Filth

Before I came to the orphanage I was afraid that I would feel utterly overwhelmed by the amount of poverty here, and on a daily basis. The statistics you hear about India are terrifying in that sense, and I did not know what it would be like, especially since I knew we would be living at the orphanage with the kids and seeing some of these sad situations up close. My real fear, though, was that our efforts to 'help out' and volunteer our time and energy would feel... pointless. There truly is a mountain of poverty here, although you never face the enormity of it all at once. I did not think I would feel entirely pointless, of course, I was just afraid that we'd only be kicking around some pebbles at the foot of this mountain. Even though it is difficult to put into words exactly what we do each day and how it contributes in a positive sense, it feels like we are doing good. The real mountain in my way is something else we could have anticipated (and did, in some ways).

India is, without a doubt, the filthiest place I've ever been. We talked about it before we came, we heard the stories, we didn't really bring any clothing we are attached to. I've been to numerous places where the side of the road is the trash bin, and we aren't doing so many double takes when we see people taking a shit anywhere they like. The air pollution in Chennai is horrendous, but even that isn't a huge concern for us since the orphanage is on the outskirts of the city next to a small lake. The problem is in the actual orphanage. Imagine 43 kids, 19 of which are under 3 and not potty trained. Who do not wear diapers. Combine piles of yellow (thanks to the milk, rice and random vegetable diet) semi-firm poop and baby diarrhea with the orange dirt of the ground surrounding the buildings. Wipe it up with some old newspaper or baby clothing. Scatter it around with some small hand brooms. Disinfect once a day with an old mop and a small amount of soap, if that. Let the ravens poop here and there. You can't wear shoes. For the children: eat and sleep on these same tiles. Try not to get sick.

Earlier this week we realized how badly we needed a vacation during one of the multiple 'baby mayhem' sessions that happen daily. Kate, who has turned into 'Dr. Sis-tah' with the band-aids and gauze, and I had the singularly upsetting privilege of trying to clean some of the infected ears of the babies. The day before we arrived, four weeks ago, they had a special day where they blessed the new building and pierced all the ears of the kids. Those ears haven't been cleaned since, and the majority of the kids have terrible cuts from the earrings snagging on clothing. After sleeping on the floor their ears are badly infected, and I'm not sure if it is simply from the earrings or if it is due to their head colds since snot is oozing from both their noses and ears. The smell is unbelievable. Sometimes it makes me nauseated just to hold them on my hip because the smell is so bad. So Kate and I attempted to remove some of these earrings from their poor, mangled, infected ears. Since we have no children of our own, don't work in hospitals, and never had to inflict pain on small children while working for Parks and Rec, it was entirely upsetting to hold a child writhing in pain while you remove a piece of metal from an open wound. Good news is that now, four days later, most of their ears are looking healthy (and much less smelly).

Other good news is that the four of us are heading to Delhi tonight for two weeks of adventuring and whatever vacation we can manage (I wouldn't call traveling in India a walk in the park). We're so excited.