I finally decided to put the effort into posting some pictures... Here are some small glimpses into what life looked like for me this summer!
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| These are my Preschoolers! |
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| Rebecca and I after Leela let us all try on Saris at her house |
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| Bangles, an example of how many colors we saw everywhere |
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| Yvette and I after the first time we got mahandi done on our hands |
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| These are some of the wonderful people I worked with. I'm not sure how safe it is to put names up online... |
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| Ragu, Akash, and Vignesh. The boys at tutoring were so energetic and they especially loved it when I taught them colors in English |
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| This is Vijalaxmi from the preschool. Sometimes the girls in India would seem very cold, but when they discover how much you truly like them, it's like they can't get enough attention. It made me consider how so many of their parents feel when they heard the words "it's a girl" and the importance of being wanted. |
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| Sudandand, whom we called "Gopi" was the silliest! Sometimes he pulled his socks up to his knees and slid all over the floor just for fun! |
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| Gulfan was one of the most mean and difficult children I ever encountered. It seemed like nothing we could do would get through to him. Then one day Lindsay just hugged him instead of punishing him. When we simply loved him, which turns out is more important to God than getting him to learn the ABC's, he responded better and better to us and learned more as well. By the end of our time there he would participate in songs, voluntarily hug us, and cry when he had to go home. |
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| Sometimes it took a lot to get the girls to smile with their teeth. This is Neelama from Tutoring. |
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| This little boy was almost always content in his own little world. He liked to build towers with the blocks and pretend they were ice cream. |
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| Manjunath is a very very special little boy |
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| Typical moment of singing and slight chaos in the preschool |
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| I got to ride an elephant, in the jungle, in the rain. :) |
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| This is Akash at tutoring, working on schoolwork. |
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| My friend Leela who worked on the beach selling things from her shop to tourists. She can speak good English, but Caitlyn and I got to teach her and two other women on the beach how to read and write for the last week or so. |
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| Gathering with the women after a nutrition class. |
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Just to give credit where it is due, I did not take all of these pictures. Our team shared them, so some of the other girls are responsible for some of them.
