Joyful and Triumphant

After our lovely Christmas program at Buchanan on Tuesday, all of the schools in the area began exams before Christmas break. In other words, I have no work to do. At first I was anxious about this fact, but my schedule filled up quickly with choir practices with the Speechly College Choir and other Christmas programs to attend. I am teaching them 3 carols that we will sing on Thursday of this week. They have been really fun to work with. I practice with them every afternoon starting at 2 o clock, but until 2 my plan is pretty much just lounging around. On Wednesday I hung out with an 8 year old named Richa. She had a study break from exams in the morning, so I helped her study English and she helped me study Malayalam in the staff room. Later she came to my room and drew me some pictures and wrote really sweet things like “Curtis I love you” and “Rachel I love you” but my favorite part was one drawing that says “Them I vill kum for your house breakfast or lunch.” I asked her what she meant and she said “I am coming to your house someday to meet your brother.” It was one of those “Zaccheus” moments. Haha. I knew I was being ministered to by her energetic and thoughtful presence. She also explored my 90s pop music as she played Chess Titans on my computer.  She asked for a few of my markers, which she called pens, and I gave them to her freely. Sure enough, she has come to visit my room each day last week. I am happy to have a new friend.

On Thursday night I also had an…interesting discovery. I pulled a bug out of my hair after dinner and I immediately knew. I had lice. I was in a bit of a panic as I told the girls, which made it difficult to communicate. When they realized what I was saying, they responded with a chorus of laughter.  The Malayalam word for lice is pen (the “e” is kind of pronounced like first e in the word terrible). Every single one of the girls has had lice more than once. This was a common problem for them that simply required some help and some lice killing shampoo.  I was pretty bummed and apprehensive. I recall ominously staring into space as they were telling me what I needed to do to get rid of it.  I have never experienced lice before. So many thoughts raced through my head….the primary one being I don’t have time for this. My schedule from last Friday till the end of this week felt too booked to handle all of the work and care that comes along with lice. For example: washing all of my belongings….by hand….on stone. Just thinking about doing that and sitting around having girls picking bugs out of my head was rough. We attacked all of the tiny culprits that we could on Thursday night. I did not sleep much, but finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which was an amazing book.

Things got much better on Friday. I went to Pakil School’s Christmas program which included a special meal and some songs. It was nothing too fancy, but it was such a joy. I led the children in singing while the teachers ate lunch. We sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (a crowd favorite), “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, “Jingles Bells” and “Silver Bells”. I also pretended like I didn’t know the “ABC” song and had the children teach it to me. I was there until pretty late in the afternoon and had a list from a second year TTC student, Joshmi, about what I needed to get for my lice from a medical store in Pakil:

 1) Medicer (lice killing shampoo)

 2) pen cheep ( lies comp)*

* This is exactly how the list appeared

I told the Pakil Teachers about my list in the morning and once I was ready to head back to Buchanan they had bought the shampoo I needed! All I had to do was go buy a pen cheep at a nearby shop in Pallom. After tea on Friday, my lice treatment began outside in the clothing washing area. At first, only Joshmi and Vanitha were helping me, but once the shampoo was in, killing my lice became a sport. I was sitting on a stool hearing various oooooo’s  and aaaaah’s as about 8 different girls took turns killing the enemy lice! I was overjoyed, but also an extremely pitiful sight to behold. I am aware that my eyes became the size of saucers whenever they showed me a bug, which made me look very similar to a wet puppy. A few times I sang a victory battle cry, celebrating the death of all of the pen who had found a new home on my head. By the end of the one hour treatment with two different combs, many of the girls were also shouting “Die pen , Die!!” It was a pretty silly thing to bond over, but I think it was the first times I willingly let myself be dependent on the girls for help. It was a really good feeling, and after my lice had died, I felt closer than ever to the girls in my hostel. Sometimes we have to expose our brokenness and our ignorance in order to be fully loved, and I think that was definitely true in the lice-killing situation.

Saturday morning I awoke to a new plan arising. The second year students had gotten permission to go to Kottayam to buy supplies for an art project they have this week. They need to make puppets for school. I was busy washing away at my clothes and sheets when the girls came and informed me at 11:30 that we were leaving at 12…..which gave me no time….but I went for it anyway. I was excited to have a new bonding experience with the girls, plus I needed to get a few Christmas presents and supplies for our B.I. Boarding Christmas program this coming Thursday evening. We boarded a bus and found all of the things we needed and then some! I found some great Christmas presents and more Santa Hats for the boarding students. The only problem along the way was that we didn’t eat lunch. So we all were a little grumpy and hungry. We made a quick stop at a bakery and a milkshake shop before we boarded the bus back to Pallom. We all got back to the mess hall happy, then scarfed down our late lunch. The clock said 4:30. I am sitting here, typing , and munching on the snacks I bought on the trip. I even found Oreos! I decided that I had earned them since I was a champion during the lice episode. Haha.

On the way home from Kottayam today I felt completely enchanted with the people surrounding me. I was in a bus brimming with people. We had to stop because a train was passing.  People started making jokes during the wait. I think this week I realized how resilient all people can be. Even if we worry, even if we are sweating and irritated by a big crowd, even if we are negative for a period, even if we find unlikely bugs living in our hair….we are still okay. We have so much power to bounce back. To make good out of bad.  To walk on the sunny side of the street. It may be strange to say this, but I am happy I got lice. It taught me that I am also a resilient person. It taught me (once again) that it’s okay to rely on the people around me.  These lessons in triumph, resilience and dependence are probably the most unique and meaningful Christmas gifts I have ever received.

“We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.” Elie Wiesel (from his book The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremburg Code, but quoted in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks)