Hello
As I write this, I am sitting on a two day train from the North of India to the South. And I literally do not have the words to fully describe what I have experienced here (And for those of you who know me well, that is a miracle in itself ;-)
There are many disturbing and sad things about India which I will touch on later but what I will remember and treasure most is the time we spent with a couple of hundred kids at an orphanage a few hours away from Delhi. No words will adequately describe how these young children have touched my heart and changed my life through their simple yet fierce unconditional and sacrificial love.
We were in charge of a two hour program most nights and we were all a bit nervous and unsure of what to expect the first night but the welcome and love they gave the first night just blew me away. Then when they started singing Afrikaans and Xhosa worship songs, I will admit that my eyes started sweating a bit ;-) It was such a beautiful reminder that we were continuing the work of previous global challengers. The one night we showed pictures of Clara, Linel, Maxine and other GCEX’ers that had been there before and the kids went crazy. It was really cool to see the impact that previous people have had on their lives and to hear the kids asking for the latest news on their “Aunties and Uncles”.
The guys in the team were allocated 3 boys dorm each and I loved how each dorm was so different. One dorm loved joking around and playing games, another one preferred sitting and chatting and the last one wanted to listen to music and dance (My first night there they said “Uncle you dance now for us” which was quite awkward especially trying to teach Indian boys how to sokkie ;-) During my last week there was a moment where the power went off and all the boys in the dorm I was visiting attacked me in a very viscous and out of control tickle fight which lasted 5 minutes or so until the power came back on and then the boys surrounded me and gave me a massive group hug and then I hugged each one as hard as I could and I couldn’t believe the intensity and strength of the love that welled up in my heart for those kids. I wanted them to feel and experience how much I loved them and I was thinking that that is exactly how God must feel about us. At times we might feel like we are dirty, forgotten, just another face in the crowd and unimportant to anybody but if we could fully comprehend the level of fierce, intense and uncompromising love God has for us we would act, think and live very differently.
Certain nights we had the privilege of sleeping in the dorms with the boys which was very interesting, especially in the dorms with no fans because then Indian mosquitoes which are like turbo charged weapons of mass itching will literally sucked the blood out of you through your travel sheet. One night was particularly bad which I couldn’t understand because I lathered myself with mosquito cream, I later found out that my wonderful, caring and compassionate team mates had replaced my mosquito cream with toothpaste. Revenge will be so sweet ;-)
But the times in the dorm were so special, each dorm made sure that you had the best place to sleep and they would give their blankets to sleep on to me to ensure that I was as comfortable as possible and even when I tried to stop them they would say “No uncle we want to”. The one dorm even constructed a mosquito net for me (which must have had a few holes because there was at least 10 very satisfied mosquitoes sharing the net with the next morning;-)
The evening programs were very blessed, we played games, sang praise and worship, did quizzes, talent shows, preached and did drama’s. And I just loved how the kids sang and danced their hearts out for Jesus. We taught them new songs like Happy Day and Jesus You’re my Superhero and it was such an amazing sight to stand on stage and see hundreds of kids praising Jesus with all their might. Some nights the power would go out and that’s when we had to start improvising and praying really hard. Looking back a power shortage never seriously disrupted any of the programs and we always managed to complete what we had planned. God is good!
We were given a number of projects to raise funds for and complete while we were there, namely:
1.Paint the inside of a massive church
2.Pay for 2 pairs of new underwear for each child
3.Pay for a chicken meal (The kids staple diet is rice)
4.Treat the kitchen staff to an ice cream and a new dress
This was a real faith building exercise as the funds were not there for everything but as always God provided and we managed to complete and pay for each project.
Painting the church was quite strenuous as it was apparent from the beginning that we would be pressed for time and the pressure of this as well as the pressure of preparing for and organising a program most nights started showing cracks in the team. So God also used that to test our hearts and deal with conflict and not to bottle up our emotions and feelings. But even though we worked on the church right up until our last day, by God’s grace we managed to finish painting all the walls which is what we set out to finish at the beginning.
The chicken meal was really blessed and it was awesome to see how excited the kids were and how thankful they were afterwards. I had a small taste and my tongue nearly spontaneously combusted there was so much chilli in there;-)
But things really started speeding up the last week. The Friday night was our last program and it was amazing, Kagiso prepared a slideshow for the kids telling them that we love them and I couldn’t stop crying because then it hit me that we actually going to leave soon. The Saturday night overwhelmed us completely. The kids prepared a special goodbye program for us. We were given VIP seats at the front of the church and they gave each of us beautiful flower necklaces. Afterwards a few of us said a few words and I shared how we went there hoping to be a blessing to them but they blessed us so much more with their love. I also shared how the amazing thing as children of God is that it wasn’t goodbye because one day we would be singing Jesus You’re my Superhero with the angels in heaven directly to Jesus.
But it was the last day that really broke me, throughout the day we were receiving letters and gifts from the kids. These children literally have nothing and they still wanted to give. One girl said she was very sorry but she had nothing nice to give and that all she had was two trophies she won in a softball tournament so she gave me her most prized possessions, her trophies. That really challenged me on the concept of loving and giving till it hurts. Another girl was so upset because she had nothing but she promised to pray for me and the team. Another girl said I must keep smiling because my smile is important. Two girls asked me to be their brother because they had no family. I will never forget the indescribable joy that lit up their faces when I said I would like that very much.
But we eventually left and got on a train to Agra where we received a fun challenge to go visit the Taj Mahal, play ninja with a stranger (who we shared the Gospel with;-), ride an elephant (we couldn’t find any:(. Then we climbed on a 2 day train to Chennai where a few of us spent the day exploring and visiting the beach. Chennai was a lot more uplifting and encouraging as there was a lot more evidence of Christianity with lots of churches and bible colleges.
So in conclusion India was life changing but also very disturbing at times. Seeing things like newly born, unattended babies lying in their own excretement at train stations, desperate old men and women, children and crippled people begging for even a single rupee and seeing many temples and idols and witnessing festivals to these idols in the streets left me with a sense of hopelessness. The verse that comes to mind is Psalm 63:1 which says “O God You are my God earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water”. And quite honestly for much of India I was asking God where are You in all of this? And He challenged me on the simple fact of whether I believe he is sovereign and in control, do I believe that He is still the God of India and every city in India. The Lord led me to Jeremiah 10:1-15 which I would encourage you to read. Verse 10 says “But the Lord is the true God, He is the Living God and everlasting King”.
God is sovereign, He is in control and He is everything.
Blessings
J.