Longitude

Although it was only yesterday that we received what I believe to be the world’s warmest welcome, I can easily say that this won’t be my last visit to GP village.  As I write this, I’m sitting with Prasanthi, the woman with the very important job of tutoring the village children and keeping track of their school attendance. As she helps me pronounce “Gummallapadu” for the millionth time to the soundtrack of children shouting and plaster being flung onto walls, I already feel like we know each other. Even though “Na peru Kim” (My name is Kim) is the extent of my Telugu, I already feel this way about so many people that I’ve met in my first two days in GP village.  Today Lauren, Jonathan and I are working with two families to finish the house that they will soon live in. Lauren and I have perfected the art of sand-sieving for cement-mixing and Jonathan is working extremely hard on keeping us all entertained with his renditions of Telugu pop music (T-pop). Although the work can be tough under the hot sun, you almost forget it’s work with such good company. Between repeatedly answering the question “What is your name?” from the many children in the village, we hope to help finish plastering all four walls by the end of this week. Vellostham for now from GP village.