Longitude

It is my first day back in Japan after a truly amazing time in India and as I pore over the many photographs I took in GP village I am transported back there by the children’s beaming smiles, the warmth of which I can physically feel despite the cold of my office!  As I gaze at each photo I ponder a little sadly what my friends are up to now that the volunteers have left but can imagine them playing cricket and volleyball and running barefoot around the village chasing the puppy to their delight. The love and happiness of these people, who have so little, amazed and impressed me profoundly and I feel that we as volunteers were treated to far more than we could ever hope to give back.

The simple work we did building houses brought such joy to the villagers who all pitched in to help, from the youngest child to the oldest sari wearing grandmother. Initially the masons seemed to have some reservations about us but this soon turned to curiosity and we won them over with our hard work, and perhaps clumsiness, so that by the end of the week they were specifically requesting some of us to work on their sites and even though we only had a handful of Telugu, somehow managed to communicate with gestures to know what they needed. Covered in sweat and cement we felt a sense of togetherness as we worked side by side in this country where there is unity in diversity.

Dinner each evening was another special time when the 15 of us would sit down to eat wonderful food and share hilarious stories of our day, which usually featured Anou, the ‘monkey’ or ‘devil child’ as her father affectionately called her! Then unexpectedly, Ravi would announce that we had ‘5 seconds’ before we left, to all our laughs, and as we piled into the two jeeps which transported us to and from the village, exhausted, we would look forward to the crazy Tollywood music our drivers turned DJ’s were about to blast for our enjoyment and know we were truly blessed to experience all of this.