Dear friends and family,
There is not a solid stool in all of India. The Indians has accomplished so
much in the past few thousand years but their civilization has yet to
emphasize the value of a diet rich in fiber.
Rachel, I’m so sorry about the car! I wish you all could see it – the kids
here at ICSA (the kids with disabilities learning computer/electronics) are
so excited to hear about the entire family. They love when I draw out the
genealogy of the fam, including neices and nephews. Dad – the director
of ICSA (Dr Moses Manohar) remembers your visit last year and said to
say hi.
We’ve had such an action-packed few days it’s hard to provide a
snapshot. I’m in a rush because Clara promised to let us help make
pizza in the cramped, oil-steamy, kerosene-filled kitchen in which she
whips up such amazing food for us. Last night she showed us how to
make chapati and egg thaku, and I wrote down every step.
The other day Clara took us to a fruit market, a flower market, and a
vegetable market, which made us half an hour late for the church
service. It’s just as well since it turned out to be three hours long!
I zoned out a little at one point due to the heat and all of a sudden
the pastor was handing me the microphone asking me to introduce our
group in front of the hundred or so congregants! I managed to say
thanks for welcoming us and to explain what that we were students and
with Clara.
Andy, Kelly, and everyone else – Pown Raj says he remembers every one
of you (including “Xin, from China”) and he reminded me to say hi for
him.
Yesterday we had lectures on AIDS in India and on social work among
the rural poor. This morning it was an ecologist who ended by
suggesting some great national parks to visit. And this afternoon, we
had something new entirely: we split up into groups of two and three
and put on English workshops for the Jivana Jyoti kids here. It was
great. Caitlin and I were lucky enough to have one boy and one girl in
the class of 20 who spoke excellent English and who helped translate
how to play hangman and 7up. They all know at least a little English,
though. And we taught them a couple of songs. Yet it was humbling to
hear them render “We Shall Overcome” in a touching way after having
taught them nursery rhymes. They had rehearsed it extensively. They
loved drawing out genealogies with their new skills and explaining
their families, and comparing India and the US w.r.t. weather,
politics, and sports. Their enthusiam is inspiring.
The thing I regret the most is not remembering all their names. The
girls keep testing me on names – but they’re so long and there are so
many of them! I’ll try to study them better because they seem
disappointed when I can’t say it.
Anyway, it’s time for pizza a la Clara. We have to get down there
before she adds curry to it or something!
Ever your loving,
Isaac H.
pseudoisaac 