Summary

Jack Magruder, GCC's Pastor of Life Missions, has encouraged each of us to summarize the India mission trip experience in to a few simple "takeaways", something we can get our arms around so that it doesn't just become a trip to put in a scrapbook.  So the challenge is:  how can I boil down all that I have experienced to just 2-3 lessons I've learned and how will that change my walk with God?

Lesson 1:  The faithful there are truly faithful.  They are willing to give all to God- their hearts, their souls, their lives, their everday circumstances, no matter the consequences.  Christians there are definitely in the minority.  How would I react in those circumstances?  Could I make the personal sacrifices that they make?  That is my challenge-to not be fearful of the consequences of my beliefs, to be more faithful.

Lesson 2:  Poverty is everywhere, no matter where you go in the world.  However, poverty is more prevalent in India and more out in the open.  There are shacks next to nice buildings.  Litter is everywhere.  The government has given every home a TV, even tho they don't have refrigerators or stoves or other "essentials", or for that matter, adequate food, housing, or clothing.  (It was a political thing--then the people would be able to see the political commercials at election time.)  In one of the newspapers I read that in one particular village (not the ones we were in) the rate of child malnutrition was 75%.  It is amazing that the overall average in India is 46%!  Think of that, 46% of the children in India are malnourished!  The children I saw were very thin, no doubt about that.  And I saw one child begging for food.  The Kalavai team told of one girl who hadn't had a meal in 2 days.  Hopefully our presence enables the pastors there to make a difference in their communities so that they will have adequate food and water.
People have little, but give what little they have to make your experience enjoyable.  They try to make do with what they have, but they will also go into great debt in order to have a dowry for their daughters to get married.  (I can think of ways Americans essentially do the same things--how much does it cost to put on a wedding???) 
The challenge for me:  Can I give what little I have to help others?  What can I do to help make a dent in the rate of malnourishment in children in India?

Lesson 3:  People in India have the same health concerns as people do here-- concerns about pesticide use, food myths about what you can or cannot eat, infertility problems, what causes birth defects, how do you treat high blood pressure, diabetes, joint pain. 
The challenge for me:  what more can I learn about Indian culture and food that would be of help should I take another mission trip there?

These are my 3 takeaways.  However, it is very hard to summarize the experience in just these ways.  The sights & sounds, to give just a few words of summary, would include:
-It is very, very hot!
-Lots of noise, from Hindu music playing all day, from horns honking constantly in traffic, it is so hard to describe!
-Spicy food and lots of rice!
-Indian time is different than Western time.  Very laidback culture, and in a way, that is a very relaxing, less stressful way to live!
-Lots of color, from clothing, buildings, flowers, signs...
-Beautiful countryside!  But lots of litter.  And the sewer is an open trough running down the side of the street in the city.
-Women are expected to be very modest.  Men & women do not intermingle freely. 

Matthew 22:34-40, Acts 9, Acts 22:14-15.  "The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth.  You will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard."  Acts 22:14

Reflections on the Journey-Day 10

Saturday, August 8 & Sunday, August 9:
Views from the train

Up at 3:45 am (after getting to bed around 11:30 pm) to get to the train station to start our trip home.  We will have traveled by planes, trains & automobiles on this journey.  The train will take us to Bangalore, where we will stay the night and fly home on Sunday early in the morning.  Next time, we will know not to sit near the bathrooms, as they did not smell at all good when the train was stopped.  Some women and their children got on about halfway through the trip, and we were able to communicate a little with them.  They were on their way to Bangalore to visit & stay with one of the woman's mothers.  They offered us some of the food they had brought with them, and even offered to have us stay with them in Bangalore, which unfortunately we had to decline.  It would've been quite interesting, I think.
   Had a great lunch at the hotel in Bangalore, a normal shower (yeah!!!) and a too-short nap, before we went shopping for souveniers.  Met up with the Kalavai team in Bangalore; it was great to see them again after a week and swap stories.  It really struck home that we are not in America, as they checked our vans for bombs (mirror on the end of a pole) before we were allowed on the hotel property, and after we returned from our shopping/supper trip (now it was evening), we had to walk thru a metal detector (like at the airport) to enter the hotel.  To bed about midnight, and up around 2:40 am to get to the airport.  Had a nightmare about packing and not being able to fit everything in my bags to take home. 
  Long flight from Bangalore to London, a 5-hr layover in London, then another long flight home to Chicago.  Good food on the plane, watched several movies/TV shows, British Airways is great!  Got home ~2 am on Monday morning.  Took a few days to get over jet lag & get caught up on my sleep. 
A long trip, an adventurous trip, an awesome experience I will never forget!

Reflections on the Journey-Day 9

Friday, August 7:
Jim speaking, Anand translating                       

Rev. Dhanapal on the end

Meal passed out at the end of health camp.




Just Nate & I have not been sick as yet; Dr. Jim was sick today, but managed to give his presentation anyway.  Today in health camp we covered:  Prenatal Care basics-Dana; Eating in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding-me; Arthritis/Joint Pain-Dr. Jim; Diabetes-Dr. Jim; Diabetic diet-me; Stages of pregnancy-Dr. Jim & me.  Did high blood pressure screenings again today, which were more normal with the younger (& thinner) population.  Determined that the normal BMI for here seems to be ~18-19; very thin population overall, with a few overweight in the older population.  I had some more questions on whether or not root vegetables should be avoided.  I asked Dana to ask Dr. Mohan (spelling?) if the medical doctors here advised people to avoid root vegetables and thankfully found out that they do not.  It seems that this may be coming from another type of doctor that the people may be seeing, maybe an aryuvedic doctor, tho in my research, that did not come up.  So who knows?  At least I was able to tell them that medically/scientifically, there was no basis to avoid root vegetables.
   Rev. Dhanapal brought an electric fan today, for which I thanked him profusely.  It has been very hot!  I really appreciate how the women can comfortably wear long skirts and a scarf/shawl all the time, because I was very hot (& for those that know me, that is very unusual!)  Free meals were given to everyone who came to the health camps each day.  The meal consisted of rice and sambar, wrapped in a banana leaf (which serves as the plate), and wrapped in newspaper to keep it warm until it could be passed out.  Looked and smelled very good. 

The little girl in red's name is Sandia.  It was one name I could pronounce.

All of the people here are very giving.  A little boy ran up to the bus as we were leaving health camp yesterday & wanted me to have a seedpod of something.  I have no idea what it is, but he was determined that I should have this. 

Nate, Grace's husband, Grace, and helper.

 After we got home today, Grace's flower cart was delivered.  Our micro-enterprise team (Nate & John) helped Grace figure out her finances & put a plan together to help buy the flower cart, so that she could pay off her debt for her daughter's wedding.  Earlier in the blog, there was a picture of Lydia and the rope-making device that we helped her buy for her business.  Lydia's husband had committed suicide a few months ago, & left her with 2 children to support.  The suicide rate is evidently quite high here.  We also helped a couple of women get some goats to raise, and helped Pastor Suresh plan/start a tea/coffee shop, which he hopes to have his family run, so that he can devote all of his time to ministry. 

Nate, John, Pastor Suresh and the tea shop.

 Tonight, we were honored guests at Rev. Dhanapal's Celebration ceremony.  The ceremony was very impressive, held in the street in the middle of the village.  Watched a man shimmy up a telephone pole to tap into the electrical power when the electricity failed--amazing!  Dr. Jim gave the message.  A very good crowd, maybe ~100 in attendance.  Hopefully some in the crowd will be moved to come to Rev. Dhanapal's church and learn more about the love and saving grace of Christ, that God exists whether or not we choose to believe in Him. 

Celebration Ceremony

Reflections on the Journey-Day 8

Thursday, 8-6-09:
Devotion for today-Romans 7:14-25.  My true identity in Christ.  Try to be what God intended me to be.

   Today we are holding the Health Camp in the second village, Siramalagum (spelling?) and will be there on Friday as well.  We have changed our presentation again, and I think it went much, much better this time.  We were treated very well, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and everything.  The pastor of this church is Rev. S. R. Dhanapal, M. Min. and his assistant pastor is Pastor K. Suresh David, B. Th.  The outline of our presentation today was:  Hygiene & Health/Clean Water-Dana, Healthy Diet/ Food Groups & Food Safety-me, Alcohol/Drugs/Tobacco-Jim, General Health-Jim.  Jim & I then both did blood pressure screenings at the end, on anyone who was >50 years old or had a history of high blood pressure.  I would say that ~80% of the ones we checked today had elevated blood pressure levels.  I kept repeating, "Watch your salt intake" and "Make sure you are eating plenty of fruits and vegetables."  The crowd was very receptive and had several good questions for us.  We even were given special ribbons to wear as honored guests.

Pictures below are some traffic pictures and pictures from this health camp.  Note family of 4 on 1 motorcycle, a busy intersection (wish I wouldv'e taken a video of this so you could hear all the honking and noise), and a little girl, whose mother sent her up to me to shake my hand and have her picture taken.  Adorable little girl, who was quite terrified of me at first.

  

 We were treated to BBQ Chicken for supper--a very nice treat!

Reflections on the journey, Day 7, Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Deb, me, Barb

View of the lake

Devotional for today:  Acts 2:42-47, noting cultural differences between the church in India and in the West, how the church does community, the Biblical intention of community.  I do note how the people here are very giving, community is all in the open, they give out of what little they have.

    Today is a "rest day" for us.  None of us feel as though we need to rest, but they provide a mid-week break for us anyway.  We are lucky enough to be treated to a trip up one of the mountains surrounding Salem.  The bus ride---what can I say; there were 20 hairpin turns going up the mountain last night in the dark (and 20 more going down during daylight!)  Beautiful setting near a mountain lake, but still trash was scattered everywhere.  Noted several women cutting the grass by hand with some sort of knife.  Evidently no lawnmowers here.  We were able to eat a normal English/Western breakfast this morning in the restaurant.  Even tho I do like Indian food, it was quite nice to eat familiar food.  The french toast was unusual tho; you pour milk over it & sprinkle sugar on top of it--was actually quite good this way.  The hot chocolate---ummm!  Took a paddleboat ride around the lake.  Two young Indian men followed us around the lake.  We (Jenn, Deb, & I) thought they were

interested in Princy, who was with us.  Princy said they were interested in us because we were American, and she did not think they were nice men.  Have to remember we are not in America anymore, and not everyone is friendly, even tho we did not feel like we were in any danger.  Also toured a nice park while there.
     We have tried shopping for souveniers, but there just does not seem to be a market for that type of thing here or in Salem.  Did buy an Indian outfit last night before we came up the mountain.  It was nice to finally be able to wear some pants, even tho you wear a tunic over the pants, and there is that scarf/shawl.

Saw some monkeys on the harrowing ride down the mountain.  A high proportion of our team gets motion sickness, and several members were ill by the time we got down the mountain.  I passed out my Pepto-Bismol tabs to those in need.  So far, only Nate Stemm, Jim Blechl & I have not become ill this week. 

  We are back to The Blue House tonight.

Day 6 reflections: Tuesday, August 4

The food has been very good at the Blue House; not as hot & spicy as at the restaurant.  Types of food  (besides the chai tea & rice) include:  idlis (which are moist rice cakes), sambar, masala, Indian style french toast (w/ jam instead of syrup), omlets, booris, dosa.  It is a very laid back culture in India; we could learn from this.  We have decided to ask if things are on Indian time or Western time, as time does not seem to carry the same importance in India.  Schedule says health camp starts @ 10 am, but it doesn't start until 11 or 11:30 am & everyone is OK with that.  Some questions about root vegetables today--they had been told to avoid root vegetables for treatment of high blood pressure.  Also a recurring question about pesticides on produce.  Seems to be a big concern here.  Some women had questions regarding fertility problems.  When you look at their culture, this is a big deal, as part of their worth is being able to provide children.  My heart & prayers go out to these women and I hope they find some comfort in Christ since we are unable to help them and their options for medical care are uncertain.  Am posting some pictures of the children (& adults).  The children are quite excited by our presence.  They all want to have their pictures taken and they all want to practice what little English they know, like "What is your name?"

GCC had sent several bags (10 for our team) of children's clothes, the church had collected, with us.  Deb, Jenn & I went through all the clothes today to separate them into girls & boys clothes and into the different sizes.  Pastor Job will distribute them to whoever needs them later on after we leave.

School kids at recess who came & checked out the health camp.

Health camp participants

Deb & Jenn (& I) sorting clothes

Taking blood pressures

Restaurant across from health camp

Day 5 of India Journey

My presentation.  See the Indian Food Guide Pyramid in the background?  (Yes, there is such a thing).










Health Camp                                          


     
Dana taking blood pressures

   

Monday, August 3: Health Camp in Thirumalagiri today. Evidently pesticide & fertilizer use is a big concern here, just as it is at home. In the middle of my nutrition talk, someone in the audience was quite upset about my emphasis on vegetables & fruit. Revised my talk to include info on how to reduce exposure to pesticides in the food. Interesting having someone translate for you as you are giving a presentation. Hard to put your personality into it.
The Blue House

Moved from the hotel to what we refer to as "The Blue House". It is Pastor Job's sister's house, which she is letting us use while we are here. Evidently she has more than 1 house. The house is 2-story, blue, and has 2 bathrooms, 1 Western & 1 Indian. Quite nice by Indian standards! Deb, Jenn & I get to share a room again, luckily the one with the Western bathroom, and sleep on mats on the floor. Amma' is our cook & she is quite good! Prema, Raj's wife, makes sure we are well taken care of, & fixes us chai tea several times a day. I
have never had chai tea before, & it really is quite good. Anand & Thiagu work for Life Mission International, which is the organization GCC is working through for this trip. Anand is 1 of our translators, and The Professor (Irudayarat is his real name; he is a professor at a university) is the other. Princy (Esther Princy) The Professor's 17 year-old daughter, came with her dad.  She is helping with the Conversational English team and is so cute and helpful.

Our sleeping arrangements-1"mats

Amma' & Prema in the kitchen