Day 1 USA to New Delhi
It feels like I had been here just yesterday, not over a month ago, but there I was again, off to pick up our wee team from Delhi Airport. They landed without a hitch in Delhi even after several delays from the States. Once at the hotel in Delhi, we wasted no time getting into the Indian way by dining on the most delicious Indian food including paneer tika, chicken tika masala, and fluffy naan bread. Then its ahhhh…sleeping in a bed again…ZZZZZZ
Day 2 New Delhi to Rourkela
A few hours sleep and we’re off to the domestic terminal for our short flight to Ranchi. Our friendly drivers are at the other end to take us to town for some short shopping and lunch stops. When our drivers decided to take lunch and we have no access to the cars, I convince Kevin, Amy and Susan to hop in a bicycle rickshaw for their first real adventure – a quick trip to the restaurant. Camels, cows and cars battle for space on the same street as their rickshaw, but somehow all weave their way without harm or even more than a toot of the horn. After more amazing spicy food and the first Kingfisher beer of the trip, we race to the train and slide into our cabin with minutes to spare before the wheels squeal into action.
We chat constantly today, hearing each other’s stories of how we came to know, and ultimately end up in India with The Miracle Foundation. All are different and yet all are the same too… the time that we heard the of the Foundation’s work, the moment our hearts opened when listening to Caroline’s story, and when we knew we needed to be more involved. We needed to actually take the extra step out of our comfort zone, to meet our children, and live a day (or two) in the life at our homes. It is amazing to hear Kevin’s commitment to this challenge and he hasn’t even met our kids yet! Susan is worried she won’t be able to leave the cuties behind and will try to sneak a baby in her luggage. Just wait till she meets the 20 infants tomorrow!
And through it all, we hauled at least 120 pounds of beautiful baby blankets handmade by Craft Hope volunteers all the way to Ranchi.
Indian Air didn’t even charge us the weight overage and even thanked the team for making the trip to meet India’s children. Love India!
So that’s where we leave you, settled into our lovely Rourkela hotel with only hours to wait to finally meet the children.
I keep reminding the team…it is so worth the adventure and the wait!
If you would like to read more about the travelers’ events, check out Kevin Brelsford’s blog, http://kevinbrelsford.blogspot.com/.