Decorating With Love… “Before”

The main service project for the retreat was to add to the ongoing improvements happening around the orphanage. The new building is getting the finishing touches put on it and should be ready shortly for the girls to move in. The new dorm building is so beautiful and spectacular that the girls nicknamed it the “Taj Mahal”. Where the Sisters needed our help was in improving the schoolrooms for the youngest children in the Lower & Upper Kindergarten classes. Sister Tresia gave us a tour of the two rooms needing the most work. The walls had become dirty & marked over the years making for very dingy learning environment. The desks and benches were also showing signs of wear and could use a little fresh coat of paint to brighten the rooms.

Getting grounded...

Our first group yoga practice on the terrace, early AM before the heat, with one intention... getting grounded in the sea of India.

Home of Hugs

Our cheeks were hurting from the grins we had as we pulled into those familiar gates of the orphanage and started seeing all of these cute little heads popping out from around the corners of doors. We were excited to see "our" girls again, and more importantly, to share the experience with the other on the retreat who traveled so far to help.

Some of the girls were actually away visiting with extended family during the holidays, so the girls that were left at the orphanage (~30 of them) enjoyed having visitors come specifically to spend time with them. And they were eager to have their first yoga class that day!

Trickling In

We have arrived! And are still arriving... one by one. Seems like the holiday weather in the States gave everyone an opportunity to practice santosha, the practice of contentment with the present. All of the canceled & delayed flights, lost luggage & mixed navigation in a foreign land... Everyone has a travel story with the happy ending of "We're here!".

Where is here?
For those not familiar with the layout of India and where the orphanage is in relation to... say... Mumbia... here is a link to a map of the overall country with a "pin" on the Home of Hope. For the record, we have felt totally safe here and have been received with nothing courtesy and bobbling smiles.

Next stop... the orphanage!

Interesting cultural awareness photo:
Photo of the Flight info "channel" on our transatlantic flight to Dubia... along with air speed, trip duration, and esstimated time of arrival.

Pack it up, pack it in...

The night before a foreign flight out is always an exciting time. Do we have all of the packing lists that were started? What's our clothing strategy for going from the frosty States to tropic India? And best part... where do we put all of the goods our community donated to the orphanage.

Digging into the bags & boxes of what people brought to WYC was sort of like opening up presents a day early. Boxes & boxes of first aid supplies, bandages, bottles & ointments. Hair bands, barrettes, & jewelry as gift for the girls. And a small village worth of dolls.

Thank you to every one who donated to items for the orphanage. Everything will go to good use & make the girls so happy!

With a little help from our Friends

We had an amazing experience to start off our next Kunga Yoga trek out into the world. Students of the Friends School of Wilmington heard about our service retreat to India to help the Home of Hope Orphanage and they wanted to create a relationship between the two organizations.

The children asked how/what they could contribute, and since the theme of this year's trip was "Decorate with Love" we suggested that they create wall art on a sheet that we could easily fold up and take over. We knew that this would be perfect to help beautify the girls new dorm!! They presented us with the most beautiful "Peace Sheet" painted with their own artwork, iron on photos symbolizing peace, and iron on photos of themselves. The Friends Children also made a beautiful photo album scrapbook filled with inspirational quotes. The girls will be so excited to have a "sister classroom" in NC!

Part of the morning with at the school involved a show and tell of items and clothing from India along with a slide show of pictures from previous trips to the orphanage. Kristin told stories to the Friends Kids about the life of children in India and a typical day for the girls and students at the orphanage. Loren showing a couple of the fellas in the class how to wear a traditional Indian "lunghi". This was a real crowd-pleaser.

Thank you Friends School of Wilmington for caring about the Home of Hope girls and contributing!