Shanti Dan Girls

It is time for me to tell you about some of the girls I work with. I am working with girls who are severely mentally and physically handicapped. They range in age from 12 - 50. There are about 15 girls in my group. Many of them are in wheel chairs. They suffer from deformed limbs, cerebral palsy, autism, and other handicaps. They cannot speak but a few of them can communicate with gestures or grunts. The day with the girls begins for us with morning prayer time. (They have already been fed and dressed) We sing a morning song using their names. They usually recognize their names and they love the attention. For the rest of the morning they will either work with some toys that will help improve their fine motor skills or learn their shapes. I try really hard to work their hands and arms. They get so used to not using their hands that their muscles get really tight. Today I sang "Going on a Bear Hunt" and "Picking up Paw Paws and Put Them in Your Pocket." I used my hands to lead each girl's hands to follow the song. Next time I will do "Wheels on the Bus." The girls love getting attention and I love seeing them smile when I talk to them and hold their hands.

So far I have really enjoyed working with these girls. We are able to share love with each other.

Laundry

Each morning at Shanti Dan we start the day with laundry, and there is lots of it - today 12 of us spent the first hour washing! We do the laundry outside. First the dresses, bedsheets, diapers, and bibs are washed and scrubbed in buckets.Then there are two huge cement tubs on the ground for rinsing. Sisters, Mossies (Indian women who are paid to work at the home) volunteers and residents help with the laundry. Asha loves to tell us what to do with out words. She points and smiles. When she gets really silly she likes to throw the washed laundry into the rinsing tanks with hopes of splashing you! Then the buckets of clean laundry are taken up to the roof - two flights of stairs and hung out to dry. When the lines are full we double hang the clothes. The first day we were there it started to rain and everyone dashed to the roof to move the laundry into a covered area. As of this morning we began hanging the laundry in the covered area in case of monsoon. By the time we leave Baby is folding the dry laundry and putting it away. She doesn't speak but she takes her job very seriously. If you take anything out of her pile she will let you know that she is not happy!
Basically, we follow this same routine at home at the hotel to do our own laundry...

First day at Shanti Dan

Today was our first day "on the job". We volunteered at a facility called Shanti Dan which is a home for 50 - 60 mentaly and physicaly handicapped teenage girls and women. After an orientation we began our day by doing laundry - which is never ending at Shanti Dan. Then we were able to work in any of the 7 "classrooms" in order to get a feel for thedifferent learning  abilities of the girls. Tomorrow we will be choosing rooms to work in for the month. Marie is going to choose to work with the blind girls. Ashley and Callie are going to work with the higher functioning  special need girls and Sara is thinking about working with the severely handicapped girls.  After prayer and class time we took the girls to lunch and helped them eat. Then it was off to "nap time" which consisted of diaper changes, dress changes and lifting the girls into their beds. When our shift was done at 12:30 I felt as though we had worked an entire day. We were hot and emotionaly exhausted, but the work was really rewarding. These girls are really not able to "learn" anything so my goal is to make them feel loved by holding their hands, smiling and talking to them using their names. They are able to respond and you can tell that the attention makes them happy.

The day was deffinately a day spent with the poorest of the poor....

Midnight before we leave...

We are packed and ready to go. It is just hitting me that even with all the preparations for this trip  I am still unprepared... unprepared to be away from Marty, Mike and Joe for so long, unprepared for the heat, and unprepared to see the poverty. Even though I am getting nervous, I am still excited. I am looking forward to this experience - this adventure - I hope it is a cultural experience, a spiritual experience, a volunteer experience, a bonding experience and a self-awareness experience. My goal - growth... Thank you for praying for us. Please know that we are praying for you too! - Sara

COUNTDOWN TO INDIA: 6 DAYS! Ready for this amazing experience!