This month my team and I are traveling to several different children’s homes. We are working with an organization called Covenant Children’s Homes. The children that are placed in these homes are either orphans or really poor. There are ten children at each home that live with a Pastor and his wife.
We spent five days at a boy’s home. The boys were so serving and always up for dancing with us. We ended up teaching them the Macarena. A little boy named Samuel (age 7) would randomly spit out “Ayy Macarena!” throughout the day. He always brought a smile to my face.
One night we had the boys go around and tell us a little about themselves. Many of the children had only one parent or was an orphan. Also, they have only been at CCH for about three or so years. Most of them testified to being badly behaved before arriving to CCH, but now they are disciplined and getting good grades. My favorite question to ask was, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I was surprised to hear that most of them wanted to be pastors. Actually many of them attested to never knowing Christ until coming to CCH. I ended up asking one of the boys what his favorite thing about CCH was and he simply said, “Church”.
We also are building fences around each of the homes. This is a lot easier said then done. We first have to weed out each area. And no we don’t have a weeder, rake, or shovel. All we have is our two hands to weed out the yard. Never thought I would miss normal yard tools. After weeding, we then have to saw the pieces of wood in threes. Then nail smaller bamboo sticks onto the poles. Then we carry the poles over to where we want to build the fence. We dig holes for the poles, place the poles in, bury rocks and sand around it, and then repeat.
Overall this month has been a real learning experience for me. It is month 11 and to say that my team and I are tired is an understatement. I keep telling myself I can make it through anything for a month, but this is really testing me.
Our living conditions are difficult. We live in the church upstairs and sleep on our pads on the floor. We have fans but constant power outages throughout the day and night. We have an ant infestation. Our toilets are located in the Pastor’s bedroom and the boys room, so it makes it awkward to go in to use the bathroom. Also, there are no doors to the restrooms and the toilets are squatty potties. Not to mention that here in India they don’t use toilet paper, instead they wipe with their left hand. (No I do not use my left hand) There isn’t running water so each time you want to shower you have to take a bucket shower. There is no privacy unless you lock your doors. The children are constantly coming to our room for something and we have to put on more appropriate clothes before they can enter.
The culture is hard to understand as well. As women we have to cover our shoulders, chest, and ankles. Apparently ankles are really sexy. The dress code makes it even harder to work out in the sun all day and I pretty much have only one outfit that is appropriate for me to wear all month. Also we have to cover our heads in church and everyone sits on the floor in church. Each meal they eat with their right hand and we can’t wear shoes inside. They shake their heads in response to anything you say, which doesn’t particularly mean yes or no. As women, we can’t smile at the men because that will mean we are flirting with them.
This month is pushing me to rely on Christ for my strength. One Bible verse that I keep coming back to is Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I am thankful for the opportunity to be pushed closer to my Savior and experience a small fraction of suffering for His name.
