RAMP

Have you ever heard the saying, life is not fair? Sure, we all have. "The Vagabond Road" is a video of some thoughts and reflections on the idea that life does not always offer us an exit ramp when we need one. What do we do when we find ourselves in places we never expected to end up? What do we do when the road we are on leads us some place we never intended on going.

I will let the video speak for itself but after watching it share your thoughts with me as I would like to do this sort of thing more but would like to do it in such a way that you will want to watch them.

SELECTED

You remember fourth grade kickball right?! You wanted to play but you also wanted to be picked first, or at least be among the first picked. You definitly did not want to be the last one picked becuase at that point the captain did not pick you, he was stuck with you. It was not about being picked last it was about being wanted least. Speaking of being picked I had jury duty recently.

As I walked to the main entrance of the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in South Boston I noticed a few news cameras set up outside waiting for some news worthy people to walk in or out. No one moved when I walked by.  I spent some of the day in a large room in the courthouse waiting to see if we would be need to serve our fellow citizens as a juror. I won't go into the details of the of the cases that were seating juries, but sufice to say at least one carried national attention.

The jury room is a bit different from the fourth grade kickball court. Not only do you want to be picked last but you would be happy to not be picked at all. Now, I did talk with a few people who actually wanted to sit on the jury just to see what it was like but for the most part you could tell by the expression on the peoples faces that being on a jury was the last thing they wanted to do.

I think playing kickball was about being wanted - being seen as valuable. Jury duty is about just that, duty - something you have to do not something you get to do. People want to be seen as valuable and the way you do that is by asking them to help the team. Asking people to give of themselves and recieve nothing in return (other than the satisfaction of serving their country and their fellow citizens in serving justice) seems like it is asking a lot from people in our individualistic, and task driven culture. Serving in this way inhibits us from accomplishing the tasks we would rather be doing. 

 

I have to admit I am one who is too busy, my excuse is family and full time grad school, professors who won't hold off lectures just for me. I remember enjoying being picked in the first couple of rounds for kickball but I was relieved when I was told I could not serve on this session's jury.

We want to be selected becuase someone sees value in us, not becuase everyone elses excuse was better.

What does it take to be selected for who we are and not  for the service we could potentially provide?

Just a Meandering Thought...

OCCUPIED

So I walked around Boston today getting some footage for a video project I am working on.  Part of my afternoon was spent walking along the Greenway which curves around the length of where the rt93 tunnel. I saw a large group at the end of the greenway, I decided to check it out. Turns out it was forty or fifty tents and a couple hundred people all part of Occupy Boston. The Occupy America movement is a fascinating sociological event with a branch in our backyard. People (mostly students) staying in tents, with signs for various political, socioeconomic and other issues, and regardless of Republican or Democrat everyone seemed to be getting along. I took in a group meeting to discuss the greatness of Marxist philosophy, there was a veterans for peace tent, I saw a tent where clothing was being given away, they even have a library. Folk music was being played for everyone's enjoyment and it was actually pretty good.

As I walked through the encampment I got the sense that this was a place for the free exchange of ideas and life philosophy (well, I did not see any representatives from corporate America there). I am pretty sure that there was even a small group freely sharing some ganja; they seemed really happy.

This gathering of people in Dewey Square and the hundreds of people who show up for the scheduled General Assemblies tells me a few things about people in general and Boston in particular. First, there is an undercurrent in Boston (and probably every city in America for that matter) of discontentment with "the system". The system is the conglomeration of impersonal regulations, guidelines, parameters, etc. that seem to be arbitrarily superimposed on society and dictate how a person should live their life and spend their money if they are going to be successful. Discontentment has spurred Americans on to technological innovation for generations, it has spurred community organizers on to bring change to their neighborhoods, it has even spurred corporate executives to make shady deals behind closed doors. People from all walks of life experience some degree of discontentment. We all wrestle with a lack of contentment at some point. Discontentment must simmer for a while before it motivates us to try and bring change to something. What is your simmering discontentment?

The second is that people are desperate to be heard, young and old. Everyone has an opinion, but a cause like "Occupy America" gives people a chance to put a megaphone to their ideals and opinions and be heard much more so than if they stood alone. The need to be heard is what many people from North African nations are fighting for right now. When you are heard you are validated; your station in life has legitimacy. All people long for validation, they long to be heard. People want to be heard. Who listens to you??

Third, I discovered that not everyone there was there for the stated purposes of the movement. Some where there because their friends were there and they wanted to support their friends. Some were there because it is where the attention is and they simply want to be a part; they want to belong. Everyone wants to be part of something big, a cause to fight for. It gives us a sense of identity. In some places in the world the cause is your family; you stand for your family and they give you identity. Here in America it is often your ideals. Your ideals give you something to fight for and give you an identity. When you don't have either of these you long for them, you look for them in anything. Many a high school student and college student has gone through this "looking to belong" stage. From what do you derive your sense of identity??? Is it enough? Are you fulfilled?

In some ways these are the longings of every person who has ever drawn breath on planet earth; they make us human. Being discontent, the desire to be heard, and our sense of identity will shape us and define us. We will be healthy people depending on what our source is for these three aspects of our soul. You may be looking for money, or love. You may be motivated by greed or loneliness. The longings of your soul says something about who you are. How you fulfill those longings says something about who you are willing to be and who you are becoming.

Just a Meandering Thought...

NEXT

Since April, much of my writing has been devoted to India, the people, the culture, the history, the religion, and how all these facets fit together and affect everyday life for the people, even how it affected me while there this summer. For the next few months I am going to spend some time writing and reflecting on those same topics but from an American perspective, Boston in particular. The are certainly some things that are unique to India but there is at least one common thread between the two... people.

I am structuring a class around the impact of modern media on the social consciousness of Americans in general but the people of Boston in particular. I mention this to ask for a favor of you who read my "Meandering Thoughts". I would really like some feedback from you over the next few months, until the end of December, the good the bad and the ugly. If you agree with what I am writing tell me; if you disagree, tell me. If you think I am being a narrow minded, self centered, egotistical, ethnocentric, piously tunnel visioned, whatever... tell me.

My hope is that in the coming months, my reflections and musings on culture, religion, the arts, and personal devotion to a life cause will strike a cord with you somewhere deep in your soul. Besides, the more people I can get "talking" about the things I am thinking about, the better it will look to my supervising professor.

I need to be thought provoking and personally challenging so I will keep the posts short and to the point. I  am looking to touch on the experiences of life that are most common and perhaps bring some refreshing perspective. We shall see.

Ultimately I am looking for the intersection of everyday life, art (in various forms), and the deepest longings of the soul. How does one express the other, where do they overlap and how do we become more complete and globally compassionate people as result. That may be a bit lofty but you have to start somewhere.

Thanks for coming along for the ride...

 

LAST

So this will be my last official post on India even though the memories and the impact continue to rattle my soul. Here are a few closing thoughts on my time in India:

There were some things that I knew about before going to this diverse and complex country. These things included:

• Huge population and population density
• Major issues with poverty
• Very religious people who take pride in their religion
•  The Ganges river is very important to their religious practices and beliefs.

There were somethings I thought I knew and understood about the Indian people and their culture that turned out to only be partially true. 

• They like Americans but hate American culture
• Cricket is the big game in India not soccer (football)
• People who are "outcastes"were not considered Hindu's until recently 
• Christianity is a minority religion of about 2.8% of the population. It recently surpassed Islam which is about 2.4%

There were somethings that I was totally wrong about and really had no clue about:

• Despite being being mostly polytheists and very open and accepting of gods, they really do not like Christianity and Islam. They do like Jesus and Muhammad.
• Many people think of the Indian people as being warm and welcoming to everybody, but they do not want westerners influencing or changing their culture and traditions. Some will fight over it.
• There is garbage everywhere because Hindu's believe that everything (including garbage) is Brahman (supreme spiritual entity). So it means nothing to throw Brahman out the window on to Brahman.
• The beliefs of the Hindus are strongly influenced by their mythology. If you know their mythology you will better understand their customes and beliefs.



Here I am standing on the grounds of Indira Ghandi's grave. This was in a park dedicated to the Ghandi family. Mahatmah Ghandi's grave is located off to my right. This was the last place I stopped before heading to the airport to fly home.



PEOPLE

     Some words I would like to share with the people I met and came to know while in India. Some of them may never actually read these words but they need to be said:

     My friends from Orissa: You have endured so much already, may God give you the strength and courage to go back.

     To Don: your family may have turned their back on you and thrown you out, but you have a heavenly Father who will never leave you.

     To Sonam: I will continue to pray that things will work out for your father and the house the government kicked him out of.

     To Basant: Your English is not so good, but I have so much respect for what you feel God is calling you to do. Don’t hesitate.

     To Gerin: You never cease to crack me up. Your story was so moving, God healed you so that you can be an instrument of healing to the world.

     Mitendra: So sorry to hear about your parents, so glad you shared your story, God redeems every tragedy.

     T.S. Sam: Congratulations on you daughters marriage, thanks for letting me tag along.

     To Guunjen: I am sorry your family kicked you out of your home for becoming a Christian, I hope your new brothers and sisters in Seharampur can help to fill that hole.

     To Kajal: Thanks for teaching me some Hindi, you are a wonderful teacher.

     There are many others that I met who were aboslutely amazing people. There are many sad stories, and may inspiring ones too. Each name is a life and a series of stories. I have been privelaged to be a part of some of these stories halfway around the world. Several have said to me, "I will never forget you". That is one of the most humbling things anyone has ever said to me. To them I would respond by saying:

     "It has been an honor to be a part of your story..."

MAHAL

I was going to write about my time visiting the Taj Mahal but then I thought I would let the pictures tell the story. They speak for themselves:

This is the walk way that leads to the courtyard just outside the gate which leads to the garden in front of the Taj Mahal... I know...

The building in this picture is actually the gate that you pass through to enter the garden in front of the Taj Mahal. You can see by the size of the people that the Moguls did not play around when they built gates.

Here is a closer view of the main gate itself. Around the outside of the gate in a "square horseshoe" shape are some strange looking markings creating a sort of border around the entrance. They are quotes from the Koran, and look Arabic but they Urdu. I am told that even though the lines on this "border" look straight, they are actually wider at the top, creating an optical illussion for those standing underneath it. Making it wider at the top makes it look straight from bottom to top. The eleven domes across the top represent the eleven years it took to construct the main part of the Tomb. Symetry and Symbolism...

This is a close up of the walkway through the gate with the entrance to the Taj just beyond the gate. The flowers and vines that you see just above the entrance are cut stone that has been fitted perfectly into the white marble for decoration. I will show you a close up in a little bit.

This is the Taj Mahal as seen from inside the building that is the gate between the outer court and within the walls surrounding the garden in front of the Taj

My view of the Taj Mahal as I stood directly in front of it on the otherside of the gate. This is the garden. It does not look like what most of us think of when we think of a garden. There are trees and pools, and stone work-a-plenty. The designers were very careful to make everything symetrical.

I walked off to the side to get a view from a different angle. To the left you will see a building make with red stone, the same as the gate. That building is a mosque. It is used on Friday evenings for prayer and that is about it. I was there on a Saturday so there was no chance of seeing it in action. From this angle you can see how the Taj is built up on a platform. You may also notice that the towers at the four corners of the platform are leaning slightly.


Here is the front gate to the Taj Mahal. You will see the same Urdu lettering up and down the sides and along the top as on the gate. I am not sure what verse it is but it is from the Koran. The same ornate flowers and vines decorate the top part of the entrance. And the white Marble is what sets the whole thing apart from the rest of the structures around it.

Here is a close up of the lettering that looks Arabic but is actually Urdu.


This is hand carved out of the white granite wall in the entrance way into the Taj. This extremely detailed work is hundreds of years old.

Each of these shapes, the vine, the flowers, the gold hook looking things, are cut stone about two or three milimeters thick. Each one is individualy cut to fit into its spot in the wall. and a place is cut specifically for it as well. That is my tour guides finger in the lower left hand corner. If you were to blindfold someone and have them run there fingers acorss the surface, it would likely feel like on peice of granite that has not been touched with tools of any kind.

Pictures are not allowed inside the Taj so this next photo is from the other side of the Taj, the "back porch". This minerete looking tower is on the river side of the Taj as you can tell from the lower left side of the pic. These towers actually lean away from the main structure of the Taj so that if there were some kind of catastrophic event like an earthquake the towers would topple and crash away from the the building.

Inside the Taj Mahal lays the tombs of two individuals. Here is a brief synopsis. Shah Jahan was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire in the first half of the 1600's. It was a time of great prosperity. He took two other wives in the interveneing years but Mumtaz Mahal was always his favorite. They were married for ninteen years and she bore him 14 children. She died giving birth to the fourteenth child. As she was dying she asked Jahan to build a building in her memory.

And so out of love and devotion to her he began to assemble a team to build a magnificent building for his beloved wife to demonstrate and reflect his love for her. The buiding is called the Taj Mahal, you can see her name in the name of the building. The word Mahal means palace... That is what he built. Today her tomb is at rest beneath the floor of the Taj, but there is a replica tomb inside that you can see when you walk througth the building.

This is called the moonlight garden. Shah Jahan was going to build another mosoleum on the other side of the river. A black Taj Mahal for himself, but he never got to build it. He was arrested and thrown in to prison by his son who took over in a coup.

Off in the distance of this picture you can make out a complex that is called Agra Fort. It was in this for that Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son. He could look out his window and see the Taj that he had built, He could see the tomb of his beloved wife, but he could not be near her.

The next building that you are seeing here is a red stone building that serves no purpose other than to provide balance and symytry to the who Taj Mahal layout. The building on the other side is a functioning mosque but this one is simply for looks.

One last look at the Taj before I head out...

WEDDING

Well, one of the professors at the school I was staying at has a daughter. This daughter was getting married. This professor was teaching his classes like a good professor and looking after us Americans while he was planning and preparing for said wedding.

The tall guy in the middle with the white shirt is the happy groom, I am the slightly shorter guy on the left with the white shirt. The guy immediately to right of the groom in the light blue shirt is the father of the bride and the professor I talked with who gave me the official invitation.

He had a lot on his plate, not to mention whatever emotional stuff he must have been going through at the time as well. I was fortunate enough to have the timing of the wedding line up with the timing of my departure from Delhi, so I received an official invitation. I was officially invited to this Indian wedding.

This is the church where the wedding was held. It was built in the 1930's during a time when Muslims were in power in this area of Delhi so the building reflects the Muslim influenced architecture could be seen in many buildings constructed during that time.

I left the college where I had been living for almost six weeks at four in the morning. It had been my home away from home during that time. I was surprised, therefore, that when I left there were no tears of leaving. It’s not that I was glad to be leaving or anything, just that I was glad to be one step closer to my real home… my wife and son. On previous trips over the past ten years or so, I have had a chance to build strong bonds with the people I was working with. On this trip the people I was working with (the Americans) were already gone; and there were so many students, and so many classes I ended up teaching that I did not really get a chance to form bonds with any one group of kids… So leaving was not difficult.

It was so hot in the church that they actually had guys walking up and down the isles offering water to people sitting in the pews. I, being the smart American traveler who knows what to eat and drink and what not to chose to sit in my sweat without relief.

Anyways, this wedding was a Christian wedding, so it did not have all the trappings of Hindu tradition, otherwise the celebration would still be going on. Their ceremonies last a long time, and everything is pretty formal. There are usually four or five ministers present at the wedding, and each have a specific role in the service. For this wedding there were three sermons… yeah three. I arrived a little late because my ride got stuck in the Delhi traffic. After finding out what I missed I was sort of okay with being late.

The bride and groom just after they exchange vows. Thought the bride looked angelic in this shot.

Some parts of the wedding will be different depending on where in India you are from. I was fortunate that the father of the bride is a little progressive in his perspective on things as he was educated in America. So a service that in some places in India will be as long as five hours, was only two and some change. The reception was interesting in that the Bride and Groom sit on a platform and smile for hours as all (that word I just typed is not to be taken figuratively) All the guests line up and approach the platform with their wedding gift. Once on the platform they pose and smile for the photographer and then hug and walk off the platform. This process goes on for almost the entire duration of the reception.

The happy couple after the ceremony. I am pretty sure they are smiling because they are finally able to step outside where it is at least ten or fifteen degrees cooler. Also, their wedding ceremony is the most amount of time they have ever spent together.

The bride and groom hand out little favors to each guest and say thanks for coming, and the guests pose and smile… even me… yup, I had never met them before but I got my picture taken with them. (Top photo) One other unique thing about this couple that American’s would find appalling: this particular couple had met for one hour about month before they were married and that was it. That is right arraigned marriages are alive and well in India. This couple was fortunate to get an hour; most are much less, and some never meet beforehand.

ARRESTED???

Okay, so this kind of trouble was not exactly what I was expecting to happen on a beautiful day beside a river, watching people express their faith in baptism, but trouble is exactly what I witnessed. Our original purpose for traveling to the village that I wrote about in the previous post was because there were eleven people who had become Christians and decided they wanted to be baptized in water. My pastor friend / personal guide asked if I wanted to go see village life and observe a Christian baptism in India. I said sure.

You never know what you will see on these rural roads. Water Buffalo pulling carts, however are very common.

It was a two hour drive out of the small city of Seharampur over paved roads, then to poorly paved roads, to dirt roads, to washed out dirt roads. We pulled off of the road where there was a narrow dirt path that went through some fields of wheat into the village tucked away in a forested area. We entered the church building to see a group of people sitting on the floor smiling as they waited for our arrival.

This is the dirt path leading through fields of wheat and rice to the village just beyond the trees farther ahead.

We spent a brief time there in the church where the pastor gave a talk about water baptism then I walked through the village meeting people and talking with them. Afterwards we drove about a mile to a spot next to a river. It is not the Ganges and I am told it does not flow into the Ganges either so there is no real association with anything Hindu. The people gathered there were just believing Christians who were expressing their faith in water baptism. It is a common ritual among Christians around the world.

I was a special guest in this village so I gave a brief word of greeting to the people gathered there. It is not every day that they see a white person in their humble village. Made it even more humbling for me.

There were 14 people being baptized and one by one they shared their name and the pastor said a prayer put them under the water and then the rest of the church that had gathered sang a song. As we were doing this a group gathered to watch this curious sight. People on motor bikes who were riding up and down the dirt path that meanders along the river stopped to see why people had gathered here.

As the baptisms continued some continued on their way and more gathered. When the baptisms were finished some young guys who had watched part of the service started asking questions. Obviously I could not understand what they were saying but I thought this might be a good chance for the people in the church to explain what baptism means to those who may not understand what it means.

One lady just before getting baptized.

What I did not understand was that they were looking for a fight. They started getting upset and were trying to intimidate the group because they had participated in a ritual of a foreign religion. Hindu’s don’t mind Jesus, in fact they think he is great. He is another god for them to add to their 330,000,000 other gods. After a few minutes they started pointing at me and making some gestures that I took to be not good gestures.

This is part of the group that had gathered to question and then intimidate the Christians who had been baptized.

Shortly after, the pastor asked me to get in the vehicle and wait with the engine running. Two other guys who had traveled with us also got in the car. I saw a couple of guys who were not part of the church on cell phones though, again, I could not understand what they were saying or what their gestures meant, but I thought it probably was not good. Soon my friend and guide, the pastor, and the rest of our group got into the vehicle and headed off at a rather rapid rate. We had traveled about a quarter mile when we were passed by a police car traveling in the opposite direction. I did not think much of it at the time but I found out more later. (This is the problem when you do not know the language.)

A man from the village comes up from the waters of baptism. My friend and guide is the guy on the left in the photo.

The men who had caused the disturbance had also called the police claiming that there were Hindus taking Christian baptism because Americans were giving them money to do this… supposedly I was the American who forced them or at least payed them off to take baptism. If we had left five minutes later the police would have showed up and they could have detained us, me in particular. All they need is an allegation they don't need proof.

When we arrived back at the pastor's home in the city, I finally had a chance to really ask what had happened because I was still fuzzy on a lot of it. The way it was explained to me is that there are many elements in India that want India to be purely Hindu. The nickname they give India is Hindustan, which means "land of Hindu". Some of these groups are actually quite violent. The group we encountered were not violent though it was probably because there were more of us than there were of them, so they were not willing to start something they could not finish. The perception of some in India is that people only become Christians because Christians from the west are giving them money. They also assume that all westerners are Christians. So when they see a westerner standing there watching Dalits receive Christian baptism, a western, foreign religious practice, they immediately think that I am giving them money to become Christian. Now, I had never met these people before I have no idea who they are. Because some have a visions of an India that adheres to a pure Hinduism they will pursue whatever means they can to deter outside influences, especially from the West.

Since the incident I have spoken with that pastor, he told me some of the men went to the village to find those who were baptized to intimidate them for of their Christian faith. As far as I know, they have not hurt anyone, but it is not unlikely that this could happen. To top off this whole thing I was in the newspaper the next day. That is right. There was an article in the news paper about an American who was paying Dalits to become Christians. It was all written in Hindi, so I could not read it. But the next day as people were reading the paper, the pastor started getting a lot of phone calls from people who know him asking about what happened. I could not believe that the paper would print that without talking to both sides. But when you have an agenda you will see what you want to see.

That is my story and I am sticking to it...

BRICKS

So I went to a pretty remote village. Most of the structures there were straw and/or mud; there were a few that were brick. This again was a village of people who are considered to be outside of the caste system, or Dalits, also known as "untouchables". There were just a couple of structures that had electricity. The government provides bricks to these people to help them build homes that will last through the monsoon season. It is part of the the government's initiative to help these people.

A partially used stack of bricks sits in a vacant area of the village waiting to be used up by the people there building homes.

According to Orthodox Hinduism. These people are not considered Hindu's because they are outside of the caste system. They are below the lowest caste. They cannot participate in any temple worship, or make any offerings to any gods, or even go into a Hindu Temple. Christianity comes along teaching things like '...there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile...' etc... and it appeals to people like the Dalits who have nothing and live at such a low station in life.

This one room building is the village church. There are bricks on the ground just to the left of the door; these bricks will be used to build a small room on the side for the children.

In this village of about 300 people there is a small temple or shrine made of mud. Inside is the village deity. This is how just about all rural villages in India are; each one has its own shrine to its own deified spirit in addition to the more well known gods like Shiva. Christianity came to the village just a few years ago for the first time, and the people seemed to gravitate towards the teachings of the Bible, and the person of Jesus. When it came time to build a structure as a place for the Christians to gather, they decided to build it with bricks. It was a statement, Jesus is here to stay.

Two children are playing with the dishes we ate off of for lunch. Though it does look like they are arguing right??...

It is an interesting phenomena is the Indian ID card. On the ID card is place where you delcare what religion you are. Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or even Sikh, even though that is a sect of Hinduism. The Dalits, as Hindus, get government grants for many things. They can go to school on the government dime, they receive bricks to build homes, they often simply get checks from the Indian government so they can live (India's version of Social Security.) They do what they can to keep people Hindu in order to preserve their ancient heritage and culture.

I am standing outside one of the straw homes in the village. Inside was a sick elderly couple and their grandson. He was taking a break from the mid day heat before going back into the fields to work.

That is of course, as long as the ID card says Hindu, (or Sikh or Buddhist, since Buddhism started in India). If a Dalit becomes either a Christian or a Muslim, he or she is no longer considered outside the caste system and is therefore no longer eligible for government support. So a Dalit actually gives up a lot to walk away from Hinduism. Once a Dalit becomes a Christian he or she is dependent on the Church community for help in times of trouble because most Hindu's refuse to help non-Hindu's.

Children outside their home on beds.

Now in this village there are 20 baptized believers and several others who attend but are not baptized, out of 300 people. The pastor here earns at most the equivalent of $80 per month. He has no formal education, but he loves the people here and that is why the people here will listen to him.

• The village still gets bricks delivered, for now.
• The people survive.
• They somehow get by at way below the poverty line... the Indian poverty line.
• Their farming does not pay well; it is barely enough to live on.
• Yet I have not seen as many smiles on faces in Indians as I did that day in that church.
• It makes me wonder what Jesus gives these people that they don't get somewhere else.
• Is it real or just a perception?

SATELLITE

On Monday I went to the training center in the City of Seharampur. It is very much a grass roots kind of organization there. They basically offer one year of Bible and Christian education and the students earn a certificate. These students are between the ages of 17 and there was at least one who was in his early 40's.

Students from the Sehrampur Satellite school. Girls, as always, sit in the front and guys in the back.

Most of these students come from villages where there is extremely low income. They just want to know more about God and get something started in their home village. While they attend this school, most of the students live in the first floor of what really is a very big house. The basement of the house has space for their "dorm rooms" as well as a kitchen and common space. The second floor is the home for the pastor and his family.

The rooftop area is open and can be used for a variety of things from drying clothes to just hanging out and drinking tea.

The third floor is just the roof but it has space for hanging out clothes to dry. It is just an open space. The training is done in the church building itself. The students sit in the pews and the teacher, me for three days, stands at the front with a white board. They receive some basic teaching and training so that they can do ministry in their home villages among their own tribe.

There I am during one of the training sessions. My interpreter is standing next to me. He is actually a graduate of the school where I spent most of my time in Derhadun.

Some are here from the city and are just looking for a little extra knowledge to help them understand the Bible more. I feel so inadequate to be in front of these people. I am just a student teaching other students. I don’t even know for sure if what I am saying has any kind of help for these students or if things are getting lost in translation. I taught for almost four hours on Monday. I was expecting to teach for an hour or two each day, but now it seems that I will be going for four hours each day, or until I die, whichever comes first.

This is the view from the roof of the home where I stayed. You can see that just beyond the street in the lower part of the picture, is where there is a portion of dense jungle.

I really did enjoy the teaching but when sweat is dripping down your face and getting into your eye, and then they say ‘oh we need to stop for tea time’ your first reaction is ‘ sweet I could really use a break. Sitting down would be the best thing for me right now.’ Then they bring out the tea and you realize that they made the tea with boiling milk then put the teabag in a metal cup which conducts the heat directly to your fingertips, and you think to yourself, ‘who in their right mind drinks boiling hot tea in a time when the average temperature is in the 90’s with about 90% humidity. Then your brain starts working again and you think, oh yeah, I am in India, this is normal for them...

This is the library in the Satellite facility.

The Satellite school is doing a very difficult but a very valuable work in this part of India. The Church absorbs the cost of the students to go through this program and some after completing the one year program will go on the four year school in Derhadun. The pastor I mentioned in my previous post started here in 1993 and there were Christians present in only three or four villages. Today there are Christians in about 200 villages. This is largely due to the work he has been doing in and around Seharampur…