To begin my story today I am sorry but in my last mail I left out a very important part of my arrival at the Convent in Rourkela with the Sisters, so we have to take a short step back in time.

 

When I arrived at St Joseph Convent yesterday many Sisters were outside waiting to greet me, including the head Provincial Sister, Sister Flora.

 

Sister Flora put flowers around my neck and took my hands and said welcome. Another part of a warm welcome in Orissa and many other parts of India is when you visit someone, your hands are washed and dried. The Sisters washed and dried my hands before I was taken to my guest room with my heavy bags.

Moving forward ..

 

After a good night’s sleep I got up late and took a nice hot bucket bath in the morning. It was so good ! The best part is the end when you are rinsing the soap off your body and you take the remaining hot water in the bucket and pour it over the top of your head. I just said something very important for you to understand. I said Hot Water … Many people in India do not have running water let alone hot water..

 

After a nice bath I walked to the Convent kitchen and am greeted by a few Sisters. It’s late now around 9:30 AM and most of the Sisters have gone to do their work. I am given toast, eggs, fruit, potatoes, along with water to eat. The Sisters continue to welcome me with a nice meal but there is more food than my belly can handle. I tell the Sisters in a kind way that I know that all of you love me and are happy that I am here with you , but you need to slow the food down as I can’t get sick during my visit here with you.

 

After breakfast my friend Sister Anna Mary said to me Ray , take it easy today and relax. It’s been a very busy time for you already in India, and she was right…

I went to my room and sorted out everything for my visit here in Orissa. I had lots of candy to give away, lots of letters for the school sponsorships. I also had ideas about what I wanted to do in Rourkela on this trip for the children and I had to think of how I would put it all together with the Sisters’ help.

 

After everything was sorted out in my room I noticed that I was running a little short on clean clothes. So I took my dirty laundry into the bathroom and washed it in the same bucket I took a bath in along with another smaller round bucket.

 

It worked out very well. Sister Anna Mary then took me to the outside clothes line and I hung all my wet clean clothes out to dry.

 

It’s getting to be mid afternoon now and I took a walk through the School yard to talk to Principal Sister Sujata of St Joseph Convent School about our school sponsorship program.

 

Sister Sujata was really great. We talked about what was good with our school sponsorship program and what needed a little more improvement. I enjoyed every minute with her.

 

I have met Sister Sujata many times. She is a very smart Sister that can get things done. Her job is not an easy one as there are about 2,300 children in her school every day.

 

After my short talk with Sister Sujata I said goodbye and Thanked her for all her help.

 

I then walked out to the school yard where some of the sponsored children met me to say hello. They asked about their sponsor back in the USA and general questions of what America is like.

 

It was nice seeing them and all the students in their school uniforms.

 

In every school that I visit in Kolkata or Orissa each school has a proper dress code of the school. That is a school uniform from your head to your toe.

 

A girl may have pink ribbons in her groomed hair, a nice shirt and dress of the proper pattern and colors of the school, uniform socks that may have a design on them to proper shoes.

 

One of the big reasons for a school uniform is that everyone looks the same. Rich kids do not have an advantage with fancy clothes and poor kids do not have a disadvantage with worn out clothes..Everyone is dressed the same and they are also treated the same at the school.

 

This is how every student in this school is dressed every day except for a student’s Birthday. On this special day the student is allowed to wear a pretty dress to school and give out candy on a tray to all her friends and teachers.

 

Proper schooling is big business in India there is no fooling around. The students are groomed with discipline at a very young age. The students are never ever disrespectful to the teachers or the school. The students know and the parents also know that a good education is the key to a good life and a good school in India is very hard to get into.

 

The girls at this school are very proud of their school and it stays with them their entire life. They call themselves Josephine’s for St Joseph Convent School.

After talking to the students it’s now getting late and I along with Sister Anna Mary make a short walk near a playing field to another school Hamirpur High School where I want to visit another Sponsored student, a boy named Dinesh.

 

Dinesh is handicapped and has been since birth. One of his legs is not good and he has to walk with a big stick. He is the sweetest boy you ever wanted to meet.

 

When we arrived at the school many boys were playing fast running around sports games in the field and Dinesh was watching them as he could not play with them. He was very surprised when he saw me. He came to me and we shook hands and hugged each other. I couldn’t believe how much Dinesh has grown in 5 years since I last saw him.

 

He is almost as tall as I am. Through Sister Anna Mary being an interpreter Dinesh and I had a nice talk. He said that he is very happy at this school and is learning and doing well. He said that he has many friends here. There are 352 boys in his school.

 

It was now getting very dark outside as the sun had already set , so I decided to say goodbye to Dinesh and told him that I will come back another day to visit him and his school.

 

Sister Anna Mary and I walked back to the Convent together talking about Dinesh and how he is a smart boy and can learn very fast how to do things even with one leg. He can ride a bicycle and also climb trees. His handicap holds him back with some things , but not everything.

 

When Sister and I end up at the Convent I go to my room and rest before I have a nice supper with all the Sisters. Tonight’s meal for me is oatmeal and lots of whipped potatoes with fruit and water.

 

Thanks for following the trip Emails…If you know anyone who might like to read them please forward the mails to the person..

 

Thanks

Ray O