COFM India Day 2 -Meet the children

1/6/07 –Saturday

What an amazing greeting! We arrived at the Vizag airport, which is also a military base, just before 2pm. We could see Anand just outside the door, but the guy with the gun wouldn’t let anyone in the baggage area. So after we got our bags we went outside to meet Anand. However, we ended up being greeted by a whole team of people! Most of Anand’s family all came to meet us at the airport. They also had long strands of flowers, called garland, and bouquets for us. After traveling for two days, it was probably a really great idea to have flowers to cover up our smell!

We probably had about 3 cars full of people and luggage to bring back to the orphanage. Riding is certainly an adventure here. The main roads are paved but the others are certainly something else. When we got to the orphanage the children were lined up on the front porch waiting to meet us. It was very exciting and so joyful to see so many happy faces. Everyone shuffled inside to the first floor room and the kids had a great time singing songs for us. Paula is also visiting the orphanage right now. She is from Australia and is volunteering as part of an internship of sorts. She has been working with the children on English.

Anand brought us around the building for a quick tour. I think we’ll be more comfortable then I anticipated. I’m not sure how the showering thing will work out, I think some may adjust a little easier then others. The girls will be sharing one larger room, there’s a large bathroom attached but the toilet is leaking. Jeremy and I are in another room, there’s a bathroom outside of it, but construction is still in process to put a toilet in. Dinner comes up, a great rice and curry dish. One of the last things we were worried about adjusting to. However, again I think this is going to be easier then we thought. The food is just amazing, a great mixture of spice.

After dinner we still had some daylight time to spend with the kids. They are so happy and love to tell you their names and play games. They have been enjoying having their picture taken. They have such simple surrounding and they are so extremely happy and loving – we should learn such contentment from them.