Namaste from the beautiful Snehadaan campus in Bangalore, India!
1 uneventful trip through Newark airport at 6 am,
3 airplane rides (Newark to London --> London --> Delhi, Delhi --> Bangalore),
2 movies ("Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Jack and Jill"),
59% of the Hunger Games (yay for Kindle!),
4 crappy airplane meals,
1 "chocolate brownie shake"- aka melted chocolate ice cream since I insisted the barista not put ice in my shake at the Delhi airport,
AND 1 two hour taxi ride through the bustling outskirts of Bangalore later....
I arrived at my home, Sneha Care Home, for the next four months. I was pretty exhausted by this point, but excited to meet my new "family" and get some food in my belly! I was greeted by a smiling and hospitable Father Matthew who gave me a short tour of the area and directed me to my room. As you can see from the photo, it is simple but comfortable. Ample storage space and my own bathroom with a bucket shower. Woohoo!!
Sneha Care Home is on a beautiful, self-contained campus on the outskirts of Bangalore. Amazing gardens, a small in-patient hospital (Snehadaan), a Pastoral Training Centre (where I am getting my wifi right now!), the Sneha Care Home residential buildings (where the 100 kids living with HIV/AIDS reside), and the Shining Star School rooms. I was truly blown away by what a nice facility it is. All the kids speak pretty good English (they take all their classes in English) so it will be fun getting to know them and interacting with them.
My roles and responsibilities here are still very much up in the air. The possibilities seem endless which is great, but also quite overwhelming. Ideally I will be working on a bunch of areas including:
- teaching health education and science at the Shining Star School
- evaluation of the current nutrition program for children at Sneha Care Home who are undernourished
- assisting with two ongoing studies being conducted by St. John's Hospital, a hospital in Bangalore affiliated with Sneha Care Home about anemia (1) and the long-term impacts of HIV (2)
- developing programming for World AIDS Day (December 2nd)
- assisting with assessment plans for children affiliated with Sneha Care Home but that are still living with their families in Kola
- assisting with extracurricular activities, especially sports. I was never a big soccer/futbol player but thats what's big. Hopefully I can convert some of them to love frisbee as much as I do! December 2nd is a mini-marathon and big sporting day so Father Matthew would like me to organize teams and prepare the children for this big day!
More to come, but thought I'd give some updates on my life. Things definitely move slowly here but I cannot wait to jump in full force!
Love to all my family and friends around the world :) I'd love to hear from any and all of you so email me (mohearn8@gmail.com) or respond to my posts!
1 uneventful trip through Newark airport at 6 am,
3 airplane rides (Newark to London --> London --> Delhi, Delhi --> Bangalore),
2 movies ("Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "Jack and Jill"),
59% of the Hunger Games (yay for Kindle!),
4 crappy airplane meals,
1 "chocolate brownie shake"- aka melted chocolate ice cream since I insisted the barista not put ice in my shake at the Delhi airport,
AND 1 two hour taxi ride through the bustling outskirts of Bangalore later....
I arrived at my home, Sneha Care Home, for the next four months. I was pretty exhausted by this point, but excited to meet my new "family" and get some food in my belly! I was greeted by a smiling and hospitable Father Matthew who gave me a short tour of the area and directed me to my room. As you can see from the photo, it is simple but comfortable. Ample storage space and my own bathroom with a bucket shower. Woohoo!!
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| My new room! |
My roles and responsibilities here are still very much up in the air. The possibilities seem endless which is great, but also quite overwhelming. Ideally I will be working on a bunch of areas including:
- teaching health education and science at the Shining Star School
- evaluation of the current nutrition program for children at Sneha Care Home who are undernourished
- assisting with two ongoing studies being conducted by St. John's Hospital, a hospital in Bangalore affiliated with Sneha Care Home about anemia (1) and the long-term impacts of HIV (2)
- developing programming for World AIDS Day (December 2nd)
- assisting with assessment plans for children affiliated with Sneha Care Home but that are still living with their families in Kola
- assisting with extracurricular activities, especially sports. I was never a big soccer/futbol player but thats what's big. Hopefully I can convert some of them to love frisbee as much as I do! December 2nd is a mini-marathon and big sporting day so Father Matthew would like me to organize teams and prepare the children for this big day!
More to come, but thought I'd give some updates on my life. Things definitely move slowly here but I cannot wait to jump in full force!
Love to all my family and friends around the world :) I'd love to hear from any and all of you so email me (mohearn8@gmail.com) or respond to my posts!
Glad you made it there safely! Good luck, and keep us posted on everything! It sounds like you've got a lot planned, but I know that you can do it. Also, send me your physical mailing address when you get the chance! <3 kristen
ReplyDeleteYea! So glad to hear you're safe &sound!
ReplyDeleteLove to you!
I am so glad to hear your accommodations are comfortable and the facility is so well organized. Free wi fi!....goes to show that you won't be roughing it too much! Be sure to take good care of your self. (Sorry, I'm a mom first, friend second!)
ReplyDeleteEverything sounds awesome Meghan! Glad you're having a great time so far!
ReplyDelete