Monday 29 August 2011

What, you're going to INDIA?

This is the most common reaction I get when I tell people that I've quit my well-paying job at Maple Leaf International School in Dalian, China and am saying goodbye to my travel lifestyle (14 weeks of vacation a year is a pretty sweet deal) to go volunteer in India.

What brings me to India?  Well, ever since I was a teenager, my dream was to build an orphanage or school for the impoverished.  I saw 2 possible paths for my life.  One was settling down in Vancouver and purchasing a Toyota Yaris (yes, I already knew which car I liked); the other, doing Christian humanitarian work overseas.  My mom always told me that I had to learn Chinese so I could go help the impoverished in China when I grew up.  As the years passed by, I found myself getting more and more involved in philanthropic work.  I organized World Vision's 30h famine in my high school and university years, volunteered with underpriviledged children from the inner city with Union Gospel Mission, and distributed Christmas presents for people who were homeless in downtown Eastside.  After I graduated from the UBC Education program, I got a job with Maple Leaf in Dalian, and I thought that I was on my way to working with the less fortunate in China.

When I was in Dalian, I looked for opportunities to reach out to those in need both in my community and in the impoverished areas  in China.  Catherine (the wonderful roommate the Lord blessed me with) and I started the Maple Leaf Angels club.   Our club distributed Christmas shoeboxes to the underpriviledged in our community, fundraised for a local orphanage, and had an English reading buddy program with the local middle school.  I searched for an organization that I could identify with--one that shared my vision and faith.

Handing out Christmas presents to junior high students.  We made more than 80 gifts last year.

Baking to fundraise for various charities.

Last winter vacation, Catherine and I travelled in India for 3 weeks.  Prior to going to India, we prayed that God would provide the opporutnity for us to serve people and glorify Him.  When we told our church members that we were going to India, they excitedly asked if we were going to visit Grace and Aish.  I would always hesistatingly reply, "um maybe we'll see them there, but India is a big country..."  Frankly speaking, I wasn't planning to go visit them because I felt we were just acquaintances and I didn't want to inconvenience them.  Church people, however, gave us a bunch of stuff to bring to them.  I thought we'd just mail it once we got to India.

After we arrived in India, we realized that Hyderabad (where Grace and Aish were) was on our way to southern India, where we were going to spend most of our time.  We decided to stop by Hyderabad for a night to deliver the goods and be on our way the next day after church.  God had other plans for us. 

We stayed at a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base our 1st night in Hyderabad.  This was quite a miracle, as I had been very interested in DTS (Disciple Training School) with YWAM since 2007.  Grace convinced us to stay an extra night at the base and then to visit her hometown, Jangareddigudem. 

Visiting Jangareddigudem was a huge turning point in my life.




The team that was serving there was a huge inspiration to me.  The selfless way they loved others and helped the less fortunate deeply touched me.  (Ok, this blog is gonna be much longer than I anticipated because of all the background info I'm getting into :P) Basically, Grace's dad started the ministry as a missionary doctor.  Grace's dad would go from village to village spreading the gospel and giving free consultations and treatments.  As the numbers of believers increased, they would plant a church there.  After he passed away, Grace's brother Vimal became the overseer of the ministry.  There were 12 pastors in their network, and they pastored the village churches that Grace's dad was able to plant through medical outreach.  There were 10 kids living with their family, and their mom took care of these boys.  They also had a senior's home where the volunteer cook prepared food and took care of the 11 seniors.  The seniors couldn't afford to support themselves, as they only received $2 a month from the government. 

Grace and Vimal's mom with the boys
Medical outreach in a remote village

On our second and last day in Jangareddigudem, Vimal took us to a plot of land where they wanted to build a school for orphans and the impoverished.  Cath and I decided to fundraise at home in Vancouver last summer to raise support to build the school.  By the grace of God, the money we raised combined with money from BridgeStones international was sufficient to build this school.  Now the school is under construction!

Blueprints for the school

Vimal on the land designated for the school






Yea!  When I go back in late Sept, I can participate in the construction of the school!

2 comments:

  1. You have always been my inspiration and thank you for being in my life.
    I hope everything goes well for you and God bless you. --- a former student(hint: in the first picture of this page)

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  2. Dearest Harold, thank you for you words of encouragement. You are an awesome student. Sometimes I'm nostalgic for my days in Dalian and my time in the English classroom! Please do keep in touch. I believe you have my email because you pop up as "online" in my google chat sometimes.

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