Bollywood Statues.......

Home is where the Haat is.....

It seemed strange to be going out yesterday morning into a city thousands of miles away (in many respects) from Alresford, to meet-up with Rosie. What was equally good, we were also going to visit her daughter Liz "in situ"'. Liz lives with Pete her husband, and her lovely family in a part of Delhi not far from where we are staying, and the arrangement was to meet at Dilli Haat, a Delhi Tourist Board initiative designed to dupe tourists into believing that this is what a rural market is like in the Indian countryside that those visiting the "Golden Triangle" are unlikely to witness. It is definitely geared to the tourist, but it is great fun if you happen to enjoy retail, and get a buzz from bargaining with the stall-holders. We had an excellent teacher in Liz, who, with her good command of Hindi and her firm approach encouraged us in the art to good effect.

The highlight of our time with Liz yesterday was to visit Dwaar, a Church Centre that has been established in a not-very-fashionable part of Delhi. We were led down a very narrow passage full of people and we noticed we were deeply into "the effluent society", the bouquet of which has become so much a part of our lives during our stay. Suddenly, above a shop called "Reliance Fresh", we came to some steps, and we followed our ears to the place from whence came energetic sounds of a youth programme in progress. Young people between the ages of 9 and 13 were enjoying craft, others were playing games, or generally running about having a great time. These were children from a poor background, living in the most part with their parents and siblings in one room. Some of the youngsters had problems, others just needed a little encouragement to help them overcome obstacles that would once have seemed unbeatable. these were mainly children of no faith, who were pleased to be welcomed into this enormous space - enormous for those who live at home in cramped, too-close-for-comfort conditions.

"Bollywood Statues" was the ideal game devised by the helpers to last the maximum amount of time, effectively tiring-out even the liveliest of youngsters. It certainly did that for me! These young people made us feel so welcome, and seemed to enjoy having us around. We brought some chocolate bars for each of them. On handing them out, one boy came up to me to return a bar, I had given him two, and everyone else had received only one, so rather than keep quiet about it, he returned the bar!

The approach being taken by Dwaar (which I think in Hindi means "Godly", "Divine") is to create space for people to be themselves, and to discover God's potential for each individual. I was impressed that they were not going for the "hard sell" which many foreign mission agencies are doing at the moment in India. Dwaar seems to be doing things "Christ's way" was my impression, meeting people where they are, meeting the needs of the people, and letting the actions speak of Christ. Their's didn't seem to be the usual story of mass- conversions, notching up numbers as a guide to success; rather it was the difference made in coming into contact with Dwaar that shone through.

Last night in Delhi

I never thought I'd say it, but I'm going to miss being in Delhi. With all the talk of Delhi being India's most dangerous city, which I am sure statistically-speaking it could be, containing as it does 16 million people (or is it 20 million, nobody seems to know!), nevertheless, we have met some great people and heard some tales, some good, some not so good.

I thought I'd share this view outside of my hotel bedroom window taken just a little while ago this evening. Chris asked for a picture of auto-rickshaws, here's a few to choose from....

Interior of Athoor Catholic Church

Cardamom House

Chris Lucas and the guys who looked after us.

Leaving on a jet plane

..... This afternoon, to New Delhi. Really going to miss the South of India; been here in Tamil Nadu for the last three weeks. Been great catching up with old friends and acquaintances, and getting to meet many new contacts. Lots of stories heard, lots of tales to tell you, some incredible, some amazing, many heart-warming. We've got a lot of information to digest and to process. Hopefully our time in Delhi will help us to reflect on it all.

What I'm sorry to say is that the state of India is even worse than I imagined. Some of the folk we have met have managed to rise above it. Most have not. India boasts of itself that it is the largest democracy. Democracy comes at too great a cost for the majority of the population. I read yesterday that 60% of the world's poor are in India. From what we have seen and heard, that would appear to be correct.

Our time spent at Gurukul Lutheran Seminary yesterday proved to be a most - worthwhile exercise for us and, I'm pleased to say, for the staff and students. We've an open invitation to return! When I've had some time to make sense of my notes, I will post another blog about our time spent at Gurukul.

Meanwhile, back to the packing.

Hello Blogfriends,

This blog will be a bit quiet today, as I am hoping to scribble down some words of wisdom for tonight's service which we are sharing at Gurukul Lutheran Theological Seminary. We will be meeting with a group of students at 3.30pm. I have asked if we could discuss the following questions:

What is "the truth" about India? The line that is being given to the Western nations is of a country growing in prosperity, one of the top nations globally. Our Prime Minister has been in Delhi this week with other UK business people to "court" the Indian economy. Our perception in the west is of a country that is fast-becoming a key world-player. Having been here for nearly three weeks now, that is not what we are picking-up at ground level. We have experienced power cuts worthy of any third-world nation, and the poor still seem pretty visible. So, what is the true India?

What are the main challenges facing Christians in today's India?

What about the Dalits? Is this still as big a human rights issue as it was in the 20th Century?
In our recent Week of Prayer for Christian Unity material was prepared by South Indian Christians, expressing concern still for the plight of Dalits. What should we be reporting back to the UK in this regard?

How is the Church in India perceived by those outside of it? What would Gurukul see as "best practice" in extending the Kingdom of God and it's mission in India today?

How would Gurukul prepare those training for ordination in today's UK, where mainstream Christianity is fighting for survival, and only the more-fundamental seem to be surviving and growing at the moment?

More later on this after it has happened, and a report on our whistle-stop tour of Chennai yesterday.

Back to sermon preparation............

Madurai ...........

...... is a beautiful city; well perhaps it's exaggerating to say that, the main Temple is exquisitely-fine, but we didn't have time to visit it yesterday. We were making our way to the airport, but our driver took a detour through the city for us to glimpse it as we passed.

What WAS amazing was the new road,which took us there from near to Dindigul. The new North -South corridor road from the Kashmir border right down to the Southern tip of India has been (almost) completed. In good Indian fashion, at one minute it's a perfect piece of dual carriageway, and then suddenly you're back to potholes for a stretch. Add into that the Indian style of driving, and, don't get me wrong, Indian drivers are, have to be, the most-skilled drivers in the world, but what they execute with great gladiatorial skill at 20 kph, is a little-more-challenging at 100 kph!

The second amazement was Madurai airport, which now makes Southampton Airport look small and parochial, whereas five years ago it was very much the other way around. What is more, there was a notice, plain for all to see, about NOT paying bribes, and that anyone expecting to receive such should be reported. In the previous tin-shack incarnation of the airport, we were fleeced by an airport official who "took charge" of us, and that included him menacing us for money. We experienced the same in the Temple five years ago, where another official demanded a "handling fee" for sorting-out our photographic passes. By that time my righteous indignation over-rode my "sensible" side; I told him to get lost, and he did!

Today we're being tourists, and we've arranged a trip by car to see the coast and coastal sites; a temple or two, a basilica or two, the old fort we left behind, and the Chennai marina. Should be relaxing, except being driven in Chennai is always akin to sailing down Niagara Falls.

More later, and a much more theological day tomorrow, as we meet students and staff at Gurukul Lutheran Seminary, to find out how they are preparing ordinands to minister in today's India.

Athoor, and the marvellous work of Joe Homan

I have known of Joe Homan's work in South India for quiet a while. His brother, John, was an active member of Whittlesey Catholic Community when I was in ministry there, and we often would hear about the work initiated by Joe in his "Boys' Towns". Before a previous visit to Tamil Nadu, and knowing that we were going to be spending some time near Madurai, we had been asked to take a parcel out to 'a Joe Homan home for girls' (the only address we had). I couldn't locate it when we arrived in Madurai; after all, Madurai is a big city! I mentioned the parcel to our host, Dr Chris Lucas, and asked him if there was any way in which I might be able to send the parcel to it's proper destination. "I'm having supper with Joe Homan tonight" was his reply! Unbeknown to me, Joe Homan was living next door to where we were staying! I resolved that the next time we visited Tamil Nadu (and Cardamom House), I would try to visit the man himself, and see some of his work, of which I had heard so much in our "Fenland" days.

On the second day of our stay at Cardamom House, a group of men were meeting with Chris Lucas, deep in conversation from before breakfast through to lunchtime. Being of an inquisitive nature, I wondered who they were, but thought no more of it, until after lunch I mentioned to our splendid guide, Pandi, that I would like to have the opportunity to meet Joe Homan sometime. "He's here now." he replied. What a thrill to meet the man himself so unexpectedly.Joe arranged for us to visit the nearby Athoor Boys' Town, and he would travel down from the hills (he was no-longer living next door to Cardamom House) to show us the complex and to introduce us to the lads the next day. These pictures are of that visit. Joe, now 83 years old, has dedicated his life to lifting the lives of thousands of boys and girls (literally) out of the gutter into something really worthwhile. Degradation to dignity, through care, education and a sense of purpose and worth. What a privilege to meet him and to see the fruits of his work.

Who is Joe Homan? Thanks to his book "Miles o' Smiles" (a signed copy of which he gave to us as a memento of our visit) there is a convenient "shorthand" account of his life at the back - here's a shorthand version of the shorthand version........

"Joe was born of Dutch parents who emigrated to England in 1934. As a twelve-year old, he was a boarder at St Joseph's College in Ipswich; on leaving school he went back home to work in horticulture for three years, but a vocation to the Christian Brotherhood took him back to his old school for six years. He was sent by the Order to Pakistan for a year, before being moved to South India to help pioneer work amongst poor youngsters. The sight of malnourished children, existing on the platforms of Madurai Railway Station, filled Joe's heart with compassion. He felt God calling him todo something about this. He returned to the UK, left the Order, and sailed back to Tamil Nadu. He had just £200 in his pocket, some of which he was able to convert into 48 transistor radios (the return on which was good enough to help him get started on his first Boys' Town near Madurai).

In ten years he established eleven Boys' Towns, and one Girls' Town, in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Thailand.Alongside of this, he pioneered his "Rural Development" programme, and through a "Child Labour Prevention" programme was able to help some 15,000 poverty-stricken girls to exchange their Child Labour Bond for five years of secondary education, lifting them out of the bondage trap and into the security of proper work.

His own experience in the family business of Market Gardening was never wasted. In the first twenty years the Boys Towns specialised in giving the youngsters a grounding in good farming, so that each would leave with farming skills and milking buffaloes, sheep or with a pair of oxen, a cart and a plough, and so leave the poverty into which they had been born behind them. Latterly those with the aptitude were encouraged to opt for college or Industrial Training Institutes, of which many are springing-up in Tamil Nadu. Joe has devoted forty-five years of his life to uplifting the poorest of the poor, and has vowed to continue this until his last breath! The Joe Homan Charity HQ is in Peterborough, and the website - www.joehoman.org.uk

Our trip into Athoor yesterday

....took us into various people's homes, shops, businesses, in this place of similar size to Alresford. We were shown around a farm, which grows and processes the coconut from the palm tree to finished product.

Cardamom House

.....at the foot of the Western Ghats, just ten degrees north of the equator, amidst stunning South Indian scenery.

Air-conditioned beetle at Karigiri

Beetle Drive

Slept well last night, but it took a bit of time to get off to sleep, for a number of reasons. One is simply because all this is going so well. It has taken a tremendous amount of organisation, and India being what it is, a mixture of over-organised and " tomorrow will do" there continue to be many things which hang in the air until we nearly reach them, but it all happens in the end. The group continues to gel well together, and there is so much to learn, and so many good people around to help  us in the process.

So what else prevented me falling to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow? A strange clicking noise behind the wardrobe. Do you remember from your childhood those strange things called "jumping beans"? When I shone the torch along the back of  the wardrobe, I saw what little dust there was  leaping about intermittently and as it was doing it, making a clicking  noise on landing. It was a beetle of average length (not the size of the one that dropped out of the air-conditioning at Karigiri. Fortunately there was just the implement I needed in the bathroom to deal with it, and I was able to persuade the "jumping bean" out of the door, dust and all. As I performed this act of charity in my night attire, it was a jolly good job everyone else was asleep. 

The view from the breakfast table........

Athoorist View

After a good night's sleep in this idyllic place, we woke up to a beautiful morning of sun and warmth, and a delicious breakfast on the verandah, overlooking the lake and the mountains. Today we went down the challengingly-potholed road in differently-suspensioned autorickshaws into the nearby "village" of Athoor (a village of some 5000 people). There our guide Pandi showed us the nearby temple where sometimes hundreds of people gather to make offerings to the  gods in the hope of the gift from God of a child, or success in business, or other significant ventures. Priests are on hand to impart blessing, but as they cannot live on offerings alone, they have "civilian" jobs as well. There are two priests in attendance at this village temple, and Pandi pointed out a number pencilled on the temple wall. It was the priest-on-call's mobile number (they cover a month each at a time). Sounded like an arrangement the Anglican Church could adopt in rural areas!

Athoorist

Monkey-business at the Temple .........monkey helping himself to the offerings left by those hoping for miracles. This monkey has just helped himself to the milk-offering, and is then going to start on the eggs. 

Athoor Catholic Church

This magnificent church dedicated to Our Lady's Assumption, much bigger than a village of this size would warrant, especially in India. The village has a significant Catholic population, and the church has grown because it has served the needs of the community, and has presented Christ as having a heart for people. This is an area of faith and faiths.  The predominant faith is Hinduism, but again, it's followers are people of great devotion. An historic temple, just a kilometre from Cardamom House, attracts some 50,000 to 100,000 devotees during July, and for the rest of the year there is a steady stream of people who find their way to this site. The "base camp" for this temple is being visited by the monkey in the picture.

For more information on Athoor, do have a look at wickedpedia.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athoor
The posting on wikepedia has been taken from a local website. 

Cardamom and other ingredients

The biggest surprise is that "Cardamom House" set in this exquisite and breath-takingly beauutiful area  located  at the foot of the Western Ghats, has Wi-Fi!  so I can continue blogging, even if the phone has no signal.

After receiving a password from the UK Indian Railways to enable us find out where and what our seats were, we were able to amble our way in an Indian  manner to Villupuram Junction , safe in the knowledge we had somewhere to sit for the six-hour journey.  We had "best seats", AC 2 Tier, which gave us the chance to sit together, relatively undisturbed, apart from the procession of food salesmen....."Cod. Drink" "Chikkin Biryani". "Coffeetea". The train left Villupuram straight on time, but somehow managed to be 45 minutes late by the time it reached Dindigul

Chris Lucas, the inspiration behind Cardamom House, arranged transport for us between the station and the House.The vehicle looked from the outside like an enormous ice cream van, but there was plenty of room for us and our luggage, and just 45 minutes later we were in what was going to be a home and a half for three days.

Tomorrow we are going to the village, Athoor. There is some exploration and interaction ahead. So glad we got back to this beautiful place again.

If you'd like to find out more about Cardamom House, please look at
http://www.cardamomhouse.com/index.html

Delhi Belly

Don't worry- none of us have gone down with it. We've tried to be careful. We've self-administered pills to fill ourselves with so many bacteria that no self-respecting bowel-complainant would stand a chance!

Trisha made the observation about how many Indian women, rather than try to hold their tummies in, seem to want to accentuate them. I noticed that most men seemed to do the same, and wondered if a rotund belly signified prosperity? I seem to remember such a fact spoken of by an Indian friend on my first visit (I think he thought that such a comment might be flattering to me - it wasn't!

Staying a short while in this very nice hotel in Pondicherry has given us a bit of an insight into the Middle-Class at. Leisure. They seem on the whole to be "well-covered", and their children had caught the Western disease "I want gets", noisily drawing attention to themselves and allowed to behave and wander at will. And, of course, their ability to buy things that others can't, quite a contrast to those with whom we had been in contact over last few.years. Mr Cameron is over here at the moment, to develop a relationship with the new India. He won't fail to notice that an old India is still very much around, and that any trade agreement will take a long time to filter down to those who need it most. In the mean time, at least an expanding Middle Class (in many respects) are enjoying an India of increasing opportunity.

This could be the last blog post for three days, as we are travelling into the Cardamom Hills, where there is little of Modern India around, just peace, tranquility, and some (more) good food.

Apologies to those who have tried to comment on the blog. I think it's because I'm writing this in a land that is not UK, and it has changed it's identity from UK to IN.

Love from India- where the temperature yesterday was around 35C!

Ponderings: Gannets for Ganesh

What a contrasting day this has been to previous days! After an intensely-busy and emotionally-daring nine days at Karigiri, this was designed to be a relaxing break in a unique mini-state of India, a little bit of colonial France in the tropics.

We arrived here last night, tired from our long journey by rail /road. The "Bonjour Bonheur Ocean Spray" Hotel is situated along the East Coast Road,,some 12 kilometres north of Pondicherry. The road journey from Villupuram took an age, and I was aware of "the Girls" thinking "Are we nearly there yet?". But as soon as we turned into the hotel entrance, it shone an opulent welcome, and I was able to relax, knowing that this had been the very best choice.

Back to today. Having got into breakfast, we were suddenly invaded by a large group of men on pilgrimage, who stood by the sumptuous breakfast buffet. They devoured most things within ten minutes, like a plague of locusts. We got the feeling that it might have been a gift to them from the hotel. Just as soon as they arrived, so they left.

We left an hour later, and headed for The Promenade,, and the highly-interesting "French" or "white"town, so called because of the colour of the buildings rather than of the people. We went to the Sacred Heart Church, Catholicism with an Indian flavour. We were too late for Mass - it began at 6am! We walked through the Botanical Gardens, made famous by the film "The Life of Pi", but, I hasten to add,  unlike the story, in really life there is no Zoo. The trip out was completed by our driver taking us to a beach-side cafe selling cold or hot drinks, ice creams, and various French bread and pastry treats. On our return to the hotel, our driver and vehicle were pulled-over by the police. Looking inside the vehicle, it took them no time to work out that' we were NOT trying to smuggle alcoholic beverage into Tamil Nadu.

Temperatures around 35 Celsius were more than adequate, and some of us were driven into the pool to cool down. Another full day tomorrow, to sample some of the other  spirituality of Pondicerry.

Ponderings

At Home

Yesterday, our last day at Karigiri, was a day in people's homes. Dr Mannam Ebeneezer, the present Director of Karigiri, even though he was on sabbatical leave, expressed a desire to meet with us. He explained how the hospital was at a crossroads, concerning its future. Staff,especially younger doctors, were not prepared to work the hours that they do at Karigiri, and for a lower rate of pay than in other, more-glamorous locations. He also shared with us some recent statistics on leprosy, where far from being eradicated, the disease is as rampant as ever, and that 60% of all new cases occur in India.

The work is far from over, but the funding is harder to find as long as the myth of the death of leprosy is perpetuated. Unfortunately even organisations such as The Leprosy Mission, at one time fund-providers for the work in Karigiri,have pulled out, as they too have difficulty in raising funds for their own work

We went at tea time to Valsa and Augustine, who spoilt us with some exciting and delicious sweets and cakes. What came through our encounters with both Dr Mannam and Valsa / Augustine, was the sheer amount of work they have to get through, work that is relentless and never finished. These folk need refreshment and time for re-creation, but in an under-resourced and over-stretched hospital like Karigiri, their finest people are dangerously-near burn-out. And perhaps the hospital is too. Please pray for Dr Mannam as her prepares to take on a further stint as Director, and for wisdom in how he should handle staffing the hospital in the future.

Life of Pi

Arrived at the beautiful "Ocean Spray"Hotel about an hour outside of Pondicherry, formerly in French hands, until the Indians kicked them out in 1954. There are still some French touches, police dressed as gendarmes, an engaging accent which is a fusion of Tamil with a Gallic twist;French Bread, and wine freely on sale, unlike Tamil Nadu, where a Bottle of  Chateau Pas de Kyber can only be purchased from seedy back-street liquor stores.

We got here by train. I had pre-booked through the only British agents there are for Indian rail journeys. By return I received two lots of Indian rail passes, and  instructions which were not so clear. After some anxious questioning around,I decided the only course of action was to go to Katpadi Junction, and find out if we had any seats reserved or not. A driver from the hospital drove me and came with me; as a result, we got on the correct train three hours later, and with reserved seats in "AC"  Class (air-conditioned) plus, double glazing full of water, sports commentary, Bollywood hits, and the smell of tiffin tins beckoning the nose to imagine places more exotic than the normal smells associated with Indian railways. More on. Pondicherry tomorrow. 

Touching....

This has been a bit of a catch-up day. We had a donation to take up to Kassam to the MBKGP Orphanage (which we refer to as Pannai). What does MBKGP stand for? Mudhiyor Balar Kudumba Grama Pannai. That's why it's abbreviated. We hailed an auto-rickshaw, which took Sue and I over the country roads quite adequately, although I'm not sure my lunch agreed with it.

It was so good to meet briefly with Vatsala the Principal, who was delighted with our contribution towards library books. We went to say a final goodbye to Daniel, Anita, Ratna and all the fine people at the Orphanage.

For more info about the orphanage see the following link -

http://www.mbkgpkasam.org/

We then went up to Shanthigramam, the leprosy village we support. It was good to see so many familiar  faces, but also sad to note that quite a few had died since our last visit. The "population" is down to 13, but they will be assessing some new folk next week. It was amazing to see that one of the newer members of the Shanthigramam family, without any fingers, had cultivated a whole area of what had been wasteland, and was producing on a large scale tomatoes, aubergines, radishes, squashes, chillies, maize, bananas. He had been in horticulture before, but to continue it against all the odds with which leprosy  challenges people was really something!

Suddenly two minibuses arrived out of which poured some "YWAM" folk who had come to energetically entertain the villagers - which they did enthusiastically in the newly-built church. The Pastor, Charles, was aware that we were there too, and very graciously included us into the programme. We did the contemplative bits, they did the whacky bits - surprising, I know!

I was so pleased to be able to hand over 10,000 rupees to Valsa (about 125 pounds); much of which was an accumulation of contributions from a kind lady in Alresford, who has the cure and care of lepers very much at heart.

That will be all for now - won't be able to make the journey tomorrow night to the Internet Cafe, as we will be in a food programme of Dibley proportion, going from lunch to early afternoon tea, late afternoon tea, then Supper! The blog will continue once we're in Pondicherry. We leave Karigiri at lunchtime, catch the train, then arrive in "Pi-Land" at about 5pm. More news then.

Value-added

Yesterday proved to be a long but special day for the group. Our friend Ann Witchalls very kindly volunteered to take our group around the CMC Hospital in Vellore - she has been working with the Hospital since the sixties, and even at a time when others are thinking of taking things easy, she and Brian are still getting out here for six months of the year What an energetic couple they are!

We met in the Chapel, the first place to which you come when you enter the hospital. It was being prayed in by many people of all faiths. Al over the hospital there were pertinent texts from the Bible, even on one of the  laundry trolleys we espied the text "The Lord does not change" (even if the laundry does). We learnt that the staff pray every morning before, during and after their shift. We saw how every person's contribution to hospital life is valued, from  the Director to the Cleaners.

The place is unashamedly Christian.And yet people of all faiths and none are welcomed to receive care here. We learnt that, thanks to word of mouth, people come from as far as Nepal and Bangladesh to receive treatment here, so good it is, and it is affordable (and if it can't be afforded, the treatment is paid for). In fact, about 60% of their admissions seem to come from the north -eastern areas. No-one is turned away. Everyone is valued.

They have a throughput of some 20,000 patients a day. The hospital seems to have something to cover every eventuality- and is particularly "hot" on helping those in various stages of leprosy overcome difficulties from the physical, psychiatric and practical point of view.

But what is most striking about the place is the way in which people work here. They seem to be able to mgive only their very best, and are happy to put in the long hours that are necessary to keep this enormous show on the road. There are 8000 people working here - they could do with more. Those who DO work here are paid lower than most in a similar position. That doesn't mean that the quality of care is sub-standard. These are people who put the patient first, and see that what they do is serving God. Every person, every worker, every patient, is valued, and all are served as serving God.

I will write more on our visit when we reach Pondicherry at the weekend. I've only got a limited amount of time here at the Internet Browser Centre here, and I'm using a keyboard where morst of the letters have worn away, so if this is accurate it must be an accident! The power came on here in Katpadi just twenty minutes ago, and will be on for another hour, so not much time for much news tonight.

Do click on to this piece on youtube - it gives a good overview of what makes CMC tick. I'm bringing the DVD home with me to show folk who might be interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YlvYhKdR6Y

Dying on stage

Donald's appearance on Sunday had been a great hit. Donald, for those who haven't had the pleasure,  is my muppet-like puppet with garishingly-ginger hair, who has been to India on each occasion since.He tends to draw crowds. He's got a big mouth (rather like his owner) which appears to be an open invitation for little  children to insert their hands in order to be bitten. They are never disappointed! To say "alter ego" gives some clue to the basic behavioural problems Donald experiences.He gets away with some outrageous things!

I was asked to keep the youngsters amused for an hour. In 2008, with a similar request, that involved Seniors and Juniors, which was great, because there were an overwhelming number of folk there who could understand English, even mine.

This time it was just the Juniors, and the Kindergarten.It was very obvious, as soon as I started to try to teach them a song, that this wasn't going to work. I rehearsed simple things again and again, and it just wasn't sticking. It had in the orphanage, but it wasn't going to happen here. I scaled down vastly the story I had prepared (for which I had woken up at 4.15am to get ready), and it was apparent that they didn't understand anything much of what I was saying. All they wanted to do was to poke their fingers into Donald's mouth, to which, of course he obliged. I just wanted to disappear inside Donald's mouth at that very moment.I felt myself dying slowly in front of them! Barbara suggested finding out if there were any songs in English which the children had learnt by rote. There were - so we rescued the occasion with "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine", "Seek ye first" sung, not as a round, but around and around on a loop whilst I tried to discover what else they might and I might know. I then called a halt after 45 minutes. They thanked me for a "fabulous puppet show". I just wondered if they'd been at the same event.

The Principal of the Junior School afterwards explained how most of the children are from rural backgrounds. The families have low expectations educationally, and any English that is learnt in school cannot be practiced at home (unlike the children who attend the same school from the Orphanage). It is as much as the school can do to teach them basic rules of behaviour, to brush their teeth, to take care of personal hygiene, even before they can begin the teach the rudiments of education.I have no complaint about how the afternoon session went for me - it just underlined how wonderful the staff of these schools are in trying their best against many odds to turn the educationally-reluctant into well-motivated achievers. And somehow or other, with some at least, they do.

Still Life

Some of the team from Seb's Project were at the School at the same time. It was great to catch up with them again. Laura (recently from Brighton, and formerly from Farnham) was detailed to teach art to two classes.

A pineapple, bananas and an orange were placed in front of the children. They started by drawing a ruled frame as a margin, then many of them stared into space as to what to do next. Freehand drawing (as opposed to tracing) is not a natural medium for many of them. It was good for us all to be involved, to help them grasp Laura's clue "look at the outline". We all suddenly became art experts. My own masterpiece was shown to other classes later to rather underwhelmed spectators! The command of spoken English was good - after all, this is the language in which they have to learn; but only those who can master the English language are going to reach their full potential. If they have no aptitude for languages (and many people don't) that in itself is going to disadvantage them from the outset.

We then joined the same team in a computer class. We were able during the morning to engage with every class at the Senior School, and were asked for autographs, questioned "How old are you, Uncle?", and generally seen as a bit quaint but nevertheless welcomed. During the afternoon we did a similar tour of the Junior School - the admission age is three plus. Each child knows name, age, and how to ask "how are you?"; but it was much more obvious that their grasp of English was minimal, and that of many of the teachers as well. Nancy had a project she wished to share with 5 to 6 year-olds - the children responded with smiles to her requests, but clearly didn't understand, until the teacher interpreted for her.....

Kingly Treatment

We were treated like kings yesterday on visiting King's Matriculation School. Vatsala the Principal gave us the warmest of welcomes, and on taking us into her office, pointed to the many photographs on the wall, which included photos of our last visit in 2008.

Assembly began at 9am, proceedings opened with military precision, as all sat in rows, and were brought to attention with a whistle and a command.The moment I expected.... "Pastor, would you give us a SHORT message please?", so knowing that there was to be a display of dance following my talk, gave a SHORT message on Salome's dance for Herod, with the punchline -  stand up for the truth, whatever the cost. That seemed to be understood, bearing in mind that the first language of these folk is Tamil, even though English is the language of their education.

The truth can be a costly commodity in today's India - in places of power, money speaks louder than the truth.Let's hope that the upcoming generation can put an end to that. Corruption in high places (and not-so-high places) is coming out in the open, and the previously-silent disadvantaged are finding a voice.King's Matriculation is trying it's best to raise the sights of rural, backward children; some are leaving the school with qualifications their parents could not dream of achieving.

Seb's Project

Whilst Googling (as you do), I happened to stumble across a Vellore-based project which, apart from doing some amazing work with people in the tribal hilly areas around Vellore, also had a big interest in the two projects we support at St John's - the orphanage and the village (Shanthigramam). When I say "Vellore based", it works from an office from which a team operate, but it is the family of Sebastian Hunter back in London who helped kick-start the whole operation. If you want to find out more about the Trust, and why and how it was started, do look at http://www.belgraviagallery.com/charity/

We visited the first project completed by the Trust, Seb's School, Senji Mottur, situated about 30kms out of Vellore along some of the more tortuous roads you could imagine! Children in the rural areas have a long way to walk to get to school, and in the tribal areas up to 14-15kms a day - result? Sleepy children who are too tired to learn. This school (with two teachers normally, but just one today) is just a small way in which the Trust is trying to make a difference to people's lives.

Once we got there, we seemed to make a difference to their lives, as chaos broke out, and the children became over-excited by our visit. Fortunately, it was coming up to lunchtime, so they were able to get themselves back to a calmer state for the afternoon's lessons with stomachs lined with rice, to give them ballast for learning to recommence.

Earlier in the morning we spent some time with the Team from Seb's Project - see more about them and the dynamic work they are doing by logging-on to http://www.sebsprojectsindia.org/

We were grateful to Emma Koshi for arranging our visit. Her husband, Tharyan,has been well-known to us for the last six years, as he is deeply involved with the Orphanage.  Emma is the team Leader, and she is ably backed-up by the energetic, well-informed and well-motivated Gerri Willcocks, Anup Ravi (Gerri's boyfriend), Mic,  Fionn & Laura, Sampath and others, We agreed that we had learnt more about the infrastructure of today's India from these folk than we had during  previous visits over the last 12 years.

Tomorrow - The Orphanage again.A very full day. A good night's sleep awaits us on Tuesday night.

Sleep, glorious sleep......

After our visit to Kasam (to the orphanage) we agreed to having had the best night's sleep since arriving in Karigiri. I hardly dare tell you, but it gets almost too hot to sleep at night and a room fan or Air-Con is just too noisy, unless

a. you get the balance right, or
b. you're exhausted by the liveliness and energy of children.

It was probably a combination of the two.

Kids at Kasam on Sunday

Hi everybody, after a super service at St John's Vellore (where we greeted the folk in the name of our own St John's) , we went for lunch (again) at The Darling Residency (we now have our own table!). The Head Waiter remembered our group arriving upstairs in the Rooftop Restaurant five years ago... I wonder why?

We were then sped along the lanes around Vellore to reach the MBKGP Orphanage, where we have been sponsoring children since 2004. It was such a delight to see "our" children five years on, and of course, they had grown! We had a great time just catching-up with them and finding out more about them. MBKGP could not have made us more welcome. Tea, followed by an invitation to speak to all the children and lead them in song, followed by a detailed inspection of all the cottages and a chance to meet EVERY child (160 of them) and their House Mothers and House Grandmothers, all of whom had gone to great lengths to make sure that their areas were spic and span for our visit. Supper followed - in lavish amounts; we left, exhausted but exhilarated. We are there again on Tuesday.

Today we met up with our dear friend Ann Witchalls. She and her husband Brian have been here off and on (more on than off) since 1962. They came out here as CMS missionaries, and have loved the place ever since, and are themselves much loved here. We had a Thali Lunch at The Darling Residency Hotel, which was most enjoyable, and then Ann invited us to the Christian Medical College and Hospital Rehab. Unit "Mela" - a cunning way to bring back Rehab. patients to give them check-ups, but with the invitation to a party and a sleep-over. It's a bit like a festival without all the boom-boom-boom music! Great fun to watch, as we saw them taking part in simple games to test  their co-ordination.

I managed to speak to the former CMC Director, who was also watching. I asked him if they had any residents on the site (The Mary Vorghese Centre), and he then described how they invited rehab. patients who were making decent enough progress to enter a short period of vocational training at the place. Bearing in mind that these folk were all disabled,there had to be some sensitivity in the choice of vocational work. They had tried pottery in the past, but as potters are a caste, those who are not of that caste are not allowed to practice that particular craft! He mentioned that many disabled people are treated as second-class citizens, and that it was common for them to be cheated. People not paying for their services or their workmanship is common. The Centre has been careful to pick trades where they can least be cheated, and where they can gain skill in and respect for the work they do.The trades that seem best-suited are tailoring (because the customer provides the cloth, and has to return with money to receive the finished product), also cycle repair, because again, the customer has to return for his cycle, rather than just riding-off on a new one!

Tomorrow - St John's Church in the morning, and The Orphanage in the afternoon. It's going to be a full week, with a lot of interesting and new things to see and experience.

Next Blog Post? -whenever I can get back on the Internet again! Sorry it's sporadic! Pictures may well have to wait until we reach Pondicherry.

Hello Everybody,

Just you wait till I get home to tell you just how much WORSE life is for the people who live in "Modern, Developing, Growing Economy India"!!!!!!

Had to get an auto-rickshaw to bring me five kilometers into a nearby town in order to get on to the internet, and had to pick my time because, here, as in common with most of India today, the power supply goes off several times a day, and you have to pick your time to go on the internet, boil a kettle, watch the television, go to the cinema.......

Arrived in Karigiri safely, although on the way, in trying to get directions for the driver on the last leg of the journey, my phone dropped out of the car, and before I knew it, it had gone. Thanks to Jan and Virgin, the phone has been blocked, and a SIM with the amount of credit I have is winging it's way homeward. However, an older mobile I have here with me, with about ten pounds credit, is going to be of little use, as I cannot buy a SIM card here without filling-in endless forms, and waiting for Government approval, which will take a minimum of three days, and might not happen at all. The reason? The Indian Government is paranoid about mobile phones since the Mumbai bombings, and there is no way that an Indian National, let alone a foreigner like me, can just go and buy a SIM card. Life is getting more and more frustrating for the ordinary folk here, and we've experienced only a little of it.

More in a moment.......

Road Raj

The taxi-ride from the airport gave our intrepid explorers an experience not to be forgotten. I have nothing but admiration for the skill of an Indian driver in handling over-populated roads with the confidence of a charioteer!Some in our party hadn't experienced such a ride away from  the fairground. It's a bit like "Dodgems" without bashing into the other cars - well almost without.

The hotel was a welcome sight. A shower and a sleep later, and we were ready to hit Spencer Plaza,  a shopping arcade with just a hint enough of India to help us get over the intrusion of Subway and the Big Mac. Further white knuckle-riding back in the hands of courageous Deivi The Taxi-Driver, in  time for  food and a bit more sleep, to reclaim what has been robbed over the last few days.

Five go to India

Setting off at 5.15am on Tuesday morning was a challenge, not because it was too early for my brain to get in gear, but that there was just too much to do before I left, and still I didn't complete everything I had hoped. That's the way it is!

The taxis got us to Heathrow nice and early, and in no time at all we were checked-in and ready for the first flight to Mumbai. Being "processed"at Mumbai was not a thrilling prospect. I was affronted when an official suggested that we should go through the way marked "Pensioners and Senior  Citizens". As it was, we ended up in the shortest queue designated for Diplomats-not a description I feel sits readily upon my shoulders. After a lot more passport-showing, we reclaimed our baggage and headed for the Domestic Terminal, where we faced a wait of some six hours before our flight to Chennai. There's not really much to do at Mumbai Domestic, apart from drink hot coffee  and stare at the other equally-uninspired passengers in transit. I had hoped an extravagantly-attired  troupe would suddenly enter stage right and perform some Bollywood Airport routine. None such appeared, but  humanity in many forms came and went, and I found myself making up stories on their behalf as to why our paths should cross that Bollywood night.

Some 22 hours later we reached Chennai. Hazy, hot, and horns screaming from the nearby roads in horribly noisy fashion to herald Chennai Rush Hour. Familiar sights, sounds and smells and masses of people.  It was good to be back. 

It's Sunday 3rd February - nearly packed, and ready to travel to India again!