Can i just tell you that it’s so weird to be back in India, and it’s not even been a year since I left. Too bad that didn’t happen after my New Zealand trip. I still want to go back there pretty bad.
After a great debrief of our ministry and time in Thailand we raced to Malaysia. We had three days there to chill out before our flight left so we visited the aquarium, a waterpark in preparation for India’s heat, and went to the movies. It was also time to stock up on shampoo and conditioner, buy new toothbrushes and the like. It was a good time, but India was on the horizon.
So we left Maylasia the other day and the flight was quite long, really only 5 hours, but when you leave a place with waterparks, roller coasters, and Chilis’ to go to India…. it’s a long flight. But when we landed it was just like before. Crazy. I kept getting flagged at all the places where you had to show your passport, probably because I have been to India previously. Nobody else was getting stopped. We finally caught up with Alli and that was a great reunion. And then we found out that our plans here have been changed a little. The persecution here has been unreal. So we didn’t travel to where we were orginally going, but to another orphange. The first night all the girls slept in the prayer hall at the orphange. It’s hard to believe the condition of the buildings here. But there are sweat stains halfway up the wall where so many kids usually pack into the room. When the persecution started half of them fled, or were picked up by parents or relatives because the orphange couldn’t take care of them. Now only about 80 kids remain. These are the ones that have nobody to come and care for them and pick them up. They have been fasting because there is no food, and then they choose to fast for the ministry even when food is available. Water is scarce and it’s 120 degrees here. A significant amount of kids went to the hospital last week for dehydration.
The first morning there I woke up and realized that I had been attacked in the night. Apparantly all the other girls couldn’t sleep a wink because of the bugs, but I had slept soundly, and thus provided a good meal for them all. In Thailand I ate bugs, in India bugs ate me. I guess that’s the circle of life haha. Perhaps it’s fleas, or something else, but it’s not mosquitoes. But I had over a hundred bites on my arms and hands. They ate other people up even worse. We’ve had to remedy that by sleeping in our tents outside and keeping them zipped up constantly.
We got to play with lots of the kids that first day and they are so cute. There are only about 16 girls left, and the rest are boys. Alli divided up the kids into groups of threes and we are now giving special attention to “our kids.” I have three boys, Rajan 10, Andriash 7, and Rohit 8. Rajan speaks english pretty well, and while Andriash knows a little, he can’t say much more than “Yes, Auntie.” Rohit is really shy and will barely look at me, let alone say anything. Pray for them all, but espeically my little boys. I might have to take them home with me. I keep stuffing other stuff in my bag why not little Indian kids?
We divided up to do different tasks around the orphange. There is a construction crew, a painting crew, a storage room clean-up crew, a medical crew, a crafts/lesson crew, and many more. I am on the storage room crew, which sounds silly, but you wouldn’t believe what is in that room. Bundles and biundles of clothes that have been donated, craft supplies that past short-term teams have left behind, buckets of shoes and flip flops, and cabinets of unorganized and outdated medical supplies. They can’t even get into the back to get to their winter blankets and use them. It’s been a supreme struggle to even start sorting through that mess and we haven’t made a dent in it at all really. But we have been able to get through some of the clothes and give a new outfit to all the girls, and new shirts to all the boys. We still need to find more pants before we attempt to give that out. But I’ll tell you that giving these kids a new shirt, that’s still dingy and used, brings a huge smile to their face. They are no different than you and I and they want to look nice. They picked through the piles over and over to find something that they really wanted and not have to take something because it’s the only thing that fits. Dressing the little boys that are 4 and 5 was so cute.
Pray for us as our job continues. We are trying our best to love these kids, to show them that they are special to God and to us. Honestly they are all spiritually mature and way past the common Sunday school lessons, but what they need are hugs and attention. I love that job. I love giving them high fives and telling the girls they look pretty. I love it so much.
