Provide Care for 30 Vulnerable Children in India

We celebrated Diwali at Dayspring! And festivities abounded. The kids stayed home from school and instead of farm work or homework we all were treated to two days of feasting and fun. On the first day we had a special breakfast on banana leaves-- flavored rice and curries and chutney and sweets for breakfast! And as soon as breakfast finished every kid got a brand new Diwali outfit. The girls got beautiful saris and shawls and the boys got dress shirts and khaki pants or shorts. There was also plenty of bangles and costume jewelry and plaited hair. The kids new finery put us volunteers to shame! There were more sweets before lunch and a mini cricket match. and already in the morning the first firecrackers were set off.

After a special lunch (biryani! chicken curry! more sweets!) we settled into for movie time or else spent time with the staff and friends who visited from the Blossom office. We looked around the farm and found a snake! Some children had parents visiting today.

In the evening, as it got dark, the real festivities began. I had never seen so many kids with so many fireworks. There were handheld sparklers, there were rockets, there were tubes that made a horrible shrieking sound when set off. Then there were cones that let out a huge waterfall of silver sparks, and sometimes had blue and red balls shooting out as well. And the spinning disks that sprayed silver sparks all over everyone's feet. And just when one box seemed to be running out another new type of firecracker would appear from the bottom of someone's bag. If you went on the roof terrace you could see the real large fireworks being set off in villages in all directions. It was the true spirit of Diwali!

The next days the holiday continued. We had a special breakfast of Poori that the girls helped to make. and everyone changed into their new fine clothes for the meal. In addition to being a holiday it was Charles's birthday so along with the special and delicious food we were eating all day there were sweets and cake! We had more movie time and the volunteers and the kids played games before dinner. Some people took care of the animals as well. they need to eat too! In the evening there were big rains and a big storm but we could still play snakes and ladders by torchlight. No one wanted to go to sleep-- but in the morning the kids would get dressed in their finery again and show off their new clothes at school.

It was a great Diwali. so many treats! and so much fun to spend it around the smiling laughing kids.