I'm going to begin tonight with a few Team India bloopers because this evening was probably the most difficult. We'll make you laugh before you cry. We've had a lot of animal adventures here in India. Like leaving Pastor Stacie home alone to fend for herself when a bat came into the house. She never actually saw it leave and we are wondering if we've really heard the last of it. Today we had a little squirrel visitor in Sue, Dee, Jean, and Lori's room. They took turns screaming like a vocal version of "the wave" as the squirrel tore through the room from bed to bed. Lori said it is like the wild kingdom. Jean is missing a ceiling tile above her bed and had some gecko visitors. When they finally decided to ascend back into the ceiling someone asked " are they gone?". Looking up, one of the geckos shot out one little scaly green hand from the ceiling "not quite" was his answer. My question was will "Geico" stop at nothing? Really now... Geckos in the ceiling as you sleep?
Today a gypsy woman walked up to our porch with a monkey on a string and Dee asked if she could hold it. Nobody was around to speak better sense to her, but afterwards Henry said that maybe holding a monkey on a string is a bad idea. She still says it was worth it.
Last night we had to wake Bonnie to allow the tailors to measure her. She seemed entirely out of it, wouldn't speak to anyone and stared dead-eyed and straight ahead. The tailors measured her and she went back to bed. The next day we learned that she was sleep walking and doesn't remember any of it.
On Sunday morning, as the pastor handed Sue the microphone so that she could speak he leaned in and said "You look strong, like man". She just looked back at him and said "Thanks.", not quite sure how to respond to that. We won't be letting her live that one down.
Ok, those are a few bloopers, now on to our day. In the morning we went to the clinic to hand out sunglasses and medication to the cataract surgery patients from yesterday. For 15 US dollars Good Shepherd Ministries can give one person the gift of sight. This includes meals and an overnight stay. It was amazing to see the patients going home with new sight.
We loaded into the van and were off to Pannur for a medical camp at a school. More screaming, syringes, singing, and doing the hokey pokey with a few hundred children in the schoolyard. We vaccinated about 70 kids.
I opened a bathroom stall during set up, asking the girls who had followed us "can I use this one?". Just as I said that, a frog jump down into the hole we call a squatty potty. Guess not.
Surrounded by children, they began commenting on my pale complexion and then rushed off and returned pushing a light-skinned boy with blonde hair in front of me. "He is Indian" they said. He was a smudge of white in a sea of rich chocolate brown skin. Clearly Indian, but freckled and pale, just like me :)
After leaving the medical camp, we came home for food and free time. Dee, Tara, Sue, and Nathaniel went out to play with the children. They taught them a new Indian game and kept asking Dee what day we are going home. They nearly cried when she told them. I don't want to think about leaving.
A few of us went to visit Praveen at his house. He and his wife, Anitha are amazing, taking in some of the orphans to live in their house, and feeding the homeless. They are the true picture of genuine faith. They keep no savings but give generously and have trusted God to provide every item they own. Praveen's son, Sam has overwhelmed me with his sweet spirit. At such a young age (8 yrs old), he has such a heart to serve his people. He wants to come to America and study to be a doctor so that he can return to the mission and work in the clinic. Anywhere there is a job to be done, Sam is there. Translating for us, setting up for church, serving food, I asked him tonight if it makes him sad to see people living in poverty. He said "Yes, that is why you need to go home and show pictures of how the Indian people's situation is so that you can maybe make program and raise money to help them."
Bonnie and I went to Puttur for a shopping trip. We demanded to walk to town rather than be driven. Our escort took us through stopped trains then jumping off elevated platforms, across tracks and climbing up the other side as we crossed the tracks, much to the amusement of the Puttur people. Apparently they mean to have an underpass beneath the train tracks for walking, but a few years later, and it is still under construction.
Shopping is such an experience in Puttur. The store clerks ask what you are looking for and then ruffle through drawers and glass cases, bringing up boxes and packages full of merchandise. Before you are done, every inch of counter space is covered and you feel so guilty for having him pull everything out for you, that you buy much more than you intended.
After shopping, we headed to the Ashram for a "special" service, as Henry said. When we arrived, they were hanging a banner announcing that Diann had donated money to feed and give new blankets to the gypsies. This is where the night gets hard. Men and women. blind, lame and diseased. some old with walking sticks. Others young and with children filed into the meeting hall. Pastor Stacie was right to say that it reminded her of Jesus feeding people in the bible.
We prayed over the food and then began serving. The meal was a special chicken byriani dish with rice and a special treat- ice cream! One older gentleman said he had never had a byriani meal or ice cream in his life and he was at least 75! Praveen said that most of them were probably eating ice cream and a good meal for the first time tonight.
Praveen told me that he was sitting with the gypsies just before we arrived and one of them told him that just that morning he was shivering in the cold and asked God for a blanket. Someone gave him a towel but it wasn't warm enough. He walked into town when the Good Shepherd van pulled up and asked him to get inside. Tonight he was given a new blanket and Praveen was able to give it in Jesus' name. Watching the little gypsy children interact with us, shirtless and smiling, was heart warming. Praveen told us that the reason they don't wear a shirt is because they don't own one. Sitting on the porch as I type, I feel a chill in the air, and can't help but be grateful that those precious little children have a blanket to keep them warm tonight and full bellies. Often these people go without food for the entire day and then go to homeless programs put on by the rich and are served meager portions at the temples. After serving dinner, I broke down. I've seen poor people. I've seen homeless people, but never starving people. Not so close that I touched them, fed them, talked with them. To see thin skin stretched across skeleton faces and legs so thin they looked like painted bones and muscles. It was my wake up call and my call to action. I cannot feed the world, but by God's grace, I can help these people. Looking from the beautiful children to their elders gave a shocking depiction of where they are headed if something isn't done. Lord, grant me the strength to help even one life for your glory.
On the way out a man stopped me and began babbling. I asked Sam to translate and he told me that he asked if I would "remember him". Then he lifted his pant leg to reveal to large, angry black callouses on his knee that made Dee, the nurse who was with me, cringe. "Oh. He wants me to pray for his knee." "No, sister." Sam responded. "He says he prays so much that it makes his knees like this." He lifted the other pant leg to reveal identical callouses on the opposite leg. I asked to take a picture and captured the picture in my mind as well. I will not forget him.
I used to be so overwhelmed when I thought about the need in other countries, that I did nothing. Being here has directed and specified my focus. Those needy people in India are not strangers anymore. I now call them friends, and it's time to act.
Off to bed. We are up before 6am tomorrow for an early morning hike, then a medical camp.
Be blessed,
Team 11 in '11
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
