Wow. I don't even really know where to begin except by saying that it has taken almost a week for everything to sink in. Even then, it still blows my mind to reminisce on my time spent in India and seeing God's love at work on the other side of the world. I have spent the last 5 days trying to collect my thoughts so I could tell people, when they asked, all about the girls at the Home of Love, but I still find it frustrating for me because I don't feel like words are enough. Seeing, meeting, and loving these girls was the kind of experience that words hardly do justice to. I can accurately describe all that we did, but the experience, itself, was personal.
I met many wonderful people while on this trip, and grew closer to many that I have known for awhile. The girls at the HOL, however, impacted me the greatest. Seeing their faces, holding their hands, and knowing their stories brought tears to my eyes on several different occasions. These girls are probably the strongest of any I have ever known. While many have been faced with the resentment of society and familial loss, they still have such a passionate love for God and all He does.
I tried my hardest to learn and remember all the different girls' names that i met, but it was no easy task to say the least. There were a few girls in particular that I became extremely close with, but this little girl in the picture, Kaberi, i considered her to be "my girl." From day one of playing with her and her sister on the swingset, she was the first one to grab my hand or jump on me when we would arrive at the HOL. Being only 6 years old, and arriving at the Home from Orissa in May of this year, Kaberi speaks about 2 words of English. It was fun getting to know her without using words, and just playing for the sake of playing. Kaberi could be quiet and reserved, but she could also be just as crazy as some of the other girls. I learned that her and her sister's father remarried at one point and did not want anything to do with the girls. And so when the girls' mother died of TB, the Home of Love was to become their refuge. When the day of goodbyes rolled around, leaving her was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. And not just her, but all the girls I became close with. Sangeetha, Asha, Modina, Presanna, and all the others-- it broke my heart to see them cry the day we left. These girls will always be in my heart, and I will never forget them.
If anyone wants to know more in depth of everything we did, just message me and I would be more than happy to talk about the trip to the best of my abilities.
Jordan
