India Updates
The Pooj
Pooja is a seven-year-old wild card with abundant personality. Emily has the pleasure of having her as a first grade student. She is super smart and super naughty. She loves story time, learning to read, using her imagination, breaking crayons, eating erasers and pencils, and pretending to have a fever.
read moreSai Ram, Venkatesh, and Vishnu
Monday was Venkatesh’s eighth birthday, so it seems appropriate to share a little bit about him and his brothers. Last time we were at Shunem, Sai Ram and Venkatesh were here tearing it up. We met Vishnu once or twice when their parents came to visit. Now Vishnu is here, and may grow up to be the funniest of the lot.
read moreAn Anna and His Chelli
The last time we introduced you to Shiva Kumar he was a ticklish little boy who had a habit of using bad words all the time. He only knew a few words in English and communicated with me mostly through kisses.
read moreDustulu, Pyāṇṭu, Mariyu Cokkālu
Clothes are expensive. Clothes for over 100 children are really expensive. The Arlington, Virginia Christadelphians organized an Indian potluck and a clothing drive for the Shunem Home this past April. They sent nearly 100 pounds of dresses, shorts, and shirts with us on our trip.
read moreShunem Is Best Served Full
Sunday was the best day. We walked back from the conference centre in mid afternoon planning on taking a rest after a fun yet exhausting CYC weekend. Our plans were immediately cut short when we opened the Shunem gate. Ten or so of the little ones ran up shouting our names and wrapped their little arms around our legs.
read moreNi Peru?
We're back! After twenty or so hours of sitting in airports and on planes, we are back at the Shunem Home. When we arrived at 3:30 in the morning, it was already a balmy 102 degrees outside.
read moreJyothi Laxmi
Jvothi Laxmi has lived at Shunem for eleven years. She always gets the best grades out of all the kids at Shunem, and wins the girls’ Kabbaddi championship at school. She is really sweet, beautiful and kind, making all the other children love her. She is certainly the most popular girl at Shunem.
read moreThe Boys
One thing about Shunem boys is that they all seem to turn out to be pretty solid athletes. I suppose that comes from playing with boys older than you from the time that you are very young. A few of the boys here consistently win the different sports competitions in school.
read moreRadhika
My Best Shunem Friend D. Radhika is eight years old and loves English class in school; all other subjects are “not coming” as she would say. Her favorite color was pink, but became purple when she found out that purple is my favorite color. She is super goofy and is always making me laugh. She makes funny faces all the time, not necessarily on purpose, and loves changing her voice around in all kinds of silly ways. Every Sunday morning she comes and wakes us up. When I hear the creak of the outside door I’m always a little bit...
read moreThe Garden Snake
My India Trip Will be Complete When… I told Emily a few times that although we had seen so many great things, my trip would really only be complete when I saw a cobra. She always heartily disagreed, but I still wanted the thrill of seeing a killer in its natural habitat. The other day as we were walking back from lunch one of the other volunteers, Ellie, called me over. “There is a garden snake over here if you want to see it.” Emily doesn’t like snakes and headed up to the room, not too interested. I went over to get a look and...
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