Jagadeesh

I’m learning how to be content with very little from Jagadeesh, a 15-year-old boy.  The zippers on Jagadeesh’s backpack are all broken and the material separating the different compartments is torn and the straps are coming off.  I asked him if he needed a new backpack and it said that it was ok.  He has been carrying it with the small strap used for hanging that is on the top of the backpack. 

One afternoon, I noticed him sewing during homework time.  As I walked closer, I realized that he was sewing the broken zipper shut on his bag!  I’ve never met a 15-year-old—maybe I just haven’t met a lot of teenagers—that will not demand a new bag or request that a broken zipper be fixed, but instead proceeds to sew up the zipper.  I told him that he could do his homework and I’ll take it to a tailor in the neighbourhood to sew.

“No problem, aka.  I can do it myself.”  He smiled at me and kept sewing.

Now he only uses certain compartments on his bag.  Astounding.  I am totally bourgeois compared to the kids that live here.  

Amurta

For whatever reason Amurta’s mom sends her to the free preschool held in our compound at age 2.  She started crying for her mommy, so I had to pick her up to comfort her and I started carrying her around.  I was drinking water and she says, “enti?” meaning “what.”  I figured she was asking me “what is it?” so I said, “water.”  She repeats.  “Waterlu.”  Then she points at the talcum powder and questions, “enti?”  I reply, “powder.”  “Powdera” she repeats.  Mirror becomes “Miramu.”  I couldn’t stop giggling to myself because at the young age of 2 she has already somehow realized, perhaps subconsciously, that words must end with a vowel.  So she added a vowel to every word I taught her.  Her accent is out-of-this-world cute!

In Telugu, all consonants are attached to vowels, so you wouldn’t have a word like “Macdonald” in which there is no vowel between the “c” and “d” sounds.  It's so amazing how toddlers subconsciously know grammatical structure without anyone teaching them.  Anyhow, the kids keep me amused.

Efficiency

I was talking to this girl a few days ago and I mentioned the word “efficient.”  She didn’t understand it, so I endeavoured to explain it to her using simpler terminology.  After some time, I decided to teach through example.

“You know McDonalds?  Well they are very efficient,” I state.  She shakes her head.

“Ok... KFC?” I query.  I think that she must know KFC since it’s so popular in India.  Judging from the people I’ve interacted with, KFC might be even more popular than McDonald’s AND it’s in the city that is 3h away from us.

“No, aka.” She wrinkles her forehead in confusion.  “What is that?”

I decide not to even attempt to explain McDonalds because first I’d have to explain what hamburgers and fries are, so I thought KFC would be easier to explain.  “Well, KFC is a place that makes food really fast and they make fried chicken.”

“Oh, like what Ama does.  She makes fried chicken too!” she exclaimed.

Hmmmm.... Well, I’m glad that she connected the new knowledge to her background knowledge, but in my explanation I totally forgot that village culture is not a restaurant-oriented culture.  I don’t even know if she’s ever eaten in a restaurant before.  Lol... it’s so funny how I often realize that things we take for granted as common knowledge in our culture is not common knowledge in other cultures, especially rural areas that haven’t been touched by technologies such as computers and the internet.  

School Supplies

Although things are generally cheaper in India than Canada or the States, $50/month is still really hard to live on.  That's how much the minimum wage here is.  Jobs that make $50/month include daily wage farm labourers, government street cleaners, and some construction labourers.  A bus ticket costs around 25 cents, a bottle of coke around 60 cents, and a loaf of bread 50 cents.  However, rice is 1/2 of the price it is in Canada, and it is the staple food of South India.  Luxury items like TVs, washing machines, data projectors, and laptops are the same as Canada, if not more costly. 

My heart breaks when I see children so excited about small things.  Some of the children come 1h early to the school in the HMJC compound, so once I gave them some children’s books to read.  When the 2 boys saw the books, they exclaimed, “Books!” and looked at each other in delight.  There are libraries in the cities, but here in the country side, books are scarce.  In fact, I even went to the big city 3h away from here (it’s one of the 3 biggest cities in this state) and I couldn’t find a decent bookstore.  All the bookstores only sell school textbooks and workbooks. 

The children are also super excited about paper and markers.  (“sketches,” they call them)  When they saw some markers in the office, they begged to have them, and how could I resist?  I am always for children having art supplies.  Actually, the markers were bought for our village outreaches to even more remote places.  Places that don’t have stores.  Although we have stores in our town, a lot of families can’t afford markers or fancy school supplies for their children.  The kids in our free village school (taught by a volunteer teacher and held in our compound) all practice their ABC’s and 123’s on blackboard slates. 

Today I noticed a 6-year-old boy carrying his notebooks, slate, and chalk in a plastic bag marked “corn feed.”  I’m guessing his family can’t afford a backpack.  He comes from a difficult family background.  One of his parents was unfaithful and gave HIV to the other.  His father has a drinking problem and doesn’t come home in months. 

I hope I’ll never become desensitized to the suffering and challenges of others.  I just see so much, but I don’t want it to ever become acceptable in my mind.  The cry to stand up for justice and to ensure everyone has the human rights (see http://www.humanrights.com/) they’re entitled to should always resound in my heart and feed my determination to make a difference in a life.

Ganesh

I take my buckets down to the outdoor tap the minute I wake up because a) there's only running water from 6-12pm; and b) I want to use the relatively warm tap water to shower instead of water that has gotten super cold from sitting in my bathroom overnight.


I return to my room, and within minutes, the buckets return to my room full.  Once again, Ganesh takes the initiative to serve others.  He's 18 and in gr.8.  He had epilepsy and as a result of his seizures, he couldn't attend school for 6 years.  He started school late and has difficulty speaking clearly.  No matter what curve balls life has thrown at him, Ganesh has a wonderful heart of service.  When it rains or when it's windy, a whole bunch of leaves and dirt get deposited on the veranda outside my room.  Every time he carries water to my room (I don't have running water) and finds the tiled veranda dirty, he asks me if I want him to clean it.  I tell him that he can if he wants to, but I can do it myself.  He then proceeds to clean the veranda joyfully and thoroughly.

When he sees me filling a bucket with water to wash my clothes, he asks, "soap" and gets me the detergent.  When he sees me squeezing water out of towels or bedsheets, he runs to help me.  He has such a gift of service, and what's more amazing is that he's always joyful when he's serving others.  So many times I'll hear him singing or humming as he's doing chores or running errands.

Ganesh is also very earnest and diligent.  Even when facing mundane tasks that the teacher gives him for homework like copying paragraphs, he concentrates on the task and does not get distracted when the other kids are talking.  We started reading Genesis during group devotions and he was so into the Word that he read ahead.  When I was doing laundry, he came over to me and started summarizing Abram’s life.  This morning we carried water together up to my second-story room twice and both times, he continued summarizing what he read. 

One time, I asked about his family and found out that when he was really young his dad left his mom.  Later on, he got married to someone else and they started a family.  His mom works at a college as a janitor.  She works from 4am-7pm every day, but is only compensated $50/month.  Ganesh’s dad doesn’t really contact him & the last time he saw him was 4 years ago.  From what I know, most children of divorced families don’t have the privilege of spending time with both parents in this culture.  Because Ganesh’s mom works such long hours and she makes so little, she sent him to stay at our children’s home.  


Ganesh is just one of the kids I’m able to learn from.  I’m learning how to serve more and how to go to that lowest place of humility.  I'm learning how to be content with less.  These kids are so wonderful, and I’m incredibly privileged to be taking care of them!

Candle Suicides

After 5 weeks of living here, I've come into contact with a disturbing phenomenon.  The mother of someone we know had to bear some terrible insults from a neighbour.  The next morning, she pours oil over herself at 4:30 and sets herself on fire.  When she was rushed to the hospital, the doctor said that she only had 10% chance of survival.  She passed away the next day.

6 days later, we arrive at the school site at 7am when one of our skilled workers comes up to me and says that he has some serious family business and he needs to leave right away.  He jumped on the auto to travel for another 45min to get home.  The next day I heard that his whole family rushed to the hospital at a nearby city.  Another case of 3^rd degree burns, but this time the 19-year-old had 5% chance of survival.  The worker’s wife’s niece was caught in a kitchen “accident” and whole house burned down.  Her 3-month-old baby boy was rescued out of the fire in time, so he just suffered from breathing in smoke.  This young mother was conscious at the hospital and apparently she kept saying, “I don’t know why I did it.”  Her death was filed as an accidental death, but she most likely committed suicide.  I can’t help but wonder what prompted her to take such drastic measures.  In-law issues?  Abusive husband?  Postpartum depression?  I don’t even know if most people in the countryside know what postpartum depression is.

How do we go about addressing such issues?  Why do people commit suicide so easily?  Is it because they believe in rebirth?  Is it because they lack a strong understanding support network?  Once again, I have questions, but no answers.  All I know is that we need to educate children from a young age the value of life and share with them the hope that is in Christ.  The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life and life more abundantly.  

Incredible

          I'm sitting on a concrete veranda surrounded by 2 stray puppies that have taken refuge with us.  As I look up from my notebook, I see a 4-acre field fenced in by palm trees and bushes.  Workers are bustling all around me, carrying concrete to the maistrees (skilled construction workers) who will first build walls to make dormitory rooms using mortar and brick before plastering it the next day using a mixture of water, fine sand, and cement powder.
           I glance down at my notebook and furrow my eyebrows as I try to imagine my elementary classroom.  What furniture did we have?  What supplies did the teacher always keep in her cupboard?  What lined the shelves under the wall-to-wall window?  This is incredible.  I’m making a shopping list for a boarding school.  A boarding school!  I’ve always made lists for myself.  The biggest shopping list I made was for a 5-day camping trip my friends and I went on.  I’ve never even furnished a house before.  But here I am, trying to figure out all the equipment, furniture, utensils, and supplies we need for classrooms, offices, a kitchen, a cafeteria, and dormitory rooms.  You’ve got to be kidding me.   Who am I?

            A day later, I stay at home to spend more time on the computer.  This time, I’m making orientation stuff for teachers and house parents.  I’m drawing up a list of rules and regulations for students & staff.  I’m designing a daily schedule for the boarding students.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  Who am I?

Nobody.  A newbie teacher with only 3 years of experience and absolutely no administrative experience.  God truly doesn’t choose to always use the experienced, strong, and equipped.  He uses the available, the weak, those who will depend on Him for everything.  This reminds me of the verse Rachel gave me in which Jeremiah said, “I am only a child.”  Yes, I am a child and I am weak, but when I am weak, I am strong because of Christ who lives within me.

A day in the life of Anita

Ok, I am involved in many different activities, but this is what a typical day in my life might look like.

5:10 5:45 7:00 7:30 9:30 10:00-1:30 2:30 3:30 4:30 5:30 7:00 9:30 10:00 10:30

Wake up & get ready for work Jump into the car to drive for an hour through the countryside to get to the remote area where we’re building the school Arrive at school & feed the stray puppies that showed up a few months ago “Water” the concrete.  This needs to happen when you lay concrete beams, build concrete pillars, & use bricks and mortar to construct walls to strengthen your construction. (Meanwhile, there is a regular power cut from 7:30-9:30 happening at home to help everyone conserve electricity) Finish watering the concrete & break time Carry concrete to pillars to fill the metal supporting structures (usually this is done by one of those concrete trucks that turn constantly, but without the budget to fund such fancy equipment, everything is done by manpower & womanpower) Water break Work.  This time I gather all the concrete bags and roll them in 20’s.  Later on, we can take the bags to a mat stitcher and they will stitch all the bags into a giant mat for us to place on the church floor for people to sit on. Water break Feed the dogs Soak towels & any available large pieces of cloth in water & hang across open windows so there can be free AC when we drive (I love how utilitarian Indians are!) Arrive home & have lunch.  Darn, during lunch suddenly the lights go out, the fan stops turning, and the fridge starts whirling.  We’re in for another 2-3h power cut.  Do laundry.  Easy, right?  Wrong!  This involves bringing my clothes downstairs in my bucket to our water tank and soaking them in soapy water.  Then I hand wash all the items (outdoors, of course), dump out the murky water, use a pail to refill my bucket with water from the water tank.  Slosh clothes around the bucket, pour out water, refill water.  Repeat 2 more times.  Carry the bucket of cleanish clothes (since I only started hand washing clothes 8 months ago, I’m not that expert at it yet) 4m away to the clothesline to discover that it already has clothes drying on it.  Carry clothes for another 4m to hang.  Return the stool to the kitchen, rinse out the buckets, fill my bucket water to bring back upstairs to store in my attached bathroom—or shall I say, toilet.  Peel mangoes to make a lassi.  Actually, many lassis.  I have to get the pulp out of at least 6 mangoes and use at least 1L of curd to make lassis for all the people that live in this courtyard-style house (the pastor and his family). Chillax, read, turn on the modem to check if the internet is working (I probably have internet working 1 day/week or so if I’m lucky) Leave to attend a cottage meeting, which is usually at least 30min away in another village and at a believer’s house.  This means we sit on a mat stitched out of rice or concrete bags under the starry night.  Sometimes we have a tarp over our heads and sometimes not.  Usually we have a light bulb to illuminate Bibles. The prayer meeting ends & the believer provides dinner to the pastor & other VIP individuals.  This happens when the cottage meeting occurs to celebrate an occasion like a birthday, one’s coming-of-age (which is determined by when girls 1st have their periods), etc.  After dinner, we pray for the family and their household. Leave for home. Arrive home, get ready for bed, hit the sack.