Indian Kisses

Tears swelled up in my eyes as the time came for my team and I to leave the orphanage. I tried to hide my sniffling from the children. I held their hands, swinging them back and forth while they tried unsuccessfully to speak to me in Tamil. They jumped on my back and played with my hair. While running their fingers through it, they exclaimed, “Yellow!” They could tell I was different, and it excited them. They’d never seen a white person before. I didn’t want to leave these precious orphans, I couldn’t. We had spent only a few hours with them, but it was enough time for all of us to fall in love. Something had changed in the orphans. There was a light in their eyes that wasn’t there before.
It was early July, and I had left America for the first time. My destination was Tamil Nadu, India. I’ve always had a longing to visit India. To experience the colorful culture, and the friendly hospitality of the Indian people. I stepped off the airplane and inhaled the rich air of the east. It was everything and more than I imagined. I came with a group of passionate young people, ready to do God’s work in this fascinating country. We spent weeks going to multiple schools in one day, teaching the children songs about Jesus’ love and playing duck-duck-goose with them (this was their favorite game.) We went to villages, laying hands on the sick and asking God to heal their hearts and bodies. We walked around in constant prayer, petitioning that God would make this land His again. I loved every moment of the trip, but I hoped that I would get to visit an orphanage while on the trip. For days I feared that may not be on our agenda, until one evening when our rickety bus drove up to a local orphanage and my heart jumped with excitement.
We briskly gathered our things off the bus and hurried into the orphanage. We stumbled in and saw the orphans standing there, looking up at us with emotionless faces. They looked confused, and a little frightened. To lighten the mood we taught them our best songs and games. We colored with them, tried to talk to them through our translators, but they were unresponsive and nervous. It was evident that not many people had come to visit them. The time went by fast and our visit to the orphanage felt unsuccessful, and almost pointless. We left there feeling defeated. The visit was nothing like what we expected. I asked myself, “What happened? Why weren’t they more excited to see us? Did we do something wrong?” The faces of God’s children were fresh on my mind, and kept me awake that night. I hoped and prayed that our team would have another chance to touch the lives of the orphans.
A few days went by, and it seemed that we would not get another chance to visit them. On one of our last few days of the trip, it was getting late and we were on our way back to the campus where we were staying. We were all tired, but when our bus once again pulled up to the orphanage we all jumped up and a smile was on each face.
We walked into the orphanage, this time expecting a less than excited greeting from the children. To our surprise, the children ran up to us with joy in their eyes and grabbed on to our legs and arms. They hugged our necks with their little arms and wouldn’t let go. I looked over at one of my team members with confusion. She reads my mind and mouths back at me “I have no idea!” This time, the children talked to us non-stop. They asked us questions about America and our families, and shared about theirs. They lit up when we told them stories about Jesus. They drew pictures and gave them to us, and made sure we knew how to pronounce their name they had written in the corner. I thought to myself “Where is this change coming from? They actually like us now!” I contemplated through out the evening as I played with the orphans, when I realized that these children have had visitors before, but what was different about us was that we actually came back. They’ve had people come, give them some toys, hug them and leave. When they saw us the first time they thought we would be just another group to come and go, and forget all about them. When we came back, their hearts were saying “They came back for us! They really do love us! Someone really does care!” This revelation brought tears to my eyes.
It came time for us to leave and my heart was heavy. I held the hands of two little girls who noticed I was crying. They tugged on my hands, wanting me to kneel down to them. I got on one knee when the girl to my right asked me in broken english “Why you cry?” I didn’t know how to answer in a way she would understand. More and more tears flooded my eyes and ran down my cheeks. Both of the girls took their hands and wiped the tears off my face. They brought their hands up to their mouths and kissed them, then brought them back to my cheek. They gently said “Don’t cry!” They held my hands in theirs and looked me in the eyes. “I love you. I love you. I love you,” they whispered over and over. By this point I was overwhelmed with the love these little girls had for me, and they had only just met me. In a shaky voice I replied, “I love you, too.” They smiled and hugged me one last time. I stood up and walked towards the door, with the girls still holding my hands. I got to the exit and they told me, “We see you again. One day.” I walked outside towards the bus, thanked God for the opportunity to see them again, and wept.

I saw a change in the orphans that day. They were no longer hard or bitter towards their circumstance. They realized they were loved, and they flourished in that knowledge. They shocked me with their ability to love others even in their circumstance, but they had learned that in truth they are not orphans, but they have received the spirit of adoption from their Father Jesus Christ. I pray that they remember me and my team, and I pray that we impacted them as much as they did us. I hope I do see them one day. I want to tell them how much their Indian kisses changed my life.


The picture is the two little girls mentioned in the blog. :) I actually wrote this as a narrative for my college english class. I hope you enjoyed it. God bless!