It has been a week and half since we arrived at our ministry site. We are here working with Rescue Pink (if you are interested, you can find them on Facebook and Instagram). It is a ministry focusing on prevention of female infanticide and has many women and children’s programs. Female infanticide is common in India due to the culture placing more worth on male children than female. Male children are highly valued because in this culture, they support their parents when they are old. This is seen as a financial gain. However, females are looked upon as a nuisance – families must pay lots of money for their dowry and they are seen as a financial burden. Because of this, when a baby is born and seen to be female, it is not uncommon that the child is murdered. Rescue Pink is working to combat this by educating and supporting local women and teaching the next generation to have practical skills to provide for their families.
In the time that we have been here, we have taught their after-school program for at risk girls (ages 4-13 with unstable family and living situations). This includes playing games, singing very loudly, and practicing conversational English. We also have been visiting surrounding villages and towns to interview prospective members for the support program for lactating mothers. This program provides small grants of money to qualifying members to start small businesses. This program also has monthly meetings to counsel and support these women, check in with the progress of their business, and provide education about children, nutrition, safety, and other topics. During one of these monthly meetings I taught about nutrition during pregnancy and early months of life.
A couple of days after arriving at our ministry site, one of the girls on our team got sick with food poisoning and became dehydrated and very lethargic. We took her to the “hospital” (a 7-bed hospital with a labour room, a clinic office, an observation room, and an “ICU”) after her sickness had persisted for 24 hours. At first the doctor just prescribed Imodium and juice, and sent her home. When she couldn’t hold it down, she became even more weak and lethargic. We had to take her back that night where they gave her IV fluids and medications. As you can imagine, the level of care was nothing compared to America, but they did a good job and she is now back to normal. When leaving for the Race, I had been praying that I would have opportunities to use my nursing skills, but hadn’t expected to use them for my team! Praying that nothing like that would happen again, although I enjoyed seeing the “hospital” and using my nursing skills when taking care of her. The hospital bill was only $60 and we got a discount for taking pictures with the staff.
I am so thankful for being placed with this ministry (we knew very little about where we would be placed once in India) and our host family. I think our whole team was nervous about the unknown of going to a new country, but the Lord has shown us the beauty of this place in so many unexpected ways. Our host family has been more than generous, and we love spending time with them and learning about their lives and ministry.
Prayers for this country in the next few weeks. India is celebrating their Independance Day this week and this sometimes causes turmoil. Pray for peace and safety for the people here.
Teammate Joanna playing with some of the younger girls
A glimpse caught out the window of a nearby town
Our usual mode of transportation – a tuk tuk (or motor)
