The Big Kahuna: W2W

Lets talk about the Women to Women (W2W) Session. This session is the biggest session of the year. A few of the US staff came as well as a couple of members of the US board- which also included the infamous RSO President, Sally Read. I have heard so much about her but have never met or even talked to her until now. Verdict is in: I love her. I thought we would get along well (based on what people have said about her) but I was still a little nervous to meet her. And maybe it wasn’t so much her as it was her position mixed in with the big/very important session that was packed to the hilt. I was also a little nervous that having so many women together in such a small space would create a lot of friction, but there wasn’t much of that either. Luckily, any apprehension I had melted away fairly quickly after everyone arrived. All the ladies were so sweet and SO funny! Of course I still had a lot of responsibilities but mostly it just felt like I was chilling with all my aunts--with 2 to 3 men mixed in here or there from time to time. Seriously though, it was a blast!

It was quiet the productive blast too. A lot of hard work and sweat were poured into every day--willingly-- while smiling and laughing. It is virtually impossible to record everything that happened over the 10 days they were here, but here are a few highlights:

A lot of the W2W participants were/are professional teachers and hold graduate degrees in Education. It is safe to say the education program got a lot of TLC over this session. I personally was so grateful for that because I know how hard the staff and students work on their studies, and believe me, it is HARD. I don't think I could of kept the schedule these kids do during their UKG to 10th standard years.

We had a talent show one night, which wasn't so much a talent show as much as it was a variety/non-talent show. I shouldn't say that because that has potential to sound really bad but I know how I mean it so oh well. Whatever you call it, it was a success. Everyone's stomach got a workout from all the laughing. 

This picture depicts Sally and Ann's personalities perfectly. :)

As coordinators we made a human pyramid that we were going to light sparklers from while in formation. Well the sparklers didn't so much light so we kind of failed there, but we were able to get them to light afterwords so we just used them as a group. Because why not have a sparkler party in the middle of January? Favorite quote from the pyramid: "I thought you said you had a lighter!!"-from Bryan as he was holding up the middle of foundation.

We also found another krait snake which wasn't cool in and of itself but what was cool about it was that when I heard Rebecca scream I immediately knew it was her snake scream. Only after I had started responding to the snake scream did she yell for me to call security telling me there was a snake. I honestly don't know why this made me so proud but it did. Maybe because it reflects the time we have spent braving India together?

I went out on one of the medical rotations to Mogalvadi Colony, aka the J. Raj colony/dancing colony. I love all the colonies but I have a special place in my heart for Mogalvadi. It is on the smaller side as far as numbers of residents but they are all so sweet and fun to spend time with. 

Trevor brought over hundreds of self care kits he put together as his eagle project. He is such a stellar kid. He came with his mom, sister and brother and I loved their whole family.

And here are some portraits of the residents, just because they are beautiful and I love them:

Of course we ended with our regular dance party and pictures with J. Raj, per his request. He is such a happy man. I am obsessed with his laugh and overall personality.

Sadly, Saroja, one of our patient's from this colony, passed away a couple of weeks ago. She was the smallest lady I have ever seen and would crawl around everywhere. I know I got some pics with her the last time I was here but I'm pretty sure they may have been lost in my computer crashing issue. :( It is so bittersweet to have patient's pass on. On the one hand I can picture them free from all their physical hardships which makes me so happy for them but there is still a definite hole and overall general sadness left in the colonies where they lived. Freaking death. I know it is necessary but I still don't like the way it feels on the mortal end of things.

After Mogalvadi we stopped at the bird sanctuary. There were a lot of slug like looking turtles and not a ton of actual birds but what do you do. The birds we did see were far away but believe it or not, it was pretty quiet and peaceful, which are two words that I usually can't use to describe much of anything in India. 

The kids haven't been back from Christmas break for very long so the lice issue was going strong--until we activated delousing measures. 

There was one holiday, Republic Day, during the W2W session. We had a program in the morning that ended with a school wide dance party in the dining hall. It was short and sweet but one of my favorite memories of India. One of the older kids brought little Charles over to dance with me. I will never forget the excitement on his face. Tinkerbell and I danced a bit too. It. was. so. much. fun.

After dancing we visited the new bee colony and organic gardening project. W2W was the first group of volunteers to ever see this project because its really new, as in it was just started last December. Some of the bees have died, but overall it is coming along pretty well. 

Bryan and his tiger shirt, oh wait I mean Dr. Susan checking out the progress of the honeycombs

After the bee project the women attended the first ever Rising Star Handicraft Sale. The kids have been so excited about this event. They have been working on crafts for a bit now but besides their stock of goods they were quiet the little sales masters. Jayanthee was showing me her sponge animals and just spit out "If you buy just one it will be lonely so you will have to buy two of them. That way they can keep one another company". And I was sold. How do you say no to that face and that logic? 

The W2W Saturday outing was to Mamallapuram, where Claudette and I destroyed her souvenir shopping list.  Claudette and her family came to Rising Star during session 4 this past summer. She and I have keep in touch since then so I was super excited when I found out she would be coming back for the W2W session.  Sadly, Claudette had to leave the session earlier then everyone else due to visa issues, meaning she had to leave from Mamallapuram to the airport. The not so sad part of that was that because I was going to be accompanying her to the airport, we chose to stick together for the day so we wouldn't risk being separated and having her miss her flight. Regardless of the logic, our plan was far from an obligatory hangout---I was sincerely excited to spend the day with her and I didn't end up disappointed! I loved her during the summer but I loved her even more this time around. It was so fun to see her out of mom mode! I learned so much more about her and from her, all while we making good/dangerous memories, such as shopping for unsanitary drums, getting sandals made, having our feet massaged, her chakras aligned and eating at Le Yogi. I absolutely love this lady! 

And of course countless random memories were made. Like how Ann made fun of Sally and I for sometimes having a hard time finding chuiddy tops that fit (thanks to our endowed chests) until one day, she got stuck herself. Sally and I made sure to laugh and point and take a picture. 

Or how we helped to rebuild the children's creche (preschool). Here they are in their temporary pre-school---I promise that is a window even though I am fully aware it looks like they are in jail. We were hanging out with them for a little bit before we left to go on the Microgrant tour--but we had to pass this window on our way out. :)    

Or my chit chats with Christine, Sarah and Constance.

 Or how about half of the children called Mike Thor and the other half called him Jesus.

The woman chose to used a quote by Mother Teresa on their mural. I'm a little obsessed with it. It reads: "The heart once stretched by compassion can never regain its original dimensions." Amen.
A-Freaking-MEN!