Once a Rising Star volunteer, always a Rising Star volunteer!
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Greetings
from India! First and most importantly, we’d like to give an enormous “thank
you” to all the volunteers who have visited Rising Star so far this summer.
Your contributions to the lives of the children and the colony patients cannot
be overstated. We thank you for your service and encourage you to stay
connected with us, especially by writing letters to the students and
sponsoring!
This
month we’ve concluded one fantastic session and begun another. One great thing
about having so many different visitors is the variety of talents and skills that
people bring with them to enrich our campus. In my seven months as volunteer
director, I’ve had gymnasts, dancers, dentists, artists, videographers, computer
programmers, surfers, and loads of singers. This last session in particular had
a lot of impressive musical talent, and we thought it would be fun for some of
the volunteers to put on a little concert for the kids. On the last night of
the session, we held a group Prayer Time in the Dining Hall, with all the
volunteers, students, and housemothers sitting together. Annemarie and Tiffany
entertained us with some original
country and bluegrass songs, which were a big hit. Everyone joined in for “Down
to the River,” a folk song that the coordinators taught the children this
summer. A few volunteers shared their experiences in India with the children.
One of the speakers, Steven, explained a principle he felt captured the Rising
Star experience: the simple concept that happiness is a choice. He offered this
as a lesson to the kids, inviting them to choose to make good decisions and
bring positive feelings into their lives, but we volunteers knew this message
was for us. Every day we are blessed to work with children who come from
incredibly poor circumstances, indeed the lowest and least respected places in
all of India—leprosy colonies. Though the children’s needs are met at the
school, their lives remain simple and do not contain so many of the comforts we
visitors cannot live without. Yet their happiness exceeds anything we have ever
known. Rising Star children are selfless, tough, and endlessly cheerful, and
they welcome all visitors as new friends without any judgment or hesitation.
When the
Prayer meeting was over, the volunteers said tearful goodbyes to all the
students they’d bonded so closely with. As one who has looked on so many
volunteer sessions, I know how difficult this time is. Many volunteers come
expecting significant and meaningful experiences, but few foresee the intense
power of these amazing kids, and it isn’t until they have to leave that they see
how inseparably connected they’ve become. Once a Rising Star volunteer, always
a Rising Star volunteer!
What an
incredible work to be a part of. Thank you again to all who have come to support
us. Thank you to the group currently serving, with whom we look forward to two
more weeks of hard work and fun. And thank you to everyone else over the years that
made the decision to join the Rising Star family.
Cheers,
Erin
Moore
Summer 2013 Volunteer Coordinator
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