Wednesday, April 13th, 2011:
I shared in my last blog about the two house parents at Asha Mission, Sarma and Sosi.
In a normal conversation we asked when the last time they got to go out together was and found out that ever since they started at Asha, they have not been out. Even though they have to the two helpers, they feel like one of them always needs to be present with the kids, and therefore they hadn’t gone out together for years.
We decided that this was not okay and that they needed to go out on a date. Team undignified put their heads together and we found a place where they could go out to a nice dinner and a movie, we’d pay and help out at the orphanage. We thought this was a stellar idea…and so did they. They were so excited with the chance to go out!
So excited in fact, that they told the other two helpers that they could have the day off as well. They deserved a break too. We all looked at each other with slight fear in our eyes, but then remembered that we are seven (we have our squad leader, Tricia, with us this month) very capable women, so—yea! They could have the day off as well.
We made reservations for Sosi and Sarma, found out the movie times and figured out transportation costs. Everything was coming together nicely.
The evening before their evening out, Pastor Sarma asked me what we had planned for their date. I told him everything. I was really excited to share with him everything we had planned. But his response was not really what I expected… Head bob. Long silence. Head bob.
So I asked him what he was thinking, what did they want to do on their first day off. That’s really what we wanted anyway…we wanted to bless them. His response….
Head bob. Long silence. Head bob. Long silence. Head bob…(By this point I’m feeling very uncomfortable)…more silence…and then, “We want to see the historical sites.â€�
Okay. They had moved to Delhi to work with Asha, so they had never seen any of this beautiful city. Completely reasonable. So I asked him, “how can I make this happen for you?�
…head bob…awkward silence…head bob…silence…Sosi comes in.
So, I ask her. What was she thinking, what did she want to do? She responds that she wants to see the Lotus Temple in Delhi, that she doesn’t know how to do transportation and that she is going bring the two helpers with her, but also the five smallest kids.
I respond with…head bob… “okayâ€�…silence…head bob… “well, we’ll make this happenâ€�. And then I went home to tell the girls.
We were a bit frustrated. We wanted to send them on a date to be with each other. We definitely didn’t want them bringing children on their date. We thought this was going to be a simple excursion, but after eight months on the World Race, I’m not sure why any of us had that expectation. Nothing is simple.
We spent the night figuring out transportation and costs to get them to the Lotus Temple and then went to bed.
The next morning we head over for breakfast, fully expecting everyone to leave and begin their adventure. We give them the instructions for how to take the Metro and we found places that they could eat and we gave them money to fund everything. Two hours later, the driver they hired was there ready to take them on a tour of Delhi. We just had to laugh.
To be continued
🙂
