A Breath of Fresh Air

Namaste, everyone!

Sorry we have not posted the past two days! We spent all day Sunday at Brother Xavier's New Life, New Hope orphanage and then spent the evening celebrating Rachael's birthday! Happy Birthday, Rachael! And then last night (Monday) when I went to the Internet Cafe to finish my post there was a fire next door! Yikes! So, the internet cafe we all normally use and make phone calls home from still does not have power! :( I have discovered a new internet cafe to complete my blog, though.

I have completed my first four days working at Mother Teresa's first home and first love, Kalighat. It is a hospice for the dying destitute, both men and women. Females work with females and males with males. I will be working here five days a week with four other wonderful peeps from our group. This experience has been extremely challenging for me. The first day I didn't stop shaking the entire time I was there due to the intensity of the atmosphere and the Sisters can be a bit strict. The female ward is filled with 50+ women who are dying of numerous different causes. Some have huge wounds all over their bodies, some are can barely move on their own, some are so skinny all you see is skin and bones... the room wreaks of extremely strong disinfectant- way worse than any hospital you've ever been in- and the sound of suffering constantly echoes. We start off our day there by doing laundry by hand and washing dishes. This process is extremely meditative and soothing. Today, I spent a lot of time hanging up laundry to dry on the roof and I loved every peaceful second of it, even though I was completely sweating through both my shirt and pants (it is definitely 100+ degrees today with full humidity!) Once those chores are complete we help the Sisters distribute medications to the patients and then feed them lunch.

I have been assigned to help a woman who is completely paralyzed on the left side of her body do exercises with both her arms and legs, by using the mobile limb to lift the paralyzed limb. Making this woman smile validates my purpose at Kalighat. She often will give up mid exercise and start to cry. It is difficult to communicate when I barely know two words of Bengali. Somehow, through touch, eye contact and being present with the person, we can begin to understand each other. To soothe her I will put her hand in mine and hold it against her heart. The Sister insisted she stayed on the floor today next to her bed to do her exercises, probably so she would stay awake. However, with her on the floor it make it very difficult and uncomfortable to move her. Once I finally did move her I noticed she had stool all over her. I cannot put into words how difficult this experience is... The other volunteers and SMC folks that are with me are so incredibly strong and are handling this extreme experience like champions with grace.

Now for the breath of fresh air. If you been following this blog, you are aware that the streets of K0lkata are certainly not filled with fresh air... we all have black buggers (hope that's not too graphic for you) and then breathing in disinfectant every morning at Kalighat... venturing out to Brother Xavier's is a breath of fresh air: physically, mentally and emotionally. The children are filled with such wonderful energy and their faces bring us all such joy. The orphanage is about 30 minutes outside of chaotic Kolkata in a beautiful and peacful village. Brother Xaiver took us on a tour on Sunday showing us the villiage and all of the different boys and girl's homes. It's amazing how self sufficient and sustainable the orphanage is! They have their own huge garden for vegetables and different topical fruits, which is surrounded by huge banana trees! Then they have chickens and water buffalos for milk. The children help with a lot of these tasks and upkeep...what great learning experiences! It's just incredible. Speaking of learning... the 12 of us split up into four groups and taught the childrens lessons on American English, creative writing, drawing and painting. I taught the creative writing lesson to a group of 12-13 year old boys with Meg and Claire. We were so impressed with their english speaking and writing skills They were great students!

I think I speak for the group by saying we are starting to get the hang of our life and purpose here in Kolkata. Thank you everyone for your support and following our blog. It's so wonderful to read comments and emails from people from home. I miss everyone tons!

Love,
Katie

P.S. I am going to attempt to upload photos... hopefully it will work!