Super!
January 11th, 2008
It was appropriate that the last stitch of painting we did at St. Joseph’s today was the center’s entrance door — the one we exited through after saying goodbye.
Today was our last day of painting at St. Joseph’s for Rick and I. It was sad to leave, and saying goodbye to Ravi and Gree was an endless round of nandris, and their English translation, Thank you. The two said we did a nice job, with Ravi raising his fingers in an “ok” gesture and rendering our week’s work “Super!”
Dowstairs in the children’s home, Rick and I managed to cause mayhem again today. We took part of our lunch break singing with a smaller group of the children, playing patty cake and just generally letting them jump all over us like we were a human jungle gym. One of their teachers, whose name I never caught but who smile I always did, called me down just before we had to leave. She gave me a gift of pink bangle bracelets. When she tried squeezing them onto my right hand with the help of a teenaged girl with no luck, we managed to slip them onto my left hand with the help of some soap and water.
Sister Bakkiam and the others invited us into her temporary room to say goodbye. They thanked us heartily, hands gesturing in prayer, and left us with handwritten notes, that read in part:
Dear Joann Klimkiewicz,
Thank you from the bottom of our heart, for coming in our midst and helping us renovate our facility. We will always remember you for your work and wish you all the success in life and would love to see you again.
Yours lovingly,
Sr. Bakkiam, staff and children
Three other volunteers will replace us next week, as Rick heads home and I head to Assissi Illam. We made a lot of headway. The dining room is finished (allowing the sisters to move their things back in and catch up on their lunchtime Indian soap operas!). Sister Bakkiam’s room is well along, and Rick and I finished all the doors and windows of the small chapel.
