India Weddings

Omprakash, a teacher at Shishya, got married this week (it’s a three or four day event) and the Republic of India holiday was the same day so we didn’t have school the whole day. The school day consisted of raising the flag, a few speeches and games. The teachers were invited to the wedding festivities but we just attended the lunch, which was a cultural experience in itself. You walk in with loud music playing and the couple is sitting on the stage in fancy seats that look like thrones! There are chairs out like an audience set up so people can sit and watch them. There is another room for food. Our teacher friend was all smiles! His bride looked beautiful in the wedding attire. The food was delicious, of course. We didn’t drink the water because it was a bad idea so the hot food was a little intense. We gave money all together and it’s bad luck to give an even amount, so we contributed 901 rupees.

On Thursday night we went to the wedding dinner for the teacher I took over teaching English. Her name is Lata. I wore my first sari (between 5-8 meters of cloth!) I felt pretty in it! It took about 15 minutes to put on and Ruth, a parent in the small boys house, put it on me. It’s wrapped and tucked around you and pinned in a few areas to keep it up. I felt like the connection at this wedding event was closer since I knew Lata. When we showed up she hadn’t been out of her house yet for her appearance. She walked down the isle around 1045! She called us all in before hand and we got to talk with her and take some pictures. I was so taken away with how beautiful she looked and how incredible her wedding outfit was. She asked how teaching was going and if the kids had been naughty! The groom was up front before she was but when she walked down the isle with a sheet held over her head like a ceiling, she went to the front and they exchanged flowers they wear around their necks, which concluded their marriage. She looked absolutely incredible. It was an amazing experience. Enjoy the pictures. Liz got some good ones with my camera of her since I wasn’t at a good angle in the room to do so.

To see the rest of the wedding pictures click here.

Elephants in the room

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Snail mail from Alaska takes about 25 days to get here! From the lower 48 I am seeing it takes about two weeks. I wouldn’t recommend sending mail to me after April 1st. Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me mail so far. It feels like Christmas every time I get something in the mail.

I am connected on facebook with the Doon Youth Center in Dehra Dun that is run through Shishya. I have told Frieda that I would like to attend a meeting or something since it’s all right up my alley but she said it really isn’t for foreigners to get involved in. On Facebook I get invited to events they’re having and last Friday there was a free photography workshop. Nibha was already going so I registered online for myself, Liz and Lisa. I have so badly at least wanted to get my foot in the door! Ken gave us a ride and picked up the photographer and her husband too who were staying at the Forest Research place nearby (he is a professor of some sort in genetics and they live in Huston but he is from India). We would have been on time if it weren’t for the Hindu holiday parade we hit on the way there. Music, dancing and people pulling this trailer with more people on it with a rope held up traffic. The photographer’s name is Michele Wambaugh and her passion is photographing the gypsy women in this area. Before we hit the traffic jam we pulled over in a place for her to take pictures and she got a few, and so did Nibha. This is Michele’s website: http://www.michelewambaugh.com/. She photographed a lot of ballet companies and Broadway shows among other things. It’s ironic I attended a photography workshop here; since photography is how I came to be in Shishya in the first place.

Liz got a cell phone figured out in Dehra Dun after the workshop and a little barefoot boy out front of the shop kept looking at us with his hand outstretched. He walked by a few times. While we were waiting I bought a small bag of chips for him but he wasn’t out front anymore. So I wandered down the ‘sidewalk’ and saw him. He eventually turned around and I gave the bag to him. He walked along side me on the way back and he crushed them in the bag. I wonder if he ate them. I hope so. It cost me only 30 cents or so.

After the workshop and cheap cell phone purchasing, Liz, Lisa and me went to dinner at Kumars—the same place I went with a big group of girls about a month ago. Delicious food once again was consumed. I ate so much I said, “I can’t eat anymore.” Liz’s response was, “ Kelly, you’re not the same when you’re not eating a lot.” Ha!

It rained (Shishya got hail during the day!) last Saturday and there was thunder and lightning too that night. One big bang was right above us in the middle of the night (that woke up everybody) and I think it blew our electricity box out. I had morning duty with the boys on Saturday so I woke them up and helped them get ready for school and the day. All day the thunder rolled and lighting in the sky. Most of the kids from the area didn’t even come to school. All the rain we got the last few days reminds me of how it rains in southeast, Alaska and it made me a little homesick.

Last Sunday I actually lost my appetite all together. I ate too much chow mein on one of the boy’s birthdays with too much oil in it and I was so sick the next day and couldn't make it through church. I still haven’t felt back to 100% and it has halted my food intake tremendously—which is probably a good thing.

In 8th English the other day the boys were laughing and I figured out it was because the way I was sitting on the ground, you could see the string from my pants hanging out... which is a big no no. Kind of like having your fly down I guess. Oops.

It isn’t uncommon to see men of all ages in India holding hands with each other. It’s a way of expressing friendship!

I put the boys to bed the first time last week one night. It was fun praying with all the boys before bed. Apparently there is a song I need to learn… Amanda can you help me out? ;)

I have had a cough all week and have been feeling a little under the weather. Since school started up volunteers have been subbing at the last minute. For those that know me, I can stress big time. I’m trying to work on that here but having night terrors every night since I got back from my trip hasn’t been helping either (Poor Liz. It’s always something exciting happening every night. A few nights ago a big elephant walked in our room through the window.) I now help about 4 little boys with homework 6 nights a week and at the end of the night I feel exhausted and sometimes still have to plan for school the next day. I just wish I felt completely normal again. The night terrors add to exhaustion the next day. I again couldn't remember the last time I showered yesterday so I thought it was time to do so. I have been wanting to start running again but I don’t feel good enough too. So I decided today during the day I would finally bathe myself (going to bed with wet hair is coolllddd)—then I learned that our water tank to our apartment needed to be filled. So I bit the bullet and went to bed with wet hair.

I did my first Life Skills assembly this morning for grades 1-3. (We talked about times we feel angry and good ways to deal with it). There will be some adjustments for the next assembly... but overall it was okay. I'm glad to be doing it! Rahul said to me when I walked in the door for dinner, "Life Skills was so nice ma'm!!!". I'm glad someone thought so!

For Some of You

The experience of being in India so far has been absolutely incredible and I am learning so much about myself, God and other people. Shishya is such a neat community. The school I help teach at has about 550 local students and the home has about thirty boys I help take care for. With all the pollution, shortage/bad water, poverty, crime and corruption in the rest of India, this oasis here is clearly reflecting God’s love in so many ways. The children that live here help work on the farm that produces a lot of our food we eat. Self-sustainability and the importance of taking care of the environment is so strongly enforced. I feel so at home here and I feel very much apart of this wonderful family. The boys that live here at Shishya come from underprivileged homes where their parents, if they have any, are unable to provide for them. Indian families at Shishya, with their own children, raise the boys in a home and volunteers come in as needed to help in any way possible with helping raise them. I have been here since mid November and I go back to Alaska at the end of April.

Ever since high school I always had the desire in the back of my mind to volunteer at an orphanage in India. Connections through my photography teacher my junior year of college got me in touch with Shishya. God had me come to this place for a reason, and the way I ended here was definitely His will. I figured with one year of my Masters degree under my belt, and with no other real obligations to report to, these five months seemed like great timing to volunteer in India. As soon as I get back to Alaska I hope to dive right into my masters program again and finish in two years. The timing has been perfect for this experience and I feel so lucky and blessed to be here.

Besides helping the boys in the home, my biggest contribution has been mostly teaching English to junior high grades but starting this month I will be doing more than just adding to the life skills curriculum and teaching it to 8th graders too. Up until I leave, I will be doing assemblies on life skills topics, which I am really excited about! I will continue to teach moral science (Sunday school) to first grade a few times a week. With my undergraduate degree in psychology, and gradually working on my masters now in school counseling, this place has been a good fit for me and I feel like I am contributing in many different ways.

I am so happy to be here to contribute to the lives of all the children I meet. I’m taking time off from work and school to do this volunteering and there have been some different expenses I’ve encountered. For example travel costs, visas, Shishya room and board, insurance, vaccinations, life skills supplies I will leave behind and not to mention the price for taking time off work and/for school add up. Everything so far, in regards to Shishya, has cost about $3,000 for me. Since some of you have offered, anyone who would like to may contribute to my expenses through PayPal or check. Your continued prayers, thoughts, and words of encouragement are just as important and will continue to impact my service here immensely.

Please continue to check up on my blog. It is the best way to keep up with all my experiences here. The link for donations is below which is a PayPal link to me. If you would rather send a check, the address is PO Box 1667 Haines, Alaska 99827. I welcome any questions or conversation about my experiences, so please feel free to email or write. If you would like a mailed letter please email me with your home address.

To donate through PayPal click here:
--from here you click "Send Money" on the top margin (you’re paying someone in the United States), enter amount and then select payment for Friends and family then keljhansen@gmail.com in the To: space. You’ll need PayPal account to do this, but it’s free and easy to set up. If you’d prefer to skip this method and send a check or money order via mail, the address is listed above.

Being back!

Being back at Shishya after our travels has been fantastic. The first night we were with the boys we walked in before dinner and they were huddled around a little burning coal bowl and they were singing songs. I swear some of the boys are growing drastically over night! Rohan looks bigger every day. It’s cold here. Some mornings there is frost on the ground and there is no heating in India so at night we have to bundle up!

There was supposed to be two days of school this week coming back, but unexpectedly Thursday was a holiday too, and we didn’t find that out until Wednesday afternoon AFTER school was out. Thursday and Friday are Hindu holidays so no school in India is happening. So much for lesson planning ahead! Seems like holidays spring up out of nowhere! India time is funny. People take their time on most things so people always said before I came here ‘don’t plan on planning anything when it comes to traveling or school… things just happen!’ So true.

I knew that arranged marriage happened in India. But what I didn’t know was that everyone does it-regardless of what religion you are. Hindus, Muslims and Christians have arranged marriages. There are few “Love Marriages” here. A teacher is getting married in a few weeks and we are invited!

I have yet to take a picture of how some of the women here carry things on their heads. Long piles of sticks and wood, bowls, piles of clothing all get stacked on there and often times with no hands. They all seem to have really good posture…

The farm here produces a lot of our food we eat. Near the house there is mustard seed from the farm on tarps the boys are going through that will eventually be made into oil for cooking. I think they sell it too. Self-sustainability and the importance of taking care of the environment is so strongly enforced here. Everyone recycles and there is never trash anywhere on campus. I learned that kids at school are not aloud to bring food in plastic. Like I said before, Shishya is such a great little oasis from the rest of India.

A couple from England came the same day we got back to volunteer. They are in their early twenties and their names are Charlotte (Charlie) and Mike! It’s always great to see new faces.

The night we got back we realized right away that Amanda was gone. She has been here off and on for three years and we missed her big send off party. We thought and prayed for her a lot while we were away. Miraj, who celebrated his birthday a few days ago, asked me around the coal fire at the house when I was leaving. I said end of April, and little Ashish, who I am now also helping with homework asked me, “But you will be here for next Christmas.” My heart sank. I said no… and should have said my sister is getting married around that time. But I see the pull to what to come and spend so much time here. It’s amazing that the boys allow themselves to attach to volunteers, even though they know they will eventually leave.

My mom sent some Alaskan children's books for the boys and they were like kids in a candy shop! They're great books! Thanks, Ma! I wrote little messages in the inside covers telling the boys to remember how much I love them when they read it and that even under the midnight sun I will be thinking of them always! For the ABC book I said "You will Always Be Completely loved by me" :)



After reading a few Alaska books at the small boys house last night, I walked back in the dark by myself using my headlamp as a flashlight. I felt so at peace about so many things. I stopped, turned my light off and stared up at the stars and thanked God for the opportunity to be here and everything else in my life. I could have stood there all night, and even in the cold I felt so content and filled with overwhelming joy.

India Holiday Vacation

Liz and I traveled for two weeks after Christmas at Shishya. Over night houseboat in the Kerala backwaters where we saw rural lifestyle of people living there, sitting on a beautiful beach in Goa for five days with a unique parasailing experience and where we met an Indian man whose response was “Petersburg Pilot” (local newspaper there) when I said I was from Alaska, shopping in Jaipor (where camels are used instead of horses drawing working trailers and things) and seeing how beautiful things were made, with sightseeing of old forts and palaces built as old as the 1500’s and randomly meeting the artist that made the piece of art Liz walked by on her way to work every day in Chicago at a small roof top restaurant. We saw a Bollywood movie with a joke about Alaska in it, and among other things a failed attempt to see the inside of the Taj Mahal.

In between these places with overnight trains (one closed the doors before we got the car and it started leaving and we were screaming from the outside for someone to open it! Someone did thank goodness… that would NOT have been a good train station to get stuck at night!), crazy rickshaw rides, bus rides (only one available round new years was the local bus which was cheap and long and crowded and bumpy overnight with all the smells of India streaming in…) long taxi rides, plane rides (one was late… and luckily so was our train we needed to catch!) late trains (sitting in cold Agra station with your train 10+hours late over night is not fun when there is a bathroom in the room smelling up everything and everyone. The Taj wasn’t even open that day so it was a lot of unnecessary chaoticness!) shopping all over, meeting people from all over the world (everyone we saw that wasn’t Indian were carrying lonely planet books!) and of course consuming lots of delicious food. Some Indian people wanted to rip you off but some were genuinely nice. Of course no Indian vacation is complete without getting a little sick, too. The trip was an awesome experience but it’s so nice being back at beautiful Shishya!

December 25- night train to Delhi
December 26- flight to Goa
December 26-night train to Kerala
December 27-Night in Alleppey, Kerala
December 28-House boat over night
December 29-night bus to Mangalore
December 30-taxi to Goa
January 4-flight to Delhi
January 4-night train to Jaipor
January 7-early train to Agra to see Taj Mahal
January 8-taxi back to Dehra Dun

So many stories in between!

Please check out the rest of my pictures here!