These are orphans...their parents dying of AIDS and stigmatized in a society that is already stratified by class (caste), gender, and let me emphasize it again...CLASS/CASTE.
Some of these children were literally abandoned on trains, in the huts where their parent's body was left untouched after dying, in the hospice where they watched as their parent died...and by remaining family who too old, too poor, or too lazy could not and would not care for them.
All of these children are now fed two hot meals every day and have clean drinking water and each has their own bed. Most importantly all of them get the meds that will surely prolong their lives and are treated by physicians who are trained in pediatric AIDS.
Every time we come we are greeted with hugs and smiles. Machelle knows the children better than I do after her many visits...Madame! Madame! When we are with Eve and Talia..they immediately get all the attention. Eve's camera has created a few 'rock-stars' who enjoy seeing the immediate image. Talia brought letters written my her classmates...and sat and read the letters with the children. Next week she will go back and get handwritten letters in simple English for students in Edina, MN.
We brought kites and string for all the children....for most of the kids, it was their very FIRST kite. The kites were paper...and simple wood...the string on little spools...and the life-span out in the field approx. 5 minutes per kite per child. Running...laughing...a few caught the wind and their faces would expand into amazing moments of joy.
They call me Uncle...a term used throughout India for an adult male...so there I am running, holding kites...trying my best to get them up in the air...Uncle...Uncle...Uncle! Then lots of Teleghu...not sure what they were saying/asking...so I would nod and run faster! Imagine me, still 25 pounds heavier than I should be...running...watching...running more...throwing the kites up into the air trying to catch a gust of wind...Right...a 63 year old Charlie Brown!
I loved every minute of it. Some of the older children realized that by climbing up to the roof there would be better wind! And then of course Eve had to climb up too, to capture their faces.
I am used to Fiddlers on the Roof...Now, Kite Flyers on the Roof too?!
It was great...for almost an hour...these were not AIDS orphans in rural India...just laughing kids trying to get their kites to fly. I suppose that has always been our goal...drop their status as poor orphans with an incurable virus....and give them the chance that every child wants every day....to laugh and run into the wind!
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