Shishu Bhavan

Oh, my goodness. How do I put today into words? Tuan, Caitlin and I all got up at 5ish this morning, got ready, and walked to the Motherhouse for Mass at 6am. Mass was so comforting, it was like being at home again. The hymns and the words all remind me of the things I love most in this world, and if there was any twinge of homesick in me, it went away with "The Lord be with you - And also with you."

It was an amazing site. We walked into the Motherhouse and took of our shoes (one thing I had to get used to very fast was the fact that no one wears shoes inside, and for obvious reason - outside is very dirty, and leaving your shoes at the door prevents the dirt from coming inside. I have come to think of my feet and the floor much more clean when everyone is barefoot.) and walked up the stairs to the room where mass is held. The priest celebrating mass today was also celebrating the anniversary of his ordination. He told stories of being with Mother, of how his being ordained by Pope John Paul II was only by the blessing of typhoid, maleria and parasties he got from his first visit to India, and how he learned two important things from mother - that jesus would rather die for all of us than live without us (in other words, he would rather die for the poor, starving beggar on the street than to live without him), and that he is waiting for us. At these words, tears came to my eyes. This is the short version of what he said...

Mother told him that Jesus would rather die for the poor than live without them. That means everyone. [I'm reading The Message right now, and as a reminder, we were made in the image and likeness of God, EVERY ONE OF US, not just the ones we judge as good or bad, or clean] He said that after serving at Khaligat, he could not walk past a homeless or poor person half-heartedly, because he in turn he was ignoring and walking half-heartedly past Jesus. Whilew he has not always lived up to this, he knows that sometimes his love becomes luke-warm, as all of ours does, but the fact that he KNOWS THIS, is enough.
The second thing he learned while with Mother and while volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity, was this.
He was working at Khaligat, and they brought in a man very close to death, he was so ill and sick, he was skin and bones, and what he had for clothes, the rags that he wore, were literally attatched to his body. One of the sisters asked Father to sit with the man, and he looked at him and knew that he was minutes from death. He stayed with him and held his hand, and at a certain time every day, all of the volunteers must leave for lunch, no exceptions. So, reluctantly, he left. He was sure that when he came back from lunch the man would be dead, but a sister was sitting with him, and he was still alive, but just barely. Father went and held the mans hands and the man said something in Bengali to Father, which, not speaking any Bengali, he didn't understand. Those words were that mans last breath. Father asked the sister what the man had said, and she looked at him and said, "He said, 'I have been waiting for you.'"

If that is not the most beautiful homily I have ever heard, I don't know what is.

He then proceeded to tell us that each person here has been waiting for us; that each of the poor in Kolkata is Jesus in disguise, as are the poor everywhere. It was a very moving mass for me.

Mass was very amazing in another way. It is so simple, for one. Everyone sits on the floor. The second, is that it is amazingly beautiful, and for the soul reason that all of the sisters and trainees to become sisters are all there, the sisters in the saris of white with blue, and the trainees in all white.
After mass, the trainee sisters all sang a song for Father, as it was his anniversary, and he is attempting to start another MC house in Ethiopia. It was a gorgeous site, and an amazing thing to hear.

After that was over, we went to have breakfast with all of the volunteers. The sisters provide us all with bananas (these bananas are amazing, by the way. They are about 3 inches long and super-sweet. The bread was okay, but....the coffee. I'm pretty sure its Chai Tea (it may be Chai Coffee), but it is the most amazing thing I have ever had, EVER. Its first on my list of international favorites. Second is fresh chanagne mangos from Tijuana, but I haven't had a mango here yet, we shall see. Its creamy and just sweet enough and....OH, SO GOOD! Its so good I would trade my white chocolate mocha any day for having that instead.
After everyone was done eating, we sang goodbye to a volunteer; this was his last day, and he had been here for over one year! Then we said our daily prayer, and we all left. Except for Tuan and Caitlin. Cailtin isn't feeling as bad, but she didn't feel well enough to work today, and after mass, Tuan looked terrible. They both went back to Hotel Maria.

Okay, a lot of you know I am terrible with names, but I walked to Shishu Bhanvan with a girl (Adama, I think), from Toronto, Canada, and we a great talk on the way there. We both are working on the Handicapped floor, so she gave me the lowdown on what goes on, I picked up an apron, took a swig of water and put my bag away, and then went to work. Our first task was feeding. I fed a little girl named...Lanka or Lanki, I can't remember. It is really difficult to feed a child who is handicapped and has MR. She was soooo adorable, though! One of the women that works there just gave me a her food and said what I'm assuming was "It's okay, you feed her" in Bengali (99% of women I have seen in India wear saris, for those of you who were wondering). I sat down in front of her little highchair with oatmeal or rice or something of the sort, and a spoon, and set off. She was very stubborn, and feeding was slow. I figured out something to keep her happy, though; saying her name a lot, and pointing to my cheeks and smiling really big and saying "Smile! Smile!" usually made her smile really big and laugh, which means I was allowed to give her some food.

I did physical therapy with a little boy named Johny, whos birthday is 10 July 2003! Each of the children have little books that tell the volunteers how to do physical therapy with them, and then you sign the book when you're done. Working with Johny was amazing! Hes soooo little, and he has gorgeous black/brown eyes, and for the most part is a very happy boy, but he is blind. I carried him from his crib to the mats and helped him stand up and flexed his arms. We had break after physical therapy, and when we came back it was lunch. For the first part of lunch I walked around and discovered an escapee from the "normal" toddlers floor, who was no older than 2. She had been dancing around in the hallway and ran into the Handicapped section where I caught her just before she bit it. She gave me a very grateful look and went on dancing. She was SO beautiful, and SOOOO CUTE! Shaking her little booty...anyway, for the second part of lunch I help changed a boys diaper, and then I went to feed Johny the rest of his meal. I got a few mintues of very happy and heartwarming giggles out of him, and had him clap to the music with me while we ate, but when he got bored, he wanted to listen to what was going on. I don't know if you knew this, but when blind people want to hear, they turn there head from side to side, like Stevie Wonder, because they can hear better. So here in this highchair I have this 4 year old boy who is blind and not increadibly hungry anymore, turning his head from side to side as im trying to stick a spoonfull of rice and gravy into his mouth. I got him to eat about half of it before it was time to leave, after figuring out how to get him to stop moving his head.

Shishu Bhavan is so amazing. This was exactly the experience I wanted from this trip. This will help me so much as a reference back in America, and working with these children is SO EASY! I thought I would be really hesitant to work with kids like this, some of who just have down syndrome, some of who are physically and mentally handicapped. Some of these children are very very skinny and can't move at all, but are in something of a fetal position. It barely phased me. They were all just beautiful children to me. It was fantastic.

I went to Lunch at Blue Sky with Caitlin when I got back, and we brought Tuan some toast. Now I'm here, and I don't know if I'm going to go to choir practice today. I'm really tired and I really REALLY want a shower.

That is all for today, my friends! Keep reading, and pictures will come soon!

Until next time
Briana