Weekend at Operation Shanti

...Saturday is chores day...and everyone gets involved except the small kids (or older peeps like me)...they have lunch and then it's off for a nap haha...but the older girls and boys get busy washing their uniforms...an exercise that should really take half an hour but ended up taking an hour and a half...I am not sure if it was because I was supervising them or is it like this every Saturday...Ma'am no bucket...uuh go steal one from the boys hehe...Ma'am only one sock...uuuh ok maybe it will turn up soon...Ma'am Prema no washing...uuuh ok...Prema washing here NOW!!! Ma'am Ma'am...Ma'am tired...Ma'am go make chappati now you all finish fast fast ok!...we also make chappati on Saturdays as a change from the daily rice...but of course when I get to the kitchen the only thing left for me is rolling the chappati dough into balls...200 balls later I decided I had enough hahaha...but it is refreshing to see the kids behave as normal kids and helping one another...we need more of this in our own homes...

...Sunday was a treat for the kids...they were invited to spend the day at the workplace of an Indian electronics design company as part of their Children's Day...and off we went...I was their chaperone for the day as Tracy had errands to run...this was my first glimpse into community involvement in India...the company's employees had arranged games...the kids danced...we had a sumptuous lunch...and ice-cream as the big treat...there is so much poverty here in India and the divide between the rich and poor so wide...and I hope that in my time here i experience more of this before I leave...it felt the same...did not matter that I was in India...and that these kids and their circumstances are new to me...and that they behave themselves as do the kids I work with in Aceh and East Timor...some orphaned...some abused...some abandoned...some traumatized...BUT they all are children and vulnerable at the end of the day...and I need you to help me help them...so please do what you can for any vulnerable child out there...as an organization that you work for...as an individual...but most importantly as a decent human being on this planet...this is not me preaching...this is me telling you that it only takes one hand to help...Namaste!