The Best Two Weeks: Emily Clark

April 27, 2014 - All Posts, 2014 Operation: Shaanti

Hey guys!! I’m home! I was supposed to blog on at the airport, but I fell asleep on the floor, so here I am blogging at Lisa’s house after being home for almost 24 hours! It is so weird to adjust to the old Utah schedule. I’m not even sure if tomorrow is an A or B day. Last night I made a late night trip to Cafe Rio, and when unpacking some blankets, started crying when they smelled like India.
I have been bombarded by questions about India since coming home, and it is virtually impossible to explain it effectively. I could just talk for hours. The mentality of the country is completely different from western society. I absolutely love it. It is based on people instead of things and schedules. Driving around the roads in India there are people everywhere, always out and interacting. Playing dice, shopping, smoking, washing clothes, talking, just being together and developing relationships. I don’t like the detachment from other people back at home. People spend so much time on social media sites instead of actually getting to know people.

It is such an interesting place, and is so different than America. On the drive down to Delhi, we saw skyscrapers surrounded by decrepit shacks. It is definitely a stratified society, with the very rich and very poor living in the same area. Being in the physical therapy program at the tech center and learning about all the health codes and rules you must follow in America, I am pretty sure I have seen every single one violated. Where we have canes and wheel chairs, cripples just travel about on hands and feet. Men that would be in rest homes in America are still climbing around the Himi’s with all the agility of a mountain goat.

In retrospect, I will treasure every single moment on this trip. I love each and every person in YMAD. We are honestly a family and I love how everyone bonded over the trip. All I want to do is hang out with the Shaanti Team. It felt weird to go to sleep in my own bed instead of talking with my rooming sistas Ashleigh and Andrea, taking a video diary and eating nutella, and looking at photos until falling asleep.

At the same time as I will miss India so incredibly bad, I know that it couldn’t last forever. If we would have stayed there forever it would have lost that absolute enchantment that it has. There are random items that remind me of the trip so strongly: orange fanta, colored dice, elephants, and even scones. I don’t want it to be over, but it had to sometime.

Shout out to the Purple Team! Kandi school was the best, and I already miss our kids so much. My happy place is definitely sitting on that balcony at that yellow school with Blake, Kayley, Jordan, Brigham, Atalee, Tracey and Katie among green hills and having a tickle fight with the kids.

Well, here’s signing off for the Shaanti Team… Peace Out! VIVA YMAD!

Embly C 2nd 5 Embly C 2nd 6 Embly C 2nd 7 Embly C 2nd 8 Embly C 2nd 9 Embly C 2nd 10 Embly C 2nd 11 Embly C 2nd 12 Embly C 2nd 13 Embly C 2nd 14 Embly C 2nd 15 Embly C 2nd 16Embly C 2nd 3

Embly C 2nd 1Embly C 2nd 2

Embly C 2nd 4

 

 

Leave a Comment

Say Hello

Questions? Want to help us? Drop us an email!
  • Youth Making a Difference
    2110 E 3070 S
    Millcreek, UT 84109
  • 801-865-5464
  • info[at]ymad.org
×