Life in India

Our house

 Life in India is good and we have been wonderfully blessed in our first week.  We have a very nice house about 20 minutes walk from VCT were we are working.  It is an upper middle class Indian home with a living/dining room, kitchen and two bedrooms.    It has amenities we don’t even have at home like a working dishwasher and satellite TV.  It doesn’t have the one thing I would trade all of this for, AC.  Our neighbor hood is nice and not to noisy considering we are in a city of 7 million.  We even have nice, helpful neighbors.

Buying veggies.

We have been exploring and learning how to get around.  We have figured out how to get our cistern refilled with water, bought a local cell phone, and gotten internet connection at our house (albeit very a VERY slow connection).   We have discovered several “super markets” where we can buy rice and lentils, the staple foods here and other necessities.  There is one within walking distance that has foreign foods as well.  There are also many people selling fruits and vegetables from stands on the street.

Every morning the girls and I walk to Vathsalya Charitable Trust.  Vathsalya means “mother’s love” in Sanskrit, the ancient language of India.  There are 40 children in foster care through the organization.  About 15 of them, ages 3 to 12, come to a day care and informal school at the center daily.  There are also about 20 in need of more intense medical care who live at the center.  Martine, Gabi and Nephtalie spend their days with these children.  In the day care they teach the kids numbers, letters and words in English (ironic, two Haitians teaching English), sing songs and play games with them.  They also spend time with the handicapped children playing with them, feeding them and singing them to sleep.

Martine teaching the youngest students.

While the girls are working with the children at the center, I am spending time with one of the four social workers or the director.  Thus far I have been visiting foster homes with the workers on their monthly visits and interviewing foster parents to get their perspective on the program. 

Jeff has not begun his work his Indian work yet.  The man he will be working with is out of the city and will return later this week.  Jeff has been teaching two online classes for Anderson.  Amazing one can teach a class from the other side of the world!  

We appreciate your prayers for wisdom in speaking with Hindus we meet.  It is interesting, in one Hindu home the Christian social worker prayed with the family.  They are not at all offended by God and will acknowledge Him as a god among many, but not the God.  They see no reason to limit oneself to one god.   Another prayer point is that we are exploring a trip to Nepal at the end of July.  This would allow us to meet with pastors there and discuss the possibility of a church centered foster care program.  It is actually very inexpensive to fly there from here, but being five of us it will still be a major addition to our expenses and so is something we don’t take lightly.  Additionally we are attempting to make sure we girls do not have any visa issues if we leave and return to the country and if Jeff can get a tourist visa to come back into India and fly home July 30.  Excitingly, God has continued to give me a more distinct vision and led me to several important resources regarding foster care in Nepal.  

Thank you for your prayers for Nephtalie.  She has adjusted to the time difference which has made a huge impact on her mood. 

This is Naugu.  He was found as an infant abandon and having been attacked by an animal.  He has been here three years but will soon join his new family in the US.  He loves having his picture taken and is constantly asking "photo? photo?".  He also loves to sing "Jingle Bells" and is extremely spoiled by everyone at VCT.