Thursday, November 19, 2009

Kelsey's goodbye to Bethania, I love you my 34 brothers and sisters!

Our last two days at Bethania were full of laughter, crying and intense emotions. At breakfast on Tuesday MK came to stand next to our table and talk, as he always does. "You today going?" "No, we leave tomorrow." "Your back come?" "I don't know..." And little Karthi next to him saying, "You no back coming?" "Maybe we will one day, but not for a while." It was so sad. Standing there, MK almost was left by the bus, as we tried to explain that, as of now, we were leaving for good. Saying we may not see them again is so heartbreaking, especially for kids who have experienced such hardship and loss.

We spent the morning starting to clean and pack up our room- we burnt our trash, took down our artwork covering the walls, started to put things away in our suitcases. We then spent the rest of the morning finishing all of the boys' cards, writing their personalized messages and our inside jokes with them, covering the cards with stickers. We dug through our suitcases to find things we know they would like- ziplock bags, little empty bottles, shells, gum containers, corks, and American pennies and quarters. We worked the whole morning, only taking a break for lunch.

At 4 we got ready to get on the bus to go pick up the kids from school. We gave GP a gift- a water bottle from America- which he said his daughter will like and talked with him for a while. He told us that he will write us a letter, and to tell our families Happy Christmas. He said it will be sad to see us leave because all of the students are so happy with us here, as he pointed to the chalk drawings outside that we made with them. We talked about some other volunteers that had been here, and told us we must come back one day. He says Hi to James Brindley, who 'is very height!' like all the kids like to say.

It was nice to surprise the kids by picking them up from school. We had to wait in a parking lot alone on the bus a little while before the kids arrived. Suddenly, the bus was swarmed by probably 50 little kids, pointing to the "valakari!" (white girls) on the bus. The all wanted to know our names, hit the bus to get our attention, and a few even walked onto the bus to talk to us! We didn't really know what to do, just told them our names and hoped they all wouldn't decide to jump on the bus too! We were very relieved when our kids came on to join us. They all told us about their day, Muruganadam and Pandi shower us magic tricks, Pandi gave us cards he'd made for us at school. It was really sweet. They make us so happy! Little Karthi got on the bus with the hugest smile on his face! We started to sing, play rock paper scissors shoot and thumb wars right away. With Nageswari, we sung "Everybody, move your body!" She loves that song, from a Vijay Tamil movie. Muga and I made funny faces and sounds, and she pretended to be a monkey eating me.

When we got home, we passed out Starbursts (or "chocolate" as every candy is called) which made everyone happy. We then took down music, cards, chess, and the rest of the paper, crayons, and pencils. We spent several hours coloring, making and receiving cards, and playing. Alagarsamy was the DJ and in charge of whose turn it was to hold the iPod. No matter how much he loves it, he is always responsible and shares. We listened to all of our favorites until the battery ran out. It was sad to finally pass out the leftover crayons, pencils and markers for good instead of keeping them to use later. It seemed so surreal, we wanted to smile and laugh, keep it happy with the kids and pass out presents and give them everything they want, but I was breaking down inside knowing this would be the last time I'd play cards with M+M, color with Muga, and tell Sethu and Sathiya how to spell every word they wanted to write.

Pandi took us aside during all of this, leading us in the dark to the back of the kitchen. We were confused and didn't know what he had planned. With a big smile, he then handed us each 2 sparklers that he had saved from Deepavali and we lit them, twirling them around in circles. It was so sweet and thoughtful of him to save those! He said, "I now very happy sister!" It was so beautiful and heartwarming, Pandi is such a good boy, who never gets in fights and is so generous, I love him so much.

After an emotional prayer, we had all the kids sit in the dinning hall and we passed out the gifts. We gave each of our brothers and sisters their own individual bag with their names on it, with their personal card and gifts. They were all so happy, a lot of them getting things they'd been asking for the whole time but we were still using. The boys loved their little plastic animals, balls, bandaids, stickers, boxes, and shells. They all got a coin too, everyone wanted to know, "what rupees sister?" The girls loved their jewelry, bangles, and earrings, putting them in right away. The two girls that got them loved the perfume, little girls got hair ties, and they practiced using the bags we'd given them as purses. Veni got my shoes too, since the dog had chewed hers up that morning. MK was most excited for getting the bright blue iPod case. There was some confusion over if he was actually getting the iPod, which the other boys were not happy about! MK loved it and ran over to show his mom, Ishwari. I was so glad to see how happy it made him, especially after all of the candies, bows and arrows, bead rings and biscuits he has given us! I love MK so much, he's such a sweet little boy who has a bright smile and is so loving.

All of the kids with siblings ran over to show their brothers and sisters what they got. Muruganadam sent up his gift to show Nandhini, who had to stay upstairs since she has a fever, and Nandhini sent hers down for him to see. Sathish ran over to show Lavinya his gift as soon as he got it. It was nice to read the kids their cards and show them the stickers and drawings like Antony's chess board. They all looked through eachothers presents in amazement, finding all different things in each one. In Divya's everything was green like our much loved doll Panjawarnam. MK had everything blue, while Eminem's was all red. We left the chess board with Mani. He is very kind and responsible, a leader who speaks quietly but is listened to. He mediates fights between the boys, and next year will be the biggest boy, in 9 standard. He says he will make sure the boys and the girls all share. Little Karthi got the Uno cards. His face lit up and yelled "WOW!" when he saw them! It was priceless. We left the playing cards with our smart Rani, who gets very good marks and who we know will be a great Doctor one day. She's straight-up and honest, while staying very kind and sweet, wanting our assurance over and over that we'll never forget her.

After dinner, we sat with the girls for a while and passed out clothes. We had a huge bag filled with shirts, pants, and even socks, which they say they will sleep in in the winter. It was so funny to see Rani in my green T-shirt and Nageswari in my blue shirt, both way too big for the girls, reaching almost to their knees! They loved it anyway though. Divya got fuzzy green socks that she was a bit confused about, giving us her "What, sister?!" that she seems to ask us a lot! We think it fits her anyway though :) they were so happy to get our shirts and clothes to remember us and wear. Our suitcases seem much lighter now that all the gifts have been given, but are full of much better things- our love-filled drawings, letters and little gifts from our brothers and sisters.

We also got a list of everyones' favorite colors for buying them Christmas clothes in Madurai. While sitting outside, Dhana Packiam have me a Tamil lesson too, teaching me how to write words properly and getting super happy whenever I did it correctly. She is so strong and brave, a girl that everyone else respects and listens to, and who isn't afraid to voice her opinions. She writes really well. My journal is full of beautiful letters- from Saraswathi, big and little Muthumari, Dhana Packiam. They are all so unique and personal, full of beautiful memories.


We woke up early this morning, before we even heard the sound of sweeping outside. We, for the last time, opened our door to see the girls doing their hair, sweeping, washing, dressing, all greeting us with smiles and "Good morning sister! Good sleep?" Dhana Packiam braided my hair, and I put in some goregous purple and orange flowers that Ishwari tied together for us. We had tea with everyone, taking pictures outside by flowers with all the kids. Paige and I led the prayer this morning. Paige picked out a Bible passage and then we spoke our prayer, trying hard to hold back the tears. I prayed for all of the kids to stay happy and healthy, for them to know they will forever be in our hearts and to say thank you for all of the incredible memories over the past 2months. By the end I was crying. Suganya, our fun and goofy 8th grade sister with a huge smile, told me "No crying sister! You no cry!" Muga was so sad, her normally very expressive and bright face in a depressed frown. Eminem kept telling us if we cry, she will cry. Muthumari gave us big, sad smiles to cover the tears.

We brought down music and listened while we ate breakfast and spent time outside with everyone. Our favorite songs lightened the mood and allowed for some fun few laughs. We then walked over to wave goodbye and hug every kid before they got on the bus. We gave them big hugs and said goodbye to our 34 brothers and sisters. Hugging my strong and beautiful Muthumari, sad little Muga, deep and wise Dhana Packiam, brave Mani, precious little MK. We broke down crying as we waved by to our siblings, teachers, students, loves.

We spent the rest of the morning cleaning out our room and moving out of the amazing place we have called home for the past two months. We went outside and ST the bus driver and GP gave us Nim tree saplings. They dug holes and we planted our tree saplings in front of the boys dorm, packing them down in dirt and watering them. Hopefully we will return one day to see how they've grown. GP said they will be beautiful in front of the boys dorm and give good shade.

We got a happy surprise when Saraswathi came home. Even though she had to come home because she had fever, we were happy to see her! She told us that after the bus had left this morning, all of the boys were crying- tough little Sethu, Sathish, Mani. Our little men and brothers, who act so strong and don't want us to see their tears. It feels so bad to have caused our brothers and sisters to cry, and we feel their pain exactly, if only we could stay with them!

After hanging up a sign that we made for all the kids, we left and drove to Pattiveeranpatti with Vijayasarathy. It was so weird to watch the landscape, the mountains, goats, little houses all pass by and knowing we wouldn't be coming back in a few days!

It is nice being back in our comfortable room in Patti, but sad to think we will have to say bye to all of this and India, our new home, so soon!

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