We are full swing now in our work here in Delhi. Saturdays we are with Street Kids playing and Sunday is a day off. This week we are visiting two different slum areas - Jesola and Mohammodpur. Monday I went to the preschool in Mohammodpur just to observe mostly with Brian and Cortney, and in the afternoon all of us went to Jesola and did various jobs there. I went with Isaac and two friends. We just walked around the slum and visited with different families. A couple girls latched on to me and took me around to their houses and introduced me to all their family members. Then sat me down and did my hair... actualy any time I leave my hair down the little girls tend to grad my hair bands and start braiding my haid for me! Im starting to pick up on Hindi.. slowly. Its a difficult language - many of the words sound the same to me. I know how to ask How are you and What is your name and I know different greetings and nouns - like sandal and flower. (I love learning language and money and culture whenever I go to a new place.. its one of my favorite things about travelling!) Today I went back to Jesola and helped teach in the preschool. There was an incident with one of our friends this morning (we dont know the full story but apparently she was waiting outside the wall for another nurse to come and a drunk man came and beat her - please remember her and the others that work in the clinic) The teachers we were with had to go see if she was alright, so Carolyn and I took over the class. With almost no Hindi it was a little difficult to control the class, but I like the challenge of it! When they came back we had a quick break, like recess, and then Isaac and I took over the class again to teach some English. We shared the story of David and Goliath - translated and with big actions, and we taught some english colors and words. I love it!
Our Father has been so good to our team! I have felt so blessed here. Even when I started to feel sick with a fever/sinus cold over the weekend, He was quick to respond and gave me the strength and engery I needed each day so far. I havent been lacking in anything here. It is really good to be helping and learning from the community that is here already. They are doing great things in the places around and in Delhi. This is difficult for me to write differently than I would like to speak! I will try to answer some of the questions Ive been asked so far...
Personally, I am adjusting quite well. I dont know why, but I am blessed to be able to adapt quickly to new cultures and I tend not to get overwhelmed with very different sights and ways of life. It is all new and exciting to me here. And with the poverty and the street kids, etc.. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of it I prefer to look at the small difference I can make in the children that I do meet. As a team we have talked about different ways to cope with everything we see.. and it is different for different people. I just want to pour all my energy and love into the kids I meet, and their parents that serve me chai tea and food out of their own poverty.. that is how I "deal" with what I see I guess. And I would rather give that than keep the cycle going by giving money and keeping the kids on the street (do I need to explain more?). Definately my strength and all I have to give comes not from me, but from above.
There is poverty all around. on all the streets. You can see the Caste System in effect everywhere you look. I would say that in the slums though it is just gathered, or centralized. There is rubbish everywhere, and people urinating anywhere they want to. So obviously it smells pretty bad. In the slums, there are children running around naked and barefoot.. and flies everywhere. As for heat, it feels HOT but so far I think its only been between 25 and 30. Next month is the start of summer and will get up to high forties. The kurtas we wear (Indian outfits) are nice in the weather, even with the long trousers and long sleeves. The mosquitoes are bad here too. We are still learning about the food. We have tried some Indian dishes - our favorites so far are the butter chicken (but I cant have that because of the dairy) and the dhal and tandori and afgani chicken. None of these dishes are too spicy. Other than that we eat fruit and salads and weve had fast food top (subway pizza hut and mcdonalds) we are still learning the foods here. Everything is so LOUD here. There is constant honking in the streets and just people everywhere! And a few times a day they play out music and prayers I think from the Muslim temples..? we also have many birds and peacocks living around our house. This is super long so I will end there.. We hope to put videos up soon! lovelove
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