The Final Entry (at least from India)

Well our Indian travels are over at last. We have trained, planed, and automobiled (not to mention autorickshawed) over only a small portion of this enormous country, but we are ready to return home. The last week especially was basically constant travel broken by brief visits to more project sites. On Saturday, we spent the day with Pastor Sugamar, an acquaintance of my dad's who lives and ministers in Chennai. He took us around to see a day care that he runs for poor children, to a tsunami affected beach and to his church in a rural village. The daycare was SO cute. We stopped on the way and bought some Indian sweets to give to the kids. Sugamar said that the government gives them 2 rupees to buy food for each child each day. That's 5 cents. He said that doesn't buy nutritious food, surprise surprise. They try to make sure the kids get some vegetables and at least one egg a week since they probably don't get much of anything at home. One thing that has struck me over and over here is the almost total ignorance of parents on how to care for their children. We are so often overwhelmed by scientific advice on childcare that we tend to try to block it out and filter it, but most of the information for parents over here is superstitious rather than scientific. In some areas, up to 40% of children die of diarrhea simply because their parents don't know what to do about it. (Sugamar was also telling us that the parents don't follow basic sanitary practices and are often the cause of their children's sickness. His own daughter almost died as a baby because they couldn't get her nanny to wash her hands after using the restroom. (remember, no toilet paper here))

Being at a beach that had been affected by the big tsunami a couple years back was a little surreal. We got to meet some fishermen whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by a huge wave. You could tell that the government and different groups like World Vision and Sugamar's church had helped out, but it was still extreme poverty. The nets they were given a couple years ago are wearing out and they don't have the money to buy more. I guess they cost $150 each (they're really big) and are shared by the village.

We also visited their church that night and had many more children perform songs and dances for us (this was a constant on our trip and quite a highlight) and handed out more sweets. It was neat to see how many children from the village came to the church that Sugamar built. Their parents are mostly Hindu, but they let them come to church and the opportunity to learn about Jesus. The church also does a lot in the community such as building a clinic and providing nutritious food to the kids.

Sugamar is one of a kind. He is shameless when it comes to asking for money, but that's probably necessary when the needs are so great compared to the response. He himself is by training an attorney and his wife was a nurse in Saudi Arabia, both high paying jobs, but they left those careers to minister to poor villagers near their hometown. I really enjoyed meeting them and their family. (I must point out that Sugamar is quite taken with Ronnie. He called him a “simple man” over and over, which as near as I can tell, is the highest compliment he pays. He was talking about the fact that Ronnie didn't need fancy clothes or a fancy office to be a minister. He told the church about it while we were there and said it was a lesson for all of them.)

We took a train over to Visakhapatnam and then a car over to Vizianagaram to the World Vision project supported by FOCUS. Now I must say that World Vision was, by far, the best organized, highest impact organization we've seen. And it should be. In size it completely dwarfs these other groups. They have ongoing projects in 150 districts in India alone, not to mention other special projects. In Vizianagaram, their work has been nothing short of transformational (or transformative, whichever is actually a word). They've been there for 10 years and around 2000 children have sponsors. They said they only have sponsors visit about once each year, so they really rolled out the red carpet for us. Since we could only come on a Sunday, the entire staff came in on their day off and they organized a big gathering of people, bringing around 200 children to see us. They had big painted welcome signs and everything. We were “Brad Davis and Team.” Joe and I were just Brad's team, so we made him do all the public speaking. Then we pulled aside the 17 kids we came to visit (FOCUS actually sponsors 22, but we couldn't get 5 slackers to get us their kids' names in time) and got to meet them one by one. And by one at a time I mean we were surrounded at all times by a throng of loud people, both adults and children. So we tried to video interview the kids, but they were so quiet and shy compared to all the people whom we had no interest in videoing, that I'm not sure we can hear a single one of them.

Solomon, the man that heads up the project, was awesome to talk to. He has a passion for Christ's mission and has given his life to the poor in India. He was telling us about his first job for World Vision, making $15 a month, sleeping on a hillside with poor people and helping them build roads or some such. He didn't really say, but I gathered that he makes closer to $70 a month now that he has a wife a two children, one in college. It's great to know him because we can work directly with him to support specific projects in that community. He's very pro-education and wants to put 10 computers in each of the region's 10 high schools.

Overall, I must say that the need in India is staggering. Everywhere we looked for the whole month there were new and bigger needs. You could send $100 million and it would be just a drop in the bucket, affecting only a tiny fraction of the massive population. But it's exciting to see how many people are making a difference in their own spheres, in their own small way. And it's exciting to know that we can make a difference from across the world, with just a few dollars. The needs are gigantic and can't be met in a day or a week or a year, but they are slowly being addressed and individual communities are being transformed. Huge organizations like World Vision are doing huge things, but men like Sugamar and Mark Templer and others we've met are filling in the cracks—going to out of the way places and out of the way people. They aren't yet as efficient and effective as a huge worldwide charity like World Vision with decades of experience, but they are learning lessons as they go, staying faithful to their calling.

I think that many of us don't want to do anything unless we can do the biggest thing. We pass over helping one person because we can't impact them all. But the needs in this world are too great and too specific for the big names to meet them all. So much of that is our pride. We want to be the big name, the one everyone recognizes as having made a difference. But God doesn't have that in store for most of us. Most of us can't handle that kind of fame :-). I think He wants us to be faithful in little, and then He might give us more. India will probably never hear of Ronnie Worsham, but we heard some Indians bless his name this week for his generosity. It reminds me that Jesus said, “Use wordly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16). I guess I would encourage us to be content with the roles God has given us and faithful with the opportunities He puts before us. Seek His glory instead of your own and He will ensure that your life leaves a permanent positive footprint in this world.

One interesting note: Two nights ago, I randomly dreamed of Hill-Denton, for those of you who know who that is. We were climbing vines over muddy water in some sort of swamp/jungle place, but she was still immaculately dressed with purple low-heel dress shoes on. Ah, she never changes. So I've decided I must find her and get in touch once again. It's been too many years.

Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and responding and making this a richer experience for me. It's been incredible and enlightening, but now I'm totally ready to come home. Joe and I have been singing patriotic songs for days.

The Great Indian Railway Adventure

So we have successfully traveled by train from Delhi to Chennai and it was quite an experience. Before we left, we went back to the Village of Hope one last time to say goodbye. They had planned a little farewell that consisted of each of the staff telling us what they appreciated about us and our service for the past two weeks. It was also a chance for us to build them up and encourage them in this work that they have devoted themselves to. I, of course, started crying and couldn't finish what I was trying to say. I don't think I used to do that before meeting JVR, but I'm not sure.

When we got to the train station, it was raining and we had no idea where to go or what to do. And we had way too many bags and such because of the stuff we are bringing back from the Village to sell in the US. Brad kept showing people our tickets and asking where to go. He received many different answers and we just went with the one he got the most. I guess it was right because we did indeed end up back at Vikram's house.

Now we were in the a/c 2nd class which means that it was an air conditioned car with beds stacked 2 high. The bottom beds could convert to seats during the day. Now on one side of the train, there was the traditional little rooms you see in the movies where 2 bench seats are facing each other. We were not in that part. On the other side of the little hallway there were beds (berths) turned sideways and running the length of the train. That's where we were. Much less space. Joe and I were sitting facing one another in an area about 6 ft by 2.5 ft. Brad somehow managed to have his little berth to himself, so we were able to take turns having slightly more space.

Now the difference between a/c 1st class and a/c 2nd class, so they tell me, is that in 1st each area is enclosed while in 2nd they are separated only by curtain. And curtains don't keep out noise. Joe and I were across from a baby who may have been the loudest baby ever. That baby was loud when happy and loud when upset. It had the most piercing little voice that it used all night long. Now this child's parents did not seem to care or have any control over the child's volume. (By the way, I'm guessing this kid was like 1 ½ years old.) The one thing they had that seemed to quiet the child was an extremely loud toy. Even Joe, cool, even-tempered Joe, was getting quite agitated after a while. (And, yes Ronnie, I was reminded of April.)

But we all slept and got to see some of the Indian countryside. The food was pretty good and there was plenty of time to read and listen to music and such. I, being the sickly one, have contracted some sort of sinus infection and that made the train ride that much more enjoyable :-).

We are counting down the days now (we leave in 4, back in 5) and are very excited about getting back to Texas and seeing everyone. We just have a couple of visits left to make and our volunteering days seem to be finished.

Speaking of finished, I finished Lonesome Dove and it was SOOOO depressing. I liked the first half and then read the second half out of pure stubbornness, but I cannot recommend it. Maybe it's just realistic for that time period, but if so, I'm that much more thankful to live in THIS time period. Anyway, I feel like I could have got the point in less than 945 pages. Oh well.

More thoughts

First, a few important notes:

1. My mosquito kill count is up to 42. Now there may have been others. I usually only count them if I can find their bodies after I slay them. I have only been bitten once. I know the count has slowed down massively, but Delhi just doesn't have the same Mosquito population as Chennai. That, plus our hotel room has lizards that I bet eat mosquitos--not to mention a mouse that may or may not eat lizards. I have also been considering calling them "skeeters", which I picked up reading Lonesome Dove.

2. I was able to watch the service at Northeast online the other day. It was so encouraging to hear all that was shared and to know that it was "live". I felt like I really got to participate from afar. I appreciate the people that put so much work into that, and I know that those of you who have been away and gotten to experience that taste of family value it as well. Overall, it was really cool.

3. I didn't really get to finish all my thoughts on the Village of Hope last night because the internet cafe was closing. I was just reading Brad's blog and was thinking about his comments on how easy it is to idealize these poor people. One of the things you see pretty constantly here is people begging. It's easy to walk into a poor area and think that it would be really good to give money to those people. Now we have definitely given plenty away, but we've gotten some pretty consistent advice from the Hope staff and from our travel guides, etc. It's good to give to those who are obviously disabled in some way, but they say that just like in America, many people are begging to support a drug habit or to keep from doing any legitimate work. The travel guide said not to give money to kids in certain areas like downtown Delhi, but to instead give to one of the charities that feed and clothe kids in that area. Basically that's the only guarantee that the money won't be spent on drugs. Other people won't ever stop begging and start working unless they can't make enough money begging. That reminds me of the question that Jesus asked the lame beggar in John 5, "Do you want to get well?" Getting well can be costly, and work was a part of God's plan for us even before sin entered the world. God gave Adam and Eve both a job to do, taking care of creation, and I don't think we can be truly fulfilled or happy without working.

Consequently, and this is completely a tangent and I'm not really sure how it's related, I was listening to a US Military sociologist on NPR a week or two before I left and he was talking about the draft. Now the traditional argument against the army draft in the US is that soldiers who are drafted would be more quick to go AWOL and less willing to fight for their country than people who sign up willingly. Interestingly, he pointed out that historically, looking at each war since the Civil War, that the statistics show just the opposite. He was explaining that the term "volunteer army" which is used in comparison to a drafted army, is a misnomer. He said that "mercenary army" would be a better term. Our soldiers are neither required to serve nor do they volunteer their services--they soldier for pay--mercenaries. He talked about how these type of troops mostly come from the poorer demographics. In times of war, historically, they are much more likely to desert, etc. The draft draws from a much broader spectrum of society. Those soldiers coming from the richer demographics, the more priviledged sections of society, are the most loyal and consistent soldiers, again statistically. He talked about how the culture of those upper classes teaches people that they have been given much by society and have a huge responsibility back to it. The poor on the other hand, tend to have a mentality that society owes them something. It made me question how much my picture of those more privileged people has been shaped by Hollywood rather than by truth.

So now I'm off that tangent. Over here, it seems to me that it's easy to forget how many horribly sinful things go on around all the time. The government is horribly corrupt. Joe got to see a policeman taking a bribe right on the side of the road the other day. I was reading about how the government of Agra, where Taj Mahal is, raised the rate for foreigners to see Taj from 20 rupees to 960 rupees. Right now the price is 25 for Indians and 750 for foreigners. So they raised the price by nearly 50 times, supposedly to raise money to renovate Taj. Yet in the almost seven years since, none of that money has been spent on Taj. Today we visited a community to the north called Sonya Vihar, or something like that. It has about 200,000 people and is next door to the water treatment plant for the whole city of Delhi. But guess whether or not those 200,000 people have clean water in their neighborhood. Nope. They said that before each election politicians come and promise to build those short pipes if elected, but then do nothing after the elections. The news here is right now covering a woman official who has made millions of dollars off of a very poor district. It's really sad and makes the stuff our media screams about seem tame.

The practice of killing baby girls is still common here, especially among the poor. Kids are being sexually and physically abused and not much happens. The orphanages and such run by Hope are full of abandoned kids, most turned over by the police via hospitals, where they are recovering from whatever. The high value that we in the West place on human life, whether we are Christian or not, definitely came historically from Jesus and his followers. It certainly didn't come down from Rome, with its slaves and gladiators. It didn't come from Babylon or Persia. Islam and Hinduism traditionally don't value all human life like we do. This sense that all humans have value came down from Jesus' teachings and continues to shape the West today. We certainly haven't always been consistent with it. And many, many Christians have themselves, both purposefully and unwittingly, not been obedient to Jesus' teachings, but His coming began a process that has been reshaping our world ever since. The way he treated women was radically different from his contemporaries, giving them status and a place alongside the men. The way he treated children was specially noted by his followers. He wasn't impressed by people with money nor was he turned off by people with the worst diseases--Jesus touching the lepers comes to mind. No matter how much violence has been done in His name by despicable people, it is clear that He taught us to turn the other cheek, to give to those who ask, to love even our enemies. And he demonstrated His teaching by his practice. He didn't raise an army. He didn't try to force the government to right the wrongs. He taught people not to judge. And over the centuries men and women have stood up and followed suit. Men like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. have turned powerful nations by learning from His ways. Countless men and women have gone to countless places to serve and give and love. Mark Templer here was telling us the other day about working with Mother Teresa, and what an amazing woman she was. I am proud when I realize that, for the most part, it is the Christians who have gone out into the world to care for the orphans and widows, the sick and the lame.

Yesterday I was noting that for some reason, God has made it so that my bad choices can hurt you. But I was thinking and realized the opposite is true as well. I can do things that bless and help and heal you as well. It would be hard to have the one without the other, though it's that ability to hurt each other that so many point to as evidence against the existence of God. So we can hurt and we can help. God is a God of relationships and He has made us all interconnected. I think that's why I struggle so much with the concept in some other religions that God is ultimately totally disconnected, that to reach Him we must disconnect from everything. This whole creation is designed down to the smallest point, nothing left out or forgotten. It works as one seamless system making life possible. Our bodies themselves declare the majesty of His plans of relatedness--every system working in harmony, all at once without conscious thought. And when one system breaks down, the others try to find new ways of relating to work around the problem. Even a single cell is a marvelous machine of many related parts. Take away any one of them, and the whole can't function. Which is why I can't buy the argument that the first cell just popped into being, independent of any design. Creating an amino acid in a lab is a far cry from having a living cell with every system functioning properly, simultaneously, and in the right relationships with one another.

So He has called us to relatedness, ideally to bless one another. Just as He made us in His image, Genesis 2, He has called us to be like Him in action, not just in nature, Matthew 5 and Ephesians 5. I think that starts with our family and friends but doesn't end there. He didn't wait for us to come to Him or only relate to His favorite people. He came to us. He went to the sinners and prostitutes, the lepers and blind and lame. He came to the women and children in a world that treated them like property instead of like people. And we have the opportunity to do the same each and every day, with the people we come into contact with, and it does start with those closest to us, with the way we treat them. It doesn't always work out. Many of the people we try to help will hurt us in return. That's not surpirsing considering we consistently hurt those we love the most. But we can tip the balance in our lives. If you try to love people, not everyone will love you back or love someone else in turn. But as my wise father has said to me many times, "If you love enough people, enough people will love you back." And I have found that to be very, very true.

Thoughts on Leprosy

So I know how scary some of those wounds seem in the bandaging pictures. And it is sad and disturbing to see people whose feet and hands have huge sores and who are missing fingers and toes, etc. The first time I was bandaging, I was sitting there helping out with a man whose feet were in particularly bad shape and I was just praying, "God, please help him." And in one of those special instances where I hear that still small voice, I heard, "I am."

And it hit me that He has been helping these people. He helps them each day and Christian men and women (and some Hindu and Muslim men and women as well) come to work for very low pay and spend their days serving in the Village of Hope. It doesn't take long to see that the people in the village, even the ones who come to have their terrible wounds bandaged each day because they will never fully heal, aren't filled with bitterness but with hope. People have told us what the area was like before Hope came 10 years ago. They say it was a wasteland, that people only survived by begging. There was no medical care and an awful stigma about the people there.

Now these patients have been cured of their leprosy (Hansen's Disease can be treated with antibiotics) so that the progression of the disease is stopped. They can have their wounds cleaned, treated, and bandaged for free each day. Many people come and are bandaged by the guy on duty, but many other come and just get the materials and do it themselves. The ones whose legs and feet are too bad to walk on have special bikes that have three wheels and are turned by hand so they can get around. The people in the village don't look down on them--they are an important part of the community, its elders.

Now there are brick houses, hundreds of them, housing nearly 4000 people. They have better sanitation, restroom facilities, trash pickup, and safer water. The Hope staff weigh the kids from age 2-5 each week to make sure they have a healthy weight and if they fall under, they provide extra nutrition for the kids. They say that very few people beg now. Most have their own little businesses. They get small loans or stipends from Hope to start them. Some of the handicapped women make crafts to sell. (We'll be bringing some back to sell at Northeast.) It has become a much more self-sufficient place and a place of hope. Things are getting better, not worse, and the life that these people live, while poor by our standards, is so much better by theirs. And there are plenty of other programs at the village besides those.

I don't know why God has chosen for some to be poor and some to be sick and some to live more charmed lives. My gut feeling is that He didn't choose that at all. I don't think it was part of His plan. My thinking is that He chose to give us a choice. And this is how people have chosen. I also don't know why He would let one person's sin cause another to suffer. It doesn't seem fair to me. But I do know that He doesn't just watch all this impassively. He chose to suffer with us, to be one of us, so that He could truly understand us. And He has sent us out asking us to make right some of the mess we have made of this earth. The Village of Hope seems to be one place where people are trying to do just that.

A couple of funny notes:
1. Now that Joe is getting darker in the sun, everyone thinks he's an Indian. It's been useful for getting better prices on certain goods. :-)

2. We were helping teach an English class the other day and the kids wanted us to sing them a song in English. When we asked what song, they made it clear that they wanted us to, one at time, sing, a capella, the song from Titanic. "Near, Far, Wherever you are . . ." We declined with much laughter, but I knew Leah would especially get a kick out of that. It's her favorite song.
:-P

Taj Mahal

So we went to the Taj Mahal yesterday and it was pretty amazing. It's actually in Agra, about a 4 to 5 hours drive from where we are staying in Delhi. So we got up early and left at 6 and got back around 7:30 at night. On the way, we stopped at a restaurant and had french toast and scrambled eggs. (By the way, does anyone besides Brad and his family put honey on scrambled eggs? I think that's weird.)

The bathroom at said restaurant had a very helpful attendant. He literally ran across the courtyard to open the door for me and then followed me in. I was afraid to use the urinal since it seemed that he was coming with me, so I headed for the stalls. He then sprinted to the stall to get in front of me and asked, “toilet, sir?” I said yes and so he ran inside and wiped the seat with a pink napkin and then came back and held out his hand for a toilet wiping tip. I gave him 10 rupees and he just stood there looking at me, so I gave him 10 more. He made it clear he was not pleased with my tip, but did finally leave. Then I needed his help washing my hands. I apparently can't turn on the water or push the button on the soap dispenser on my own. These are very difficult tasks and best left to trained servants. As we were washing my hands, he asked if I was from America. It was something like, “America, sir?” When I responded yes, he pulled out a handful of American change and put it in my hand. He said, “Change?” I agreed that it was change. As he kept repeating his question, I began teaching him the names of the different coins, but he did not seem interested in this knowledge. I finally gleaned that someone had given him this change as a tip and he wanted me to trade him for rupees, which I did at a very generous exchange rate. Now I ask, who would tip an Indian bathroom attendant in the middle of nowhere $2.07 in US change. Oh well, I'll have money for the tollway on the way back from the airport.

Then, at another stop, our car was attacked by a monkey. Now we do our best to ignore those outside our car because they all want money. So we were ignoring the men with monkeys until one of them did this:

Now Taj Mahal is really beautiful. The pictures don't really prepare you for how big it is. They say it took 20,000 workers 22 years working 24 hours a day to complete it. For now I'll just put a couple pics of the three of us in front of it so you will all believe we've been. Our very expensive guide kept trying to rush us through Taj with very little information. We figured out later it was because he wanted to take us to many expensive stores that I'm sure he had some sort of arrangement with. So that wasn't cool, but overall I'm really glad we went.

We are almost finished working at the Leprosy Village. Tomorrow I think we are planting trees and we are just saying goodbye on Wednesday. Tuesday we are supposed to visit one or two other Hope projects around Delhi. Last week we did quite a bit of painting. It was pretty cool to do something that will clearly last past our visit here, and I think the trees will be the same way. So I have ruined 2 of the three pairs of shorts I brought with me and one or 2 t-shirts as well (and both hats I brought have paint on them too, epsecially the one Joe borrowed :-). Or, if not ruined, decorated with blue paint. Now the third day of painting, I was the only one painting. I didn't make nearly the mess that day and hardly got any on me. So, either I got better at it, working by myself it's easier to keep things clean, or Joe is just really messy with paint. I'm guessing it was the third option :-P

I also had a chance to work in bandaging. Seeing all those wounds was pretty intense, though I didn't get queasy like Joe and Brad. In all fairness though, the electricity didn't go out while I was working in there which meant the fan was on the whole time, keeping the smell and flies away. Most of the wounds were really clean. We wound cut off the old bandage, clean the area and the wound, and then put on a new bandage. I was able to do all those tasks. The guy in charge would choose what medicine to put on the new bandage each time and sometimes he would cut away some of the diseased area around the wound. He offered to let me try that, but I politely declined. I will include a couple of pictures of gaping foot holes so you can get the picture. :-)

My entertainment time has consisted mainly of watching Heroes on Brad's laptop (only four episodes to go!) and reading Lonesome Dove. Debra Bottoms lent me the most raggedy copy of Lonesome Dove there has ever been a few years ago and told me it was good. I finally have gotten around to reading this nearly 1000 page monster Western. I'm about a fourth of the way in and I must admit its good. Brad has asked what I keep laughing out loud at, but the humor loses something when I try to explain it. (Either that, or Brad just doesn't have a good enough sense of humor :-).

I'm so thankful that I have been able to spend this time with Brad and Joe. They are awesome to be on this trip with. Brad has really led the way most of the time. He is great with all these people who don't speak much English and has really been an initiator at the Leprosy Village. The kids ADORE him. He pretty much always has a crowd or children around him and ususally has them all laughing. He has made one really good friend in a kid named Yash. Yash is 18 and thinks Brad hung the moon. Brad set him up an email account, introduced him to pizza and McDonalds, and lets him use his camera constantly. Brad is also very thoughtful and is constantly wrestling with how we can best respond to the things we are learning and seeing on this trip.

Joe has been such a trooper. He is always the one with the great attitude--patient, kind, and gentle. He gets up every morning and is the first to spend time in God's Word. Joe never complains and is so dependable. He has a desire to help others and is always ready to laugh good-naturedly at himself or whatever funny situation we find ourselves in. And anytime Joe tries to communicate with an Indian person, there is always some good-natured laughter :-).

I am ready to be home and have home-food and do home-things and see home-people. I know this trip has been good for me, but the duration has been a stretch. (Of course, I chose the duration so that it WOULD stretch me.) God has been letting me practice patience and humility. But overall, I still have a great attitude about this trip and I'm excited about the things we have left to do. The last big thing we'll do is visit the village that FOCUS helps sponsor through World Vision. Our ministry sponsors 22 kids in that area and we should get to meet most, if not all, of them. It will be awesome to get to see them face to face and find out what the needs of their community are. Please be praying that all of our various travels will go work out and that we can get evrything into the next 10 days that we need to.