Issys Blog - Kottayam
Trip Start
Sep 14, 2009
1
22
78
Trip End
Aug 16, 2010
Kottayam, Kerala, India
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Oh no the ferry is delayed by 2 hours, we must be at the Seminary by 12:30 pm. It is now 9 am and it takes 2 and 1/2hours to get there. Ady and I sat on the bags nervously waiting for Dad to come back with news on whether or not we were going to go. Mum told us not to leave the bags alone, so we waited for ten minutes! Then finally dad came back with sweat dripping off of his face. Well not exactly only on his face, all of his back followed the same routine.
Dad was able to find us a private boat; it was very thin and made out of shiny new wood. The boat driver lunged the bags across the boat and it tipped from side to side almost letting our precious belongings fling out and land in the vile water which had water bottles covering the surface. Then Mum attempted to climb onto the unsteady boat, she made the boat almost capsize! Ha Ha...! Ady then just jumped happily across to the boat. I then sheepishly stepped on and the boat moved, my body froze, I was scared that the boat was going to tip. I gingerly removed my shoes and climbed across the boat to get to my seat.
Ady started shaking the boat purposely because I hated it; at one point he fell over because he tipped it too far. Luckily the boat did not capsize! I told myself that if he attempted it again I would throw him in! The relaxing ride across the river slowly began. I drew a picture of the palm trees; it turned out okay.
Aidan then asked" can I have a go at steering?” I was hoping that the man would say of course NOT; but instead he said yes of course you can. All I was thinking was that I was going to be sick if he was to steer. Well it was not as bad as I imagined it would be, he turned out to be an okay driver. Apart from when he almost went into a wall! Not bad for his first try though!
I then got a turn steering the boat. It was a lot harder then I imagined it to be, for example when you have to hold it in the same place and not let it move at the same time that it is vibrating from the motor. I was really bad at it; I think that the driver was quite worried about his boat getting a single dent in it. Once I thought I had hit the side, it turned out it was only Aidan hitting the side of the boat to make my face turn white. Finally the driver asked me if I could stop, probably because I made everyone feel sea sick.
We then went through these little streams which had bridges which someone granddads age had to pull open. It looked quite a boring job because there were not many boats passing through. At one bridge the person who was supposed to be doing its job was not there. So the boat driver asked another guy to do his job. He said "that is not my job!" I thought of it as quite rude, but it was true that it wasn’t his job. We waited for this small man to come and lift the bridge up for about 5 minutes or longer.
We arrived at the Seminary just in time for lunch. All of the people were sitting and eating lunch, when Father Stephen introduced us to all of the people. All of the people extremely friendly and very welcoming. We had to say our names which most people could not pronounce.
The soup they gave us was a mushroom soup which tasted real good and looked it. Dad ate my fish as I am a vegetarian; we had to swap the plates secretly so that they did not think that we were being rude. For dessert we had strawberry ice cream!
We were then taken to the Najeevan Trust which is where they take homeless, mentally challenged people and people who were left in hospitals to die. I found it very hard to see all of these people who are so unfortunate and to think that I am very lucky. There was a lady who had a severley burnt face who got knocked out and fell into a fire, when she was 16 years old. These kinds of things that happen to people can destroy their lives, as people will not take care of them and that is where the Najeevan Trust takes a step and takes care of them for their lives.
There were some people who had to be locked for their own safety as they could run off and they get too excited when people come and visit. This made me feel so bad and I wish they could get better, but most of the conditions are permanent. This made me think of how lucky I am and that I am able to not be locked up. Some of the ladies sang songs to us and they shook our hands, they may be locked up but they are very happy and have friends.
Then they took us to a St. Joseph Cancer and HIV hospice. I found it hard to believe that there are so many people with illness and that all the people in the hospice would die soon. There was a little girl of 8 and another of 3 years who both had aids but who were really happy but at the same time knowing that they would die soon. I drew a picture of the 8 year old girl and she kissed it and ran off with a smile on her face. I felt very privileged to be able to place a smile on a childs face.
Ady and I stayed down stairs while Mum and Dad went up stairs to see the cancer patients. I did not want to go because there was a lot of face cancer and open wounds which I don’t like to see. It was very hard for all of us as Grandma and Granddad died of cancer and to see all these people with cancer who are going to die. I am really happy to see that all these people are going to have a happy end of their lives.
Finally we went to an orphanage. They are currently housing 28 children who will lose their house if they do not have £50,000 within six months. I drew a few children and gave them their drawing they all were really happy and made me think that people don’t need much to be happy. All of the women and children have come off the streets and have been lucky to find shelter from bad homes. Aidan and I are supporting a little girl called Maloo and she has a problem with her legs so she has to use crutches. I hope that all you people could donate some money to help all these children buy a new home. We are going to send some more money across when we can. We gave all the children a sketch note book & pencil so they could all draw a little picture.
Comments
Still reading every word! kassie and david