A Friend Needs Help

I have a friend names Rajama. She is a grandma supporting her 3 sons, 2 daughter in laws, and 6 grandkids. She is also putting two of her granddaughters through college to be teachers, which costs WAY more than what Rajama makes from being an ayah (a maid).  She works for Heather and Brian Nelsen (my principal).  Between the Nelsens and Rajama, they have been able to pay off one school bill but still owe $5,000 ($1,000 by December) for the other granddaughter to finish school.  To make extra money, Rajama makes homemade amazing peanut butter and sells it to the teachers for 200 rupees ($5).  She only makes 40 rupees ($1) off each jar of peanut butter. In the past she has had to rent a grinder from a neighbor.  But, that one is broken so recently she has been grinding the peanuts by hand.  If she had her own grinder, she would be able to make more money off of each jar because she wouldn't have to pay rent to her neighbor.  And, it would give her a better chance of paying the $1,000 by December 23rd.  

Rajama has been bound by her low social class her whole life.  That social class binds her children and her grandchildren.  However, if her granddaughters can continue to go to school, this could break her entire family and future generations out of this low social class.  The girls will be able to get good jobs teaching and be able to support their families allowing Rajama to retire.  

I have already shared this with a few of you and together we have the peanut grinder covered. Heather found one for 5,000 rupees ($125).  However, Rajama still owes $1,000 by December 23rd. She only makes $50 a month.  Our math skills will tell us that this is impossible for her to do it on her own.  If you would like to pitch in (even $5 will help!!!) Please write a check to Carol Harrill and send it to : 1531 Parker Drive, Mayfield, OH 44124.  (Sorry we don't know how to give tax credit). My mom will put it in our account which we can access from here.  Thank you!!!!!

We love you all so much....and Thank You for the comments!!!! We love them, I know we don't respond but we read every single one. After we post, we check multiple times for the next few days seeing who commented.  Keep it up, it keeps us going at times!!!

Life on a mountain in India

Well, we celebrated our 5 month anniversary yesterday!!  We celebrated by looking at video clips and pictures of our wedding, reminiscing about our long and storied marriage.  Ok, maybe not long, but we do have a few stories so far.  Speaking of stories, it's fun to have people over to the house and hear about their life journey.  The other day we had some people over to celebrate the life of our friend Chrissy (it was her birthday).  Though the rain put a damper on our bonfire, it didn't mess with the great food and conversations we had under our roof.  Speaking of roofs, we're so thankful for our house.  Lots of people around here don't have much of one and we're really blessed to have a great one.  Hopefully it can be a place of peace and refuge and acceptance for anyone who needs it.

Speaking of refuge (this email is all about tying everything together by saying "speaking of"), I (Kyle) have been creating a vegetable refuge in our backyard known to most as a garden.  I've found that I actually miss manual labor, and it has given me joy to get out and get sweaty and dirty, making manly grunts every so ofte

n.  A lot of my work involves being in an office, and if you know me, you probably know that this kind of thing won't satisfy for the rest of life.  But for now, it's serving its purpose.  Anyway, back to the garden.  Our maid, Selvie, saw me working in the backyard, and she started scolding me, claiming the work was too hard for me and that she would call a gardener to come and do it.  I know she's just trying to protect me, but I tried to explain that I like it and that it feels good to get dirty.  She didn't underst

and.  To her a white person shouldn't 

be doing manual labor like that.  I also get weird looks from the neighboring workers who work at the small motel behind our house.  They stare at m

e, and I smile.  I'm not an 

expert at Indian culture, but I think it could be a couple things.  For one, the caste system is still in place, though not officially.  You're born into a certain caste and you're expected to do certain jobs and not do certain jobs.  I hope my perspective doesn't offend anyone, but I just don't see anyone being able to make a good case that this system isn't still here (though I admit to still knowing very little).  As a westerner coming here, I'm seen as a job opportunity for someone who does certain jobs, like gardening.  So when I get out in the backyard and work, it's not only a strange sight, but job-threatening as well.  Hmmm...It's a hard thing, trying to promote equality by your lifestyle (having no problem getting dirty or helping the maid do the dishes), and also support gardeners who need all the money they can get for their family.  So, in that social context, I decide to get my shovel and bucket and walk the street picking up fresh horse and cow manure for my garden (I eventually met this guy on the street who offered to deliver some nice soil/fertilizer to my house for a good price).  People were staring at me so hard, and I just tried to smile everything off.  I had a few people take a picture of me with their camera phones.  So I smiled.  At least they have a picture of a smiling white guy picking up cow manure instead of a scowling one.  One of the many things that I learned from my Dad is that it's always better to smile.

Speaking of smiling for random peoples' pictures, Lynea and I had just finished our tandem bike ride around the lake (more on that later), when these guys walked up beh

ind me, stood there waiting patiently for us to finish our conversation and then asked if they could have their picture with me.  I asked if it was because I was white, and he said yes.  I obliged, and now I'm forever in some random person's photo album, probably known as the tall, skinny, white guy they met in Kodaikanal.  Lots of westerners are bitter about all the attention they draw from the locals: the pictures, the stares, the laughs and shouts as we walk by.  I've tried to embrace it, just smiling my best smile and saying hi, answering their questions (sometimes in the gibberish language I make up as I go...this always confuses them and one guy even asked if I was from france, to which I replied in my own language that he and I both didn't understand).

Oh yes, the bike ride.  The school had a long weekend last week (wednesday to sunday), but we still had some weekend chaperoning responsibilities like the "around the lake bike ride."  Let me first say that riding a bike in India is life-threatening.  Secondly, the rental bikes aren't guaranteed to work when you need them to.  Lastly, the only bike they had left for us was a tandem bike.  It's kinda like driving a 15 passenger van when you're used to a Ford Fiesta.  Great fun!!  Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.

And now for my better half...

Well that's a hard act to follow!!! But I'll try to keep your attention just as much.  I have come to realize that I LOVE teaching and LOVE LOVE LOVE my kids....and I tell them that every day!  Currently we are doing a read-a-thon fundraiser for a nearby village school called Kombai.  Kombai has 105 students, 55 of whom are boarding kids. They have no bathrooms, no clean water, no cafeteria/auditorium/room big enough for them all to meet, small classrooms with tiny hand held slates to learn from, and to top it all off, the boarding kids sleep on the ground in the grade 1/2 room.  Our elementary school has done some outreaches there in the past and our 5th graders decided they wanted to get clean water, bathrooms, a covered court and a playground for the children at Kombai. SO.....we are doing a read-a-thon for the month of October raising money for this school.  My students are doing amazing in their reading!! One of my students had read 1,054 pages over long weekend!! She's 8 years old!!  My students are motivated youngster who really want to help.  My class is being sponsored by my church back home, but if you still would like to donate, let me know!!!  

Speaking of long weekend, I p

ainted again!! This time I tackled the bedroom (see picture). It was fun, although my maid was here that day and kept trying to tell me not to stand on the dresser because I might fall.  Thank God she didn't see Kyle standing on two chairs stacked on top of a table.  She would have had a heart attack.  Now we have a nice picture to look at when we wake up each morning. 

Please leave comments if you have any because we love reading them!! 

Finally, another post

First of all, we need to apologize for not writing for over a month!! We were battling health problems, closing out the first quarter, and planning for field trip week all at once. But that is no excuse for not keeping you posted on all our fun and adventures. So, here's to make up for lost time.

Four major happenings.
Happening #1 Decorating our first home!!! Kyle had seen a picture on my sister-in-law's website that inspired him. He showed me and I got inspired, so I painted our living room. Kyle also wanted to spice up our corner table so he found a sweet looking stick in our yard and placed it between a lot of our wedding pictures. My next task is the bedroom.....wait until you see it!!!

Happening #2…closing out the first quarter. Grades Grades Grades. Oh my goodness we had to write so many reports for grades! And you can't just write the same for everyone, you have to make it personal. It's nice communicate to parents how their children are doing, but it takes FOREVER!! My students are wonderful and I love to talk about them. I love each one of the little rascals! They are sweet, kind, hilarious, and so darn cute! It's hard to ever be mad at them because of their cute little faces. Dimples, missing front teeth, puppy dog eyes, you name and I have it! We are in the middle of studying oceans/water. I will show pictures of all their ocean animals and water experiments soon.

Happening #3…Field Trip Week. Every year the entire school PreK-Grade 12 goes on a week long field trip in the middle of September. Each grade goes to a different place(s) in Southern India. My class gets the pleasure of going to Poondi Camp. The school owns a wilderness campus 2 ½ hours from Kodai in a town called Poondi. Since my kids are so young still (8 or 9 years old) we only went for 3 days. We had an absolute blast!!! Field Trip week is not just a random week off of school between quarters, it's an extension of the learning that takes place in the classroom. The kids were able to experience a wide range of activities at camp: Zip line, rock climbing, archery, team building to learn the importance of communication, hiking, getting lost on a hike and having to find their way out of the woods, how to make rope from leaves, making a fire, rafting, and creating team songs and skits to go along with all they learned. On Thursday, we took the kids to the lake here in Kodai to go boating and had so much fun. Friday was a recovery day because we were so tired! Overall, camp was amazing and we can't wait for next year!

Happening #4…Subduing the jungle. Kyle got inspired yet again to fix up the house. There is a jungle in our back yard with weeds taller than my 6'4" husband. He took our machete and went to work tearing out all the craziness back there. Now we have a pleasant little spot where he would like to plant a garden. While I'm painting the bedroom, he'll be planting a garden of string beans, broccoli, carrots, and who knows what else. Luckily for us, we don't get monkeys or bison around our house like all of our friends. We only have to worry about the darn crows that are always on the roof.

I promise it won't be another month and a half before you hear from us again.

Lynea

P.S. Check out our new picture links at the top, on the left or click here to see some of our newest ones.  Also, look below to see more of our living room transformation!

Lynea Transforming Our Living Room!!

pomegranates are so good!

with all the things that have been happening in our lives for the past few weeks, I might actually be most excited about the pomegranate that I (kyle) just ate.  I'm not sure how I missed out on these heavenly fruits back in the states.  maybe I didn't know about them or just didn't look on the right aisle, but i would encourage anyone who is reading this to stop, leave your computer, find the nearest fruit stand or grocery store, purchase a half dozen pomegranates, come back to the computer and finish reading the blog while enjoying this incredible fruit.  Go!!...

ok, so hopefully you have a pomegranate by now, but if not, make sure that you find one soon.  i can't get over how much i enjoy this fruit now.  it looks like a normal fruit,

 similar to an orange or an apple in shape.  but once you open

 the outer layer, you don't just find one piece of fruit like a banana or even a few pieces like an orange, but you find hundreds of little tasty treats (called arils) just waiting to be consumed by an appreciative mouth.  the color of the aril is bright red (looks to good to be true) , the taste is so sweet and yet, it is quite healthy.  ok, enough about pomegranates.  but seriously, it will enrich your life.(transition into what we've been doing)...

Lynea has been doing an incredible job with with the 3rd and 4th grade.  and i'm not just saying that because she's my wife.  i've been down to see her in the classroom a few times, and the kids absolutely adore her.  they are like little sponges, excited to learn and soak up everything that she presents.  the only thing the kids get in trouble for is getting out of their seats while raising their

hand because they are so desperate to answer the question.  they make little noises...oooh oooh oooh, me me me, aaah aaah aaa

h.  if only we could all maintain that excitement and desire for learning throughout our lifetime.  as for me, i've been teaching some middle school classes and coordinating events for the exchange program.  i've been able to visit 2 orphanages in the past couple weeks (a boys one and a girls one) with some of the exchange students from the Netherlands. 

 everytime i visit a place like that, i find myself remembering my first experience with an orphanage in honduras when i was 19.  it changed my life forever.  it's the reason that i began traveling, the reason i married the girl that i married (because we have a heart for the same things) and the reason that we came here.  i know it might sound absurd that i would attribute

 my life now to a 2-week trip i took 5 years ago, but it was during that trip that i began to think more deeply about my life.  and it was all because of the kids.  out of all the huge and catastrophic things that are going on in life, maybe the most profound thing we can do is spend time with children, who don't seem to be worried about the election or global warming or the next paycheck.  sure, some can be quite selfish and bratty, but what i saw in honduras the first time and what i've seen at the 2 orphanages and even in my classes since i've been here is beautiful.  i'm not saying that everyone must go to a different country or to a foster home or an orphanage in order to solve your problems or

 experience true joy.  but maybe we all should consider what it means to become like a child.  they seem more worried about who's it during tag than if they'll have a meal on the table at night.  and even though these kids that i hung out with the past couple of weeks initially appear to have less than me (seeing that there's 32 of them in each home that's only slightly bigger than the one the 2 of us stay at), i think they actually have more of what really counts.  some are there because of the tsunami that wiped out their home.  some are their because their parents died or couldn't take care of them.  and yet you would think by their smiles and laughter that nothing had ever happened.  so may we all be more care-free, laughing and smiling more often.  may we gain a deeper sense of trust in God, finding fulfillment in the simple things in life.  and may we understand even better what it means to become like a child and see with our new kingdom eyes.

i just heard lynea say buuuurrrrr, and so i took the cue and put another blanket over her.  she's in bed not feeling so well.  she threw up last night, and i must say that it was pretty good for a girl.haha.  we're getting along fine and i'm learning how to be a better, more nurturing husband (i know that nurturing is motherly word, but she is sick and i feel that i'm giving her that type of love).  we don't really have a given set of responsibilities so far.  we trade off and switch it up often.  i usually make breakfast and she usually makes dinner.  though this could be switched depending on the day.  i did the shopping at the open air market today, though she's better at it.  we like to do most things together, seeing that we haven't even been married for 3 months (feels like 10 years...in a good way).  we have 2 bathrooms, one we use for the toilet (bec

ause the shower head points directly on the toilet seat) and one we use for showering (imagine a shower head placed randomly in your kitchen and turned on without a shower curtain...ya, everything gets soaked including the other toilet that we use for decoration).  but, although we have 2 bathrooms, we only have one bar of soap we share.  sometimes we realize that the bar of soap is in the other bathroom after we're soaking wet, trying to share the hot water that doesn't last too long.  no need to be worried, though.  this is one marital crisis that can be solved by a quick game of rock, paper, scissors (the loser has to run out of the warm, steam-filled bathroom to the other freezing cold one, retrieve the soap and come back).  come to think of it, a lot of things in life could be solved by a quick series of rock, paper, scissors.  or maybe we should just 

buy another bar of soap.  on that strange note (i'm trying to be somewhat open about our lives without going over the top), thanks for reading our update and being a part of our lives.  thanks for all of your prayers.  pray that lynea gets well soon!  we love you.

kyle and lynea