india

Change of Heart.

India

It only takes two weeks. Two weeks to learn so much and fall in love with a place and the people. Being back home has been so hard. All I want to do is go back. Give my girls a big hug and tell them I love them. Every moment counts when you’re out serving. Give that last wave and that last smile , because when your home you’ll miss  it. I’d do it all again in a heart beat. Being on an absolute high then coming home to reality and high school.. horrible!!

So an experience like this is hard to explain so hopefully you’ll get somewhat of an idea of how amazing it was!

Being across the earth really does make you miss three things. Your family, your bed, and American food. Occassionally you friends. I officially hate indian curry and rice. Having it every single day makes me want to gag. Also.. normal toilets, warm showers, clean drinking water, being clean, and DIET coke. Being across in one of the poorest parts of India has changed the way I think and feel about certain things. I am overall just grateful to live in such a safe and beautiful home with great people. India is a dirty dirty place. India is also a scary place at times. So many awful things go on behind the scenes that I know I didn’t realize. The girls in the day boarding school that we taught and loved are the poorest of the poor and are facing some of the hardest battles. One incident we were told was with a little girl we had been loving at the school. She finally had the courage to tell her mom her uncle has been repeatlly rapping her. This is common, especially where we were. So cool to know that our influence and spirits that week made a difference in this one little girls life and gave her the confidence to speak up.

I grew to love their way of life. India was hard in a lot of ways. I always felt filthy and loving conditions were brutal, it was exhausting, but all hard things have the greatest reward. I have never felt so much love. They showed me a great deal of compassion and sacrifice.

I want to share some of my favorite memories:

Everyday we would separate and go to our different villages. Mine was Una Pator. We would be greeted by sweet kids who would hold our hands and walk us to the school. You’d try to make conversation, but that wouldn’t get very far.. The villages are beautiful and tropical with a lot of water, but most live in mud, stick, and tin roof houses. Walking into the village schools was one of my favorite memories. To see the faces of the kids light up and all want to touch your hand and give you hugs was amazing. One of the girls in our village will forever be my favorite. She would hug and kiss you with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. She has no hair with a hoop nose ring to get an idea of how cute. The feeling of love and eggerness to learn inside that school made me so happy.

                  

Everyday we went on village tours. Family’s welcomed us into their homes and would sit us down on Matts to feed us . You wouldn’t believe how little things people have, yet give you so much of what they have. It  was so important to them that we were there They would tell us over and over to please come back. We ate so much weird stuff. Some of it was really good! Lots of coconut, guave, cucumbers, sweet balls?, puffed rice, then the rest goes down hill.

After villages we would go to the Girls Day Boarding school. Let  me tell you! Heaven!! Everyday I found myself smiling nonstop and realizing how much I loved these girls. Purnima was the one girl who stole my heart. She will forever be my best friend. She reminded me of myself with her calm and quieter spirit, but she could also be very sassy.

Walking around in the school with a couple of my girls I stubbed my toe on the road. A girl wiped off the blood with her hands and ran to get something to wipe it with. Their oncern for me was a lesson itself. They would wash ourfeet and look for ways to help us.

The first time Purnima cried while hugging me was a time I will never forget. They feel so deeply for you.

On the last day a girl I had not seen or been with the whole week followed me around before saying goodbye to them this girl about 15 hugged me for about 5 minutes and just cried. You could tell she needed someone to love her. I was that important to her and she barely knew me.

Every time we sang One Day

Indians love to have dance parties. Everywhere they are!! They go so hard. Haha it’s weird because one time they made us just dance for them in our village school and it was just an awkward place for that. My girl Biospoti was the best dancer out of them all. They loved teaching me this dance and would just laugh.. Can’t wait to show videos. Hands down dancing with them was on the top of my favorite lists.

Getting kisses on the cheeks from all the girls everyday.

Riding on the night train. Probably the scariest and sketchiest place I have ever been in my life. It was so cute to see our boys surrounding us through it all. They were the best! What an experience. Loved it!!

Toward the end of the trip we got to go up to Darjeeling in the north. It’s up in the himilayas so super beautiful. We got the best of both world. It’s kind of like a dirty version of Park City. (lots of lellow houses Park J) Most the people were Napalies so a little different. One morning we drove up to tiger hill and watched the sunset over mt. Everest. It was amazing with all the prayer flags!

Realizing how important it is to love people for who they are. Serving others is the purest form of happiness. While being in the schools and villages of India very rarely I thought about my worries and struggles. How could I when the people are so happy yet have so many everyday challenges so much worse then mine. I just didn’t care! I didn’t care how I looked, what others thought of me, or what cute picture is on instagram. Haha sorry. It’s true!! It’s such a good feeling when you forget about yourself and start lifting others from their heavy burdens.

The hard things were worth it. Bad living conditions, hard floors to sleep on, and missing family is something I’d do all over again just to see the kids and people again.

FOREVER GRATEFUL for the lives that touched mine.

Our happiness increases when we help others find happiness

When our journey began

Boys in my village

Purnima and Arpeta

 

Mala. One of my favorite people; tiny with such a big heart. 

Ceremony put on at Nishta by the women

Teaching English

Piew would grab my cheeks

A little girl I picked up at the school and couldn't put her down.

                            

                                 Babies, so many babies 

Arpeta

Mala

It's the simple things like letting a little girl play with your hair, hoping you wouldn't get lice from their brushes.

One of the many snuggle sessions

Always a hand to hold

+++++++++++ DARJEELING ++++++++++++

All my love to India

xoxo, kell

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

Youth Making a difference is the organization i'll be going with to India

in the fall of my SENIOR YEAR.

Team Akata // They mean the world to me

All year long we've had leadership training to prepare us for the great things to come.

fundraising.. fundraising.. and more fundraising!

$3,500... hasn't been easy

InnoCents for India is a fundraiser i'm doing to help the kids over in India.

I'm selling India coin (rupees) with BEAUTIFUL beads or

 plain for all of the boiiis. 

Twenty-dollars

exciting, right?

It would make me so happy if I got to make one especially for you!

email me>> kellvassau@gmail.com

I can't wait for the joy and love i'll feel as I serve these 

beautiful, smart, and amazing kids.

One of the biggest things I can do for these kids is to make sure they know how

much they are loved and how important they are. If I can do this, I will be happy. I know 

how humbling this experience will be, but I hope It will bring me back to what is most important

in this life. I know these kids will teach me to love a little deeper and be compassionate to all. They have nothing, yet so happy. If we educate these kids they will have a bright future and they too can make a difference.

November fifteenth can't come fast enough.

xoxo, kell