Day One at Rising Star Outreach

Our family arrived at Rising Star Outreach (RSO) in the southern part of India earlier today.  We will be here for two weeks working as volunteers.  RSO helps people affected by leprosy by giving medical care to them.  They also have a boarding school for the children of those with leprosy.  We will be working with both the school and the medical team while we are here.  We are out in the country and the RSO compound is such a beautiful peaceful place.  Very different from the noisy busy cities we visited the past few days.

Today we met some of the children and you may have heard the loud screams across the world when the younger girls saw Jenna for the first time.  They ran to her and wanted to touch her hair and feel her cheeks.  She was surrounded by screaming girls her same size.  Later as we entered the pavilion for dinner, all the girls wanted Jenna to sit by them.  It was a cute sight, all these Indian children and then Jenna with her blond hair.  I didn't have my camera with me today, but tomorrow I will take some photos of her with these beautiful children.

Now Jenna isn't the only one who got plenty of attention.  Sam, Seth and Joe were also surrounded by noisy boys after dinner.  They played with the boys doing arm wrestles, playing swords and other hand games.  When it was time for the children to return to their rooms, my boys were all tired out but happy.  The coordinators said the boys were extra energetic tonight so they had let them play a little longer than normal since they were having so much fun.  Earlier in the day Sam, Seth and Joe were introduced to the sport of cricket.

I am happy to be here at Rising Star.  The other volunteers are so nice and it's been fun to have English speaking people to talk with!   I know it won't be easy all the time, but I am looking forward to the experiences we will have here.