"True love is surrender." -Mother Teresa

Monsoon season = flooded streets

Alright, I've finally somewhat settled into my life here.
I even have the beginnings of a schedule going and I think it'll work out well. On Monday- Friday mornings (except Thursday because that's the sisters' resting day) I will be working at Daya Dan: the home for physically/mentally handicapped children. Then every evening besides Sunday, I will be at New Light.

At Daya Dan, my responsibilities are laundry, transporting the severely physically handicapped boys to different rooms around the house, and then my most involved task of teaching one of the boys named Binoy. As a Christian, I don't really believe in coincidences. So it didn't really surprise me when I found out Binoy is partially blind. To be honest Daya Dan is not where I wanted to be AT ALL. Even though both my parents are super involved with education, I myself am terrified at the idea of teaching for any length of time. Therefore, when I was placed at Daya Dan I heavily considered asking to be moved... but then a couple things happened...

Binoy's favorite color is blue.

The first, was that as soon as the Sister in charge at Daya Dan found out I was going to be here a year she exclaimed, "Praise God! I've been praying for someone to be here for that long." You see most volunteers only stay for a couple days to a couple weeks. Volunteers that even stay one month are considered long term. What that means is I'm about to be a super-volunteer pretty quickly. The second thing that made me change my mind was a conversation I had with another volunteer. There are four of us who have gotten to be pretty good friends. I was speaking to one of them about Daya Dan (he volunteered a couple years ago as well) and he told me that it was the home with the highest volunteer turnover rate.

The children there sometimes hit and bite and scream and very rarely do you have a day where you aren't frustrated at least once. People say Kalighat (the house of the dying) is the hardest, but I think it is no harder than giving time to these boys who only seldom will give you love and appreciation back. But when they do (because there have been several moments for me so far where they have) it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. Literally... I was teaching a severely handicapped boy how to move his hand back and forth with a crayon to color a page. As soon as he figured it out, he smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen and started laughing because he was so happy. I know I could be all about that for a year.
So, yea because of those things and more, I've decided to stay at Daya Dan for the long haul (aka at least half my time). Apart from Daya Dan, Sister Mercy Maria also requested I lead worship songs this past sunday. She really wasn't kidding about the "using me" thing. I sang some in Spanish and Japanese... yup that happened. So I don't know if this will be a monthly thing (since the worship thing is a monthly volunteer get together) but I wouldn't be surprised if she asked me to again.

After Mother Teresa, I have a break until about 4 when I go to New Light. I absolutely
adore the children there. The babies who live at NL permanently are amazing and they really like my phone. Which it PERFECT because I love taking pictures of them. Basically I'm a jungle gym for little kiddos until about 5:30 when there is after school tutoring. At that time, more and more children come trickling in from school for tutoring and dinner. I can't wait until I know the kids better, and am able to speak a little more Bangla so I know what they are saying. They have a thing called Carnival coming up, which is basically a huge song/dance presentation (college friends, I keep thinking its an Indian baby Songfest haha). All the dances are pretty adorable, and don't worry I'm probably going to pull a 'dance mom' and be taking pictures the whole time. The preciousness will be shared with  you all. Also, I will be doing a lot of social media and writing for NL when different things come up.

Overall, it's a very long day, but very good day. I am thrilled to death to finally have internet and a way to talk to everyone at home. Pray that my work at Daya Dan continues to be positive and also pray for the safety of the New Light children as they go about their day. Some are so small and have seen so much. I am truly blessed to be here.

Flowers on Mother's Tomb