Day 1 of the Orphanage and Operation Banana

Sunday I volunteered at Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity Orphanage. It was pretty exhausting for me – both emotionally and physically. As soon as I arrived all of the kids needed their diapers and clothes changed. There was one other volunteer who said “Great! I have two kids. I’m a diaper expert”. I thought “Great! I have no idea what I’m doing. Well I guess this is free practice for the future”. Except that since they were using cloth rags as diapers, I didn't know how to tie them and their clothes and beds were soaked in urine.

There wasn’t exactly training, you just jump in and figure out what you can do to help. The kids were all mentally and physically handicapped, so we put them in wheelchairs and threw them a party with singing, balloons and cake. Some kids wanted to dance but their limbs have atrophied so I picked them up and carried them “dancing’ across the floor. One girl had a serious skin disease with open sores all over her body. Each day the nun has to prick open the sores, let all of the puss drain out and then apply 4 tubes of anti-bacterial ointment all over her body. Her skin is so delicate that she can’t even wear diapers or underwear – if you rub her too hard the skin just falls off.

Sister Claire Rose said that she hardly gets any volunteers and is greatly in need of them, so I think I’m going to try to restructure my last month here to wake up a bit earlier and spend 1 hour a day at the orphanage helping to get the children changed and fed each morning.

After that I kicked off day 1 of Operation Banana. The crowd was less “friendly” today and it quickly became a crazed mob with people fighting for the food. Luckily I had approached a group of children, so even though it got a little out-of-control I didn’t feel scared. I just felt sorry for the many people who approached me after I ran out, begging for food.

5 young, disheveled, yet incredibly adorable kids under the age of 9 followed me home for almost a mile. When they realized I wouldn’t give them the money or chocolate they wanted, they then asked for books and pencils for school. So I stopped and bought each of them a notebook, pencil and pencil sharpener (the cost to supply this for 3 children is just $1). They were so thankful and said “do you know Jesus?” I said that I did and asked if they were Christians. They said that their parents were Hindus but that they knew Jesus (and then they gave him a “thumbs up”). Then they asked me for food and shoes and told me they owned no shoes and just one (poorly-fitting, dirty) outfit each. At that point you could say they were being greedy since they kept asking for more, but how can you be mad at sweet children who are asking for basic food and a single pair of shoes (vs. xbox and a cell phone!). I told them I’d think about the shoes and I’d be back tomorrow with more bananas. There is so much need here that I struggle sometimes to decide whether to buy bananas, notebooks and pencils or shoes for the hundreds of impoverished kids that I see everyday. I suppose there is no right or wrong way to help, as long as we’re trusting God with whatever we have.