While in India, I have chatted with those inflicted with leperosy, seen a Christian orphanage and heard how they are persecuted over land matters, heard the stories of and encouraged Burmese refugees, and spent time with Christian university students discussing what church really is. It has been a full month of opportunity and some needed days of rest.
The main ministry I have done is with a man named Eyiezo (eye-zoh). Every morning we work with him we take a rickshaw (half bike half carriage) to the Delhi Metro where we board and ride for just about 1 hour. Then we exit with the throngs of people pressing against every side as Indian folk don’t really believe in queues or personal space. Then we take another rickshaw (man, they are everywhere!) and possibly a moto (a three-wheeled covered motorbike/car) to some obscure neighborhood. Here is where the ministry begins.
When we visit both Burmese refugees and college kids we usually spend sometime chatting about life where they are from and then how they find things in Delhi. If you are anything like me you had no idea that India has this separate little appendage off to the east (PS ignore that blue arrow!). Most of the people we have met are either from Nagaland or from Burma just over the border. As you might guess, they look very similar in features. Very Asian, not so much Indian. From this, most of the stories we have heard have been stories of racism.
Even though Nagaland is in India (it is the orange part on the appendage right above the purplish part on the borger), the college students we have met are not treated as members of this country. Most of them do not speak Hindi as they have tribal languages and a Mother tongue in Nagaland. On an interesting side note, Nagaland is 95% Christian, but it was not so until a Christian missionary came to them in the mid-1800s. Before that, they were headhunters! Anyway, we have met some interesting characters and have spent many hours in the Word with a down-hearted group of people. The Lord has given us many opportunities to encourage them and I look forward to relating some of these stories over the next week.
