Janene's Blog
We are here! After long flights and a few delays we arrived very late last night. Greeted at the airport by Anand, who runs COF with his wife Rosie, and two of the older boys from the orphanage we were driven the 40 minutes or so to the Children of Faith orphanage. Quickly settled in and off to bed for a few hours. Woke today to a beautiful sunrise and spent the day getting to know some of the kids and touring this amazing place. Ate wonderful Indian food, learned a little Telugu (the native language here) and started my mastery of the game" rocks" (a little like jacks). Seems to be the main game most of the girls play here and they are good! I improved a lot today with the help of the older girls and it is a mission to get to the end of the game before I leave. They seemed to enjoy my learning progress as much as I did... Looking forward to tomorrow! BTW, Cate just fell asleep next to me - she will update her blog tomorrow. For now here are a few of our moments from today...
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Day 2
Spent the day at the school helping the kids write letters to their sponsors. Most of the kids here have two sponsors - one to support them here at the orphanage and than a sponsor who supports their education. Rosie and Anand started COF 15 years ago with 5 children occupying one floor of a building. Today they have 120 boys and girls between the ages of 5-21 living and going to school in 3 building and over 7 floors. If my math is right Rosie was around 21 years old when Rosie and Anand left their jobs in the Bay Area and came back to start COF. There are a few here that have no parents, most have one and almost all seem to come from home situations that cannot support them, are abusive or want the girls married in their early teens.
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At the beginning of COF the kids went to other schools where Rosie and Anand felt the education wasn't strong so they started a school here - Hope Education. The teachers we met today seemed quite incredible - strong in the typical subjects and preparing the students to eventually take their 10 year exams. Once passed they will continue on to college (somewhat like junior college in the states). There are a few COF kids that are currently attending the local college and when I asked them today what it was like they smiled and quickly responded "hard".
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Warmth, love, kindness and self-confidence flows so easily from the kids and staff that support them. The smiles are infectious and the laughter is strong. I can see why Cate fell in love with it here...
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Day 3
Another beautiful hot day in India!
The heat takes some time to get used to – so hot and humid that each sense seems overloaded and then strong sheets of rain that cool everything down and quickly move on. Incredible amounts of water are quickly absorb into the soil once the sun comes out again. Through it all life here at COF moves on.
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The routine is consistent and we are starting to get into a rhythm. Morning highlights are watching the kids prepare for school including finishing up homework that was supposed to be completed the night before. Watching the younger ones sharing and copying workbooks in the morning while doing each other’s hair has made us smile. They start each day lined up in class rows at a morning assembly and then off to school for the day. We got the chance today to take over the 1rst, 2nd and 3rd/4th “grade” classrooms and lead a craft with the kids. Simple pipe cleaners and puff balls were new to most for these kids and it was so much fun! Grateful for the chance to work with them and looking forward to more classroom time.
Hope that many of you are seeing some of your donations at work! Thank you again – so appreciative of the support!
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Day 4
Yesterday Anand and Rosie gave us a tour of Vishakhapatnam. Spent the day seeing the city, headed to the beach to have lunch and then shopped. For the first few days of our trip we overlapped with Haley Lewis who first came to COF with LOPC in 2014. This was her third trip here in 5 years. Haley had fundraised donations to purchase new sports equipment for the kids and, along with additional donations from us, we were able to have fun at the sport store picking out numerous items for the boys and girls.
Cricket, as you can imagine, is a passion here in India and is played daily here by the boys. Anand picked out a nice new cricket racket for the boys and a couple smaller ones for the girls and young boys to use. Several different types of balls, whistles, nets and some board games were selected. We are passing them out this afternoon after school and chores (it’s Saturday and school still happens here!). Looking forward to seeing their reaction to the new items.
Last night Cate and I headed up to the roof to watch the sunset. On her last trip she told me this was one of her favorite things to do here daily – watching the sunrise and sunset from the roof. Truly spectacular. I had heard about India’s colors before coming here and it doesn’t disappoint.
A new puppy! Anand promises this has never happened before - someone just left a puppy at COF. In the afternoon while the kids were in school it was tied to the front gate. To say that the kids are excited would be an understatement. Will Rocky (as it was named by the boys who got to it first) be able to stay now seems to be the pressing question. For now it is being well loved by all and kept away from the other COF dogs Sandy, Snoopy and Sparky. They are protective of their family and won't take kindly to the new visitor. Just saw it again and it has a nice akupacca (green) coloring on it's back. Not too sure yet how that happened - when I asked the young boys how they just laughed... Rocky doesn't seem to mind.
It hard to believe we are on our 7th day here and leave in just 5 days! The days start early here -the kids are woken up at 6am to beautiful songs over the intercom and end after devotion and dinner at 10pm. Each day the kids have their chores to do including their own laundry. A few of the very young girls thought it funny that I still do Cate’s laundry at home.
Yesterday afternoon, after school, chores and homework, we passed out the new sports equipment including the jump ropes that we brought with us from the US (thank you again!). We than spent the next couple hours playing and enjoying the new gifts. The joy was overflowing and we loved watching and playing with them. Another thing they enjoy is taking photos and looking at the pictures. Many of the ones we have been posting have been taken by the boys and girls here. They are pretty good photographers and enjoy posing for the camera – especially the older boys.
The girls play a game called “Throwball” and with the new net we were able to get a game going. Rosie played and displayed her skills, love of the game and energy. The game is exactly like volleyball yet is thrown instead of hit. Many games I have played this week remind me of ones we play in the states – Computer is like Simon Says, Throwball like Volleyball, Rocks like Jacks, Stop like Freeze, etc. One of the games we play is called Kabaddi. Very fun and a little like dodgeball and a game where the girls get aggressive while playing. What I didn’t know is that this is a serious game televised on TV here with leagues, tournaments and medals awarded to top teams. Might actually need to start watching this – much more enjoyable than Cricket which I have learned can go on for up to 7 days!
Missing Bret, Emily, Erica and home so very much yet loving the time with Cate. India continues to find its way into your heart and know it will be hard to leave at the end of the week.
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V Help Foundation Event
A local non-profit organization, V Help, that supports some of the orphanages here in Vishakhapatnam had their annual event on Sunday night that we were able to attend. The kids were looking forward to it and got dressed up for the event. Dancing, singing, a magician, speeches, food and awards filled the few hours. It was held outside in the middle of a street with hundreds of people and kids attending and watching from rooftops. COF is easily the largest and strongest orphanage in the area and while walking in with Rosie and Anand you could see the appreciation that is given to them for the incredible work that they do for the kids.
Rosie and Anand had warned us that most there would never had seen Americans before and they might want to take some pictures. We have not seen any caucasians during our stay so understood the interest yet nothing could quite prepare us for the event. Autographs were requested, tons of photographs taken, many selfies and numerous hand-shaking and touches. At the end of the event it was asked that we come on stage to assist with awards and give a speech. It was overwhelming and felt unworthy of the attention we were getting given the incredible efforts of those that support the kids in need here. We were shepherded out of the event before it was over and headed to a little bit of America to end the night – Dominos!
Day 9
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Play
This afternoon we spent time playing games with the water balloons that were donated by our friends and family. The energy of pure joy seems to continue here during our stay at COF. These kids who have so little in terms of monetary goods continue to have an impact on us with their love, kindness, respect and joy. It is infectious and even the older boys couldn’t help themselves. Everyone needs some water balloons in their life every now and then…
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Hope Academy
We visited the site where construction will soon begin for the next phase of COF – Hope Academy. A new school that will enable the education of up to 800 students. It has been a vision for Rosie and Anand for a few years and the first phase should be open for students next year. The impact this school will have on the COF kids and the local community is hard to grasp. Education for the young women here can change the trajectory of their lives and possible future opportunities for both boys and girls.
Better information can be found on the following couple websites that I encourage you to visit.
I know the word “privilege” has been used a lot over the last year in America and for good reasons. Change does not happen when voices are not heard. To be here in India among these children, and especially the girls, the word privilege resounds strongly with me in regard to Erica, Cate and Emily. We know how fortunate we are to be born as girls in the United States that enable us the gifts we have, possibilities we can pursue with the right to an education.
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https://www.hopeacademyindia.com/
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Faith
It is impossible to be here in India and not think about faith. It surrounds you throughout the day. Sunrise, afternoons and evenings the local Hindu temples broadcast music calling those around to pray. The morning and evening devotionals here at COF start and close the day in worship, singing and prayer. The college students that are here at COF have many days off of school for Hindu holidays. And here there are Christians, Hindus and Muslims that live among each other each day.
Faith has always been personal to me – nothing that I felt comfortable or a strong desire to discuss with those outside of family and close friends. Church has been a part of life in some respect throughout my life yet not something I have been drawn to on a regular basis. I have always relied on faith during difficult times, when it was convenient and to explore how energy, love, patience, kindness and joy are shared experiences between all of us.
At Rosie’s request I have led the morning devotionals and ended the evening devotionals in prayer. With her encouragement she has gently pushed me outside my comfort zone and surprisingly it felt natural (once over the first time jitters). I picked a couple verses that best reflected on my experiences over the last couple weeks:
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The first verse I spoke about I came across a few nights ago and it resonated with me and my time here at COF. You are surrounded here each day with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.
The second was 1 Corinthians 13. My brother Trey encouraged me included this in our wedding ceremony (that he helped officiate!) and it probably took longer than necessary for me to fully understand. Grateful for him and am always inspired by his unwavering faith.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, – Gal 5:22 (NLT)
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV)
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Goodbye
This might be the hardest to write. When Cate first asked me to go on this trip with her, I thought a week would be sufficient. Two weeks she insisted. We settled closer to her length of time and now that is has come to an end I can’t seem to grasp where the time has gone. Looking back on this blog that she created and encouraged me to do it brings a huge smile to my face yet, of course, does not begin to cover this full experience.
It has been an enormous privilege to watch Cate work, play and interact with the kids here. She knows all 120 of the kid’s names including the ones that have left since she was here last and the new ones that replaced them. This is not easy – I would actually study names at night and have Cate quiz me and still could only retain a small percentage. Her passion for them and COF helped me through our time here.
Life here is not easy and Rosie and Anand work tirelessly to improve the lives of the kids at COF and the hundreds more kids with Hope Academy. This week Cate and I were able to assist them and give back with some of our gifts. Cate filmed, edited and produced a video that they needed for a service in the states, updated rosters, worked on the newsletter, edited sponsor information (love spreadsheets!) and I was able to help Anand develop finance policies and procedures for COF and Hope Academy. It was fun to be able to give back a little to a place that has given our family so much.
On our last night they had a show with dancing, speeches, prayers and more dancing. Rosie dressed me in one of her beautiful sarees. It is amazing to me how one piece of cloth, despite the cost or quality, can create such a striking look. The night was so much fun and went on much longer than expected. Both the girls and boys performed dances and at the end it was freestyle. The biggest hit was when the Crazy Frog dance came on. I don’t know how I have missed this phenomenon and how the kids all knew it! The girls tried to teach it to me but it was much more fun to watch them - boys and girls, separately, doing the Crazy Frog dance.
Before we left, we were given letters from the kids to bring home and even Bret, Erica and Emily have a few coming to them. I can’t wait to see Bret and the girls and to be home. On my last night I told the kids that COF felt more like a home than many homes in America. My hope is that we will bring some of this place home with us and that we find our way back someday.
xo-
Janene
