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| Some of us in the morning before heading to the colony |
Polambaakam Colony
Yesterday, we went to the leprosy colony called Polambaakam. Once we arrived, we unloaded all the supplies and set up the stations. There were a number of Indian nurses there that work with Rising Star Outreach and they did the work needed to be done by a nurse.
We had sevearl stations: giving eye drops, taking blood pressure/glucose levels, removing old bandages, soaking and washing feet, oiling feet, cutting off old/bad skin, and re-bandaging the wounds with nice, clean bandages.
As we headed over, I kept praying in my heart that love would flow from me to those we worked with and got to know. Even though I'm not a super duper clean person, I've noticed through the years an aversion to dirty hands and feet, especially feet. For so long, I've wanted to meet those with leprosy or affected/afflicted with the disease, and have felt this burning desire to come here, and yet, I have had this other fear that I would struggle with the very reason I wanted to come.
In my prayers, I kept thanking the Lord for this experience and asking Him to please soften my heart and help me get over myself and be able to give love and give their feet the care they needed from us.
As we began with the first man who was missing most of his foot and simply had his big toe left, and as I lifted his legs and feet to clean each ulcer, I felt completely free and felt so very happy. It was peacefully thrilling to be with these beautiful people, if that makes sense. And there was no problem with working with their feet. It was my privilege to wash their feet and it was such a sweet experience. We would try to communicate with each other, them in Tamil and me in English, which is funny to watch, but that went as far as hello ("vanacum") and thank you ("nandri") for me, and it was okay, there seemed to be enough communicated through our smiles and hand gestures :)
The last guy who is in the picture with me above, and below, he had a very special spirit. It was so strong that we all sensed it and commented on him afterwards. Man, such beautiful souls, and it almost felt like you could see right into them as they looked down at you. Such a happy experience.
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| Our beautiful singing and praising friend. He clapped his hands towards the heavens and very energetically and enthusiastically thanked the Lord after we finished working with him. Huge spirit in his little body. |
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| Random monkey we passed on the road. She's carrying her baby in her pouch-like thing. |
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| Some of us on our way up to the Christian Holy House |
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| Play time: 4:30-5:50pm |
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| Students' Hostel: One side for the girls and the other for the boys. They are divided into families and at night time from 7:30-8:30pm I'm assigned to one of the boy side "families" for the end of the day family time. They are such great kids, many study so hard so that they can do well...and they play hard too :) This "evening family time" has been one of the sweetest times with the kids for me thus far. The smaller group dynamics is nice because it's easier to give focused and individual attention to them than when they are in a bigger group. |
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| They're so beautiful! Quite smart too :) |
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| Many of the children getting ready for prayer time and then dinner. They rotate 3 types of prayers: Hindu, Muslim, Christian. |
As we headed over, I kept praying in my heart that love would flow from me to those we worked with and got to know. Even though I'm not a super duper clean person, I've noticed through the years an aversion to dirty hands and feet, especially feet. For so long, I've wanted to meet those with leprosy or affected/afflicted with the disease, and have felt this burning desire to come here, and yet, I have had this other fear that I would struggle with the very reason I wanted to come. 
As we began with the first man who was missing most of his foot and simply had his big toe left, and as I lifted his legs and feet to clean each ulcer, I felt completely free and felt so very happy. It was peacefully thrilling to be with these beautiful people, if that makes sense. And there was no problem with working with their feet. It was my privilege to wash their feet and it was such a sweet experience. We would try to communicate with each other, them in Tamil and me in English, which is funny to watch, but that went as far as hello ("vanacum") and thank you ("nandri") for me, and it was okay, there seemed to be enough communicated through our smiles and hand gestures :)
4 comments:
Wonderful pictures!
Rach called me this evening, and I told her to be SURE and look at the pic on your blog. I sent a link to Sandra, our parts manager, as she was interested in looking at what you are doing.
You have a wonderful spirit, little lady...it shines right through :)
Love you...AALaura
So cool, the people look so awesome! I love the pics with all the little ones. So very precious. Thanks for sharing Montie! :D
Wow-- you weren't kidding! You're really truly blogging! I'm excited to hear all about this. I'm so happy for you that you are able to treat the leprosy victims without having to hide and feelings of aversion. What an awesome experience.
What a beautiful experience! Thank you for sharing. It's funny, I've long had the same problem with feet (James is probably the only person who has ever gotten a foot rub from me for that very reason)and as I looked at your first picture I wondered if I would be able to do that. It's awesome to learn that the Lord can help us overcome natural aversions through pure love!
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