Tuesday, July 12, 2011

"The world is a book and those who do not travel only read one page"- St. Augustine

Well, i must say that I am turning a few more pages in my "Book of The World".  Pardon my absence of yesterday.  Internet access can be minimal in theses parts.

Yesterday we arrived at the Rising Star Outreach head quarters.  India is wild.  We had about a 2hr bus ride from the hotel to the campus and let me say that was a 2hr bus ride I will never forget.  I said on my last post that the taxi ride form the airport to the hotel was crazy, and don't get me wrong it was. But that was at night with minimal traffic. This ride was in broad day light on a monday morning.  It puts L.A traffic to shame.  I'll say no more.  Luckily we truly did have the best driver in Chennai.  He could out maneuver Dale Earnheart Jr. driving his bus blindfolded from what I've witnessed.  The poverty here is real.  It is something that words can't describe and needs to be witnessed first hand.  However they are the happiest people i've ever come across.  We would wave from the bus and watch the huge smiles light up on their faces.  We don't have that in America, at least from what have seen.

The place we are staying in is primitive acording to american standards. Here? It's a five star resort.  We have about six guys to a room with a single chair and a single desk.  There is bucket showers with the water source being this well on campus.  We have to close our mouths to avoid parasites and of the sort. The toilets are from the stone age.  No seats.  Pure squat.  However we have A.C!!  So we have power surges and we lose it every so often but thats besides the point.  The point is we've got it and when it runs it runs beautifully.

Yesterday we went to one of the lepresy colonies to build bathrooms.  Luckily the weather was overcast although humid as ever.  The work entailed transporting 500 bricks and about a truck full of sand to the site of where the bathrooms were to be built.  We were needed for the transportation.  The grunt work.  These people weren't gonna let a bunch of americans construct their outhouses.  I can't say that I blame them.  One of our guys from our group tried to assist in the brick laying.  He had laid about a foot and a half of brick when on of the natives came by to inspect this white man's work.  He was apparently not satisfied cause he knocked the whole thing down.  Its their way of the highway.  And their way seems to work just fine.

When we're not building bathrooms we are playing with the kids.  These kids are something else.  They have bottomless energy and great ingenuity.  Since resources here are not exactly abundant the children take matters in to their own hands.  They taught me this game which is a cross between horse shoes and marbles.  I'll do my best to spell it out for you.  You take the marble and throw it at the back of this plastic bench.  It bounces off and lands somewhere in the sand.  The next person does the same except he is trying to get his marble within a hands length of the first persons marble.  If the second persons can put his thumb on his marble and his pinky on the other kids marble then that kids out of the game.  You win when your the last man standing.  I explained it terribly but it was an ingenious idea.

Today we are and the mobile medical squad.  We will be traveling to the leper colonies and treating the people over there.  I will recount the experience later tonight if the internet allows.

Thanks for reading,
Nelson

P.S make sure you check out my cousin David Shockey's blog.  Its beautiful, refined, and much more worth your time.

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