Bethania Orphanage

On Friday afternoon, other exchange students and myself packed our bags for an overnight visit to the Bethania orphanage; a three hour drive away (close by Indian standards!). The drive was beautiful, we even stopped to see a full rainbow! We also stopped for parathas (an indian bread which was very yummy :)). When we got there it was already dark so we sat in their common room so the kids could introduce themselves. There were both boys and girls ranging in ages from 8 to 18. After the introductions was dinner, which was rice and daal, with fresh bananas and papadum. After dinner most of the kids went to sleep while we stayed up and talked. We knew we had an early start the next day so most of us were in bed by 10, and by bed I mean a surprisingly comfortable mat on the floor; the only downside was the bugs, which happened to be everywhere. All in all it was a good night sleep with a nice breeze coming through the windows combined with the fans overhead.

The next morning I was up and decided to walk around and take pictures. We were told that if we got up early we would be able to see wild peacocks (India's national bird), unfortunately I did not get up early enough to see them, however I did hear them all day as they have a very distinctive call, almost like a cat meowing.

Within ten seconds of having my camera out three boys approached me and asked to take pictures. They ended up taking me on a tour of the orphanage taking photos of EVERYTHING they saw, so needless to say I now have some interesting photos on my camera :p

We had a very interesting Indian breakfast which consisted of idli and chutney, definitely not your English breakfast, but a delightful deviation from routine. After breakfast it was straight to work, we split up into two groups, one group went to go fill in the dirt road while my group made traditional brooms made from dried palms (http://www.cepolina.com/photo/broom_straw_house_cleaning.htm). After about an hour the groups switched and we went to go fill in their road with dirt while the other group got to relax and make brooms. We had a very efficient "assembly line" thing going on. The kids came and joined us filling in the roads. One person would dig up the dirt and place it into this metal pail and we would pass it down the line, simultaneously the other pails would make their way back to the beginning of the line to be filled again. We continued this work until it started raining.

After all the work it was time to relax. We climbed up the side of a mountain, checked out their well, the chapel and the grounds in general. We hung out a lot with the kids, talked about school, their extended families. They even taught us a few words in Tamil! They embraced us with such friendliness and hospitality, but unfortunately it was time to head back to kodai, and embark on the three hour drive back. It was filled with lots of laughs and stories which made the drive back much easier.

Another wonderful experience never to be forgotten

For more info on the orphanage http://oursabha.org/bethania.php

Too see all the photos http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150249343171666.324364.505031665&l=8bf3e1c0c1&type=1