The last 2 days have been spent on Vision Rescues yellow school buese. Currently, they have 3 operating and another one they have just purchased and are waiting for the people to come along to run it.
My first morning there, we arrivd at the headquarters where they have an office, a kitchen to prepare all the food for the day, and they also park a medical van, a dental van and one of the bueses. I met all the people, tried to figure out who went where, we got in a circle and discussed and prayed for the day. Before long, the food was loaded onto each bus and we were heading out to our first of 5 destinations.
Cruising the streets of Mumbai is not a typical Sunday drive. The streets are crammed with cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, rickshaws, and even horse/ox pulled carts. A complex array of honking seems to be the only road rule, with 'lanes' merging into one with several layers of traffic trying to squeeze in. Sometimes it feels like you go within an inch of your life, by in a big bus you feel the power and strength that it has, and feel quite safe in the hands of the driver.
Pulling up to the first sight was what I had expected, makeshift houses, tarpaulins, rusty iron, bits of wood and tons and tons of rubbish. I was a little nervous about interacting with the children, as my friends who I'm normally with in this type of situation, were not there to rely on. It was up to me to connect, play, to smile and to try and get their names. I failed on the most part, but was stretched and made better because of it. I wish I was way more fun and easy going, but put me in that situation and completely out of my depth, and I'm just not!
It was fun seeing what they get up to on the buses, they teach English 2 days, Maths 2 days and then Hindi for 1 day. They also talk about general hygeine, being clean and will not let the children on the bus if they have not washed their face. At the end of the lesson, they close it with prayer and then give the children their rice and food for the day. I'm surprised at the share volume of food that they give to each child, and what they give out in a day. Every day, they cook 75kgs of rice, and around 25kgs of lentils and vegetables. That is a HUGE amount of food, and that is a HUGE expense that they keep on giving.
It was nice seeing one or two of the sights that they visit, but by time we got around to the fifth, it was too much. It was too much in the heat of the day to process, it was too much extreme poverty for me to see, it was just too much. Every day, 3 buses go out and go to the same five locations. Thats 15 different slum areas that they're educating and feeding daily...and in the scheme of the largeness of this city, that does not even scratch the surface of the need that there is.
Its too much for me to drive around and literally see all the streets 'littered' with slums, street people and rubbish everywhere. I hate to use the term littered because they are not trash, they are people and hearts and feelings, but that is the only imagery that I can protray it as.
Mumbai is so well known as 'The City of Dreams' and I am continually thinking, how? How can people come here with so much hope for the future when there is so much of this around? How can people possibly think that they'll be better off here than in their home towns? How can you look around at this and call it hopes and dreams?
It is SO intense, and I find myself hourly trying to figure out a way for me to leave here, leave this uncomfortableness because it literally just hurts. I feel alone when I go home at night to my little bedroom where there is no one, I eat alone, I sleep alone. I know I'm being a whimp, but in the first time of all of my travels, I want to go home.
(And its only my 4th day here!)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
India Welcomes Me
Arriving in the heat of the day was a good hit after the coolness of London, and I enjoyed knowing right away the temperature high that i would be living in over the next month.
After some questions from immigration, backwards and forwards conversation in their own language, and more questions by the gentlemen, they agreed to grant me a visa and allow me into their country. Although they would only grant me the visa until the night before my outbound flight, I was happy to get the all clear, collect my bags and then go meet my ride from Vision Rescue that had been patient for over an hour while the whole scene unfolded. You can imagine me, a single girl travelling by herself to meet an Indian man that had invited her to come and stay for a month, provided many questions to the immigration officers.
Two Vision Rescue staff, Marshal and Islam, welcomed me and we proceeded to weave through the busy and overcrowded streets, a much different picture to the village in America that I was in. All around I saw some similar sights to things I had seen in other countries, but I also began to see new sights, experience new smells and take in everything that Mumbai has to offer. The roads are full of people and things to dodge, within mere centimetres sometimes.
We arrived at St. Pius College where I will call home for the next month. It is a simple room and complete with 2 small single beds (which I have now combined to be like a tiny double), a hard pillow, a wardrobe, and a 'European' style bathroom. The buckets and jugs in there slightly concern me, and I have not attempted the open shower (or should I say facet in the wall) as of yet. I am thankful that I at least have that.
After dropping my bags, we were soon out on the road that would be a 10 minute walk to the Vision Rescue office, that I'm sure will become very familiar to me. It was good to see some new and old friendly faces and they all greeted me warmly. There was an excitement and nervousness as introductions were made. Thoughts invaded my head like 'What are you doing here?' 'What are you going to talk about?' ' You have nothing in common with these people' 'You can't do this for a whole month, you're crazy'. So throwing those thoughts and fears aside, I delved into conversation and silence was broken.
There were so many questions unanswered about my stay, but I was feeling a little more comfortable. We made plans for me to be picked up at 8am and taken out for a day in the buses the next day, and then we left. I was taken back to my room, feeling overwhelmed, uncomfortable and unsure of what I should do next.
And now, in my 4am jetlagged state, I am writing this, so better try and sleep some more.
After some questions from immigration, backwards and forwards conversation in their own language, and more questions by the gentlemen, they agreed to grant me a visa and allow me into their country. Although they would only grant me the visa until the night before my outbound flight, I was happy to get the all clear, collect my bags and then go meet my ride from Vision Rescue that had been patient for over an hour while the whole scene unfolded. You can imagine me, a single girl travelling by herself to meet an Indian man that had invited her to come and stay for a month, provided many questions to the immigration officers.
Two Vision Rescue staff, Marshal and Islam, welcomed me and we proceeded to weave through the busy and overcrowded streets, a much different picture to the village in America that I was in. All around I saw some similar sights to things I had seen in other countries, but I also began to see new sights, experience new smells and take in everything that Mumbai has to offer. The roads are full of people and things to dodge, within mere centimetres sometimes.
We arrived at St. Pius College where I will call home for the next month. It is a simple room and complete with 2 small single beds (which I have now combined to be like a tiny double), a hard pillow, a wardrobe, and a 'European' style bathroom. The buckets and jugs in there slightly concern me, and I have not attempted the open shower (or should I say facet in the wall) as of yet. I am thankful that I at least have that.
After dropping my bags, we were soon out on the road that would be a 10 minute walk to the Vision Rescue office, that I'm sure will become very familiar to me. It was good to see some new and old friendly faces and they all greeted me warmly. There was an excitement and nervousness as introductions were made. Thoughts invaded my head like 'What are you doing here?' 'What are you going to talk about?' ' You have nothing in common with these people' 'You can't do this for a whole month, you're crazy'. So throwing those thoughts and fears aside, I delved into conversation and silence was broken.
There were so many questions unanswered about my stay, but I was feeling a little more comfortable. We made plans for me to be picked up at 8am and taken out for a day in the buses the next day, and then we left. I was taken back to my room, feeling overwhelmed, uncomfortable and unsure of what I should do next.
And now, in my 4am jetlagged state, I am writing this, so better try and sleep some more.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Ending, but just beginning.
I'm sitting here on the tarmac of London Heathrow T5. I feel that it is the end of a sweet, exciting, fun, hard, challenging and adventurous season of living in London and all that meant for me. I actually felt like this trip of just a few days was a little bonus, and that I was so blessed to be able to see great friends again.
As I contemplate the ending of something that has been so life changing, I also get the sweet reminder that the end is still only the beginning. It is the beginning of something that will probably be even more exciting, fun, hard, challenging and adventurous. But something that God has prepared me for, and for that I am so thankful.
Tomorrow morning - Londons breakfast time, USAs middle of the night and NZs dinner time, I will be landing in the heat of Mumbai, India. In my mind I simply cannot make a comparison of the differences in things that I will see and do. Its absurd to me that I can get on the plane, and shortly land in a place that will be so foreign to me in more ways than one.
Well...it is time to turn off and fly. I will be sure to keep the updates coming, and your part of the deal is to keep the prayers coming!
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
As I contemplate the ending of something that has been so life changing, I also get the sweet reminder that the end is still only the beginning. It is the beginning of something that will probably be even more exciting, fun, hard, challenging and adventurous. But something that God has prepared me for, and for that I am so thankful.
Tomorrow morning - Londons breakfast time, USAs middle of the night and NZs dinner time, I will be landing in the heat of Mumbai, India. In my mind I simply cannot make a comparison of the differences in things that I will see and do. Its absurd to me that I can get on the plane, and shortly land in a place that will be so foreign to me in more ways than one.
Well...it is time to turn off and fly. I will be sure to keep the updates coming, and your part of the deal is to keep the prayers coming!
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Simple facts...
As I'm starting to get sleepy, I was just reading through some facts about Mumbai, India...(which of course is my next destination) and now I'm alarmingly awake.
There's some really staggering things about Mumbai, like the crazy amounts of people, slum life and street people, extreme poverty and extreme wealth living next door to one another, but the most hard hitting one I've read so far is this:
*Breathing the air in Mumbai, India for just ONE DAY, is equivalent to smoking 2.5 packs of cigarettes.
WHAT?! All I can say is - Lord, protect my lungs!
The song with the phrase "this is the air I breathe" comes to mind, and not in a nice way.
30 days x 2.5 = 75
75 PACKETS OF SMOKES is what my lungs will endure in the month that I'm there. Now I'm REALLY glad I'm not a smoker!
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
There's some really staggering things about Mumbai, like the crazy amounts of people, slum life and street people, extreme poverty and extreme wealth living next door to one another, but the most hard hitting one I've read so far is this:
*Breathing the air in Mumbai, India for just ONE DAY, is equivalent to smoking 2.5 packs of cigarettes.
WHAT?! All I can say is - Lord, protect my lungs!
The song with the phrase "this is the air I breathe" comes to mind, and not in a nice way.
30 days x 2.5 = 75
75 PACKETS OF SMOKES is what my lungs will endure in the month that I'm there. Now I'm REALLY glad I'm not a smoker!
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
Monday, October 25, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
How to JAM two months of FUN into a blog?!
WOW.
It has been epic. It has been life altering, it has been a great adventure.
I'm not going to JAM many words into this blog but I am going to share some photo love of this great American adventure that I've been so privileged to be on.
OK so after one photo...my conclusion is that I hate this blog set up and adding more than one photo. It's just rubbish and I can't do it very successfully without throwing things.
SO. I will post a link to some photos that I will get going on Picasa (oneday soon!)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Birds and Beads
As people are becoming more aware of my approaching trip to Mumbai, India, I just wanted to share a little more about it and give an opportunity for people to support through donations and prayer.
Mumbai is the largest populated city in both India and the world, reaching 14 million in the city alone. It was formally called Bombay and is the business centre of India. It is a thriving city that has all the modern conveniences of other developing countries with plenty of wealth in some areas. Along with the extreme wealth, lies extreme poverty and houses some of the poorest people in the world, and has the largest slums in the world.
I am going to a wonderful ministry called Vision Rescue, under a local pastor, Biju Thampy, who saw a need and started to meet that need in 2004. Today, Vision Rescue reaches about 850 street children per day in 15 locations in Mumbai city where they are taught hygiene, basic education and are provided with a hot meal. The venue for this to happen is on a school bus that they have converted to make a sufficient classroom environment, and they drive this bus to the various locations throughout the day.
When I am there, I have the privilege of getting to train some of the volunteers who teach the children just to give them more skills and strategies in order to teach the children more efficiently as they have no teaching backgrounds. I will also get to spend some time with the children, teaching them English, having fun with them and hopefully building some great relationships.
I have titled this blog "Birds and Beads" for a purpose...
I wanted to raise some support for this trip because I want to be able to give and to bless the incredible work that Vision Rescue do, I want to be able to put more resources in their hands and ultimately, I want them to be able to accommodate more and more children because the need really seems endless.
If you would like to give a donation towards furthering their work in Mumbai, then I would love to give you the above Bird and Bead hanging thingy that I have made especially for my supporters. It doesn't matter how much or little you would like to give, any small or large contribution will together make for something big and life-changing.
My hope is that it will be a reminder, every time you pass it or look at it, to pray for me and to pray for those precious little children and people in India.
Leading up to my trip which will be for the entire month of November, I want to ask you to keep me in your prayers as I prepare my heart and mind for this amazing, life changing and challenging opportunity that lies ahead. While I am in Mumbai, I will be sending out regular updates on the work that I have been doing and what my prayer needs are.
Until next time, think, pray and decide how you can contribute, be in touch with me and I will send you a sweet little "Birds and Beads".
Much love and appreciation xo
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