So I’ve been in India about 10 days in the village of Sielmat. This place was founded by a man name Rev. Dr. Rochunga Pudaite.
The people here are descendants from China, part of a group that escaped from the oppression of building the Great Wall of China. The story is very interesting and is all captured in a movie called Beyond the Next Mountain. The Hmar people (pronounced Mar) were a headhunter tribe and a missionary came to it and afterwards the chief of the village sent his son (Rochunga Pudaite) into the jungle to go to civilization and get educated so he could translate the Bible into their Hmar language. He eventually did so and came back and brought education to his people.
We have worked in construction, moving bricks and shoveling dirt. We are also working in hospitals doing various work. We have been very well taken care of, the food is great, we have bucket showers, and each bathroom has one western toilet. I’ve used the squatty potty once. They always have a water supply next to the squatty so I guess that’s what they use to clean haha
Everyday we have chai tea in the morning and then breakfast.
I had a bit of a cold since I got here but I’m feeling better already.
We only have wifi about once a week on our off day when we go into town (about 20 minutes walking) and go to a place called Life Cafe where they have free wifi. Six days in I finally got to talk to my family. We are ten hours ahead so when the cafe was open at 10am it was 12am back home eastern time.
The place where we are staying has many rooms all concrete with nothing inside because these dorms are under construction. We set up two tents in the room where I will stay with one of my teammates all month. The sun comes up really early like around 5am and goes down very early around 5pm. Every day we walk to where we eat which is about ten minutes walking.
There are many local villages where we go to do ministry in and sometimes they speak a different dialect that is not Hmar. In one, we went to help in a medical clinic. We prayed over patients and I juggled and played catch with the kids. At one point one of my teammates started singing songs to a group of kids and we asked a girl to show us a song too. She showed us some great songs but ended up really teaching me a lesson in humility and generosity.
These kids care for each other so gently and selflessly that it really left an impression on me. One girl holding her barefoot brother with a blanket on her back gave him her shoes when he begged to get down. Another kid would put his shoes under one of my teammates head when she would get all the way on the ground playing with the kids so her head wouldn’t get dirty. All these kids were running around by themselves and looking out for each other so well, giving the rest of their drink to another without question. One of my teammates mentioned that it was a good representation of how the church should be and it really was.
I’ve also been very encouraged knowing that this community was founded on Christianity because one 22 year old missionary decided to go where nobody else would go and brought the one Gospel of John. From there the young boy Rochunga traveled to be educated and brought education to his community. They have various school and programs in this area and most people know English. It’s a great way to see how one person’s life can impact so many others.
P.S Pictures are very hard to upload because of the wifi connection but my family have a few if you want to ask them for more feel free!
First picture is in the Delhi airport, second is on Prayer Mountain, third is in town in Renkai, fourth is in our living quarters, fifth is walking along the usual path where we get around in the village.
