On love that stretches over oceans

The last 3 weeks feel like a dream. I started three Sundays ago by making 20 meals and feeding 20 kids by myself (with a little help from Chetri unexpectedly) and yesterday I fed 50, with the help of my co-workers. But this particular entry isn't about those of us here in Guwahati at all. 

This is about the unbelievable love that has stretched from Corona, California all the way to Guwahati, India. One week ago I received an e-mail from a long time friend Natalie. We've known each other for what feels like forever via mutual friends and growing up going to shows. I've never known her very well, but one thing that has always shone through her is her heart. She is a big supporter of organizations such as Invisible Children and clearly cares for kids in under developed countries. She has helped set-up many benefit art shows and I am certain she has done much more than I even know of. 

I had to read her initial e-mail 3 times over, it was so unexpected. The love and support that poured out of it hit me hard. She said she wanted to give a donation to be used towards feeding the kids and/or sponsoring the slum girls day. It is so wild to me that someone so far away is moved to help here, to help feed the bellies of kids they have never met. Her intent to give so selflessly from over 7,000 miles away moved me to tears. She said she needed a few days to get it together and get the funds to me. In the interest of honesty I was expecting 10 or 20 dollars (which is enough to feed about 40-90 kids alone would be a significant donation.) so imagine my even bigger surprise when she mailed me on Thursday saying she had raised $184 for the kids here!!!!! There are absolutely no words to describe what I was feeling when I found this out. Here is the reality of that donation: 

$184 can:

-Feed 736 mouths

-Sponsor 37 girls

-Or any combination there of ($84 dollars to the weekly meals which will last over 7 weeks and $100 to the girls days which will sponsor 20 girls)

As it turns out, she set up a bake sale at her office and in one day they raised this! I am told they played some fun Hindi music (in honor of Diwali and feeding Indian kids) and she spread the word about my life here. If any of you guys who bought a yummy treat are reading this, I want to thank you! I wish you could each be here to see just how far this will go, to witness personally the undeniable joy that you are helping us to spread. It means more to me than I could ever express. As I handed out each meal, I saw the face of Love in them. A face I could see because of the warmth and support you have shown me from all the way across the ocean. 

Thank you so much. 

Here is how our day went:

Living openly

This weekend was an amazing argument for the reason I am trying so hard to live openly. It is crazy how easily I could spend every moment here in the service of the people who need help, and still have more to do. So I told myself to just live with my life open, open to the need of those around me. To know, accept and act on the moments when the opportunity to arises. This weekend was a living test of that!

On Saturday my roommate had set up a "street girls day" with the a Father who runs a few orphanages in the city. None of us knew really what to expect out of the day and I think all of our minds were blown at how awesome it was! Father Lucose went to the slums at the train tracks to pick up 17 girls (and 1 boy!) and brought them to one of the girls' homes he runs. They showed up in a bus around 10am and the madness ensued! We started by giving them all a good brush and trim. One of the smallest girls had her head shaved down close and she was rather upset that she couldn't have her hair cut so we "trimmed it" for her, it was so cute! Meanwhile we played games in the grass, swung on the swings and my patty-cake abilities were put to the test. Next it was time to treat them for lice! Every kid got a good hair washing with lice shampoo and as I scrubbed each one of their heads' the suds on my hands were dark brown, it had been a long time since a real shower for them. As the shampoo took effect we went out in the yard to play red light green light and freeze tag. Soon the nuns arrived with a new outfit for each child so it was bath time! We bathed every child head to toe and each wanted to be washed by one of us personally. The little boy bathed four times, he was so excited! As each one was patted dry we lotioned, oiled, and picked out lice. Remember how nicely your mommy used to rub lotion into your back and on your arms, imagine never having had that in your entire life. After they all got snazzed up in their new outfits I treated a few wounds and sent them off for lunch time! Everyone got a nice warm meal then ended the day with a movie! As they left I couldn't stop the swelling in my chest! It was such an amazing day. You could easily see the joy in their eyes, to be taken care of and loved on for one day! This will be a monthly occurrence and I couldn't look forward to it more. 

Saturday evening I spent preparing to make my big meal for the street kids the following day. I went to the market, bought a pressure cooker, sliced up 30 servings of carrots and cucumbers, treated myself for lice and finally passed out in bed! Sunday morning I woke up bright and shiny and started cooking. I used a pressure cooker to make the dal this time and I am now sure that it was my best purchase of 2011. It made cooking 30 meals a breeze. So easy in fact, that next week I may have to try for 40 or 50 meals. I finished cooking around noon, just in time for my roommate to come home and help me pass them out. We headed down the street in a tuk tuk and got out at the  first street children we saw. It was a bit insane at first but it calmed down. The trouble was that a few children were hiding the meals we had given them and then taking multiple. It makes it so difficult, I know that they would eat five meals if I gave it to them. However, the point of this is to feed as many mouths as I can, not the same mouth over and over all at once. I couldn't stand telling them no and to stop but what would have hurt me even more would have been having to turn away a child that got nothing in front of a child who got three whole meals. 

It was so hectic that we forget to give bananas to the first group of children. We finished passing out the  meals and then headed back to them to give them bananas. As we were handing them out, a girl around the age of 11 tugged on my shirt. I looked down and she pointed at a wound on her ankle. It was pretty big, partially healed but with some open spots. The girl was covered head to toe in filth, the wound was no exception. She asked me for help, and I had nothing to offer her at that moment. So, today I am off to buy some supplied before heading to work. If I can find her I will clean it for her, if not I will try again tomorrow. This is a moment when I wish I could open up my own home to a child like that, to clean her and treat her wound in a clean environment but right now I can't. So that leaves me wondering, as I continue to open myself up, what will be opened to me?

(No clue who the guy in the back is. Honestly.)

Ask and you shall receive Chetri

I spent a few hours making 20 meals this morning, questioning my sanity the whole time. I have been feeling the urge to start cooking meals at least once a week for the many children who can be found living on the street. Fear amongst other things has been holding me back. I was scared that the children would want money instead of food, that I would get swarmed and not be able to provide for everyone, or even that I wouldn't be able to find anyone to feed! What would I make? How would I serve it? Would it taste good and be nutritious? There was just so much I was unsure about that I had convinced myself for months that it wouldn't be worthwhile. 

Wait, what???

If the mouth of only one hungry child is fed, shouldn't that be enough? I started to realize that I was worried I wouldn't meet my goals, or meet my satisfaction instead of worrying about meeting the goals of whatever thing (much bigger than myself) brought me here. In all honesty, Katy really encouraged me to just go for it. We had many conversations about it and I left Hong Kong knowing that I just needed to do it. So, I did. And here is how making 20+meals by myself went:

-I burned the dal a little bit

-I made too much rice

-The containers collapsed and leaked dal all over

-I had solicited the help of my roomie to help me carry and deliver the food but she couldn't make it home in time. I was on my own. *In her defense she was at an orphanage playing with children, can't hold that against her*

-I cried a little bit because I wasn't sure how to physically carry it all and I didn't want to go to the train tracks alone. I found myself asking, am I really meant to do this all by myself?? I just wanted a little help!

-I took a deep breath, and realized that surly I won't have made these meals just to waste them because I can't carry them all myself. So, I shoved 20 boxes of rice in my back pack along with 25 bananas and placed all the dal in a box to carry in my arms. 

-I hailed a tuk tuk, with dal leaking all over my legs

-I saw five children in a pile of trash, looking for food so I got out of the tuk tuk

-As I was feeding them I heard my name

-I turned around and saw one of the hospital's employees, a man named Chetri behind me

-He doesn't work for OpSmile but he is always helping us (ex: Carrying large children down the stairs when the elevator is broken, fixing equipment, blowing bubbles on the ward, feeding the birds from the window of the hospital's OR, etc)

-He saw me feeding the kids and asked if he could help, of course I said yes. God sent me Chetri! I couldn't get rid of my smile. 

-He took the box out of my hands and helped explain to the adults around that first the meals must be given to children

-We kept walking, handing out meals to any street child we saw

-As we got to the tracks I was worried I wouldn't have enough meals, surely I would run out and disappoint some of the kids

-I was down to my last 8 meals when I looked up and counted exactly eight hands held out to me

-A train passed by as I finished handing it out, I was able to slip back down the road without being swarmed

-Chetri went about his day, buying vegetables as he does on any given Sunday. 

-I went home and collapsed on the ground, shaking and astounded by the blatant confirmation that this can and should be done on a regular basis. I easily cooked the meals single handedly, the kids were all extremely grateful and I never felt swarmed or overwhelmed. Chetri came right when I needed him and in a city of a few million people, that is incredible. Next weekend, I have a date with some street kids again :)

As an f.y.i Here is what I made for each child:

-1/2 cup Dal tadka for protein 

-1 cup Rice with ghee for added fats

-1 serving cucumber

-1 serving carrots

Any ideas of what else is nutritious that I could add for next time?