26 December 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008

Today is the last day of my Global Volunteers adventure in India. As I pack up and begin to prepare myself for my long journey home, I have a chance to reflect on the many people and experiences that have made this such a special and unique trip. I think of my days of construction with Harshal (include today – SURPRISE!) and think about how much more quickly and efficiently the local craftsman work than us. I am grateful to have had as good natured a partner as Harshal and hope he survives next week on his own!
I think of Enid singing “Marly, marly,” Chris recounting her massage experience, Harshal in his Santa suit, Cynthia wandering through the streets taking photographs and nearly walking into every bike, van, and auto-rickshaw that passed. I think of Joelle’s incredible joy and devotion to the children of Assisi, Miriam’s tears as she said good-bye to her sweet little friends at SEAMs, Nicky’s incredible, seeming endless array of sparkling, colorful outfits. I think of Roshan’s smile, Sheeba’s kindness and Stephen’s incredible patience. I think of our amazing Christmas dinner with Stephen’s entire family, Roshan’s baptism, I think of the gathering of pastors singing at SEAMs while we worked, The many Christmas pageants we got to attend, many times as guests of honor. I think of the cows and dogs and women wrapped in their beautiful sarees and bikes and auto-rickshaws and trucks and families of five on their motorcycle and men driving mopeds with their helmet in their lap talking on their cell-phones, all sharing in the tumultuous street life of Chennai. I think about Roni’s delicious cooking and that even with the physical labor, I will be returning home a little larger than I came here. I think of Barnabas’s 1000 watt smile, Little Stephen’s incredible nerves on the crazy road and the extraordinary welcoming we have received from all of our neighbors here. But most of all, I think of the children. I will carry their guileless, genuine, heartfelt smiles in my heart for years to come. They have taught me that it is possible to be extremely generous with very little, to be sincerely happy despite sleeping on the floor and not having a mommy or daddy to hold them or sing them to sleep or comfort them after a bad dream. They have reminded me what is at the core of all of us – the possibility of enjoying life amidst all the challenges the world can throw at us. I will take this lesson with me and treasure it. I couldn’t ask for better teachers.

“We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens in us –
How we can take it, what we do with it – and that it really counts in the end. How to take the raw stuff of life
And make it a thing of worth and beauty that is the test of living.”
Joseph Fort Newton


Molly