We made it to India!

It was a very interesting and revealing first day for us.  For those of you that don't know, we are working here with a group called Rising Star Outreach.  It is an organization that has three main functioning parts to it.  First, they work with to support and help heal about 8 different "leprosy affected" colonies.  That is the correct term--leper is a derogatory term.  They also have set up a school to educate those children from these families and are intermingling them with children from a local village to help with the stigma that these kids have to deal with.  Lastly, they help to set up microloans for those who need help to have a way to get started in something that could help them to be self sufficient.  For example, they gave a loan to a man to buy a pair of hair scissors and combs--he paid that loan off and then purchased the next item needed with another loan.  He paid that off and has worked his way up to now having a little barbershop.  It is just amazing!  Those stories just go on and on.

What I didn't understand is that when a person is diagnosed with leprosy, they are forced to leave their home and community and move to a colony.  At that point, they have to make the hard choice to either go alone or to take their family.  It is a very hard choice.  They are not allowed to stay living where they have been.  If their family goes with them--they run the risk over time of getting it themselves.  Although, 95% of the world's population is immune to leprosy, there is a genetic weak link--so to speak, for the other 5%.  So, if someone in your family gets it, your chances of being able to contract it are probably somewhat higher--over time.  They are not totally clear on how it is transmitted, but it usually only happens with someone lives with them for a long period of time.  It is pretty rare for someone to contract it by casual contact, it is usually only by prolonged exposure.  That is how we understand it.

With all of that being said, you can imagine how difficult that choice would be and the depression that must accompany it.  I guess the results usually end up about 50/50.  Meaning half of those who get it--go it alone and move to a colony and the other half, take their family and go.  For those that get it or those that have a family member with, there is a huge stigma associated with it.  Although in the recent years it has been banned, there has been a cast system in place and most people still regard it as real.  Leprosy affected people are basically at the bottom of the pole for rest of their lives, as well as their family members--if anyone knows.

What is so sad is that it can be cured with a simple antibiotic.  They can be cured but most don't know it or have access to the meds.  Or they try to hide it until the symptoms progress too far.  The disease can be cured, but the ill effects from it cannot be taken away.  Meaning--if someone has dead skin/nerves on their hands and feet and manage to get the medicine to cure the disease--that dead skin/nerves does not regenerate. 

So, it really is quite sad.  Those families who go together face the discrimination that goes with it for the rest of their lives, as well as their children.  That is where this school is such a blessing.  It brings them out of the impoverished colonies and gives them a hostel to live in--that is much cleaner than what they have been living in and gives them a great education with the opportunity to learn good hygiene and the English language.  We understand if they can speak good English, it helps them immensely to get a better job later in life. 

They live in what they call "families"--with 20 or so other children and a "house mom."  There are 8 houses here at Rising Star.  At first, people from the surrounding village were not interested in having their children go to school with children from the colonies, but over time--they can see the benefits of this school and the incredible education/opportunity that comes with it.  So, there are children living here and going to school here and their families live just down the road.  (only about 25%)  The rest of the kids come from the colonies.  It is a hard mix and the children don't openly talk about where they are from or what their circumstances are.  Some of the children have had leprosy themselves and they certainly wouldn't openly admit to that either.  The school has a thriving environment and the children are incredibly bright.  It is such a blessing for those kids that come from the colonies because it helps to break down that stigma that is so damaging.  Their English skills are amazing, too.  They usually only speak English here on campus but a mix in their "houses."

They are such loving and open children.  They run and hug us and want to know our names.  I guess they usually only have adults as volunteers, so the childen are SOOOO excited to have our children here.  In addition to that, outside of Rising Star--they never see caucasion people.  Combine that all together, and we are loved!  They are also a very touchy people and so sometimes it is difficult for our younger children in always being touched--but it really is out of love.  For the most part, the boys have done great but have had sometimes where they have had enough and are ready for some down time. 

Our first day here, they divided us up in groups and our family went to a couple of the colonies and picked up some patients and took them to the hospital for either a treatment or check-up.  They wanted us to go with them because the leprosy patients just get ignored unless there is a Caucasian or foreigner there.  So, we were just there to accompany them—so that they would hopefully be seen.  They don’t have appointments—you just go and wait in line.  If there isn’t someone with them, they could go for up to five days in a row and still not be seen.

They divided us up and had a rep from Rising Star (a native) go with the patient and then one of us.  Doug took Marcus and I took Cole and the girls just went alone with the patient & the rep.  We were definitely the only white people that we saw the entire day.  Well, they did get seen but we all were shocked to see that not only are they shunned but they are literally shoved for no reason, openly mocked, pushed aside, yelled at or ignored and so on.  Doug had to kind of get a little pushy back at one point.  He was helping an elderly man get into an appointment and he needed to get into an elevator because he couldn’t go up the stairs.  ( He didn’t have whole feet) They waited through a whole load of people getting onto the elevator and the man kept getting pushed aside.  Doug said that he finally had to use his backpack, almost as a weapon to push back people so that the man could get through.  It was really just shocking and heart breaking. 

Emily had a similar experience and was helping an elderly woman who had the same problem in an elevator and ended up just quietly going to the stairs.  There was three flights of stairs and the woman again, only had partial feet.  Em said that the woman was in a full sweat and almost in tears before she could get to the top and it broke Em’s heart.  She just cried with her.  Joce and Jilli had similar experiences.  I was with a little girl who just needed her eyes checked and she was Cole’s age and looked normal—so we were the only ones that didn’t have that experience.  As hard as it was—it was so revealing and ripped through our hearts.  We love these people.  They are so meek.

We are in for the greatest experience here.  Sometimes, it is a little overwhelming for our boys though.  Yesterday was a tough day.  Lots of people came up and just touched our hair and many people asked to take pictures on their phones—they just don’t see white people here.  At one point, when we were in a crowded hallway—Cole turned to me and said that he didn’t feel comfortable for a single inch.  I just held him tight and tucked his head into my side.  He did great though.  So, this morning—we are taking a little break here at the campus and just having some mom time.  They both are doing well; it can be just a bit overwhelming though.  There are almost 100 kids at the school that we are working with and they love the kids and are so excited to have children volunteers!  They keep saying, “Thanks Auntie for coming and for bringing your kids!”