Monthly Archive

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2007.

God’s silence is not His absence

May 26, 2007 in Updates | Leave a comment

Last week I spent an afternoon at a different mother tersea home. It is a childrens home called shishu bavan. Its for handicap children and other oprhans all under the age of 5. I got a chance to sit and play with the children, hold some and feed some as well. One thing that has given me life here is spending time with kids, either in homes like in nepal, on the street or with our friends near Prem Dan. Its amazing how resilent kids are and how they can be full of life and smiles. Its great to just play, to just be a kid and watch kids be kids. We got to take our friend Rosie and her little sister Sazda, who is 8, to Science City. It is like a minature OMSI (for all you NW folks), with interactive science demonstrations and experiments. We found this whole section of mirrors and all the cool things mirrors can do. There was a mirror maze that they loved and giggled their way through. It was so beautiful to me because first Sazda had never been in a taxi/car, so on our way she sitting on the edge of her seat wide eyed looking around. Then the first thing she pointed out was the grass, bushes and trees near the entrance. She kept saying they were so beautiful. For a girl who has grown up in the slum near a road she had probably not seen so much open space with greenery before. When she got inside she wasnt quite sure what to do. She didn’t say much, but looked around so curiously and held my hand so tightly. Slowly though she tried the experiments and played a little more freely. She became less overwhelmed and willing to try more things. It was so fun to laugh and play with her and Rosie. Beth came along so she was able to talk in bengali to Rosie and find a little bit more about her life. She is going to school where is learning to read and write english and bengali. She is now in class 5 and is able to pay for school through the work she does cooking, washing and cleaning. It was a sweet day and we ended with a double scoop of ice cream for all. We took Rosie and Sazda back to their home and as we were leaving Sazda gave me the hugest hug ever. She wrapped her arms around my waist, put her head to my stomach and held on as long as i let her. I didn’t want to let go either. I don’t think i’ll ever forget that hug.

In the gach we were able to take a new lady to freeset. She is going to start training and part-time work next week. Her mother doesn’t want her to leave the trade and she is a 2nd generational sex worker so she is showing amazing bravery. After she went to visit freeset for the first time she went back to her brothel and was tell everyone about it. She was telling all the ladies, “What they say is true!!” She was so excited to tell everyone about the new work. We are praying that she will be a huge testimony to her friends and the other ladies in the brothel. Her courage could inspire others who want to leave, but are afraid. Recently there have been other ladies who have either visited and shown interest or said they would go to freeset. Each step is a huge step and can’t be taken lightly. Telling them about new work doesn’t mean they are interested. When they say they will visit, it doesn’t mean they will actually ever go. Even if they go and see it, it doesn’t mean they are able or willing to leave the trade and if they start training and part time work it doesn’t always mean they will stay. We know ladies at all stages and know that God must be a part of it all and its his heart to see his daughters set free. He journeys with them so we must too. We know our battle is not against flesh and blood….

Our team is headed to Bagalore and Chennai tomorrow morning. We will get 3 days in Bangalore and 2 days in Chennai. The indian staff is joining our team as well so it should be a great time. We will visit a childrens home in Bangalore and a WMF home in Chennai. It will be a nice retreat and chance to see other cities in India. When we return we will have one week left of work and then a week to debrief and say goodbye. I can’t believe i’ll be home so soon.

Dance party

May 16, 2007 in Updates | 1 comment

Well last week was birthday celebration extravaganza. It was Kyle, mine and Sarahs birthday. I recieved some creme cookies with orange flavored filling (they are my favorite here), a free sari blanket (i get to choose one for my bday), I got to have breakfast with Beth (i miss good breakfasts), I got to see steph and other peeps from Fox (they were here for Jrs. Abroad) and my host mother also cooked a wonderful meal for dinner. We were supposed to go bowling with all the staff, but a couple people were sick so we rescheduled. Instead we went to Pizza Hut where they made Kyle and me stand on chairs and announce to the resturant it was our birthdays. They sang and then spread ice cream on our faces. It was one of those slightly embarrassing, slightly funny and slightly akward moments in life. Through it all it was a great birthday and I was blessed to spend it with friends here.

It was also Sarah’s birthday. She is the field director and runs Sari Bari. We had a party friday at sari bari with all the ladies. They decorated the place with streamers and ballons and all signed their names on a card for Sarah. We all ate snacks together and Sarah opened presents. All the ladies went in together to get Sarah some beautiful fabric for her to get a shirt made. One of the ladies also bought her some jewerly she insisted she wear right there. It was so sweet and amazing to see how much the ladies love Sarah for all she has done. After the food and presents came my favorite part….a dance party! During her time at Sari Bari, Kristen had taught the ladies the “twist” and a little of swing dance. It was outrageous fun! Picture all these cute beautiful indian women in sari’s laughing hysterically while doing the “twist”. Everyone was getting into it and it was amazing to be in this fun, carefree, playful environment. (a rarity in this city) We danced to some hindi music and some english music. There are not enough words to express how precious it was to see these women laughing and enjoying themselves. One lady was totally into it. She was dancing the night away. Jesse described it as “her eyes were closed, she was in the music and she was totally free.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Theirs is the kindgom of God; a meal and dance party with prostitutes, who are social outcasts, the rejected, the untouchables, the marginalized and the beloved.

The Wedding House

May 8, 2007 in Updates | Leave a comment

Oh man so the wedding I went to was incredible. I felt like I was in a movie because it was so sureal. They rent this huge place called a wedding house and have a huge outdoor reception. It is not like the west where the ceremony is first and then the reception follows. It is like the reception aka the food is happening the whole time. There are different side rooms where the bride and groom sit and go through a variety of rituals. Its strange cuz there aren’t that many people that watch the actual rituals. The bride and grooms family and friends have some part so they perform their duties, but the other attendees (hundreds of them) just eat the whole time. This wedding was super posh, aka high society india. The women were all dressed in beautiful saris and decked out in all their gold. This huge courtyard was decorated with lights and chairs. They had tons of waiters carrying around the food on platters. It was all you can eat of everything and anything you wanted. The father of the bride owns a mishti shop (sweet shop) chain so there was all you can eat sweets of all sorts. There was also a buffet style dinner. We were the only foreigners of course so i’m sure we were noticed, but there were so many people there it was crowded.

The wedding was an arranged marriage. They had seen each other before but never met. During this one ceremony where the bride and groom first see each other during the wedding they are both lifted in the air. This groom was unusally tall even for a westerner so his family and friends lifted him in the air and he was towering over his bride. He then lets out this tarzan holler/victory cheer to symbolize that the man is always higher, always stronger and always better than the women. When our teacher explained this it was a reality check of this male dominated society. The woman is considered nothing without a father and then later a husband. For her to be anything in society she must have a man. I won’t even get into how the women are supposed to act in the marriage. This is why all the women in the Gach come from poor/vulnerable situations; no father, poor family, widowed etc. I’m so glad that we got to go though because it was an awesome experience and some good eatin’.

On saturday one of the WMF indian staff members, Gita got baptized. We all went to the church service and then we had a party for her at sari bari. It was an awesome time because she shared her testimony, why she wanted to give her life to Christ and some of the other ladies who have been there for a year also shared how jesus helped them throw away working the line. And then one of the newer ladies who had been dx with TB, who we thought was going to be admitted to the hopsital and could not work for sari bari with active TB came back from the doctor and said she no longer had TB. The other day some of the ladies prayed for her healing and when she went back to the doctors all her tests came back normal. She was thanking God because now she would be able to have new work at Sari Bari. It was one sweet day of happy tears and celebration.

Oh yeah and I saw Spider Man 3. In the theater here whenever spiderman does a cool stunt or comes swinging in to save the day, the whole place cheers. It makes the movie more fun. This weekend we are having a birthday celebration because 3 of us have b-days this week. On sunday we get to go bowling with everyone. It should be a fun time.