Bethania Visits Nos. 4-7: Creche-O-Rama!

You are now entering a world of cuteness the likes of which ye hast ne’er seen. Captive Blog Audience, meet The Crèches. Crèches, meet Captive Blog Audience:























Clockwise from top-left: Joshua House, Deborah Care Centre, Mabel's Crèche, Nathaniel Care Center.


Crèche, used here, is another word for day care center. We’re talking three to five year-olds, with or without adorable uniforms. Each shorter than a cricket bat, each weighing precisely half a watermelon. In Kodai, Bethania currently supports four crèches, though upon visiting just one I wondered why we shouldn’t open a dozen more, naming them after my friends, my sisters, Kirby Puckett, and my first pet goldfish.

The little darlings not old enough to join their siblings at school, Bethania's crèches pick up the tab toward the utter pleasure of their company, enabling (usually both) parents to spend the day entrenched in back-breaking physical labor. (Mothers usually haul firewood on their heads up and down steep roads for $1.15/day; fathers work construction for $1.75 - $2.30/day.) No wonder the waiting lists' exponential growth: at a cost of ZERO, each child receives two sets of clothing; one hearty meal, two snacks daily; health checkups; and a top-notch, kindergarten-prep education.

So visiting one of these things follows a kind of protocol, whereby you're entitling to an impassioned welcome of “Good morning, Uncle! (Aunt!)”; a pregnant silence as you take your seat, during which 40-50 kids collectively size you up; followed by, at the behest of needlessly nervous teachers, a program of songs at tops of lungs, dances at crests of enthusiasm, and ABCs’ at zeniths of memorization. Also had one little dude give a speech, which went like this:

My country.
I love India.
I live in India.
India is the seventh largest country.*
Native flag is silver chakra in the middle.
It has three colors:
Saffron, white, and green.
Native beast is the peacock.*
In our country.
And celebrate.*
In our country.

* = Denotes desperate head twitching toward Teacher, line prompting.

I usually wait till the set of rehearsed ditties rounds out to move in for a little participation; see what they're really learning. Runs through days of the week, counts up to ten, animal impressions usually score high; amazing how young minds can soak up a second language. But beyond rote memorization, everyone gets a kick out of spontaneously sending a kid up front -- the one who does the best monkey, perhaps -- to perform for an audience. Sickening how much like Indian Idol it all becomes, but with a snap of the fingers I can direct the teachers to which kids are 'worthy' to be led out to the better light where Dad's hosting Gratuitous Photo Session Number Eighty-Seven. You can see I'm a bloody sucker for those jasmine flower hairdos.

And then suddenly a voice from the van out front is beckoning you come, on to the next unforgettable destination. You shake the last of countless little hands and toss just one more toddler around like a pizza crust before it's back down the windy mountain road to the plains, onto a train back to Chennai, into a lonely hotel room where you anxiously reconcile a heap of Goan textiles with an already bulging backpack, through airport security and onto the first of FIVE airplanes you've brainlessly scheduled for to carry you home.

Wish me luck,

Sorry so many semicolons,

L.

Kodaikanal: Sunday Market

Used the sunny Sunday afternoon in check out Kodai's exciting produce market. What a great surprise to find so many eager subjects! (Sorry for the shady faces... you know you can click to get a bigger photo, right?)

Bethania Visit No. 3: CSI Rehabilitation Center

Kodaikanal is home to many Bethania projects, the most inspiring of which I've found to be the CSI Rehabilitation Center. Celebrating more than ten years of aid to children with a variety of disabilities -- from mental retardation to polio to speech/hearing/sight impairments to Cerebral Palsy (a.k.a. 'CP', this condition has been the focus of Bethania's support of the center, which garners contributions from other charities as well.) -- the clinic/school currently assists about forty area kids.

We entered the center to find it buzzing with activity; three classrooms boasted kids hard at work on their lessons. A female team of devoted, skillfully trained 'special educators' hovered about, their care crafted to supplement a plethora of physical and mental limitations. Most kids we found seated at desks, angelically ordering a set of numbered cards, threading beads down a length of yarn, or practicing the motions to a song.

Must say, if there was a frowning face to be found in those rooms I CERTAINLY did not see it. Perumal, a boy whose reading was rudely interrupted by my camera, politely informed me in confident English that he was studying Tamil. A girl with severe thyroid disorder named Divia (pictured above... she's actually 13 years old!) seemed a tad melancholy till my shameless ham up of Old MacDonald finally had her in stitches.

Elsewhere in the center, a group of older children were busy with vocational training. Some sewed together large Bagunia leaves used to make containers for takeaway train food (right). Others grinded away at pasting together newspaper bags (below) for a local bakery... they've got an order of 10,000 to fill! The CSI Center prepares its students to advance in education as far as each is able, including college. Those for whom the upper limit is met sooner, however, seem delighted at this chance for 'Real World' training. It's also a chance to help fund raise for their beloved center!

Mr. and Mrs. Jayachundran, CSI Rehabilitation Center's visionary founders, graciously told us the triumphant story of the place. Throughout tales of obstacles overcome, surgeries braved, and painful first steps accomplished, a poignant refrain humbly differed to the true source of such bounteous success: "By God's Grace only has it been made so."

Kodaikanal: Old Haunts

We've made it to Kodaikanal!

In many ways, this is the true highlight of a trip that's seen countless. Perched a refreshing 7,000 feet above sea level, Kodaikanal ("Kodai" for short) not only has tons more Bethania sites for us to see -- featuring The Creches, which WILL cause your head to explode from cuteness overload -- but it's also where my family came in 1995 to spend the five most formative months of my life!

















Central House: The Hennigs' home from June to November, 1995. One of the first houses built by Kodai missionaries, the mud-and-stone duplex has lasted 156 years! Certainly the place has a 'frozen in time' effect. The Mennens, our old neighbors, still live next door. Their son Aditya was only three when, at this same picnic table, he used to bowl me over with his command of English, Tamil, AND Malayalam (language of his native state, Kerala). Now he's a strapping young man of fourteen, immersed in Mozart and Tolstoy!

Kodaikanal International School: Where Dad graduated high school in 1965. The idea behind the '95 trip was to give us kids an int'l exposure similar to what he had enjoyed. I'd say the gambit paid off: What a shock to be transplanted from the white bread Midwest to a classroom full of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Sikhs! I remember one of my classmates being punished for exclaiming "Holy cow!", thereby insulting the Biology teacher. Seen above is the Middle School where I completed Semester One of the Eighth Grade. (My older sister Kate was in Tenth, lil' Emily in fourth. And Mom taught ESL!)

Near Seven Roads Junction, just outside the school gate. It's odd. Back in '95, my best friend Pat Dornack and I never once talked on the phone. Nor was there email: all handwritten letters, all the time. Now alls I need to do is march down this street a ways, pop into an Internet cafe, and dial him up on Skype net phone, reaching him on his cell phone in Grenada, where he's in med school. (Though I've yet to work out the country code... sorry DJ!)

Fay's is where I used to slip into for lunch when the cafeteria's rice and dahl had me frightened, which was often. They still serve the chocolate pastries I joyfully stuffed my face with.

The Potter's Shed: Started by Bethania, proceeds from this shop go to our Kodai-based projects, in addition to other locals in need. You know, The Potter's Shed is nearly Bethania's single greatest success story... Why? Because it's mentioned in the Lonely Planet!

Bethania Visit No. 2: Nagercoil

On to Bethania visit No.2; this time we’re down in Nagercoil, a mere mango's throw from the southern tip of India. (Refer back to my January ‘Route Map’ posting if you’re confused!) This orphanage, home to 135 gorgeous girls in green, is located in a building that has recently undergone an exciting change with the addition of Otten Memorial Chapel. My father and I were on hand to celebrate the grand opening!


Much like at Injambakkam, there were garlands, songs, speeches, and ‘entertainments’ by the girls. Must say the dances are getting better and better. I jumped at the chance to throw on a guitar and run through that old standby from my Korea days, Yellow Submarine, joined by the girls at the chorus.

The Nagercoil home is run like an absolute top by Grace Subiah, a local legend who's been looking after young women's welfare in South India most all of her 76 years. (She's second from the right in the staff photo.) Grace's golden touch is present throughout the orphanage, from the modestly looped braids on the heads to the intense academic focus in the heads. Here during exam time, she's got the girls up at 4.00 a.m., but are they ever sharp! The performance during my impromptu English quiz (singulars-and-plurals) certainly gives many of my media-spoilt Korean students a run for their Rupees!



Again left the photos to Dad, again the result of excessive mobbing by Bethania kids. Much was made out of plucking flowers and sticking them in my hair. Didn’t mean to incite the ensuing deforestation, but man alive, the amount and the sincerity of downright adoration you get from these kids, all from doing nothing past paying them a visit! It just can’t be equaled. And I’ve been around my fair share of little rugrats.

Ooh! But I also had a project on my hands! KARE-11 news, the Twin Cities NBC affiliate, is doing a story on Dad and Bethania, and they’ve given us a suh-weeet Sony digital camcorder to get some footage! Staged a few interviews with Tsunami Kids -- Nagercoil's got its fair share, so close to the coast -- although things got touchy with little Brinda.

Recalling that fateful day through a translator, Brinda's delicate resolve finally crumbled, giving way to tears of anguish. Hurriedly, we shut off the camera and struggled to pull the darling from her haunted past, emphasizing just how much we had loved her dance moves earlier in the morning. (Below, front-left.) Steadily, surrounded by the utmost of empathy and love, Brinda was at last able to bring herself from those depths and back to Bethania, back to renewed dignity and hope.