Dressing the Part!

 One of the things that make India unique is that there are so many aspects of the  at are so jarringly out of place with one another, that they seemly cannot co-exist.  A Ferrari and an elephant used as transportation on the same street, for example.  One point of contradiction we have discovered is the disjunct between the culture being very conservative Hindu, Muslim, Sikh (and other religions) on the surface, but with sometimes blatant sexual undertone that is demeaning, even dangerous to women.

In Indian culture, for example, it is unacceptable for a couple to kiss, hold hands, or basically touch in any way in public.  On the other hand, it is quite common for women to be pinched or grouped by perfect strangers when moving through a crowd.

Because of the cultural norms,  the charity where we will be working in India requires all of the women and girls who work there to wear the traditional Indian salwar chameez.  The salwar is a loose, comfortable pant.  The chameez is a long tunic worn over the top.  Many times, this outfit is worn with the addition of a long scarf wrapped around the shoulders and sometimes draped over the head.  The charity provides a selection of salwar chameez for us to chose from.  Makenzie is very excited about wearing them.  Because we want to conform to the culture while we are there, I am also going to make us a few outfits to take along for our travels in India before and after we are at Rising Star.  I've just started Makenzie's first one--it is going to be blue satin with gold trim and a gold scarf.  She's planning to wear it for Halloween, so I've got to hurry.  

Mine are going to be more simple, and warmer--it may be India, but it will be cool up in the Delhi area.  I'll post some pictures after I have them made, hopefully in the next few weeks.  In any case, none of them will be as pretty as the one pictured here!  But, we do hope to buy some for a good price in India.

Besides respecting the culture, by dressing in a very conservative way, we hope to avoid encountering a problem with inappropriate contact from Indian males.  This problem is called "Eve teasing" in India, a term which puts the blame on the woman, the victim, as if it is her fault for just standing there.  It is, apparently, common in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.  As it is more common for women traveling alone, I hope that having Dave, Keaton, and our India driver and guide along, we will not encounter anything of that type.

So, that is a worry, but not the only one.  Because of the extreme poverty of millions of people living together alongside some very wealthy people, there is a lot of crime.  Certainly more than I am used to here in Alpine.  Dave, in fact, has ordered some special pants with numerous, hidden, kevlar pockets.  These pants were developed specifically for travelers to India by a couple who realized the need for such a thing after having the bottoms of their pockets, purses, etc, sliced open by pick-pockets.  

On the other hand, from what I've read, many people are also so kind and generous, they would give their guest their last bite of food, and feel bad they couldn't do more.  While it may be hard to sift through which is which, I'm hoping we see some of that side of India, too.

Stay tuned for pictures of the salwar chameez coming in (hopefully) the next few weeks!

Rising Star Outreach

Why?

Our journey to spend time in India really began over a year ago when Cindy read an article about an organization called Rising Star Outreach and the work they were doing in India.  The summer before last she wanted to take Keaton and go for a couple weeks and help this organization, but could not make the logistics work.  I encourage you to check out their website at http://risingstaroutreach.org/ .  Or just check out the attached video, and you will get an idea what we are going to be doing.

So....How can I help?

Glad you asked!  We would like to invite you to join us this January as our stateside partner in our efforts to help families affected by leprosy. Our family would love for you to be a part of our service.

Leprosy in India is considered a curse. Those who contract the disease are outcast from society and are often consigned to remote leprosy colonies where they have no choice but to beg for their survival.  Rising Star Outreach helps these families by educating their children, offering medical treatment, and, using micro-credit, giving parents a way to go from begging on the streets to becoming self-sufficient. My family and I are thrilled about this opportunity to serve these people.

Teaching the Lepers children @ the School

The work of Rising Star Outreach happens largely because of volunteers like us. As a volunteer, we help fundraise for the organization. Each volunteer is expected to raise at least $5000 to help pay for the programs and initiatives of Rising Star like the children’s school, medical clinic, and colony support projects. As a fundraiser, we then become active shareholders of Rising Star and not just temporary visitors. As our partner, so will you.  In this way, we are doing more than just personally supporting this program, but inviting others to be engaged as well.

Please join my family in making this happen! I know that as you learn about Rising Star Outreach, you will be similarly inspired by their approach to this overwhelming and heartbreaking issue, and will want to participate alongside of us. Rising Star requires that we include at least twenty-five other people in our commitment to serve, with the idea that everyone involved will share in the blessings of our service.

David Archuletta @ Rising Star Outreach in India

By contributing $50 or more, you will become a Volunteer Partner. I hope, while we are in India, that you will include those we serve in your prayers.  While in India, we will post a daily blog about our experiences and those we are serving.  I hope that you will follow along with us on our journey and keep abreast of the work we’ll be doing. As our stateside partner, you will be helping to facilitate that work. You will be able to share in our days and experience miracles in the lives of the leprosy families.

We will be leaving for India on December 24.  We have been asked to complete our fundraising for Rising Star by November 29, 2012.  If you would like to partner with us on this project, you can either:

  

(a) Fill out the attached Partner Information Sheet and send it with a check to: Rising Star Outreach, 483 East 100 South, Provo, UT 84606.

(Please specify name of volunteer  (Pierce Family) on the notes line of the check)

(b) Contribute online at www.risingstaroutreach.org by clicking on the “support a volunteer” link, click heading E-M and chose Pierce Family, or use the following URL:

http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/product/PIERCEF/piercefamily.php

I hope you’ll be able to join us as a partner in this adventure! It will be an honor to have you along for the ride. Together, we can bring hope to people in need.

Warmest Regards,

Dave and Cindy Pierce Family

Getting there might be the hardest part

Our outgoing wild Child!!!

Frankly, our first concern is actually traveling to India.  We experience a daily reminder of this issue each time we pull out of our cul-de-sac headed somewhere exotic (like the mall).   Within 5 minutes, Makenzie begins to ask, "When we are going to get there?!"  She is VERY patient, usually for up to 10 minutes.  In all seriousness, the idea of spending multiple, long days traveling just to get to our destination is a bit frightening.

Hwaseong Fortress in Korea, World Heritage site.

Agra Fort, India

In addition to this, we had to go through the ordeal of getting visas for India.  What a hassle that was!  Truly, just dealing with the application process nearly put us off going.  The visa process is "completed online" so you only have to submit about 8 pages of supporting documents with accompanying pictures, passports etc IN ADDITION to everything that we had to submit electronically.  All of this added up to over $800 for all of us, and we have not even left home.

Our Itinerary

Kanchi Puram, India

Kyungju Korea

Cindy is diligently working on an itinerary for our trip, not only for us but for Keaton.  For those of you who don't know, Keaton goes to a very unique school.  Every year for the first 3 weeks of January they do what they call a Winterim.  They do not have regular school, but are given the opportunity to study something of interest outside of school.  Our trip is what Keaton is doing for his Winterim this year!  How cool is it that he gets to go on a trip around the world, see London, India, and Korea and still get credit for it! All told, on this trip we are going to visit 17 different world heritage sites!  Thats much better than going to school any day of the week in my book.



Fortunately, some of the places that we are going to do not need a Visa.  We are spending 2 nights in in London, a long night in Taiwan, and 3 days in Korea. Thought you would be interested in seeing pictures of some of the places we will be going.

The bad part of the tourist portion of our trip is that it is going to all happen in the winter.  In Korea, we should expect it to be very cold with snow on the ground.  We will need to have very warm coats, hats gloves etc.  While in India we are actually expecting it to be quite warm, and will not even need a jacket when we are down south in the Leper colony.  On the other hand, in the north, where the Taj Mahal is, we are expecting it to actually be quite cool, although not as cold as New York or Korea.  London will be cold and wet.  Essentially, we expect to pack our entire closet to cover all the climates we will have to deal with.  All this while attempting to confine ourselves to carry-ons as much as possible, since we expect to lose a lot of baggage with our many flights and transfers.

Intelligent packing and lots of entertainment will be essential requirements before we leave.

Diseases, Leprosy, Typhoid, Malaria

Let's talk about the 10,000 pound elephant in the room Leprosy!  When I first heard of this organization I was scared to death of the idea of getting Leprosy (not to mention how I would feel if my wife or one of the kids got it).  How would I go through life having personally scarred one of my family members? But, hold on....why don't we have leprosy here in the US?

What causes Leprosy?

Leprosy is caused by a bacterial infection, and can easily be cured by taking a series of pills for a week if it is caught early enough.  If caught after the person starts losing feeling, or even fingers, toes etc. it can still be cured by the same antibiotics, but they need to be taken for an extended period of time.

Why don't we get it in America?

Great question, the simple answer is, because leprosy does not really exist here any more the bacteria also is not around for people to catch it!  Also, it is very difficult to catch!  Usually your bodies immune system is strong enough to fight it off.  But, in poor countries where people tend to be weak and then they get very sick, their bodies are much more susceptible to contracting leprosy.  All of the lepers we will be working with HAVE been cured, and do not have active leprosy, but they have the residual effects which causes them many health problems.

What do the Lepers look like?

In India, they look like you would expect, deformed and missing fingers, toes, feet, noses, ears etc.  This is going to be a real challenge for all of us.  We have never really spent much time around people with horrible disfiguring disabilities.  Frankly, it is my opinion that both Cindy and I are going to really struggle.  The kids are going to have different struggles based on who they are.  For instance Makenzie loves everyone, and is really drawn to people with disabilities, I suspect she will thrive.  On the other hand Carson is very tender hearted, and it is my opinion that he is going really struggle emotionally.  We are spending a ton of time beforehand watching videos etc. preparing for the experience.

Typhoid

This is truly a real and present danger to each of us.  So, we have all been inoculated for Typhoid.  This can happen in several ways.  Cindy, Carson and I chose a simple shot.  Makenzie, and McKay chose to take pills, as they were scared of shots.  Keaton also chose pills because this will be good for 5 years (versus 3 for the shot) and will cover his missionary time.  So the pills sounded like a good option, BUT they had to take 5 doses every other day, so for 10 days they needed to religiously take the pills.  Also the pills had to be taken in the morning before you eat, and you can't eat anything for 1 hour afterwards (the digestive juices will kill the effectiveness of the pill).  Well McKay is our kid who is exacting in everything, so we put him in charge of making sure everyone got their pill.  He did a great job, but then halfway through about 30 minutes after taking his pill McKay started to eat Cheerios.  He is very concerned, because he thinks that maybe 1 Cheerio might have gone down.  He is convinced he is now going to get typhoid, AND Leprosy!  Yes, this is the kid who rappels all by himself, upside down, but is scared of getting a shot.  Go figure.


Malaria

This is the tough one, because we will have to take pills the entire time that we are in India.  The real struggle is that none of the different pills we will have to take are real good options.  All of them have some real big downsides.

So.....sounds fun huh?  Anyone want to go with us?

Our Global Journey Begins

For the past few years as a family we have been discussing ways that we can give back to the community, and at the same time make a meaningful impact on our children.  Several years ago, Cindy had read about this organization called Rising Star Outreach that does works with lepers in India!  Yes I said LEPROSY, and INDIA.  Our busy world just kind of took over from there, and we never did anything more about it.  But about a month ago, the subject came up again, and we did some more research.

The moment of decision came when I called Delta Airlines and a wonderful lady named Kathy spent about 3 hours finding us an itinerary that would work for us, and I could pay for it with my frequent flyer miles!  Good bye 1 million miles!

So, basically, we are leaving Christmas eve, and we are spending 3 weeks going around the world to try and help the lives of some of those that are less fortunate then ourselves.  As we prepare for this journey, we will be chatting about our preparations, for this journey.  Hopefully, you will join us in this journey!