Kids, Kids, Kids

This past week was one that was fully and tremendously dedicated to the incredible children of Rising Star Outreach.  The kids arrived last Saturday, but we didn't get to really spend much time with them until Monday.

 Monday started off with me printing off a billion books that some of the session volunteers will be using for tutoring this summer.  During this process, I looked out the little office window into the foyer area of the school and got hysterically laughing when I saw this...

This is Lola, our campus goat.  She is always wandering around somewhere and ,apparently, she decided to go to school that day.  I love India.

Later that day, we were able to go to our first playtime with these precious kids.  Playtime is usually from about 4-6 pm, and it's amazing.  We all just head over to the children's hostels and play on the playground, play soccer, and spend time with the kids. I had so much fun being able to begin meeting them and experiencing their light and energy.  I have heard it said that the kids are the magic of Rising Star, and I couldn't agree more.

I don't remember the name of the one in the middle, but the one on the right is little Golpi.  He's five.

There were a ton of kids yelling for me to push them on the swings, so I was crazily running back and forth pushing all these kids.

After playtime, we went and ate dinner and then went over to the kids' dining hall to de-louse them.  The colonies the children live in with their families during break are full of lice so most of the kids come back with it in their hair.  The de-lousing process turned out to be very simple and quick.  The lice are certainly not gone from all the kids, but the population is hopefully more under control.

These week has been one big blur of testing the kids, making copies, playing at playtime, and spending as much time as possible with all those crazy and beautiful faces.  Here are some quick highlights of the week:

1.  Helping Callie organize and re-price things in the Star Store.  The store is basically an incentive for the kids.  They can earn stars throughout the week based on behavior.  They then use the stars to buy themselves prizes in the store.

2. Sports Day!  The kids have a day every year called Sports Day, which is kind of like a mini-Olympics day.  They have all sorts of funny events like human pyramid building, sprinting, dancing, and (my personal favorite) a balloon race.  For that one, the contestants were given a balloon which they had to blow up.  Once it was so full of air that it popped, the kid could start to run the race.  It was so funny to watch these little kids desperately trying to blow up their balloon and looking like they may pass out. 

The kids cut out and taped each of those little triangles individually to make the decorations

However, my favorite part of Sports Day was sitting and watching it all with the youngest kids that weren't participating in the games. We sat on the ground and, within seconds, were literally covered with little bodies. At one point, I had three kids on my lap, one of each side of me holding my hand, and one standing behind me with his arms wrapped around my neck.  It was the best day ever.

3. Watching Life Dance rehearse.  Life Dance is our little dance team made up of the Rising Star kids.  I will do a whole post on this particular experience, but just know they are amazing.

4.  Getting to know some of the kids. As with everything in life, there are some people you just create instant bonds with.  This is true of all the long term volunteers here, many of the staff and house mothers, and a bunch of the beautiful children.

This is Veeran in the front and Satish Kumar in the back.  They are so stinking cute.  Veeran sat on my lap almost the whole time at Sports Day and has been my little football buddy several times at play time.  He is going into 3rd standard and is such a cute little fireball. Satish Kumar is the cute kid that Callie sponsors.  He is so bright and cheerful, but is one of those kids that you can't approach without him running off.  You have to wait for him to come up to you and then he'll be your best friend.  His little smile is the best.

This is Varaleksmi.  She is the sweetest, most instantly-loving girl on the planet.  She is brand new here at Rising Star and will be entering 1st standard.  The first time I met her, she came up to me and held her arms up.  I picked her up, and played around and danced with her for a minute. She gave me the most beautiful smile and grabbed my face.  She kissed my cheeks, forehead, and chin and gave me a huge hug.  She stole my heart in that moment.  Now, everytime we go over to see the kids, she finds me and waves at me. Then, she races over with her fantastic smile and sits in my lap or drags me off to play with her.

This is her and her little brother, Veray.  He is a year younger and is absolutely the cutest tiny guy.  He is really shy, but warmed up to me when I was playing with Varalekshmi.  I love playing on the slide with him and seeing his giant smile as he rushes down the slope.  He is teeny tiny and so precious.

I am in love with these kids, with Rising Star, and with India.  I am so happy here and so proud to play my small role in this tremendous work.  These kids and people here have already touched my life, changed my outlook, and stolen my heart.  I feel so blessed to be here and to be able to continue to live here and be surrounded by these unbelievable people.

I love you, my amazing family and friends.  Thank you for reading my blog, for being interested in this experience, and for lending your endless support and love to me and to this organization.