Changes

The school year in Kerala has come to an end (April and May are the summer vacation months here), and I now find myself in a very different work and living situation. Yesterday, all my hostelmates left for home. Those who completed their first year will return in mid-May for a special camp, and the secon-year students will return in June for their model and board examinations, but until then I will be living alone. Yesterday was also the last day for exams at Buchanan Higher Secondary School, so I no longer have any classes to teach and no fellow teachers to chat with in the staff room. Part of me is extremely glad that I don’t have to prepare any lesson plans for the next two months, but the other part of me will miss being with the students every day.

Although I don’t have any more teaching responsibilities for a while, I am still very busy! I have started volunteering with two different organizations in the Kottayam area: Saanthwanam and Asha Bhavan. Saanthwanam is a women’s and children’s shelter tucked away in one of Kottayam’s many neighborhoods. One of my BIGHS hostelmates (a very bright girl named Sharinya) lives there with her mother during school holidays. Sharinya and her mother came to Saanthwanam a little less than a year ago. Sharinya’s father is an alcoholic and was abusive towards his wife and children. There are many women here in Kerala who are in this position (alcoholism rates in the state are high, as are rates of domestic abuse), but many do not seek help from outside. Thankfully, a family friend referred the family to Saanthwanam. Sharinya was granted a place in Buchanan Higher Secondary and her mother received vocational training in book-binding. Like all the residents of the shelter, Sharinya and her mother received professional counseling. Now that Sharinya has completed the 10^th standard and her mother is now a skilled laborer, they are ready to start their life fresh.

This is just one Saanthwanam story, all of the women and children have similar backgrounds of severe poverty and abuse. However, they are finally in a place that is safe and part of a community made up of caring people. The residents of Saanthwanam do all the cooking and cleaning as well as study a vocation (tailoring and book binding are common, although one resident just completed her Masters of Philosophy!). Unfortunately, during the summer months the children have very little in the way of entertainment and their mothers don’t have the time to play with them. That’s where I come in. For three days a week, the children and I play games, sing songs and do arts and crafts. They’ve already taught me a Kerala version of hopscotch (akka—really tough!) and a few Malayalam and Tamil pop songs. They enjoy decorating their home with the crafts we make, and are already more comfortable trying to communicate in English. I absolutely love going to Saanthwanam, and find that the work rejuvenates rather than tires me.

Asha Bhavan is my other commitment during the summer months. This home is run by the Church of South India Women’s Fellowship and is a daycare center for women with special needs. All of the women are over the age of 18 and all have very different ways of experiencing the world. Most of the women are autistic (falling in very different places on the spectrum), one has Down’s Syndrome, and all are very enjoyable. Our day starts with prayer, then gardening: watering plants and picking up leaves. One of the women and I compete to see how many leaves each one of us can gather, I have yet to win. After gardening, some of the higher functioning women go to a restaurant or a tailoring shop owned by the CSI Women’s Fellowship. These women chop vegetables or do simple sewing and draw a monthly salary. The remaining women do low impact aerobics and then the fun really begins! We do crafts and the women take turns at the sewing machine—they are all learning how to do some work. We then have lunch and play a game outside. After we are all hot and sweaty, we come back inside for more crafts. The women love creating and making artwork, and the smiles on their faces after a good game of “catch” could light up the world! Although the linguistic barriers between these women and myself are even more formidable than with other Keralites, we understand each other pretty well. We love to laugh and sing together, and what more do you need to bond with people than that?

So although I find myself without my hostel and teacher friends, I am still surrounded by loved ones. My community in Kerala is growing ever larger. I will miss my hostelmates, and I will be very glad when they return in May and June, but until then I am overjoyed to spend more time with these new friends.

I want to take some time to thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and financial donations over this past 6 months. My faith has grown and changed in ways that I never thought possible. Event though I teach English classes and volunteer at different organizations for my mission work, I often feel that I am the one learning the most from this experience. You can continue to support me by praying for me and for all the people of my community here in South India, following my experience through my blog, and by donating to my mission. give online at http://www.pcusa.org/yav/support.htm#international (click on Sarah Lynn Jones). Right now, I am just $2500 short of the $9000 needed to finance my mission here in India. Thank you all again for making this amazing mission and experience possible!