops 10 times. We decided to wait until the 13th so we went to Suma to try to deal with the miss fitting frocks problem. She tried to deny that I gave her a good sample size, but luckily we had brought the girl who happened to be wearing the sample dress we had given Suma. She decided that she would use the scraps of cloth left over to add to the bottom to make a little flare at the bottom. We let her try and show but we did not have high hopes. While we waited for her to do we went to the boys hostel to check on the blanket situation because they we saying that they didn’t have any and since it is there winter they now need some heavier blankets. We brought so more blankets from the “go-down” (storage house) and gave them out an went back to see Suma’s work. It was not bad except that she didn’t have big enough pieces so she had a really weird seem which did not look good. The 13th I spent the morning packing and then in the afternoon we were almost out the door when the SSA officer dropped in and stayed for 3 hours. As soon as she left we headed off to Shilparam, the handy craft festival. It took about an hour to get there, but it was more than worth it. It was amazing the amount of people, and so many more will come in a week. I bought up the place and we finish only when the stall owners started putting up their tarps so that they could cook their dinner and sleep in their little area at around 10:30. We then went out to a really weird dinner. It was late so they were trying to hurry us up which is understandable, but when we came in no tables were clean. After thy supposedly cleaned a table, the chairs were covered in crumbs and when out food came we found a cockroach on the table. It was just not a good experience. The food was ok, but it didn’t really matter.

This morning I packed everything that I had bought at Shilparam and then we headed off to monda market to get the towels, short sets, combs, saris, and nighties that we needed to finish off Christmas shopping. We did pretty well, we got every thing except the nighties. We then rushed back because a man showed up at the school to interview for a position as either a teacher or as a warden. Only in India people just show up on Sunday without calling for an interview. While they were having the interview I hung out with the boys and said good-bye. After they finished with the interview we went over to 3rd hostel were we hung out for a little while. And then we said a very quick good-bye to 2nd and 4th hostel. We then went back to the house so I could finish packing and giving Lynne the rest of my notes so she knows what is going on when I leave. We left at 11 for the airport. I said good-bye to Lynne and Ratnam and checked-in. The check-in and security process was painless. All my flights were fine and uneventful. I am now home enjoying my extremely comfortable bed and having all the doctor, dentist, and hair appointments. I feels good to be home, but I miss everyone back in India. Hope I get a chance to see everyone before I head back.

Last Before Holidays

December 3, 2008
So this will probably be my last update before I head home for the holidays on the 15th, which I am really excited about because I will get to see you all. And the fact that I am coming back after New Year’s makes leaving a lot easier.

So there is not too much to report, still teaching and tutoring. Thanksgiving was very relaxing we actually didn’t have school. Not for a happy reason though, Hafeez’s brother-in-law passed away and so he had to go home to his village. Since both bus drivers quit a month or so ago, there was no one to drive the school bus. The other teachers actually went to individual hostels and taught, but there was no one to drive me and I sort of can’t teach computers without the computers.

Outside of school, the septic tank kept backing up on our street and so we had pipes put in, in front of the house. We had a huge hole and the water was cut for almost two days, but it is all-better now. On Monday I did something fun, I had Thanuja teach me how to cook one of my favorite curries that she makes. It was really good and it was nice to talk to Thanuja about other things than just the babies. After the delay of Lynne and Ratnam coming back because of Ratnam’s papers, they will be arriving on the night of the 5th. Because of the Mumbai terrorist attack, Lynne thinks that we should stay out of the old city, which is where we had planned to do a lot of the rest of the shopping because it is the Muslim district. So I guess we are going to have to find another way to get the last minute things that we need. We will see.

See You Soon!

Set Backs and Triumphs (but mostly set backs)

November 19, 2008
So last week I got pink eye, so I stayed in my room most of the time. Not only could I not teach, but I had to stay away from the other side of the house because anytime I went over there the babies started crawling on me or crying and I couldn’t do anything for them which was really difficult. I watched a bunch of movies and read some. By about Sunday I was clear to go back to teaching and playing with the kids. On Monday I had a lovely coming back present of two computers dieing. The first one had been acting up a lot by freezing and finally the mouse just stopped reacting and stopped working completely. The other computer would start and an error message would come up saying that a file was missing and that it couldn’t start. I officially hate PCs. I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked I gave up after 5 hours straight working on them. I had the kids that were on these computers move to other groups. This morning when I came in a third computer stopped working with a different problem and I decided that I now had to call HP support because soon we would have no computers left. The new computer problem didn’t even get to the point of an error message. It just stopped in the middle of starting up and froze. I couldn’t even turn off the computer without pulling the plug out. Of course I figured out one of the original failures just as I called, but the other two continued to not work. The woman helping me on the phone was very nice and very patient, but ended up not being able to figure out what was wrong with the other two. Another annoying thing is that Suma the frock tailor is so flaky. I wanted her to finish by Monday but she asked if I could wait until today because she was going to her village for the weekend. I didn’t really have a choice so I said yes, but then today she said that she needed until Saturday. So Hafeez and I decided to give 11 of the 22 left to another tailor to make sure that the rest are done on time. Hopefully the new tailor will be a little more reliable.


November 21, 2008
So internet has been very uncooperative this past week, which is kind of a big problem since the benefit is tomorrow and Lynne needed some pictures from me, but hopefully she will come up with something else. Another bad thing is that the new tailor is asking to increase the price by 50%, which even though it is only 30 rupees (60 cents), it adds up. So we have to try to find another tailor. Good news though is that I fixed (sort of) all the computers today. One I just switched the computer box with one that didn’t have a monitor, so we will have to deal with that problem again at a later date, but now all the computers that the kids have been using are in full working condition. I felt really smart and it made the whole day go really well. I finally have gotten my teaching schedule down. I begin teaching at 9:30 and have computer classes all morning. Then everyone breaks for lunch at 12:50. I then have one more computer class. I then have my one leisure period before I tutor math to 7th, then grammar to 9th, and then English to 10th. I am done by about 5:15, after which I pretty much crash. Lynne comes back on Monday night, so my schedule will probably change again, but for now it is working out well.

Other side of India

November 12, 2008
So this weekend was a lot of fun. It took a little time for the driver to find the house, but once he found it we headed back to TT’s apartment where I met his wife, Lakshmi and two boys. One is in 8th grade, Arvind, and the other is 2 and a half, Rakov. They are all very nice, but Rakov is a little shy so he hid from me most of the time. We had lunch and then the girl that is sort of Rakov’s nanny, who speaks very good English, and the lady that does the cleaning, took me to a market really close by where the craftsmen and women sell the things that they make. It was a really nice green area and I got a couple of nice things there. We then came back and got ready to go to the movies. I was a little unsure as to what they were going to wear so I packed everything. Luckily, I brought my jeans, because I would have felt a little funny walking around in my Punjabi while Lakshmi was in capris. TT, Lakshmi, Arvind, and I, all went to the movies. It was a little far away, but it was a nice IMAX theater. We had good seats and it was a fun movie. It is interesting though because apparently in every movie there is an intermission even though the movie was only 2 hours long. It wasn’t like other James Bond movies, since there was no “Bond, James Bond” and there were basically no gadgets, and there were a lot fistfights, unlike Bond’s usual one shot wonder. As TT said and the critics said the following morning, it was more like a Borne Identity movie. Nevertheless it was a good, entertaining movie. We came back to the house for a quick dinner and then I headed off to bed. It was a really nice room. Their apartment has two floors and is in a complex that has a “clubhouse” that has a swimming pool, a fitness center, badminton courts and basketball court. It was nice because it meant that Arvind had a lot of friends to hang out with. Sunday morning was very relaxing, I got a massage from a woman that comes to give Arvind one every week. It felt so good and I was very relaxed afterwards. We then just hung out for the rest of the morning. Rakov finally warmed up to me and we play hind and seek for a little while. We then went off to have lunch at a place called “Little Italy”. It was really, really good. It is an all you can eat gourmet buffet. They could make any kind of pasta for you and stir-fries and they had really good breads along with amazing appetizers. Also, their dessert were not half bad. I think I ate more in that one meal then I have in any one day since I have been here. We then went back for little while before I headed back to Uppal. It was really nice vacation to a different side of India. Monday I had to miss my first class because the power was out. I tutored math and then let them use the computers, however in the middle of my of that class, with 7th class, the power went out again. While we were waiting for the power to come back on they asked me questions about school in America. They asked if we took all the subjects they took, and they were surprised that we had social studies and science like they did. It was nice to talk to the older boys for a change. Finally we gave up and I went back to the house for a little. The power didn’t come back on until after lunch, but the kids were taking their unit tests. I got one more class in before the power went out again. And while we waited they asked me about the US election. After school I had 10th class try to do one of the writing sections from the 10th class exam from last year. The power was out for most of the rest of the day and it was a nice temperature outside, so Srilata, Laxmi, and Deepika had some running races while Thanuja and I took the kids. It was fun day, even though the power was out. I got to have a conversation with the older kids for a little while instead of just teaching them. And playing outside was quite fun also. But that didn’t last long. Yesterday, Hafeez took me into the city to help me pick up some things that Lynne had ordered for Christmas, which meant that I missed my morning classes and the kids were not that happy with me since I missed Saturday and the power was out the day before. Also, as soon as the first group started the typing program stopped working on two computers. I set one of the groups on another computer, but the others had to wait and a person came to tell me that the group’s computer wasn’t working every 5 minutes or so, which got me really frustrated since I was working on the other one. I decided that I needed a little quiet to figure out what was wrong with the programs so I closed the computer lab. I finally fixed the first one, but before I could fix the second I started to feel sick. I slept for a while and I felt a little better. This morning I felt even better, but am still not 100%. Today I finally got to have all my classes and I picked up some more of the dresses.

Miss Maia the Teacher

November 7, 2008
Sorry that it has been so long since my last update, there was nothing really exciting to report, but I was kept busy. I started teaching a couple more classes. I finally started my 10th grade tutoring on Monday. I was holding off because one of the three was not coming to school because he burned his hand during Diwali, but he is feeling better now and is back in school. My goal is to get them ready for their 10th class exam, which determines if they graduate or not and if the local Junior College will accept them. Once I started them, Srilata (Ratnam’s niece) joined the classes, so that she can take her 10th class exam again this year. I have mostly been working on Reading Comprehension, because that is basically 75% of the exam. Even though this is basically the blind leading the blind, I have taken so many class, that even if I can’t put the tutors advice into practice, maybe they can. I also added some more classes to the computers. Now 5th, 6th, and 7th are also getting the chance to learn to type. Luckily, 9th class has been able to help with both my 5th and 6th class, so that they can understand me and so that I can have some more eyes and ears. One set back was that they typing program can only have 5 names as users, so by the time 5th class got to class, a lot of the computers had maxed out. Luckily the older classes are quite small, so a couple of computer still had space and there were just enough so that only one group had to have three girls in it while the rest had two. The younger classes are doing quite well, but I have to remind the 9th class every so often that they started out slowly too and to not rush them. While I was in class, the 9th class asked me if I could be their English grammar teacher. Their teacher was the Headmaster, who had a stoke a month ago, so their Social Studies teacher has been working with them on other aspects that they need to learn, and I have been working with them on Parts of Speech and punctuation. Right now I have a class every period and after school, which is keeping me busy. And then after school I have to come up with lesson plans. The math tutoring is a lot easier because I can just work from their text book, but there is no really test book for either 10th or 9th because they are doing it in their normal English classes, meaning I have to come up with the lesson and the materials. The web has been quite helpful though, with practice grammar exercises and past 10th class exams that I can use the stories from to get the 10th class prepared for the type and layout they are going to see in March. Today I am hopefully going to meet up with TT, and really good friend of my uncle, who lives just out side of Hyderabad. The only problem is that it is on the opposite side of Hyderabad, so it is over an hour away. He offered that I stay over, to make the trip worth it, so I will get back tomorrow afternoon. I am really excited. It will be nice to be around people I can really talk to, and also he has tickets for his whole family and me to go see the new James Bond movie that comes out today, which should be fun. I will let you know how it goes.

Overnight and Diwali

October 28, 2008
This past week I finally got into a rhythm. I had my math tutoring then computer classes until lunch then one more class and then I spent the rest of the doing other work. In India they still have class on Saturday, so Sunday was my day off. Slept in which was nice. I went over and played with the babies and at around ten Hafeez came to the school to pick something up. I decided to tale advantage of this and asked him to drive me to 2nd hostel. I had some clothes that I wanted to hand out and they had been asking me all the time to sleep over with them. I packed an over night bag and the clothes and Hafeez dropped me off. The kids were in their last few minutes if Sunday school so I waited in the medicine room. As soon as Sunday school was over, everyone came over and surrounded me. Whenever I go to a hostel, I feel like a celebrity. Everyone wants to be next to me and to talk to me. They all ask me to sit with them at meals and asked that I sleep next to them. I set up in the playroom to start handing out cloths that were donated by local people. Most of the clothes are quite little. I had the girls come first. I would call out a girls name and I would hold up a piece of clothing to see if it almost fit. Then they go into another room were the older girls were helping them try them on to make sure that it actually fit. I was actually pretty good guessing if it was going to fit or not. I gave as many as I could to these Sishu Viha kids. Sishu Viha is a government orphanage, and once these kids were found to be HIV positive, they were sent to Agape. Because they are complete orphans, with no relatives, they get no new cloths from them on their birthday or during festivals, so I gave the most to them. The clothes that didn’t fit any of them I gave to some of the other girls. I then started with the boys. I had basically no pants, and that is what they really need, but I gave away a bunch of shirts. Within about 15 minutes after I finished with the shirts, one of the little boys was wearing his new shirt and it ripped. After I finished handing out the clothes, I had batches in the playroom. They are batched together based on age, so they are playing with similar toys. The first batch was a little crazy because there are so many little kids but they were very cute. There were five batches, and each got a half an hour in the playroom. This finished at around 4:30 and then it was the girls time to shower. They all shower every morning, but twice a week in the afternoon they take another, where they get to wash their hair. We then played for a while before dinner. Everyone then got read for bed. I decided to sleep with the older girls. In India pretty much everyone sleeps on the ground on mats. The kids got out their mats and they all basically slept on top of each other. Not because there wasn’t enough room, I think it was more for the sense of company and safety. I wasn’t really prepared for this, so even though the lights were shut off at about 9, I couldn’t fall asleep until about 2:30. I then was woken up at 5:30 by one of the youngest girls, Saivithri, who was poking me in the back. Only a couple of other girls were up, who were sweeping and cleaning the hostel. At around 6 everyone woke up and said their morning prayer before they brushed their teeth and took their shower. I decided to wait until I got back to the house to shower. The older girls helped everyone with their hair and then we had breakfast. After breakfast we played a little more before the bus came. I took the bus with the kids and took my shower and got ready to tutor. Monday was he same schedule as the week before. Today is Diwali the morning was normal, but at 3:30 guests came to celebrate Diwali with the kids. Diwali is celebrated similarly to the 4th of July. Fireworks, sparklers, lights are everywhere and will continue long into the night. The guests were from the Civil Service Program, the same people that came before, but there were about 20 of them. It seemed that everyone had fun. They handed out snacks and gave he kids sparklers and set off small fireworks. They left at around 6:30 after a fun filled couple of hours.

Classes Start

October 21, 2008
So yesterday morning was busy, but productive. I started tutoring 7th class math. I gave them the quiz to see where they need help. After I finished there I taught my first class of computers to 8th class. Most have only seen Lynne and my computer and none have ever actually touched one, so I started with the basics of turning the computer on and off. Also, I told them not to touch any of the settings or files. I had put on a program that teaches them who to type, and I had them work on that for the class. There were twelve kids in the class, and even though there are twelve computers in two rooms, I only had them on six in one room, so that I could keep an eye on them, at least for the first couple of classes. They all seemed excited to finally get to use the computers since they have been sitting there for months. Some were very good at keeping their hands in the right position, but others kept moving their hands to what they felt as easier, which reminds me of some one I know (me). But, I think they are getting the hang of it. The other kids that had leisure period at the same time wanted to come in to help, so finally I had to lock the door. After 8th class, I had 10th class. It was pretty much the same thing, but there are only three of them, so they got a lot more practice since they didn’t have to share. They did quite well and many of them got onto the next level. Since there were so few kids, I let some of the 9th class come in and use the open computers. Then the kids had lunch and I went back to the house to relax for a little. After their lunch I had 9th class. Since many of them had sat in with the 10th class they had a head start. One of the girls passed the first two levels. In the middle of the class, Hafeez came in to tell me that the wholesale tailor just called and said that they would be here in about 5 minutes. Luckily it was towards the end, so just as class was over he arrived. I kind of wanted to say that he should wait until I have my lunch since I had waited for him for hours, but this is India, and if I did that he would have been gone and I probably wouldn’t have seen him again for another week. We had all the girls go up on the roof, the same as we had with the boys and the tailor measured and yelled out the numbers and I wrote them down. I had organized all the cloth for him to take it, but he only had a two-wheeler, and had to come back on Wed. to pick them up. I then finally got to eat my lunch at around 2:30. The rest of the day I got to relax a bit. I did a little office work and then I played with the kids. They are becoming a little crankier since they still are sick. Luke now screams when I walk into the room for me to pick him up. It is a good thing that he is so cute. Today, Hafeez came and asked me to help him upload a file onto a CD at the office. I went back on the bus with him after he finished dropping the kids and showed him how to. The problem was that the CD he was using was in the wrong case. It was a Re-Writeable case, but the CD was not, and it had already had something on it. I gave him a blank CD, it worked fine, and he drove me back to the school on the two-wheeler. I then started tutoring 7th class again. After looking at their quizzes, which they didn’t finish, I decided that we should do the questions together. They all got Roman Numerals, so I skipped that and went onto the bases questions. It took them a little while, but it was exciting when they got the concept. We then moved onto HCF. They all understood factors, so it made it a little easier. We did the question on the quiz and then I let them choose random numbers and let them do it. It was fun seeing that they really got the idea. We then moved onto LCM. We didn’t get to finish that because the bell rang. They actually asked me to stay and continue teaching, because they had a free period, but I had to go give computer class. But, just as that happened, the power went out. I told them that as soon as the power came back on we could start, but it didn’t for about a half hour. By that time the period was over, so I had 10th class. They started, but then the power went out again. They went back to their room to do homework, but then the power came back. I told them that we should wait because having the computers shut off that way is really bad for them, but if the current stays on for a half hour we can start. It did, but about 10 minutes after we started the power went off again. It continued to go on and off through out the day. At three o’clock a group of people came to hold a birthday party for the kids. One of the women, who wasn’t the birthday girl sang with the kids and taught them new songs. They passed out cupcakes and chocolates. All the kids seemed to have a good time. I then went back to the house and we played with the kids. Thanuja, Srilatha, Laxmi, Deepika and I brought the kids up to the (flat) roof and waved good-bye to all the kids as they left on the bus. We then played tag. It felt good to run around a bit, but it was really hot so I didn’t last too long. We then went back down stairs and tried to set up the boys so that they could race each other, but obviously it didn’t work. They were very cute anyways.

Running in Place

October 19, 2008
So this week started off well. I got the children’s files organized. It was kind of sad having to take out the discharged kids out of their old houses. I also worked on the profiles for all the new kids that need to be sponsored at the benefit. Its hard reading their stories. Each one is a little worse than the last. Each one either their mother died or their father died or both. And the fact that even if they had extended family, none of them wanted to take them in no matter if they are positive or not. I also got all the Christmas stuff ready for the tailors for when they came to pick it up. I dropped of a sample piece of cloth at the local tailor who is going to do the younger girls frocks, so that I could make sure that she is doing it right and asked her to be ready by Friday. However, the past two days have been kinds of a bust. I had Hafeez call the wholesale tailor that measured the boys to have him come measure the older girls so that they can make their Punjabis, and they were supposed to come on Friday. Jayapaul also called to tell me on Thursday that they were going to ARV on Friday if I wanted to come, which I definitely did. And Lynne asked to be able to talk to everyone on video chat on Friday at 5:30. So, Friday was supposed to be a very packed day. I even wrote a schedule so that I could keep track of everything. I woke up early so that I could be ready for ARV, but about half an hour before we were supposed to leave for ARV Hafeez and Jayapaul told me that we were not going to go until Saturday because they didn’t have enough time because Friday is vegetable day, which I totally understood. I went back to my room and finished off the profiles for the new kids and waited for the tailor that was supposed to come at 3. At around 4 I called Hafeez and he said that the tailor had just called him to tell him that they weren’t coming, but would come anytime on Saturday. He then suggested that I get on the bus so that after he dropped the kids we could go straight to the local tailor, Suma, to look at the sample and give her some of the frocks to start on. However, once we got there she told us that she wasn’t done and to come back tomorrow. By this time it was almost 5:30, but we had to go to Hostel 1 to meet the new visiting doctor, who is looked after the kids while Ratnam is gone. He checked all the kids, but he had to go get some medication for one of the boys, who was bit by some animal, so we had to wait until they got back so that we could take Subba Rao back to Hostel 2. But, when the doctor came back he said he wanted Subba Rao to stay with him so that he could show him the way back. So after waiting almost an hour for nothing Hafeez dropped me back at the house. By this time it was about 6:30, so I missed setting up the computer so that Lynne could talk to Thanuja and the kids. So basically everything that was planed to Friday didn’t happen. It was quite frustrating, but I hoped that Saturday would be better. Saturday I got up even earlier, because they wanted to leave for ARV right after they dropped the kids off at school. We actually did go. It was nice to hang out with the kids for a little since I have been in the house pretty much the whole time the past two weeks working on things. The kids were great and we came back to wait for the wholesale tailor to come at 3. Again at 4 I called Hafeez who said that they were on their way and that they would be here by 4:30. The power went off so their was not much I could do. Hafeez took the boys back on the bus and the girls stayed at the school to wait. At 4:30 I went and hung out with the girls. It was fun being with the girls. Normally I just play with the younger girls, but I talked with the older girls instead. It was fun because they now enough English so that we can talk. Two are really funny, Meena and Suneeta and they spent most of the time telling me that the other one was crazy. After the tailor still hadn’t showed up at 5:30 Hafeez took the girls home. I woud have gone to Suma’s , but I wanted to wait and set up the computer so that Lynne could see James. But, the power was still out. It stayed off until about 6:30. We finally got a hold of Lynne, but the connection was really poor. Hopefully today will be better. I forgot to mention that all the kids have been sick this week. James, Luke, and Sweety all have a fever, have a really bad cough, and their nose’s are running. Thanuja and Laxmi (Srilatha) got no sleep Friday night because James kept waking up. Finally today I slept in a little. At around 10 Hafeez called and said that he had come into work and that Suma was also available, so he drove me there. The ambulance is getting work done on it again, so Hafeez took me on his two-wheeler. It was kind of fun. I felt like a local. Suma had finished the sample, and it looked pretty good. I dropped off 8 more dresses for her to do and I will give her the next batch next Sunday.

Race to the Finish

October 14, 2008
This week has been a race to the finish. Lynne and Ratnam left last night for he US, so there were a lot of things that needed to happen before they left. First the calendars needed to be finished because they wanted to bring a bunch back with them in their suitcases. We got the off to the printers on the 7th, but it took them a while to configure it so that it was printer ready, which meant that we had to come back again when they did the printing to check the color. The next day they didn’t have to paper that we wanted to print on, and the 9th was dusserha, which means everything is closed. The next day we went to the printers after they started to see the colors, and we ended up staying the whole entire day there to make sure that each page the color came out the right way. It was kind of cool because t hey let us go right into where they were printing and we got to see the machine. It was absolutely huge. It was at least the size of two cars tail to tip. . They then spent the next few days cutting, folding, laminating, hole punching and stapling all the calendars, and Ratnam picked them up on Sunday night. We hadn’t realized how much each calendar was going to weigh, so we were a little surprised at the volume of calendars, but they look great.
Another project was to buy all the cloth for the kids to have a new outfit for Christmas. There are a lot of easier ways of doing this, but Lynne was very insistent that each kid should have their own pattern or color not only so that they can tell them apart after they do laundry, but also so that they feel like we picked it out just for them. On the 8th we shopped for the boys, so we went to one shop and stayed there for 7 hours. We picked out 100 shirt pieces for the boys cut to different sizes based on the size of the boy. We then sat down with all the shirts picked out and matched them with pants. The hard part was having just enough cloth. Too much was wasting money, and too little it wouldn’t work for the older boys. We only created about 40 sets that first day, so we had to go back to that shop again on Sat. for another 6 hours. On Sat we also bought all the Punjabi cloth for the girls and Saris for the female staff. It was quite an experience. Dusserha (the 9th)and Sunday, when all the shops are closed, we spent putting cards on each set with a boys or girls name on it and size. It is harder than it might seem because some kids are a lot fairer than other so they can’t were white background shirts, and some are so dark that if you put the in a full color shirt they might get lost. We finished just in time. There were many points at which we had strong doubts, but we did it. Monday we spent packing suitcases and Lynne and Ratnam left at around 11. Today was very quite. I worked in the computer room this morning setting up the computers and downloading software, so my thinking is that I will start classes either on Friday or Saturday.

Exhausted

October 6, 2008
Ok so I forgot a couple of things last time because I was completely exhausted when I wrote it, but they are important to the next couple of days. Friday, after Lynne cut a couple of the girls’ hair, she had all the lice teams start working and told them to do even more on Saturday. On Saturday we woke up early to get working on the video, but before we started, Lynne did a lice check on the girls and it was still disgusting. So we put the camera aside and we all picked up a lice comb and started doing girls’ hair. Really it was quite gross. I would get four or five big ones in just one pull though a girl’s hair. Then a few of times lice crawled on my arm and freaked out, but I got over it after the first couple of times. I really had hoped to get out of those clothes as soon as we were done, but we had to go back to the designers. So another thing I forgot which was one big piece of news is that we finally found a designer for the calendar after going to like three guys who gave us outrageous rates. They probably were normal for the US, but they were crazy for India. The guy that we found turned out to be friend of Ratnam’s named Ram Krishna and he had celebrated his son’s birthday with Agape. I don’t know if I said this already, but in India it is customary to through a party and give chocolates to other people instead of getting gifts yourself. You get new clothes, but mainly you celebrate for other people. So bottom line, the designer loves Agape and was even willing to design it for free, but Lynne said that she couldn’t accept that because she knew that it was a big job. These past couple of days we have become very good friends with the boy that works for Ram Krishna who was doing the calendar for us. We probably have spent over 24 hours in that little shop tweaking everything so that it comes out perfect. After the designers on Saturday, Ratnam got a call to say that Ramulamma one of the positive girls broke her arm. One of the older girls was playing and swing around in one of the rooms, and she fell onto Ramulamma. When went straight there and you could see she was in pain. Ratnam and told them to give her a sedative, so she wasn’t writhing in pain, but you could tell that she was. The arm you did not need and x-ray to know that the arm was broken. It looked like she had two elbows. We called up couple of clinic to see if they could take her, but none would take her until ten. We splinted her are using a cut up cardboard cake platform, gauze and padding and then we went back to the house to snarf down some food before we went back out to take her to a clinic out in the middle of nowhere. The clinic was literally a hole in the wall. We carried her in, but they took her around to the side were there was a tiny room that had a very old looking x-ray machine. We waited outside (literally) until she was done and then we took her back into the clinic. They lied her down on the bed and gave her a shot to dull the pain. They doctor then asked Lynne and I to wait outside. I had kind of hoped to be able to stay in, but he was pretty sturn. Then not even waiting five minutes after they gave her the shot they started resetting the bone and we could hear Ramulamma screaming from the waiting room. Lynne got so made at the doctor for not waiting until the Novocain had taken effect and the fact that he basically kicked us out that she went back in to make sure that then were taking care of her. The kicked her out again though. Finally the screaming stopped and they put a cast on her. It was quite thin compared to the casts in America, but it seemed to be holding her arm in the right position well enough. We then drove back and we were all completely exhausted. Ramulamma fell asleep on my lap on the way home. We dropped her off at H2 and went home. By then it was after 1am, and we had a lot of work to do for the designers including writing text, and finding pictures. We tried for a little while, but gave up. However I was still grossed out by the fact we had pulled lice that morning and so I stayed up and did a lice check on myself. Luckily I found nothing, and I went to bed.
Another huge thing I forgot was that on Wednesday we took Luke, James, and Sweetie to get tested for HIV. Normally kids can’t get tested until they are two because they have their mother’s antibodies in their system, so they can have both false positives and false negatives, but there is a DNA test that is very accurate in younger children. They drew blood from all the kids and we had to wait four days. On our way to the designers on Saturday, we picked up the results. And it was GREAT news they were all negative. They had major doubts about Luke because he came to Lynne in Ratnam in a very scary condition. He had soars all over and no hair and he was the size of a new born at 4 months, but he is negative. They had been trying to find time to have this test done for months, but they never had the time. Finally, before they leave for six weeks they know. Sunday we were at the printers from 10 to 5:30. We took the boy we have been working with out to lunch to a place within walking distance from the studio, that Lynne says has the best Biriyani in Hyderabad, and Biriyani is Hyderabad’s specialty. It was quite good, but they said that it must have been from the top of a batch, because there was very little masala on it, but it was still very good. After we left, we went to shop for some things and the super market was crazy there were so many people and it looked like a Costco, except the amount packaged together is not outrageous. It took us almost 2 and a half hours to get everything we wanted and then we went home. We worked on the calendar for hours before we crashed. We still had so much to do so Lynne got up at 5:30 and I got up at 6 to continue working today. We had hoped to get to the studio by 9 but that didn’t happen. We got there by ten and worked until 3:30, when we finally finished it off. We then broke for lunch. Since no restaurants would be open at four, we ended up going to Pizza Hut. It is a little weird since I have never actually been to a Pizza Hut in the US, but it was very upscale. The interior was nicely decorated, the only thing was that they were playing rap music, because I think that is what they think people listen to in America. Lynne was saying how once she went into her super market and they were playing this rap music with vulgar language, and the people had no idea what they were saying. Lynne brought it to the manager’s attention, and I think he was really embarrassed. The pizza there was ok, but their sauce was not very exciting. I got desert though, which was really good. It was warm chocolate cake and vanilla ice-cream with hot fudge on top. I was very impressed. After that we had to waste time before we went to Lynne and Ratnam’s new landlord’s house so that they could sign off on the contracts at 7, so we went to this five-star hotel, where they had bought passes to used there exercise room and pool. They showed me the facilities and then we had cappuccinos in the lobby. It was first real half an hour where we didn’t have anything we had to do in about 2 weeks. While we were there the landlord called to say that the roads were very flooded and that he was going to be late so we did some food shopping. After the meeting with the landlord we had hoped to be able to pick up the CD for the printers of the calendar because they really wanted a week to print, but the designers area was flooded also, and he had no power, so we have to wait for that until tomorrow, which ruined our whole plan of filming in the morning while Ratnam finished off some of the last sponsor gifts. Finally the landlord got home and we went to his flat. We spent over two hours there as he and Lynne tried to figure out a fair agreement. They have been emailing back and forth for over a week, but they wanted to finish it off. The landlord was being a little weird because he kept suggesting that Lynne was going to be arrested because she was allegedly selling orphans, which is completely false, be he just kept saying what if. But finally he relax a little bit and we went home to dinner and bed.

Kids on Holiday

October 3, 2008
The past couple of days have not been that exciting, but a lot of balls have finally started to roll. About 2/5 of kids have gone home for either Dusshera (a Hindu holiday) or Ramazan (a Muslim holiday). Although the kids are orphans, if they have a grandmother or an aunt, they sometimes take them for their short vacation. None of the positive kids are allowed to leave because of the risk of them getting sick while they are away and then coming back and spreading it though the hostel. We finished all the photos we had to take, and worked really hard on the calendar. Since the printers said it would take about 5 days to just print, we had to find a designer, edit the photos and come up with captions and have it proofed and perfect for the printers on the fifth. Today we did a little more filming at H2, but right in the middle of it, the power cut, making it impossible to see in the playroom. Instead of wasting the visit though, I took the time to finish off the last 4 photos I had to take, and Lynne cut some girls hair, who were desperate for a trim. All the boys go a barber for about 3 rupees, which is about 5 cents a piece, but the girls, Lynne is the one that has to cut their hair. And because of the crazy about of lice these girls have, even though then have lice teams and work on lice every couple of days, short hair is best.

Sponsor Crunch

September 29, 2008
Saturday the ambulance was fixed, so we tried to get going early to monda market, but just as we wanted to leave, Rachel (the girl who is friends with a girls that worked here before and is spending a semester going to school in Hyderabad) called to say that she had a arrived to play with the kids. We picked her up from the bus stop, and brought her to H2 so that she could take a couple of kids at a time into the playroom, however when we got there, a bunch things just went wrong, and we ended up wasting almost an hour before we could get back on the road, even though we had hoped to only spend 10 minutes, just getting Rachel set up. On the way to Monda Market, Lynne had to pick something up, and right next to that place was a street vendor that sell amazing pressed sandwiches, which Lynne said was like one of the two approved street vendors of food for me in Hyderabad. We finished off our sandwiches and then went to Monda market. Monda Market is a huge area filled with every kind of shop you could need. Just as we drove into the market, Lynne spotted a Punjabi on display in a shop that she really liked. She had Hafeez stop the car and we got out to look. Even though Monda Market is considered a lot lower class than General Bazaar, we liked the cloth a lot better and it was for a better price. We got four dresses at that shop, Thanuja and I each got one, and we got two for Laxmi. Mine is cream on top is dark blue accents with dark blue pants for about $5.50. We then we went to the underground bazaar. We found another store that we liked, and I got another, it has almost a jean look on top and plain pants for about $11. It is often really hard to find anything unless your really know what color or pattern you want. We only buy the fabric at these shops and they are made at a tailor. The Punjabis are split up so that they have the fabric for the top, pants and dupata in one bag, but none of it is made unless they have added some special things to the pants. All the shops have floor to ceiling shelves filled with these bags. The only thing you can really see is the color until you ask to look at it. Since you obviously can’t look at all of them you have to get good at realizing not only what color looks good on you, but also exactly what shade. Lynne is amazing at it, I still have some work to do. We continued to do a little more clothes shopping for Laxmi’s sister, Prema, who is a mentally challenged. She obviously is also Lynne niece, but lives at H3 and goes to the Agape school. She is probably at like a second or third grade reading level at the age of fourteen, but she has made a lot of progress since she moved from the village to Agape. We were unsuccessful at finding anything. Before it could get to late, Lynne and Thanuja said that we should head over to the vegetable part of the market. We dropped our bags off with Hafeez and walked over. The traffic was crazy. There were about six jammed lanes in a three-lane area, all pretty much at a stand still. The place we came in, there were a bunch of people sitting on the ground showing their vegetable, and very thin paths, where a large number of people coming to buy have to pass. The first area, the vegetable did not look so good, But there was another part that was raised up and each vendor had a table to display on. On our way into this section, a woman came up behind us and tapped us. She had a huge basket on top of her head. These women carry all you produce in the baskets on their heads. There was no way by the end that we could have carried that all by our selves. After about halfway, whenever the woman put the basket down for a minute, it took two people to left it back over her head. The vegetables were surprisingly good quality. I was very impressed. Since we got there so late, some of their usual vendors had gone home, so they didn’t get as much as they had hoped. After that we went home. I was completely exhausted. Yesterday was very laid back, I stayed in my nightie the whole day, but I did work the whole day in my room/new office. Today Lynne had random meeting lined up pretty much the whole day. We continued to work, trying to get the child database to match the sponsor database, so we would be ready to crank out the rest of the sponsor things. We are sort in a panic now because the kids are going to leave tomorrow after school for a week vacation, and a lot come back late. And since Lynne is leaving in 12 days, we have to be prepared that the last day to finish everyone is tomorrow. We have over 75 pictures to take. We did also get the tailor to come tonight, and he measure the select boy in each group, so the boys will be all set once we get the cloth, for their Christmas clothes. Now we just need to do the girls (easier said than done). I really hope we get everything done. Part of the problem though, is that the kids are taking exams this week, so it is not like we can pull the kids out of class, which is what we usually do if we are desperate.

Going to the City

September 24, 2008

Monday we went into the city to try to find a new video-cassette tape. We went to Mahindrah Hills, but no luck, so we had to go buy one, but we were afraid that the formant was going to be different, so we were hesitant in buying one. Finally we just decided to try it and we got one at a computer store. While we were in the city, we did some food shopping and also we went to a fabric shop to pick out some fabric to make Ratnam’s Christmas clothes. Yesterday we went to the office just to pick up a couple of things, and then we came back an finished grouping the kids by their sizes for the Christmas clothes. We had all the kids even the ones that didn’t normal go to school come to school so that we could merge them into groups. That took a lot longer than we had expected. For only like thirty kids, it took over 2 hours! During I got a little frustrated. A couple of girls we were trying to merge stepped out of their height line, so as we were going by group and had dismissed the girls after they were supposed to be done. We had to go around getting the past groups to come back so that we could backtrack and get these short girls into a line. After the girls we merged the boys. The little boys who we needed to merge were completely crazy. One of them kept touching the water motor, which easily broken. I told him to stop at least 5 times even a teacher told him twice on Telugu incase he didn’t understand “no” and then once he stared right at me and touched it just to annoy me. I threatened him twice that if he touched it again I would have to beat him, even though I really hoped I would have to, but I finally had to slap the boy in the back. I didn't do it hard at all, but I felt so bad, however it didn’t faze the boy at all and he continued to touch the motor, I gave up. Then there was another boy that asked to go to the bathroom, which was fine, but then ten boys all decided that they also had to go. I just let them all go even though they were all giggling when they asked. After we finished I was exhausted. I told Lynne about slapping the boy on the back and how I didn’t want to ever have to do it again, but she said that it was going to happen again. The boys don’t respond to anything else. Hopefully that is not true. We just worked at the house for the rest of the day.
Today we worked at the house in the morning, We then went on the school bus home with the girls and measured them for nightie sizes so that when we go to the old city in the next couple of days we can get some for Christmas. I was really impressed with the amount of things they get for Christmas. The get brand new hand tailored to them clothes, belts for boys and nighties for girls, new school bags, pens, pencils, soap boxes, a special toy, a couple of other things. After we finished at H3 we walked over to H1 and Lynne found out that there were 7 huge bags of boys clothes that were unclaimed after laundry just sitting in the storage room, which understandably got her a little angry, because the boys often come crying to her that they have no clothes, so she tries to find them new ones, but all of this unclaimed clothing is just sitting there. Lynne, Jaypaul, and I sat for about an hour sorting through the clothes to see whether it was worth passing back out to the kids, if it needed new buttons, or needed to be stitched. We then had the older boys help figure out whose clothes they were. Before we could finish though, some very important men came to visit. They were training to be the top government officials, and if we could get them interested in Agape it could be invaluable, like getting grants for land, which is so incredibly expensive it is ridiculous. A plot just big enough for a house is over $200,000 without any building. The boys were very quiet I think because they were still scared about the fact that Lynne found all of those clothes. We then brought them over to the girls hostel, where they were much more lively. The talked mostly in Telugu, so I didn’t really know what was going on, but everyone seemed to be having a good time, which is good all around.

September 26, 2008
Things have been quite crazy. Yesterday after getting back late to host the guests the night before, a woman called and 8:30 in the morning to say that she was on her way to see Agape. She hadn’t never told Lynne or Ratnam that she was coming and just showed up expecting to be shown around. She was from the SSA department (the things I was working on for the Bridge program). Not only did she arrive early, but she would not leave. She stayed until 5pm, making Lynne and Ratnam starve until then for lunch and she expected to be served. It was really weird. Luckily I didn’t have to go with them, so I got a lot done at the house. Then after she left we went into the city to shop. Ratnam dropped Lynne and I off at the wholesale nightie shop to pick up the nighties for the girls Christmas presents. Unfortunately, they only had a couple of different colors and patterns, which doesn’t work with over 60 girls trying to figure out whose nightie is whose after they do the laundry. Also they didn’t have nearly enough, so we have to go back on Monday. While we were there though, I got two new nighties for under 5 dollars. We then went into the general bazaar. We dropped off our nightie bags at a plastic waller that Lynne knows really well because she buys all her plastic things there. She put a couple things on hold there and then we went shopping for clothes for Christmas and new years for Thanuja, Laxmi (as known as Srilatha Ratnam’s niece), Lynne, and even me, which was really nice of her. It took us a while before we found things that we liked and even when we did, they were too expensive. Finally we found a really nice pink Punjabi for Thanuja. We then went to another store, which seemed a little more upscale, but it was actually part of a chain of two other stores in the area we were in before. In there we found a couple of really nice tings, but we ended up getting a Punjabi for Lynne, which was nice. It was a bluish green plainish top and black pants with block printed pattern of the same color as the top. While we were checking out though, we saw a lighter green one that was basically the same idea except a different color and a different print on the pants. Lynne decided to get that one for me. I really like it. After that Ratnam picked us up from the bazaar and we went home. Ratnam had been picking up medicine for Agape kids and a ridiculous amount of diapers, but they do have three babies in the house and they are leaving for 6 weeks, so they need that many. On the way back Ratnam made a stop to pick up some Haleem for himself and me to try. It is a very weird type of food. It is the texture of like melted cheese that you eat with a spoon, but it has mutton in it and a lot of spices. I took a couple of bites and I tried to eat some more because it really appreciated that he got me some to try, but I couldn’t eat a lot. It was so heavy, and it had so many bones in it.
Today I stayed in my nighties until after lunch and just worked in the house trying o finish off odd jobs. There are so many things that are so close to being finished, but we have to wait on one thing that is holding the project up. After lunch Thanuja, Lynne and I headed off to Monda market, which is were Thanuja gets all her vegetables for meals. Hafeez was driving us in the ambulance because their little car has officially died. But when we got in, it wouldn’t start. Luckily the boys were still at school waiting for the bus to come back to take them home, so we got a couple of the big boys to push us so that we could start the car. Then about 5 km out Haffeez pull over and says that there is something really wrong with the car. He goes out to look under the hood and he literally pulls out the fan belt, which is completely shredded. He turns around and drops us at a road so that we can walk to a supermarket. We walked there and got a couple of things while Hafeez brought the car to the mechanics. On our way back from the shop we stopped at little place that served freshly made potato chips and other junk food. We actually saw a man making the chips and we got to take them from the fresh batch. They were really good. We took an auto back to the house. After we sat down and went through all the pictures Lynne pulled out for the calendar and did a first run through to cut the number because she had too many.

Finally Back up

Hello everyone,

I am sorry it has been forever since I updated. I have not been able to get onto the internet for over a week. It just got fixed and hopefully for good. So here is a very very long post.

September 11, 2008
Yesterday was not all that exciting. Lynne and Ratnam went into the city to work on some things so I stayed home and worked on the medical records all day. By 5 o’clock I had finished all of them that I had so far. I then went over and played with the kids, but they were all going a little crazy, there was a point at which James screamed for about 10 minutes straight because Srilatha (Ratnam’s niece) who is living with them went into the kitchen to help Thanuja cook. We thought that maybe it would be good to let him cry for a while so he doesn’t think he can just cry and get whatever he wants, but after 10 minutes none of us could take it, and James’s screaming made Luke and Sweetie start screaming. We finally calmed them all down. Today, Lynne, Ratnam, Thanuja, and I all when into the city to start to pack up the flat. They finalized the lease agreement with the people that are renting them the new house, and we went out to lunch. The house they decided on is quite nice. It has two floors and 4 bedrooms and a big kitchen. It is in a little bit of a sketchy area because there is a slum behind it, but they call a neighbor that they happen to know from their church who says that no one has ever had a problem. Packing up was a little daunting. None of us really knew where to start. After packing for a little while we went out to lunch at a very nice restaurant. The food was quite good, but it was really spicy. It pretty much poured the whole day, both on our way to the city and on the way home. The way home made it a little difficult to unload things into the house, but it worked out ok.

September 12, 2008
Today was very cool. I got to go to the hospital with one of the kids for their ARV checkup. Jaypul, an Agape employee, who speaks very good English, took me and K. Prashanth a 12 year old, HIV positive boy, to the hospital. Usually, a whole bunch of kids go together in the van to the nice, new Gandhi hospital for their regular check up and to get their supply of medicine, but because K. Prashanth was on ARV medication before coming to Agape and went to this older hospital he has to continue to go to the same hospital, so that the doctors can keep track of him and know that he is still taking his medication. We went by auto to the hospital, which took a little over a half an hour. Because of the amount of rain from yesterday and last night many things were flooded, there was one point at which one side of the road was so full of water that the cars had really trouble going through it, and so many just came on to the other side to go around it. There was also a lake that over flowed into a slum, so there were a bunch of people all standing on the side of the road without anywhere to go. Also on the way there were a lot of Ganesh statues. Since I have been here it has been a festival for the Hindus in which they create these big structures to hold their families Ganesh statue, which they decorate. On the third, fifth, ninth, or eleventh day, they through the Ganesh statues into the huge lake between Secundrabad and Hyderabad. They have huge cranes to throw the big ones in. When they are about to go to the lake they bang these drums and dance around to celebrate. I think today is one of the last days, so all the rest have to be thrown in soon. We saw one last night, where they were taking their Ganesh to the lake and were dancing around, but when the statue came out it was only the size of a Barbie doll. Some are huge and some are tiny, but they all get the same huge celebration. When we got to the hospital, we went up to the second floor, and Prashanth led the way as if he had been there a million times, (which is not far off, since they have to go every month). We got a door that had ARV written above it and we went in. There were about 20 people waiting in the waiting room. Prashanth went up the desk and handed them his journal type book to the woman behind the desk and then we all sat down. The waiting room was not big, but there was enough room for everyone to have a seat, and not have to sit too close to anyone else. There were benches that went all the way around the room. Off to one side there were a couple of counseling rooms for people that are just about to start ARV. Jaypul was telling me that the counselors are also HIV positive and they talk about the seriousness of the disease. They also talk about protecting themselves and others. After waiting about 20 minutes, Prashanth was called. They gave him back his book and gave him his chart that they keep on file. We then went back and waited another 5 minutes before we went into this other room, were Prashanth had his weight taken and these men signed him off. We then went back into the waiting room where we waited to get into this tiny room were it was literally just a man and a desk and a couple of boxes. When Prashanth got to the front the guy wrote down Prashanth’s name, Prashanth signed, and the man gave him his free month supply of medication. We were done with in 40 minutes, which I was impressed by. While we were there we ran into a girl who has a sister at hostel 3. The girl was still living with the mother to help her get her medication. The mother came in just as we were leaving; she looked very sick and so incredibly skinny it was scary. We then left, caught another auto and headed back. On the way we came to the place where the water was too high to drive through. They had now blocked it off. Their solution was to take the water out by shooting it out on to the other side of the road, which was a little strange. We then had to go through another flooded area where both sides were flooded. Our auto made it through, but another one stalled in the water and both the passengers and the driver got out into the ankle deep water and pushed the auto until it was out of the water. Luckily we made it back to the house without any more excitement. At around 3 Jaypaul picked me back up and we took an auto to Lynne’s house so that I could help pack, and Jaypaul left.

September 14, 2008
Friday was spent helping pack pretty much all day. Saturday, Lynne gave me the day off from packing, since the kids had a day off from school since they had had exams all week. Because the kids were out of school I went to each hostel and a drawing competition for the front of the holiday card. Also because the kids were out of school, Lynne asked the older girls and boys if they wanted to help her move and a bunch volunteered. She took four girls and four boys. One thing that went a little crazy was that the school bus didn’t get the message that there was not school, so the boys from hostel 1 arrived and all the teachers were in meetings. It worked to my benefit though, because I got to see Ratnam’s weekly checks to make sure that they had no medical complaints and that they are washing well enough. I then went back on the school bus with boys, and met Jaypaul there, who was assigned to be my translator. It stopped at hostel 3 and Jaypaul and I got out to get the supplies for the project then we hopped back on the bus and went to H1. We got organized, and Jaypaul set the kids up so they would have space to draw. Because last year when I was doing the thank you letters everyone copied pictures out of their schoolbooks, I had to give them options of what to draw, like their hostel, the school, the school bus, or their friends. Most got the idea, though some still copied things out of their school books. One boy started to copy a lion, but luckily I saw him before he drew too much and re-explained it to him. Even those that got the idea, had the problem of drawing everything I suggested on one page, which meant every thing was too small and it was very cluttered. After each boy had finished I gave him a dum-dum, and then I headed off to H3. It was pretty much the same drill there, and the same problems. After, Jaypaul and I had lunch there. The girls were very excited and they all wanted me to sit with them. We had lunch and then we took and auto to H2. When we arrived the kids were so cute. They started singing and dancing that I had come, reinforcing my opinion that H2 is the best. That were all so incredibly happy. We had the same drill of the project, but there were a lot fewer kids copying from schoolbooks, which was good, because some of the drawings were really nice. They really got the idea. Jaypaul them brought me back to the house were I got to relax, so I read my book. Today was spent packing the whole day. We got up early to start, we picked up the girls and boys again, because there is no school on Sunday, and we set off to pack. We packed from 10am to 10pm, it is really close to being finished. Just a couple more hours tomorrow and them we are done. Everyone was so tired, but on the way back we went to go see the final day of Ganesh, where they drop all the huge ones with the Cranes. It was completely crazy. There was so much noise and so many people and so many Ganesh figures. All the kids were really excited to get to see it for the first time, and I was too. We forgot about being tired for a while. We then drove back to the house and the girls slept on my side and they slept on the other, so that the little girls and boys at H1 & 3 wouldn’t wake them up at 5:30am, since we finally got to sleep at around 1am.

September 17, 2008
Monday we finished packing. I thought it would only take an hour or two, but it took over five, but we finished and we got back a lot earlier than the night before. Since we got back early (and by early I mean 8pm). We ate and then Ratnam, Lynne, and I watch a movie called “Because I Said So”, which they both had seen but I hadn’t and they really liked it, so we watched it. It was very cute. It is funny cause I think Ratnam is the only guy I know that really likes chick flicks. Also they have the most amazing DVD collection, it was kind of ridiculous for the amount of time they have to lounge around and watch a movie, but they are good movies so I not complaining. Ratnam got out his LCD projector and we watched it on a wall on my side. Yesterday we tried to catch up on everything that went on hold while we were packing, so we finally took the invitations and the sponsor cards to the printers. We also made a stop at the bank. On our way from the bank to the printers we made a stop at a very nice coffee shop. We sat down in such a way that I had my back to the windows, and I looked exactly like America. They were playing American music, there was no Telugu anywhere, and while we were in there four girls a little younger than me came in athletic gear, like shorts and t-shirts, which is definitely not acceptable in many places in the city. India is the opposite of America; the wealthier you are the more casual you can be. At the coffee shop we each ordered a coffee frappe type drink. Mine was amazing it had vanilla ice cream blended with coffee and chocolate fudge and in addition they had an extra scoop of ice cream in it. It cost about 2 dollars, which is very good by our standards considering if Starbucks made something like that it would be like 7 dollars, but 2 dollars is more than some people make in one day even if they work the whole day, which is really sad. After that we went to the printers, which was a fairly small operation and if you didn’t know exactly where it was you never would have found it, but we went upstairs to a room full of computers, a mix of Macs and PC, which was the first time I had seen an apple computer besides mine in India. A guy set up the things I created in a way so that the printers down stairs would know what size to print and which fronts go with which backs for double sided printing. We then went back, but it was early again (8pm) so we went to H2 & 4 to play with the kids for a little while, and Ratnam did his check to make sure that the kids were all washing well and had no health problems. He checks hostel 2 and 4 more often then the other hostels obviously because they are HIV positive hostels. I first went to H4 ,which is the girls, and they were very excited to see me. Ch. Renuka, the girl I sponsor and I talked for a while and she showed me the letters she had kept from Mom and Dad and she had a picture of Dad, which was funny. A bunch of other girls came around and then started testing me on my Telugu, which I did pretty well considering. After that I went over to the boys side and they were just as excited to see me, if not more excited. I picked up Deepak, the boy that is in the picture that everyone has seen with him sitting in my lap, and then all the others wanted to be picked up. Finally I got too tired and I sat down and all of them tried to sit on my lap at once and I think that seven fit, but one had an incredibly boney but that was going right into my quad which was cute painful. Also everyone is very all the kids are very interested in my sports watch. They have seen many watches, but for some reason this one is really exciting for them because they can press a bunch of buttons. They also think that since it is an American watch, it has to say what time it is in America and not in India. After hanging out that for a while, we came back to find that James had some kind of allergic reaction or something. He had welts all over his body that looked sort of like bug bites, but they were everywhere, but he didn’t eat anything unusual, and he had a fever, which made the diagnosis very suspicious. Ratnam drove back to H2 to get some medication for James, so by the time James got the medication and went to bed, we started to eat dinner at 11:15. After dinner I went straight to bed. Today I did pretty much nothing. Thanuja had to go to the market and all the girls staying here went to school, so we had to stay home for the babies. We were about to so something, but then I started to get sick, Nothing serious, just motions and nausea. Ratnam gave me some medicine and I am starting to feel better already.


September 19, 2008
Yesterday, I spent the whole day at the office working on the things that Lena hade worked on while she was there called SSA. SSA is a letter to the government with some of the recites so that Agape can get a little money from the Indian government. The only reason that they give some money is because of a school program called Bridge classes. Agape has Bridge I which helps kids who have never gone to school to get all the way up to a third grade level in one year. And Bridge II gets a kid from 3rd grade to 6th in just one year. The government gives some money to everyone that has this program. What I had to was separate the recites by category for each month since April, such as food, medical expenses, cleaning supplies like shampoo and soap, supplies, rent, electricity, and even hair cutting. There have to be just enough recites to fulfill the minimum number that is stated on the request sheet. There are a huge number of recites that are not included because the government is only paying for the approximate 100 children in the Bridge classes and Lynne spends a little more per child that the national average on things like she pays a little more on rice for the kids because the other stuff is like mush, so the government only helps a little, but it is better than nothing. I then photocopied every recite that was being given to the government because they never give them back. After I finished that I tried to go online but it has been a complete nightmare. At the beginning we had internet at both the school and the office, but the school box blew a fuse and the office is so incredibly flakey We tried pretty much the whole day at the office to get on and I got on for about 5 minutes and Lynne just barely got on for 5. Also today Lynne had to go into the city with Ratnam to register their new vehicle that was donated to them by Lynne’s old boss. It is a nice mini-van, which will be good if they every want to take the babies anywhere. It turned out that the registration was a little more complicated than they expected, but they worked it out. The only problem is that no one is really feeling comfortable driving it. Their old driver, who now does a lot of things for Agape is to afraid to ruin it, and Ratnam too. Lynne is not scared to drive it, but the insurance isn’t covering her because she doesn’t have an Indian license, only an American one, so if she were to crash they wouldn’t pay, so until Lynne gets her license or they get over their fear of scratching it, it is going to stay parked. Just before we left to go back home, the boys had gotten back their marks from their unit exams. One boy in particular, Lynne had found out was basically failing every subject, and she had him show her. At first I felt really bad for the boy because she was openly talking about his bad grade in front of everyone else, but she then went through every grade asking their scores on math and science. I guess Lynne does have to be their mother that talks about how to improve. She paired up some of the struggling boys with some of the boys that were doing well so that they could help. After a while though, it seem that it wasn’t all the kids fault it was more the teachers, who really were not teach, but just reading from the book, or going way to fast and then the boys could not keep up which is really bad for math since everything go on top of each other. So on the way back I suggested that I hold a tutoring session for math while the boys are waiting for the bus to come back from dropping the girls.
Today, we did a lot we grouped the boys by size so that when the tailor come to measure to make the boys Christmas clothes and uniforms, he can just measure the middle boy in each group and they don’t have to measure each boy individually. Then we started to film the new Agape video. I filmed the kids on the bus and we got some of the kids playing at H2, which was fun. We then cleaned up the playroom so that we could do some more shooting tomorrow. We then got to relax for the rest of the day and I am going to bed early.


September 20, 2008
Today, Thanuja came and told me that I was going to ARV with the kids today. I was really excited, but that meant that our plans of grouping the girls for the tailors and shooting some more of the video was gone until Monday. I had to move quickly, so I took a bath, and checked my hair lice (or pelue as they call it). Luckily I was clear, but Luke and two of the girls staying at the house helping have lice, so it is only a matter of time. Jaypaul picked me up with the kids already in the ambulance, Lynne and my normal form of transportation up until yesterday when Ratnam got the little car back from the shop. There were 7 kids going for ARV and one negative boy go to get his eye checked out. This time we went to Gandhi hospital, which is the newer one, and is huge. There were a tone of buses, autos, and two wheelers outside, however when we got inside there were not huge hoards of people. Jaypaul had to take Sai Kumar the negative boy to get checked in, so I sat with the positive kids. It was fun because they are the youngest group on ARV and they are all doing really well: Ravali 11, Madhavi 7, Deepak 3, Chitti 8, Naga Rani 5, Shankar 12, and Shravanti 12. It was pretty much the same deal, except that the doctor was there to talk to the kids to see if there were any problems. Deepak charmed everyone, and everyone in the ARV section wanted to pick him up. It also seem that there were a lot more literate people at this clinic, because they were wearing nicer clothes and a lot of then tried to talk to me in English. We again got through a lot faster than I had expected. It only took about 2 hours total including driving there and back. It meant that I got back right as lunch was starting for the kids, so Lynne and I grouped the girls, as we had done with the boys yesterday, after lunch. Then Ratnam, Lynne and I went into the city to find a calendar that Lynne had bought in 2003, which she loved and wanted to create something like it with pictures from all over India and the kids to give as gifts at the benefit. We had to go to Mahindrah Hills, which is were their new house is to look though the boxes incase it was sent there instead of being brought back to Uppal. Our search was unsuccessful, but we got some other things at eh house and while we were in the city, so it wasn’t a complete waste of a trip. We then came back and tried to eat dinner as soon as we could so that everyone, including the kids staying at the house, Thanuja, Laxmi and every the babies (who were supposed to fall asleep) watched this big award winning Telugu film called Happy Days. It was cute. It had English subtitles, which was very good. The film was about a group of college students in Hyderabad and about their relationships.


September 21, 2008
Today we got up super early to go film. Because my watch alarm is so unreliable, at four I woke up because I was worried about sleeping through my alarm at 5:30 I tried to go back to bed at 4 but it didn’t really work. I got ready to go with the camera, tripod and everything and we headed of to H3 to get the girls waking up. That worked out ok and we went over to H1 to film the boys having breakfast. It was going well until all of a sudden we were down to one bar of battery even though the night before their had been four. With in about 5 minutes the battery died and we didn’t have a spare. We were very bummed, but we went back to H3 had breakfast with the girls and then went back to the house to charge the battery. We took baths at relax for a little and then we went back to film the boys having lunch. I finished that, but then it was flashing that I had a total of 2 minutes left on the tape, but I wasn’t worried because I had seen another one in the bag that was still in a case. We went back to the care to go to H2 do some filming there and I tied to switched the tape, but the new one I put in was completely full also, meaning we had not tapes left. We went back to the house even more frustrated, but we hoped that there were maybe some more in the house. We search for a while but there were none and we figured that they had to be back in Mahindrah Hills. We were too tired nd annoyed to go back today, so we decided we would go tomorrow. We got into our nighties and started watching a movie, but half way though we lost power. Loosing power is not unusual, but usually it comes back with in a half an hour. We were with out power for over 4 hours. The house got so hot and it was just unpleasant. To make matters worse was that today was supposed to be a special dinner of pizza, but unlike everything else that could have been made, it needed the oven, which runs on electricity. We couldn’t have dinner until the power came back on for at least half an hour. Every so often we would get teased by the power coming back on for a minute, but then it would go off. Finally at around 9:30 the power came back on and we got to eat. The pizza was really good, nice and thin. I then went off to bed.

The Work Begins

September 9, 2008
So yesterday was a little exciting. I set my alarm wrong, so I slept an extra hour, which sort of set things off on a rocky start, but I got ready quickly, and we went over to the office. When we got there I got the assignment of fixing the medical records for the HIV positive kids. It was very cool because I got a chance to learn about all the different tests that the kids have to go though to make sure that the kids stay healthy. While I was working Lena and Lynne were going back a forth to try and finish sorting and compiling all the bills that Lena had been working on for almost three days, (even though I probably could have done it in like 3 hours. And then at like 12, Lena stated that she wanted to leave. I was a little surprised, but Lynne wasn’t in the slightest. Lynne told her to leave then and she was gone. We had lunch at the office and then we came back because the DSL guys were setting up the internet for the school and while they were their we were going to ask them about my computer. But while they were setting it up t turns out it was a wireless thing and so I was able to get online for the first time this trip, which was very exciting. We didn’t do too much after that. I continued to work on the Medical reports for little while, but ended up playing with Luke, James, and Sweetie. We had Pad Thai for dinner, which was really good.
Today I pretty much worked on the medical records all day. For 10 to 7 I input everything into excel and I am probably just over half done. It is a little intimidating. It feels sort of like Mary Poppins bag that just continues on and on, but I can see that I am making some progress. Luke has been sick the past two days with a fever and he is throwing up any food or medicine that we are giving him. It is really sad, because he looks so unhappy. Hopefully he will get better soon. I hope everyone is doing well, and congrats Becca on your first day of work.
Love,
Maia

First Couple Days (before internet acess)

September 5, 2008
Today was my first real day in India. I arrived last night at around 12:30 am, after traveling since 1:10 pm the previous day. The meet up between Lynne and I work out perfectly, even though both of us were freaking out a little since I had not gotten a response from Lynne as to whether she had received my itinerary, and she had not seen the e-mail from me until 12 hours before she was supposed to pick me up, so all in all it was kind of a miracle that it worked out so well. After we met up we took a taxi to the new guesthouse, which is a new building since I was there. It is right in front of the school, which is very convenient. Lynne and Ratnam have been living here for the past couple of weeks, since it is a lot bigger than their flat so that the three little kids they have adopted have room to roam. They also have three helpers living with them to help take care of the kids and keep the house running. The house is split into two different sections, so I go outside to get into their area. After we got there I unpacked and went to sleep, since I had slept maybe two hours during the whole trip. I woke up at around 8 because the school bell rang basically right outside my window as the kids started to file into the school. I got up and went over to the other side where everyone was already up. It was a very laid back morning. Until about ten I just hung out with the three babies: James (1 year), Luke (1 year and 2 Months), and Sweetie (7 months). We then had a quick breakfast before we headed over to the office in Hostel 1 (the healthy boys hostel). Lynne and I worked on the invitation that I had started during my 6-hour layover in Montreal. While we were there a friend of one of the girls that spent the year here last year came to meet with Lynne about the possibility of coming to help out on weekends until she finishes her semester abroad in India. She told us that she is in a program that has almost 50 American kids in it, which got Lynne very excited because she always has want to go on an outing with the kids, but never has enough chaperones, so this could be the perfect solution. We then came back to the house for lunch before we went over to the school for the celebration of teacher’s day. It was very cute because for the whole day the teachers had chosen one kid to be them for the day and teach while the teachers were supposed to be students, and at the end of the day each student gave their respective teacher flowers, which Lynne and Ratnam provided (at the last minute). I was nice to see all the kids again. They are so adorable. After that we went back to work at the house. We finished the invitations and a sponsorship card to be sent out in brochures, which I think look pretty nice if I do say so myself. We then hung out for a while, trying not to die from the heat. I have managed to fight jetlag, since I am still up at 11:30 pm and I didn’t take a nap. I miss everyone, and hope that you will write me e-mails often.
Love,
Maia


September 7, 2008
Yesterday was very uneventful. I went with Lynne to office so that we could use the internet to send some things to Kim, but it turned out that the software that is needed so that I can be setup is only for Windows, and so we spent the whole day trying to find out ways that I can get internet. Right after lunch Lynne left to go look at some new houses because the owners of their flat decided all of a sudden that the want the flat and they want them out by the end of the next month. Lena, Lynne’s new assistant and I continued to try to get the internet to work, Not only did we fail at getting me on the internet, we also messed up the connection to the desktop computer. Lynne and Ratnam were also unsuccessful in their search. One good thing was that we all got back sort of early so we got to play with the babies and we even started watching Casino Royal on TV. But, the power went out, which had happened three times already that day. This outage though, lasted at least half an hour.
Today is Sunday, so we didn’t have to go into the office. Instead, I went with Lynne and Ratnam to look for new houses. It ended up taking a very long time. We went to three houses in almost 7 hours. Luckily the first two were very nice, and Lynne put a deposit on a place. While Lynne was taking to one of the owners, I saw this guy walking past walking a llama, and I started to laugh at him, he then turned and looked at me and started to laugh at me, very different culture.
Love to all,
Maia