Republic Day at Pathway

Though independence from Great Britain in 1947 is celebrated on August 15, the anniversary of the adoption of the constitution (patterned after American, Canadian, Australian, and British models) on January 26, 1950 is celebrated as a national holiday, and at Pathway with a three hour program of marching, speeches, songs, and dramatization.

Flag Ceremony. For the benefit of the Boy Scouts of America in our audience, here the flag is lifted furled with a release knot. When it reaches the top of the pole, a pull on the other rope releases it and a load of flower petals, which you see in a cloud about half way to the ground.

Children march smartly past the flagpole in the opening ceremony.

A first-grader in traditional costume greets the director.

Gandhi addresses his people.

Doing swimmingly.

Pathway has a very nice swimming pool, which I am sure will be a refuge in the summer, but we had not seen anyone use it yet. Monsoons were followed by winter, and with daytime temperatures only in the low 80’s F., “it is too cold for swimming”.

A bunch of girls decided to take the plunge, and since swimming suits are unheard of here (people at the beach are fully clothed) they jump in with whatever they have on, including churidar complete with shawl.

The soaking wet shawls were quickly shed to the rim of the pool while a good time was had by all.

Rising Star Outreach

We visited Rising Star Outreach, a residence school for children of families affected by leprosy, founded by a Mormon mom from Atlanta (go to risingstaroutreach.org for the amazing story behind it) and staffed by American volunteers. Historically, lepers have been cast out of society and isolated in government colonies in the countryside. The disease can be controlled by modern medication, but it is communicable to those with a genetic predisposition, which of course the children of lepers will have. If the children are taken out of the environment and given a good education, the disease -and the colonies- can be shut down in a generation.

RSO has a sparkling new facility, though the typical furnishings here are a stylistic throwback to Little House on the Prairie.

The school serves 120 resident students and 40 day students from a nearby village. The management takes great pride in this vote of confidence that the villagers would allow their children to mingle at the school with children from the leper colonies.

As at Pathway, surrounding land is farmed. Here the farm workers are planting chilis which will be used by the kitchen. I am constantly amazed how the women keep looking so fresh and clean while wading in the mud.

We Wish You a Happy Pongal !

Pongal is the official Tamil New Year (14 January), and is celebrated at the first rice harvest after monsoon, which is also shortly after the winter solstice. In the city, many businesses are closed for three days and large numbers of city dwellers go visit their native places. In the rural villages the celebrations last a week. They begin the day before by burning all the rubbish from the previous year. In the evening, doorways are decorated with these colorful chalk drawings, the equivalent of US Christmas lights, where everybody tries to outdo his neighbor. On the 14th, they cook a sweet mixture of rice, sugar, fruits, and cashews in a new clay pot. When it comes to a boil, they exclaim “Pongal, pongal!” which is the name given to the special treat as well as the day. This treat is offered to the sun god who gives them the harvest (and everybody gets a little too). The next day is their Holy Cow day, and they show appreciation for all cows give them by decorating cows with flower garlands, painting their horns, etc. The next day is filled with rodeo-style games for cowboys, which the government has officially outlawed because of the injuries and deaths (like the bull run in Pampalona, Spain), but some villages threatened domestic violence and the government looks the other way.

Pathway School had a holiday Wednesday thru Friday, so the kids decorated all the blackboards Tuesday evening.

One of the school employees who lives in a nearby village showed us around. We got to meet her parents, all their “kids”, and their neighbors, the monkeys.

While we were there the pongal pot which had been held over the fire by the three stones on the right came to a boil and was moved to the shrine behind. For cooling and to keep the round pot upright, it was set in a pile of a very versatile locally available material.

They greeted us very graciously, and Padma poured us each a cup of very hot, very sweet, goat’s milk.

This is the higher-caste end of town, and they live in a concrete house. Only the animal shelters were palm-thatched. The government has brought electricity even to the rural villages, so television is everywhere.

Brave people we meet:

Yasser and his wife Faiza are Muslims from the Darfur region of Sudan, where he was a journalist, and a student of national note in his youth. His public criticism of the human rights abuses of the Khartoum government got him imprisonment and torture eleven times in the last twenty years, beginning at age 16. After escaping Sudan and gaining asylum in Egypt, he was diagnosed with cancer. They came to India where medical treatment is competent and relatively affordable, but are facing delays in raising the money for needed surgery. A ”chance” encounter with missionaries on the street led to discussions which answered lifelong questions about the meaning and purpose of human life and our relationship to God. They read the Book of Mormon, found it to be true, and requested baptism. He wants to bring the gospel to Sudan, if he survives the cancer. There are a few other problems with that, as you may be aware from the international news coming out of Darfur. When we asked what personal issues their conversion would present, Faiza calmly stated, “I have not yet told my family. Some will respect my decision. Many will never speak to me again. Only a few will want to kill me.”

More brave people we meet:

Tanya is a remarkably self-confident 20 year old hairdresser from Vancouver B.C. touring India alone for five months. After two months seeing northern India and doing farm labor for room and board, she sought out the church in Chennai for the comfort of something familiar from home. We tried to talk her into coming to Pathway for a while, but she found an orphanage across the street from her room and is volunteering there for a few weeks, teaching English and music and just loving the children, until it is time to move on before she goes home in April.

More brave people:

Sathidas Powell (seated) joined the church in 1989 when Latter-day saints in Madras (population 7 million) were literally one in a million. As the branch grew, he was its president in the late 1990’s. His son, Barat, (standing, right) returned from a mission last year and friends told him of the wonderful young lady who was Relief Society president in the branch of the church on the other side of town. They arranged their own marriage and are now expecting their first child. Younger brother (left) is awaiting his mission call.

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A group of brave young souls we bumped into at the immigration office, some of India, some of America, but all of God.

Travel, Indian style

Here is one of the teachers and his family just returning from a holiday visit to relatives 80 km. away, with the family of four and all their luggage on two wheels.

Merry Christmas at Pathway

A Merry Christmas at Pathway, thanks to our children and grandchildren in the U.S. who helped us buy small gifts for each of the 187 children. You see here the enthusiasm among the boys, racing their cars around the hallways of the school.

To celebrate their short Christmas break, we organized a Field Day, with races and games, including running races, a stone throwing contest, tug-of-war, and three-legged races (which was a new thing for them) some of which went better than others.