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.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, October 6, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, October 3, 2008
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.
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.
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