The Miracle Foundation

Monday's Picture of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Thunder rolls in at the administration building at Sooch Village. The monsoon season lasts from approximately June to September in India. (Picture taken August 2008)

Each day we'll post a picture from our tours to India. To learn more about traveling to India with us, click here.

Ice Cream Party at Sooch Village

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:25:00 +0000

One of the best treats we give our children in India is ice cream. When you live in a country that routinely has triple digit temperatures and air conditioning isn't even a thought, ice cream is probably the best treat you can get.

Here is a time lapse of an ice cream party at Sooch Village back in October.

As you can see, the children absolutely love the ice cream. I think the most quiet I've ever heard the orphanage with children there is when they were eating ice cream. It's all business when that treat comes out.

A New Orphan Comes to Sooch Village

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:49:00 +0000

"Talk to Joyoti. She will help him."

That was the statement made by our driver, Rajesh, as we were leaving Sooch Village two days ago. He was speaking to a man who had pulled up next to our car on a motorcycle. Sitting in front of the man was a young boy about six years old.

This boy is the newest orphan at Sooch Village. The man on the motorcycle was his uncle, who had been caring for him for the last three months but was no longer able to do so. The boy's parents had been traveling back from the city one evening months ago when they promptly disappeared. As the Sooch Village director Jyoti put it, "Their bodies were never found."

I had seen the later conditions of orphans at The Miracle Foundation - the smiling, happy faces and the sad ones too - but not the initial face of a boy who was literally dropped off moments ago to start a brand new life.

Later that evening, the first day the boy was in Sooch Village, I was eating dinner in the dining hall of building #5. I ate a scoop of rice and looked up. There was that new boy. He had wandered out of his room and was looking up and down the inside of the building, surveying his new surroundings. The look on his face spoke deeply to my primitive, human side. He was confused, scared and still wiping his mouth from his first meal at the orphanage. Other children quickly ate around him, regulars who knew the drill and had already found comfort in the habits and rituals of Sooch Village.

Eventually, this boy will find comfort too. But not yet. Not now.

After we finished our dinner, I asked to see that boy before we left for the night. I walked into his room, where he was lying on the floor with eight other children, sleeping away his first night in his new home. As Jyoti put it, even though the children had beds of their own, they liked to sleep together when they first arrived at Sooch Village. The boy was sleeping soundly. So for now, he had found enough peace to rest.

I kept wrestling with the idea of how tough it would be to be that boy. How difficult is it for children to be forced to have adult emotions. I took solace in the fact that he was no longer a lone orphan staying with his uncle but that now he would have a new, much bigger and more capable family at The Miracle Foundation.

Life is tough now for that boy but he only has good things to look forward to. It's been a blessing to see not only the end results of The Miracle Foundation's work but the beginning of it too. It makes the good times here that much more rewarding.

Durga Puja in Orissa

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:34:00 +0000

As we've traveled in the state of Orissa visiting two of The Miracle Foundation's orphanages, we've seen the beginnings of the celebration of the Durga Puja festival. One of over thirty festivals celebrated each year in India, Durga Puja is celebrated throughout India and is one of the many, many days off of school and work during the year. Sasi, our accountant at the Bhawani orphanage, said that Indian children only go to school 215 days out of the year because there are so many holidays. Here's a bit more info about Durga Puja:

The pujas are held over a ten-day period, which is traditionally viewed as the coming of the married daughter, Durga, to her father, Himalaya's home. It is the most important festival in Bengal, and Bengalis celebrate with new clothes and other gifts, which are worn on the evenings when the family goes out to see the 'pandals' (temporary structures set up to venerate the goddess). Although it is a Hindu festival, religion takes a backseat on these five days: Durga Puja in Bengal is a carnival, where people from all backgrounds, regardless of their religious beliefs, participate and enjoy themselves to the hilt.

Durga is the goddess that the celebration is centered around.

In Hinduism, Durga or Maa Durga (Mother Durga) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess. Goddess Durga is considered by Hindus to be the mother of Ganesha, and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati.

Durga is depicted as a warrior aspect of Devi Parvati with 10 arms who rides a lion or a tiger, carries weapons and assumes mudras, or symbolic hand gestures. This form of the Goddess is the embodiment of feminine and creative energy.

Puja means "worship" and one of the first signs of the coming of the festival is the many tent-like structures that are constructed for the festival. We've seen lots of colored lights and lots of these tent-like structures being built for the upcoming festival.

People will stay up all night exchanging gifts, dancing and singing. One of the reasons this festival is held during this time of year is that the farmers have just sold their crops after the monsoon season so they have lots of money to spend.

There's really no American equivalent to these Indian festivals. Sasi points to the many holidays in India as one of many reasons that Indians lag behind America in terms of development. To a certain degree, he's correct. There would never be a ten-day holiday in America.

Read more about Durga Puja here.

Thank you for the Ice Cream Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:59:00 +0000

The children at the Bhawani orphanage want to thank Amy Hart-Jones and Bill and Linda Carson for donating an ice cream party! We just had the ice cream party yesterday and the children loved it. The party was in honor of Andy Jones and Bill and Linda's nephew. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

A couple of the older boys brought over two tables to set up for the party.

Nichole (right) and the staff begin unpacking the ice cream and ready the plates for the children.

We had two flavors on the menu - strawberry and vanilla. Each child got a slice of both kinds. From what I've seen in India, ice cream comes in brick form instead of the tubs you find in America.

The children line up, youngest and shortest at the front and the older kids to the back. They're watching Susan, the director of the Bhawani orphanage, cut the ice cream.

And we have our first customer!

Just some friends hanging out, having ice cream on a hot afternoon in Jharsuguda, Orissa.

Did I mention that the children love, absolutely love ice cream?

Even in India, the older boys play it cool.

There's no conversation. The food must be good!

Of course, there was enough left for the staff to have some too. I think they enjoyed it just as much as the children.

Even the local villagers that were working on the new office rooms at Bhawani (you can sort of see them in the back there)were able to join in. They grabbed their ice cream and quickly ran back to work.

And that's a wrap! The staff served approximately 200 children in about 15 minutes. Not too shabby.

A big thank you again to Amy Hart-Jones and Linda Carson for their generous contribution! If you'd like to donate an ice cream/birthday party for the children, please visit MiracleFoundation.org.

On Our Way to Rourkela

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:24:00 +0000

And the MayFair Hotel! The most luxurious hotel in the state of Orissa!

Okay, don't get me wrong. We're not spending your generous donations by putting our staff members up in 5 star hotels while they're in India. The MayFair is a fine hotel by Indian standards, meaning it has a restaurant, somewhat clean sheets and air conditioning. After 500 mosquito bites, the same basic meal for the last six days and uncomfortable heat at night, I'm ready to part ways with Sooch Village. Plus, The Miracle Foundation gets a generous discount at the MayFair, which makes the stay there all the more sweet.

We will be driving from outside of Ranchi to Rourkela, which the Indian staff says is about a 5 hour drive. Ha, I know better. I'm estimating it will be at least 8 hours. Indian time can be annoying if you're not used to it.

Talk to you when I'm in Rourkela.

Sick at Sooch

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:58:00 +0000

Well, it was bound to happen sometime, right?

I began feeling ill late Saturday night and much of today, Sunday, was spent battling wacky body temperatures and trips to the bathroom. Needless to say, it wasn't as productive of a day as I would have liked. I suspect it was something I ate on Saturday but I'm not sure what. Maybe the American Style Sour Cream & Onion Lays potato chips?

Sushma did a great job of rounding up the kids to write letters to their sponsors and I'll take a look at those letters tomorrow. We're slowly but surely building this program to be the best it can be.

Tonight, I'm going to bed early to hopefully wake up around 11 PM to watch/listen to my beloved Kansas City Chiefs inevitably get destroyed by their intra-divisional rivals the Denver Broncos.

On top of a stomach ache, I look like I have the chicken pox from the literally dozens of mosquito bites I've gotten. I sprayed my room with bug spray earlier today, shut the door for ten minutes and came back to at least thirty dead mosquitoes on the floor and in my bed.

Hopefully I wake up tomorrow well rested and nausea free.

Lots of Activity at Sooch Village

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:58:00 +0000

With a half dozen of the cottages at Sooch Village still under construction, there is a flurry of activity going on inside the orphanage walls. Right now, a saw is buzzing outside my window, cutting wooden boards. Men are banging on the windows, adding screens and metal barriers to the frames of the windows.

There are probably about ten men working on the cottages during the day. Just today I saw them working on the stone steps of one cottage; hoisting a water container to the top of another; grinding stones next to another building; and ferrying the house mothers via motorcycle to Ranchi to get baby's milk.

This is in addition to the usual work of the other staff here - the accountants working on the computers; sweeping and washing the floors of the administration building; and of course cooking for me!

Sushma and I have been working great together and the only impediment to success is the shaky internet. I am going to hopefully address that situation here and somehow, I don't know yet, get reliable internet to Sooch Village.

Back in India

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:06:00 +0000

After another American Airlines flight 292 from Chicago to Delhi, I am back at Sooch Village to work with our Sponsorship Coordinator Sushma to make The Miracle Foundation’s program the best it can be.

Sushma is responsible for updating the children’s information in our online database, as well as ensuring proper communications from the children to their sponsors with my help of course. I am here to learn about Sushma’s current tasks and her schedule and to find out how we can make communication between India and America easier. Together, we should build a fantastic program.

I can tell you that after my second arrival in India, only a month and a half after the first arrival, the excitement of being in such a magnificent country has not been lost. The feeling of arriving at the under-construction Delhi airport was less a shock than it was the first time, as I found myself maneuvering the terminal with an ease and confidence that would have been impossible to have on my first trip.

Any confidence I had on that first trip came from our indispensable, irreplaceable, (infamous?) and brilliant travel coordinator Barbara. Since I am alone on this trip, my confidence will have to come from seeing this terrain before. Wish me luck.

I am currently outside of Ranchi, Jharkand, India, at The Miracle Foundation’s newest orphanage – Sooch Village. The orphanage was officially opened in March 2008 and there are still tweaks being made to the administration building as well as many cottages still under construction. It’s a great feeling being able to come back here a second time and be familiar with the staff and the surroundings.

The plan is to travel with Sushma to our different orphanges and learn what can and can’t work for the sponsorship program. My philosophy and strategy for the program comes from one of those terribly clichéd, workplace team building sessions – What program would you create if you had no limitations? That is start of my thought process and we won’t disappoint.

Being the Web Manager as well, I’ve tasked myself with leveraging technology in a way like no other sponsorship program in the world has done. Part of this trip will help figure out how, over the long run, technology will bring the sponsors and the children of The Miracle Foundation closer together.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I look forward to updating you again on my travels and I hope you look forward to reading more.

India's Super Highway

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:25:00 +0000

Great article about India's emerging national highway system and the nuances of driving in India.

His specialty is the ritual called a puja, in which he spreads the munificence of the god Lord Ganesh upon a parade of newly purchased vehicles—cars, trucks, SUVs, motorcycles, and auto rickshaws, along with the occasional bicycle or bullock cart—whose owners wouldn't think of hitting the road without the blessings of a happy, four-armed god with the head of an elephant who brings prosperity and good fortune, particularly to machines and those setting out on something new.

Read the whole article here.

Welcome Miracle Foundation Supporters!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:09:00 +0000

If you're coming to The Miracle Foundation blog for the first time, we want to give you a big Thank You! and welcome you.

The most recent posts we've made are on the right side of the web site so that's probably a good place to get started.

Look around and let us know what you think about our new online digs. We plan on posting video, pictures and even a bit of news here as we move along.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me at Chris@MiracleFoundation.org.

Thanks again for visiting!

Dancing at Rourkela

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:16:00 +0000

Here is a clip of the kids at Rourkela dancing away a hot afternoon. Every time I watch this video, I become much more relaxed. Plus, since I was filming, I didn't have to dance! I suspect that is a big motivation for a lot of the photographers out there.

The Miracle Foundation Blog Phase 2

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:20:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay in posting. Jet lag kicked my butt last week and I only recovered after about four days.

So, I've done my best to document our most recent IMPACT travel trip to India and I still have lots more to post here from that trip. I wanted to post this note to let you know that the blog is going to be active hopefully everyday from now but I know that won't always be the case.

We plan on giving you updates on what's going on around the office, making announcements and filling you in on events in and outside of Austin, TX. It will be ever-evolving around here and hopefully interesting.

Thanks for reading!

An Afternoon At Bhawani

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:20:00 +0000

Another time lapse for you this evening. I slowed this one down but I'm still not satisfied with the quality. This was shot over three hours last week, with one picture taken every ten seconds.

If you sponsor a child at Bhawani, look close and you may catch your kid posing for the camera.

Beijing v. India

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:55:00 +0000

Major generalizations follow...

I'm sitting here watching NBC's coverage of the Olympics and they're following a group of University of Iowa Olympic volunteers around. The camera crew followed one student who enjoys going off the beaten path and checking out the neighborhoods and side streets of Beijing.

The NBC reporter, in the usual somber voice-over tone, describes these Chinese that live in poverty (her word, not mine). I watched the clip with a decidedly different perspective:

Woh! Are those concrete gutters in that clip? And concrete sidewalks? That's high living. In fact, I don't think I saw a sidewalk during my entire trip in India. There must be some sort of cooperation and organization in that Beijing neighborhood beyond anything Indians are capable of.

Where is the open sewage?

Why aren't people honking at every single man, woman, child, cow, goat, dog and car on the road?

No diseased villagers or rail thin children literally hanging on your legs? I laugh at you Beijing.

Why aren't cars passing each other in the oncoming lane? Things run so much faster that way I've found out. Why wait for the rickshaw in front of you to get over 10 MPH when you can play chicken with a 4,000 LB truck?

You get stared and smiled at Iowa students? Your tourist stares aren't met with even deeper, more intense stares right back at you making almost every public movement uncomfortable?

Of course, China has parts of it that most certainly rival Indian poverty. But, after seeing what I saw over the last two weeks, I found NBC's interpretation of poverty in Beijing to be quite laughable.

The Kids Love the Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:37:00 +0000

Here is what happens when you set up a laptop at the Bhawani orphanage and record a picture every 60 seconds for about 45 minutes. The kids had just gotten done taking a dip in an antibacterial bath so they were busy combing their hair by looking at the video of themselves on the laptop.

I'm still experimenting with the video (slowing it down for one) and the next trip should yield even better clips.

Breaking Ground on the New Bhawani Orphanage

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:31:00 +0000

Here is a shot of Mukesh breaking ground on the new building, which is behind the old Bhawani orphanage. The new home will house 150 children and be completed in about a year. You can see a bit of me on the right with the video camera.

Funny story about that. I was filming the priest (You can see him in the white on the left side) blessing the grounds when I realized that directly behind him, right where I was filming, a young boy's zipper was down and you could see straight into his pants. I had strained my arm for at least 20 minutes getting that blessing recorded.

So much for uploading that ground breaking ceremony video to the web site.

On My Way Home

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:56:00 +0000

It's Saturday at 8 AM and I'm currently at London-Heathrow airport. I've been traveling since 7 AMish Friday morning, when we took the first rail ride from JSG, Orissa, India to Ranchi, Jharkand, India.

After a short weather delay, we made our way to Delhi and I got on a British Airways flight at 2:10 AM. I somehow managed to sleep for the first eight hours of the trip and woke up with just over an hour left on the flight. I started Primary Colors on my headset television, ate a vegetarian breakfast and we landed in London.

London-Heathrow is by far the busiest airport I've been to on this trip. There is a ton of activity going on and I can actually understand most of the language being spoken. That hasn't happened in about two weeks. I couldn't even tell what language my fellow travelers the American college girls were speaking half the time. Can I feel that old at age 25?

From London, it's a ten hour flight to Dallas and then a short hop to Austin. After waking up at 4:30 AM India time on Friday, I will get back into Austin just after 6 PM on Saturday.

I'm a bit tired and needing a shower. Since people watching in the airport is what I'll be doing for the rest of this trip, I'm a bit angry I had to leave the country with the most beautiful women in the world to come to, ahem, London. Let's just say they're...uhhh...different looking here than Indian women.

Maybe it's the high beer intake here in England?

Random Observations about My Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:42:00 +0000

It’s not fair to generalize all of India based on the few states I’ve been to but for the purposes of this post, that’s what I’m going to do.

I have not seen a bathtub so far. Every bathroom has just a shower head with a slightly slanted bathroom floor leading to a drain. I’ve been showering directly next to my toilet.

The under estimating of time, or “Indian time”, definitely exists. When we traveled to a village outside of the Bhawani orphanage, the locals and our drivers said it was 20 minutes away. It ended up being an hour and a half away. This happens quite constantly.

Sometimes, it ends up just being chance if you get what you want when you order food. You can say exactly what you want, your waiter or room service hotel staff guy can look you in the face and say, “Yes” but you still may end up getting tomato soup with French fries in it.

I’m currently on the fourth floor of the Hotel Yogendra and at the end of the hall, there is a balcony overlooking the street. The hotel staff will dry laundry out there and sleep out there. I just looked down the hall and I can see two guys sleeping on cardboard on that balcony.

We get stared at all the time. I have not seen another Westerner in a long, long time. We’ve run across a few Europeans but that’s about it.

The man who works at the liquor store down the road may be the most articulate Indian on the street of JSG.

Including the bathroom, I have 22 switches in my room for the lights, fans and outlets. Also, at this particular hotel, my room key is a skeleton key with a plastic rectangle attached to it. When you get into the room, you put the rectangle into a slot by the door and that’s allows the power to run. Not a bad idea to conserve power if you ask me, because guests have to take their key to lock the door.

Many of the trash cans on the street and in our rooms say “Use me” on them and the trash cans at Sooch Village say they are “100% virgin plastic” and have pictures of Sumo wrestlers on them.

Speaking of plastic, Rourkela is a big steel town and I caught the local steel television channel while we were there. It was a public access type format but at the bottom of the screen it said, “Say no to plastics.” The steel industry here really despises plastics apparently.

It's common for men to walk around with their arms around other men. It's an expression of friendship here.

While driving to the Bhawani orphanage, there were a couple of interesting road signs telling people to drive slow – “If you are married, divource the speed” and “Speed thrills but kills”.

Since it’s monsoon season, rain is constantly threatening here and it rains at least a couple of times a day. Sometimes it rains just a touch and other times, like now at 6 AM on Thursday, it’s absolutely soaking this already drenched city of JSG.
The kids at our orphanages are by far the most well behaved children I have ever seen. It’s not even a contest between America and the orphanages. One mention by a house mother to get into the classroom or to eat and those kids are immediately on it. It’s amazing. I had my computer on a table for three hours shooting a time lapse video and even though there were dozens of children within inches of the computer, not a single one ever touched it. For whatever reason, none of the kids ever gets so excited that he or she won’t listen to the house mothers. Ha, try to imagine that in America. I have yet to see a temper tantrum here. I’m not saying they don’t happen. I just haven’t seen one.

The kids also love, love digital cameras. You can find the one kid in the orphanage who won’t smile for anything and show him or her his picture and they’ll crack a smile.

All of the men are called Uncle and the women are called Auntie. “Good morning Uncle!” they’ll say to me. I still love it even after the thousandth time.

The vast majority of men wear either long sleeved button up shirts or collered polo type shits. T-shirts are very few and far between. The contrast between the men and women’s dress is amazing. The women wear fantastically bright colors and the men generally wear rather drab, dull colors compared to the women.

The mustache has not gone out of style in India.

Peeing on the side of the road is very common. And it’s not behind a tree or anything. You just go.

The journey home starts this morning. There will be so much more to come once I get back to America.

And a gecko just jumped on the curtain in my hotel room. I forgot to mention that geckos are everywhere here.

I Finally Cracked

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:38:00 +0000

Tonight, Thursday the 14th, we left the Bhawani orphanage after spending three days there.

Up until tonight, I was able to rationalize the conditions I’d seen in India with a very cold, logical sense of reason. This is the way it’s always been here, I would tell myself. I’m just another privileged white guy coming to the third world and doing my best to help out for two weeks. How cliché is that?

Tonight, all that changed.

I didn’t let myself go too much because I didn’t want to appear to be culturally arrogant. Sure, if you compare almost any other country to America, especially the orphanage conditions here, you’re going to be mad about what you see. Why isn’t this that way, you keep telling yourself.

I let go of my cold sense of reason and could not help but feel something beyond what my rational mind would allow. I felt something that was strictly a human connection. Something that extended beyond any previous notions or limits my mind had set before. Something beyond, “This is India, deal with it.”

I walked out of dinner tonight at the Bhawani orphanage and strolled down the main hall. As I walked, I passed the classrooms/bedrooms on my right. I came up on a three-year-old child, leaning against the door of his communal room, with tears in his eyes. The look on his face didn’t express sadness over us, the ambassadors, leaving – he hadn’t smiled all trip – but it spoke to something much deeper. He missed his mother. It was an undeniable human emotion I could sense.

Other children had cried over us leaving but this was different. This wasn’t about us.

I walked up to him and tried to cheer him up. Nothing. No reaction. He looked at me and then his eyes went back to that long stare you’ll sometimes see in the kids hurting the most.

He was hurting so bad. He missed his mother. He missed something that he knew he couldn’t have right then. Or possibly ever again.

I immediately grabbed my computer and ran back to him to show him the digital pictures that the Indian kids loved so much. Surely, this would cheer him up.

Nope. Nothing. This kid was too sad to be cheered up.

Unfortunately, the time this was happening was the time we were leaving. It would be a long, long time before I would see this child again.

Over the next five minutes, I said goodbye to a lot of other children and I checked on this boy probably three times. The last time I checked, he had gone back into his bedroom/classroom and was sitting against the wall, with his hands on his head. His head was down. He was crying.

Here was a three-year old child, quietly sobbing by himself. He was completely alone. I kept waving to him to no avail. I grabbed a few older kids and asked them to cheer him up and watch after him. They agreed but to leave a child like that in that condition, almost nothing will make you feel better.

This feeling of helpless was overwhelming. And it had just hit me for the first time five minutes before we left our final orphanage.

I didn’t intensely miss all of the kids I had seen. This morbid feeling of helplessness arose inside of me when I saw this three-year old quietly crying by himself in the doorway. He was totally alone. Physically. Emotionally.

He wasn’t crying for attention. He wasn’t making any noise. No other child was comforting him. The house mothers simply weren’t in that room to help. You had to go out of your way to notice him. He was just sad.

I had to leave that boy crying by himself against the wall.

I was so busy earlier that day that I wasn’t able to get especially close to any one child. But today, when we arrived at 4 PM, one young boy took to me right away. Not the same boy who I had seen that night but another. I hadn’t spent much time with him but, for some reason, from the time I arrived today, he clung to me.

When I sat down, he came right up to me and put his arm around me. For the next five hours, he wasn’t more than ten feet from me. Whenever I sat down, he came up and looked me in the eye and I just knew I had to put my arm around him. He would put his arm around me and we would just sit. No conversation. Just the bond of two people, one of whom needed love so badly.

After seeing the lonely three-year old right before we were to leave, I jumped in the car and rolled the window down to say goodbye to everyone. I sat there for a few minutes while my fellow travelers loaded into the cars, waving to children and saying goodbye.

The boy that had attached himself to me came right up to the car and we held hands the entire time I was shaking hands with everyone else.

Now, this boy hadn’t said much to me before. We had pretty much hugged and held hands and that was the extent of our very silent relationship. In the ten minutes or so it had taken us to leave, he hugged me at least three times. He really, really wanted to be near me.

As we pulled away in the car, I’m still holding this boy’s hand. He grabs my hand even tighter, kisses it twice, looks up at me and says “I love you.” As we drive away, all I can manage is an “I love you!” back. I hope that was enough.

I had not said that to any other child on this trip.

We turn on to the main road of JSG, the small movie screen between the passenger seat and the driver comes down and the girls in the back start watching Indian music videos. I throw my dark sunglasses on (it’s 9 PM mind you) and the tears start to come down.

I’m not a crier by any means. Like I said, until tonight, my rationality and reason helped me avoid getting too close to the kids. Make no mistake, I felt genuine feelings for these children. It was fun playing with them and they sure were cute. I understood the monumental task before us to help these children and I was 100% motivated to accomplish that task.

But it hadn’t truly “hit me” yet.

Until a child looked me in the eyes and said, “I love you” as I drove away from him. Until I had to leave a three-year-old crying by himself.

Think about it. I’m a 25-year old guy who doesn’t even really like children. But on the final day of this trip, I cracked. I genuinely cried for two boys I had met three days before.

Oh my gosh, I never thought this would happen. Ever. The power of this place is absolutely amazing. Those of you who have travelled here know exactly what I mean.

About to head to the Bhawani Orphanage

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:26:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay in posting. Monsoon season and satellite internet do not mix. The shot above is from the fourth floor of our hotel. Jumbled thoughts follow.

Last we talked we were spending out last day at the Rourkela orphanage, on our way to the Bhawani orphanage. That was on Sunday night and it is currently Wednesday afternoon here so adjust your clocks accordingly. We left Rourkela about 7:30 PM on our way to Bhawani. The group took the train while one of our driver Bishaun (?) and I drove the 160 KM to Jharsuguda (JSG), which is an up and coming city/town in eastern India. Plans for an airport here are in the works which will make the city boom even more. Many of the hotels were booked solid when we arrived.

The ride down here was a bit harrowing. Like I said, it was just our driver and I, driving the 160 KM in the pitch black, with the most intense rains falling on us that I've ever seen in my life. We saw one large dump truck crashed on its side as we drove. During the ride, Bishaun and I bonded over some betel nut mixture, which is a mild, tobaccish chew you put in your mouth. It tasted a lot like sandalwood incense.

We arrived in JSG about 10:30 PM and because of a me mixing up what hotel I was supposed to be at, didn't see the rest of the group until Monday morning. The word is they thought we had died on the way down to JSG and I couldn't blame them when I looked at it from their perspective. We were all supposed to meet up at the same hotel and I was supposed to deliver the luaggage. When 3 AM rolled around and I wasn't there (I was asleep in my bed at that time just down the road), people got understandably scared.

But, it all worked out in the end. We drove to the Bhawani orphanage yesterday afternoon and were immediately greeted by over 100 children. Within five minutes, I had shaked at least fifty hands and seen a thousand smiles. We were also greeted to a newly rennovated Bhawani orphanage. Before we came, Caroline had advised the group that this orphanage was more "typical" of India and that we should adjust our expectations accordingly. But we arrived to newly concrete floors (they had been dirt), a new roof that didn't leak and wiring that was now encased in metal tubing. Before the rennovation, the wires in the home were exposed. This created holes for Cobra snakes (Yes, Cobras) to move in and out of the orphange. Manjeet, our director here in India, told us the kids knew to stay still when they were in their beds and they felt a snake come across their body. I couldn't even begin to imagine the fear that would be running through myself if that happened.

We spent a couple of hours there, getting to know our kids a bit better. The kids at Bhawani are older and many of them are not true orphans. Some children's parents simply could not afford to care for them and gave them

And speaking of those children's parents, before we travled to Bhawani, we drove about an hour and half outiside of JSG to a village where one of the Bhawani children had come from. This drive was an amazing trip though one of the Forest Divisions, where wild elephants roamed. There wasn't much civilization to speak of on this drive, only the occassional road side building or set of buildings. This was truly as a remote location as I had ever been to in my life. We arrived at the village and toured a small set of mud and brick huts where the villagers lived. A dozen or so people made up the little housing area we toured and 17 homes and families made up the village. The homes were quite spread out, with rice patties seperating them. Lush, green mountains towered over us just a quarter mile from the village.

We met the villagers, which had only rarely in their lives seen Westerners. Like I said, it was very remote. We handed out candy, pulled some water from their well and laughed with the villagers as our house mothers translated our conversations with them. Just like the children we've visited, these villagers laughed with great big smiles.

It's almost 3 PM and we're off to the orphanage to play with the kids again. Hopefully, I will be able to blog some more tonight or tomorrow.

Last Day at Rourkela

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:09:00 +0000

We're only hours away until we leave our Rourkela orphanage and head to the Bhawani orphanage. I wanted to give you a view of the orphanage grounds, so here you are.

Here is a shot from the back of the main building. The house mothers live there and there are a couple of meeting rooms. The roof has been repaired recently but is still a bit fragile, as we found out during a soccer game when someone kicked the ball up there and a shingle fell off.

We're still in the back of the orphanage grounds here, with the kids living quarters and bathrooms right behind us. The AMD computer lab is also right behind this shot. The field where the kids play Bulldog, soccer and other games is in the back of the shot.

This shot is a bit more to the right of the last one and you can see where the children's clothes are hung and laid out to dry. The well is right there too. The walls surrounding the orphanage are probably 15 feet high.

That door right in front of the shot is the door to the computer lab and the entrance to the infant's room is right around the corner from that. Looking further down the path, the bathrooms are on the right and the well is on the left.

Here we have the main path leading up to the house mother's building. The path runs right underneath that colored covering.The playing field is directly to my right.

Right here is the sand pit, slide and swing. I think I've seen upwards of ten children on that swing at one time. They love to climb all over it. They also somehow manage to fit five or six of them on the slide at one time too. The older kids can stand on top of the slide and shoot right down it on two feet.

This is the side of the grounds opposite the playing field. Just some clothes hanging and vehicle storage.

Finally, we have the main red entrance to the orphanage. People go in and out of a small opening in it and it's only fully opened for cars. There is a big Sunday market going on right outside those gates today.

And there is a quick look at the Rourkela orphanage. It's sweltering hot right now as I type this. My hands are sticky, I've foregone any chance of staying clean at this place and I go through two shirts a day. I usually sweat through one by about noon. On the plus side, the cold showers here are fantastic!

Velcro Monkey

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:56:00 +0000

"Velcro Monkey" is the term used to describe the kids who, when you pick them up, wrap their arms and legs around you and won't let go. Pawan is the definition of a velcro monkey. He sat next to me on the porch of the orphanage for a solid half hour and we just occassionaly looked at each other and smiled. He's only about three years old, a bit of a cry baby but one of those kids that melts your heart.

And Pawan, ahem, doesn't have a sponsor. Hit me up at chris@miraclefoundation.org if you're intersted in sponsoring Pawan.

Ankit!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Ankit is another great kid we have at Rourkela. He's been a big help to me when talking with the kids. When the kids speak Hindi to me, he says "English! Not Hindi!" so I can understand them. Very nice kid, Ankit.

It's 6:45 AM right now and I'm sitting on the balcony outside our hotel room at the MayFair Hotel. A light mist is falling, the caucaphony of car horns is ever present in my ears and I don't believe anyone else is awake. This has been one of my favorite times in India so far - morning, by myself, with nothing else going but the thoughts in my head. I'm watching the hotel staff go about their business - sweeeping the driveway, cleaning the pool deck and general hotel going ons.

The staff at the MayFair is very polite and have been nothing but fantastic every time we needed something. Except when we needed an extra bed and they took about three hours to get it to our room. And losing clothes in our laundry but finding them later. All in all, they've been great.

Every second of this trip I have been absorbing everything I possibly can. The sights, smells and sounds of India are so different than America (Duh!). I feel like if I shut my eyes even for a second I'm missing out.

That may explain why I got up at 6 AM today. I opened my eyes and could not justify going back to sleep with this incredible world at my doorstep.

Did I mention you should come to India??

Rourkela's Troublemaker

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Thorman) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:57:00 +0000

The kid in the middle of this picture is Deepak, a young man at the Rourkela orphanage. Just a couple of years ago, Deepak wouldn't even smile. In fact, we sponsored him for a time and had his smileless face on our refrigerator for a long time.

He definitely smiles now (I don't have a better picture now because college students DO NOT like to be woken up at 6:00 AM and be asked for their cameras) and he's become Rourkela orphanage's resident trouble maker. After spending 8 hours at the home yesterday, let's run down a quick list of Deepak's indisrections:

Throwing rocks on the roof of the home

Catching dragonflies and chasing the girls around with them

Crawling up the slide for at least a half hour and when he got to the top, sliding back down and bringing everyone else with him

When playing Bulldog, he would just yell out "Bulldog!" whenever he wanted, making the start of each round even more chaotic

In other words, you always have to keep an eye on him, which is actually a lot of fun to do.

He's another one of the beautful kids we got to visit over the three days we spent there. Today (Sunday) is our last day there and we head out tonight for the Bhawani orphanage.