Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Didi

Tiana Chambers




No matter what anyone tells you Kalsuin is the best ashram! We have the cutest orphans ever. I love them so much already. I’m already sad when I have to leave just for the night; I don’t know how I’m going to leave them forever in a few days. I loved the kids within the first five minutes, and it grows every second I’m with them. In our ashram we have boys and girls, ages 1-13. Everywhere I go I have kids dangling from my every limb. They fight over who gets to hold our hands and love to ride on our shoulders.

These orphans have so much love it’s amazing. They are constantly smiling and giving hugs. One girl held up a plastic flower to me and placed it in my hand, she folded my fingers over it and said “please keep! Please keep!”. All day the girl was making sure that I still had my flower. Yesterday the kids skipped lunch because they were having too much fun. Today we made them go to lunch and as they were leaving one girl, Tanya, pulled me down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was so sweet and ever since then I have been receiving non-stop kisses.

I was anticipating the language barrier to be a big problem, but it really hasn’t been an issue. It’s amazing how well we can speak to them, I keep forgetting we don’t speak the same language. Halfway through the morning I noticed the children calling me “Didi” or “Tiana Didi”. I asked our translator (who has an unpronounceable name) what Didi meant, and he said “elder sister”. I love these kids so much and it feels like we are one giant family.

So far, this experience has been amazing. India is the most beautiful place I have ever been. I am so in awe at every moment at how incredible this place is. The mountains are so green and everything is colorful. I absolutely love it here and I am so thankful every second for this opportunity!

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