One of the running jokes on my team this month is that we’re not leaving India. We’re going to get jobs with an American company here in Bangalore, rent an apartment together, and volunteer every week at our current ministry site.
In other words, we love it here.
This month, my team is serving at the Jireh Children’s Home in Bangalore, India. It’s a home for kids who are orphaned, semi-orphaned, or just trading bad circumstances in their home villages for a chance at a better education. The boys and girls range from early elementary to high school-age, and many of them would be in the child labor force instead of school if they weren’t at the Jireh Home.
Our contacts here are Morong Khaling and his wife, Sendme (her father named her for Isaiah 6:8, where Isaiah says “Here I am, Lord, send me,” which is pretty cool). They’re originally from the far northeast corner of India, right near Burma, from a minority people group called the Khoibu. A lot of the Jireh kids are Khoibu as well. “That’s why we have mongoloid faces,” explained Morong on our first day here – they all look like more likely to be from Southeast Asia than India.
On any given day, I might hear three or four languages being spoken: English, Khoibu, and Bangalore’s local languages of Kannada and Tamil. That kind of variety extends across all facets of life here, too. I’ve seen more rich, vibrant colors than I can count here in the beautiful clothes that the women wear. If you go downtown, you’ll find Muslim mosques, a giant Catholic cathedral, and a 20,000-member Assemblies of God church mixed in among the countless Hindu temples. Bangalore is home to just about every skin tone as well (except white, so my team and I are still quite stare-worthy). And, oh my goodness, the food – after eating rice, potatoes and plantains every day for a month in Bolivia, Indian food has been indescribably awesome.
Sendme cooks every meal for us, and it’s not uncommon to have six or seven different dishes on the table. We eat tons of fruits and veggies (SO good after a month of starch plus starch plus starch), and more spices than you can find in some grocery stores. My team discovers a new favorite food pretty much every day.
The best part of this month by far, though, is our new nieces and nephews. The kids at Jireh Home call us all Auntie, and they stole our hearts on day one. They’re so excited to see us every morning, and they can’t wait for us to come back when we leave each night. Our days are jam-packed with Bible study, games, worship, English classes, prayer, and devotions; but our new nieces and nephews make our busy schedule a ton of fun.
So, like I said, we’re not leaving at the end of the month. Can’t we just stay here?
