Gappy

This is Sandeep.

When we arrived at Shunem he didn’t have his two front teeth, and hadn’t had them when he arrived here in June either. His gums were super thick and we saw no evidence that new teeth were ever going to come in. One night while talking with some other volunteers about some of the kids, Sandeep came up and not everyone knew who we were talking about. Our friend Ben who wanted to clarify who we meant used the name Gappy to describe Sandeep. It not only went perfectly with his dental situation, but with his obnoxious personality as well.

Sandeep drove me crazy for our first couple months here. He was never following directions and was always calling “akka, akka” over and over again for no reason in a horribly annoying tone. He got chickenpox after we had been here for a few weeks which meant he got to stay home from school. During the outbreak we had to look after him and the other sick children every afternoon. One such afternoon I was passing out paper for them to color on and he kept stealing it from the other kids because he couldn’t wait the two seconds until I gave him his own piece. I got so fed up with him I actually said “No, Sandeep, you can just move back and try to figure out to not be so annoying for a while. Abi, another volunteer here, and I just about died it was so funny.

I eventually started feeling a bit bad for him because he was always such a mess. He never washes his school uniform, so he always looks like a ragamuffin because its covered in dirt. He then gets scolded for his obviously dirty clothes which makes him walk around crying. He also cries every Saturday because he lost his white school shoes after having them for  just a month so they won’t buy him any new ones. He has to wear sandals to school and get scolded by his teacher when he gets there. He also can’t keep track of or use a toothbrush so his teeth are just disgusting. Poor kid.

One day I gave his cheeks a good squish and decided he wasn’t so bad after all. He is also also super ticklish and has an adorable giggle that comes along only when you tickle him, so naturally I do it whenever I get the chance. He is still super naughty and is always taking toys from the playroom, and not following directions, and calling “akka akka” in a horrible voice. But what can you do. . . he still needs some lovin.

Oh, and don’t worry, his two front teeth have both started coming in.