A typical day at Rising Star Outreach usually goes like this:
8:30 - Morning devotional
9:00 - depart with your groups for one of three jobs: medical, community service and education
2:00 - free time, rejuvenate, blogging
4:30 - play time with the kids ( good thing you rejuvenated because you just lost all your energy again)
6:00 - dinner together as volunteers (rice and curry... every single night) ;)
7:30 - family time
8:30 - go home, take a bucket shower and crash :)
When working with the medical group you are driven out to a colony where people who have leprosy live together. While you are there you set up various stations with one or two volunteers at each one. The first station is blood pressure and glucose testing. Then they come to get their old bandages removed. Once their bandages are gone then they must get their feet washed, being careful not to get soapy water in their ulcers. After being washed they get to have their feet oiled, and then finally re-bandaged. Those with particularly bad eyes may also have eye drops put in them. When they have gone through all the stations they may get their medicine and then while some retreat back to their rooms, many hang around to have their pictures taken with us and give us hugs filled with gratitude.
The community service group also goes out to leprosy colonies, although usually a different one than the medical group for that day. While there we get a good work out moving bricks and bags of sand to locations where we will begin building toilets for people who don't have one (and if you're me, occasionally slipping, with a plate of bricks in hand, and scraping you're shin pretty badly). This day was easily the hardest. We spend hours in the agonizing heat and humidity working up quite a sweat and bordering line of dehydration. But it is all worth it to see the cutest little old lady smack her gums and clap her limbs together in pure excitement that she will be getting a toilet.
One would think that, compared to the other two, education would be quite easy. Not so in my case. The education group walks over to the rising star school that is filled with children whose parents suffer from leprosy, and works one-on-one with children on basic math and reading skills. Some children are eager to learn and make your job easy, while most are either fighting for your attention or fighting you because they don't want to read. Although it is very frustrating and exhausting to get these kids to sit still during tutoring hours, it is fun and exhilarating to watch them go and go and go and go (and drag you with them) during recess and lunch hours.
Play time with the kids usually ends up with me playing tag, spinning the merry-go-round and helping kids the monkey bars for an hour and a half. And I was worried about not exercising while here...
Family time is one of the best parts of the day. All of the school children are divided into houses and live in a certain area of a hostel (usually three bedrooms) with other children in the school and one housemother. Many of the children don't end up in the same house as their actual siblings and the boys and girls are separated of course. In each family there are around 20 children. We are each assigned to a house and during family time we go to that house and enjoy relaxing time with them before their housemother must put them to bed. This is the time that we get to read with them, help them with homework, play clapping games or let them tattoo you with henna.
These days are busy and tiring, but every minute is worth it.
8:30 - Morning devotional
9:00 - depart with your groups for one of three jobs: medical, community service and education
2:00 - free time, rejuvenate, blogging
4:30 - play time with the kids ( good thing you rejuvenated because you just lost all your energy again)
6:00 - dinner together as volunteers (rice and curry... every single night) ;)
7:30 - family time
8:30 - go home, take a bucket shower and crash :)
When working with the medical group you are driven out to a colony where people who have leprosy live together. While you are there you set up various stations with one or two volunteers at each one. The first station is blood pressure and glucose testing. Then they come to get their old bandages removed. Once their bandages are gone then they must get their feet washed, being careful not to get soapy water in their ulcers. After being washed they get to have their feet oiled, and then finally re-bandaged. Those with particularly bad eyes may also have eye drops put in them. When they have gone through all the stations they may get their medicine and then while some retreat back to their rooms, many hang around to have their pictures taken with us and give us hugs filled with gratitude.
The community service group also goes out to leprosy colonies, although usually a different one than the medical group for that day. While there we get a good work out moving bricks and bags of sand to locations where we will begin building toilets for people who don't have one (and if you're me, occasionally slipping, with a plate of bricks in hand, and scraping you're shin pretty badly). This day was easily the hardest. We spend hours in the agonizing heat and humidity working up quite a sweat and bordering line of dehydration. But it is all worth it to see the cutest little old lady smack her gums and clap her limbs together in pure excitement that she will be getting a toilet.
One would think that, compared to the other two, education would be quite easy. Not so in my case. The education group walks over to the rising star school that is filled with children whose parents suffer from leprosy, and works one-on-one with children on basic math and reading skills. Some children are eager to learn and make your job easy, while most are either fighting for your attention or fighting you because they don't want to read. Although it is very frustrating and exhausting to get these kids to sit still during tutoring hours, it is fun and exhilarating to watch them go and go and go and go (and drag you with them) during recess and lunch hours.
Play time with the kids usually ends up with me playing tag, spinning the merry-go-round and helping kids the monkey bars for an hour and a half. And I was worried about not exercising while here...
Family time is one of the best parts of the day. All of the school children are divided into houses and live in a certain area of a hostel (usually three bedrooms) with other children in the school and one housemother. Many of the children don't end up in the same house as their actual siblings and the boys and girls are separated of course. In each family there are around 20 children. We are each assigned to a house and during family time we go to that house and enjoy relaxing time with them before their housemother must put them to bed. This is the time that we get to read with them, help them with homework, play clapping games or let them tattoo you with henna.
These days are busy and tiring, but every minute is worth it.
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