Bringing Hope in Kisumu

Thursday I did many things I first did over 20 years ago.

-I smelled methane gas spontaneously combusting on a city garbage dump while watching kids scavenge through the trash still pouring off of the latest garbage truck to arrive.
-I crept through narrow allies and around crumbling buildings of a slum where children play in sewage water.
-I used a squatty potty in the midst of that slum.
-I tread over paths made of garbage and rot and inhaled air thick with the stench of poverty and filth.
-I teared up when passing malnourished children staring through hollow eyes while clinging to the door-frames of their shacks.
-I was mobbed by scores of shrieking, happy children wanting to shake hands with one of the few white people they’d ever seen.
-I saw beautiful smiles on filthy kids.
-I was encouraged by incredibly dedicated men and women who are bringing hope to the poorest of the poor with joy.
-I was in a place where most people never want to go and where Jesus definitely is.
-I felt that I belonged.

Surrounded by beautiful children who attend school at KAG Siany.

In 1989 I first saw Compassion International at work in Pasay City, Manila, Philippines. I was convinced then that Compassion was doing an incredible job reaching out to children in poverty in Jesus’ name. In the years since then I’ve become more convinced of that fact as we’ve sponsored numerous children, received at least a hundred letters from those kids, and have gotten involved with the Advocate Network. But today was the first time in 21 years that I got to visit a Compassion Project.

Eric, Kate, and I became the first sponsors to ever visit the KAG Siany project in Kisumu, Kenya that has been operating for just 16 months. 293 children in this project are receiving weekly educational tutoring, spiritual training, health care, and meals. When this Compassion site last enrolled children, they had space for 67 children to join. Over 700 kids applied. Today we met once of those 67 children, Ashley, the beautiful, five-year-old girl we sponsor for our own daughter, Grace. We were treated like honored guests as we went through formal introductions and listened to the project director tell us about their work and Compassion’s vision for the children they assist. The church that hosts the Compassion Project also runs a preschool with 150 children and the students mobbed us as we toured the project site. We were then treated to tea and finally had a chance to walk hand-in-hand with Ashley as she shyly led us through the filth of the slum to her school. In the Kenyan educational system, there are three years (baby class, middle class, and preparatory class) of preschool before beginning elementary school. Ashley’s mom had chosen a small preschool, wanting Ashley to get more attention than she might have at a big school. Ashley is consistently in the top three of the nearly 30 students in her class. Yes, we were proud sponsors.

After visiting the school, and speaking with Ashley’s teacher, we walked to Ashley’s home. I was thrilled as we passed through the slum and into a wide-open grassy field. As the end of the field was a typical Kenyan family compound and on this property was the modest mud hut that Ashley lives in with her mother and great grandmother.

With Ashley and her mom in their home.

Eleven of us crammed into the 10×10 room that held a twin bed, a dresser, a coffee table, two chairs and a couch. We had another round of introductions for the grandmother’s sake and then were able to hear from Ashley’s family what benefits they’d seen since Ashley became part of the Compassion project. Both Ashley’s mom and grandmother beamed as they told us through translators that Ashley came home with a full belly, that she loved the lessons and games, and that she was being helped and encouraged in her school work. We had a chance to give Ashley and her family some gifts and then Eric prayed for their family and all of the children sponsored there in Siany. After lots of photos we made our way back to the church where Eric took the opportunity to teach Ashley how to jump rope. It was side splitting hilarious! The Compassion cook treated us to a feast of beef, chicken, vegetables, and ugali, all eaten with our fingers. The project director again asked Eric to pray for their project and after another round of photographs; we were off trudging through the slum again.

I'm pretty sure Eric has never done this with OUR children!

There weren’t any dramatic moments during this day. No tears on behalf of an incredibly thankful family, no striking story of a rise from near death to health, no drastic turn around academically. Instead there was this. We saw that Compassion does what it says it’s going to do.

Ashley is fed two nutritious meals each time she’s at the Compassion Project. She’s tutored academically. She receives health screenings. She is taught lessons of character, of social skills, and vital health education. She worships God and learns about Jesus. Most importantly, she has enough.

Wes Stafford, president of Compassion, often says that the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, it’s enough. We saw that in practice during our visit to Ashley. Lord willing, with the help of the Compassion project, Ashley now has what she needs to grow into a healthy young woman who serves the Lord, knows how to live a healthy life, is socially responsible, and economically self-sufficient. In the midst of the Manyatta slum, Compassion has brought Ashley hope.

Ashley

Great News!

Proud New Sponsors

While Eric was in India we got into a Skyping routine. We’d Skype as I was waking up and he was ready to drop into bed and then later in the day we’d Skype as he was getting up and ready to start his day. Often we chatted about the blog posts he was writing and I remembering him saying, “If one child gets sponsored because of my blog, writing these will all be worth it!” Well, you can imagine our joy when we received this email:

I wanted to thank you and Eric for posting about Eric’s trip to India. We haven’t finished reading the last couple of posts, but we have decided to sponsor a child for the first time. We received our packet today and I loved watching my children get excited about it. Matthew pulled out the atlas and was reading all about Colombia, and Kelsey has already started a letter and pulled out our Spanish Junior Adventure program to start learning some Spanish again.

Thank you again and may God continue to use your family to encourage other families to become sponsors!

When I wrote to ask Yvonne’s permission to put her note on our blog she added,

We are currently reading a book from the library about Colombia so that we have a better idea about the country where Natalia is living.

Eric and I are thrilled beyond words that Natalia has found a sponsor and know that Kevin, Yvonne, Matthew and Kelsey will be blessed as they get to know her through her letters.

Rejoice with us!

Helping Babies Survive

I’ve briefly touched on the CSP’s in my previous posts. However, it is time to devote more information about these great outreach programs! The Child Survival Program (CSP) was started because Compassion staff realized that the first five years are crucial in the development of a child and this development directly affects the quality of adult life. Since infant mortality is extremely high in many parts of the world, the first priority in promoting effective child development is to ensure that children survive the early years. This means that educating the mother or primary caregiver, before and after her child is born is essential to the wellbeing of each precious little one. At each Compassion CSP education is being provided in the following areas:

Growth Monitoring
Oral Rehydration
Breast Feeding
Immunization
Female Literacy
Food
Family Planning

Additionally, Staff is involved in early interventions concerning:

Health/nutrition
Fine/Gross motor development
Cognitive stimulation
Socialization programs
Exposure to Christian teaching and the gospel

I’ve now visited two CSP’s, one with 50 mother/child units and one with 69 mother/child units. These women gather together one day a week to hear God’s word and receive encouragement in all of the areas listed above. I’ve sent along some photos from the most recent CSP I visited today. The cute little one I’m holding is Emmanuel. He had just awaken when it was time for a weigh-in and length measurement. I had him calmed down during his weigh-in and kept touching him through the measurement. I picked him up and all the ladies thought it was pretty funny for me to be holding the baby. When they heard I had eight children they seemed surprised and smiled…… and in the context of the lives of these women and children and what they need to do to survive each day I assume they were thinking that Lisa was a supermom (yes- she is!) to have eight children. In fact Emmanuel was so content in my arms that he decided to just completely relax…. all over my arm. 🙂 The picture was taken after his “relaxation” time and you can see he is much happier, and so am I!

When we questioned them about why they liked participating in the CSP, here’s what they said.

“Before CSP I did not know how to properly take care of my baby. I would take water from the Pond or not properly sanitize the utensils for the babies.”

“Before the CSP I did not know how to run my home. My husband and I use to get in lots of arguments. Since I’ve been in the CSP, there are no more arguments.”

“My child is healthy because of the CSP and now I know what to do if he/she becomes sick.”

“Before the CSP we did not know Jesus. I heard about Jesus at the CSP. We read the Bible and tell Bible stories. The Pastor is very kind and I accepted Jesus into my life and was baptized. My family attends church every Sunday now.”

“Now I am able to write my name. I have a greater confidence about my abilities to be a good wife and mother. Other women in the neighborhoods look up to me and ask me questions about their children.”

The last house visit we made today was to a young family of three and the baby was only three months old. Dad sometimes works as a plumber. This mother and father were in their early 20’s and had such a great joy and peace about them. They were so thankful to the Lord for allowing them to participate in the CSP program which allowed for a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery of their little girl. There were ten in the family who lived in the two dwellings on the property. This couple was shy and humble. They both said they came from Christian families (very unusual) and knew the Lord before entering the CSP program. Again, their smiles and joy was infectious. It was time to leave and I didn’t want to. I just wanted to sit for a couple more hours and talk with this amazing family. What an encouragement they were to me. Two of the cousins stood and used cardboard pieces to fan us the whole time we were in the home to cool us down. These were servants with big smiles! We left our basket of food thank you gift, I snapped the attached photo and we were off once more. I cried as we left not for any other reason than I was so in awe to see what God is doing inside this family, in this little home, in this little town 2.5 outside of Chennai, India. God is bigger than we can imagine.

The staff at the CSP’s help share Christ and empower these women to begin a life of joy and peace and confidence. For $20 a month you can help support one of the CSP projects around the world. Lives are being changed, families are coming to know the Lord, husbands and wives are reconciling! This is a stupendous program that needs our support. If you have more questions about the CSP program and want to know additional specifics, please send me an e-mail and let me know. I’m convinced more than ever that the Lord is using Compassion, it’s local staff and church partners to impact not only moms and babies but families and communities!

Soli Deo Gloria!

EK

Home Life

I apologize for the delay in writing additional information about my trip.  The schedule we have kept has been fast and furious and by the time we return to the hotel, eat dinner and get to our rooms, I’ve been exhausted.  Exhausted both physically and emotionally.  I’ve now had the privilege of participating in six home visits.  Two of the homes we visited we urban dwellings and the other four were more rural.  Amazingly the differences between the urban and rural homes included similar differences to what we’d find in the US, just on a more micro level.  Where the urban dwellings were smaller in size, the rural dwellings were larger with multiple rooms.  Where there were many dwellings in a small space in the City, dwellings were spaced out a bit in the country.  Where noise and crowds of people everywhere were the norm for the City, I found birds chirping and only small groups of people in the country.  The last similarity I found was that the poor in the City made more money than those in the country, yet their standard of living was not significantly better as the cost of living in the City was higher than the country.

So try to picture this.  One of your children’s friends parents has asked if she could invite six of her very wealthy friends over to your house.  She’d like to introduce them to you, have them look around your house and tells you that they’ll have many questions for you.  Don’t forget, these are her wealthy friends that make anywhere from 200 to 400 times the amount of money you make in a year; for the average household that would be like inviting a group of people over that all make $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 a year.  I think you’re going to be very thankful that they’re coming because you also just found out that they are sponsoring your child so he can attend the summer Bible camp this year since they heard you were going to have a difficult time paying for it due to the bad economy.

Now I know in the context of our world in the US what you’re reading above sounds horrible, many wives would probably say, nope, that’s not going to happen.  However, in the lives of these families and in the context of the world they live; these beautiful families open their homes and lives up to us so that we can better understand their circumstances.  We tell them that whatever they can share with us, whatever we can take away from an up close and personal visit, we share with other potential sponsors as we encourage them to sponsor new Compassion children.  In East India there are already almost 45,000 sponsored children with a goal to hit 50,000 before the end of the year.  The Compassion In-Country staff believe they can do it and I believe they can make that happen too – with our help!

So what happens during a home visit?  The Compassion visitors are warmly greeted, usually by the mother of the household.  The father is often times working or if he could afford to take the day off from work, he does to interact with us too.  The CDSP child and his or her brothers are often waiting for our arrival by the primary road or walkway that leads to their home.  When we’re seen they start running to their home to tell everyone inside.  (I’m very familiar with this scene as it occurs at my own home every time we receive a brand new visitor)  :).  Sometimes we stand inside the home, sometimes we sit, sometimes we all can’t fit, so we take turns looking around inside.  We use the opportunity to take in as much as we possible can.  We put our senses on high alert and learn by what we can see, hear, smell, touch and ask.  Sometimes there are Hindu statutes in the home other times there are just calendars with Jesus’ picture on the pages.  Sometimes we find the cooking area outside the home, near the front door and sometimes it’s inside the home.  We spent time in brick homes with dirt floors, mud homes with thatched roofs.  We’re able to learn about the history of the family, how they got there, what changes have occurred in the child or the family by their child participating at the Compassion Center.  We ask about the family’s fears and dreams for the their children and how far they must travel for water or emergency medical attention.  We ask for prayer requests and we spend time praying for the whole family.  Sometimes the family will offer a parting gift to the Compassion visitors, it cannot be refused.  Regardless that the family only earns the equivalent of $10 to $20 US per month, the gift is from their heart, and they are giving out of their poverty, just as the widow does in Luke 21.

Have you ever thought that you could have your family of four live in a 100 square foot home without electricity, running water or a bathroom.  No inside kitchen, one bed and no dinner table.  Throw out the refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer and don’t forget to limit your meals to twice a day, preferably rice with fish or chicken.  When we asked one mom what her child’s favorite meal was that she prepared, she said “meat.”  There’s no car, no vacations, no paid time off and you think your 16-year-old daughter will need to drop out of school and get a job cleaning.  Welcome to the daily struggle of billions of people around the world.  What I’ve seen here in India is just a little glimpse of what happens every day all over  the world, but the good news is that God reaches all these places and all these people and the children are joyful!

Please pray for these Compassion families.  Through Compassion and their companion local church based project centers, hundreds of thousands of children are being blessed by those who give of their time, talents and tithe.  I know that the economy still is not good and hasn’t turned around for many of us.  But I ask you to consider sponsoring a Compassion child today if you haven’t already done so at www.compassion.com.  It is $38 a month to sponsor a child, $20 a month to sponsor a CSP.  If you have already sponsored a child, consider sponsoring another.  You will be blessed beyond belief!

God has given us an opportunity to speak into the lives of these children and help provide hope, encouragement and let them know someone cares for them.  Their lives are often focused on survival.  We can provide hope!  We can show Christ to them, we can share Christ with them, we can be Christ to them.

Soli Deo Gloria!

EK

Survival and Salvation

We had a very early Start on Tuesday morning as the van was ready to leave the hotel for our Rural CSP Project at 7am. Fortunately, the timing was not an issue as my body, still adjusting from travel, had me up at 4am local, and I couldn’t go back to bed.  Just ask Lisa and she’ll tell you, that NEVER happens to me.  🙂

The Compassion Child Survival Program (CSP) is making measurable, positive changes in the lives of thousands of women and young children all over the world.  It’s a relatively new Program for Compassion and has only been operating in East India for the past three years.  The goal of the Program is to identify pregnant women or women with young babies in extremely poor communities and give them the educational training, tools and skills they need to be better wives and moms.  The children benefit from at least one extra “square” meal each visit, free medical check ups and a nurturing community environment.  The moms benefit from instruction related to cleanliness, child health care, caring for the home, free medical check-ups, vocation training, writing instruction (as most of these women are illiterate and cannot even write their names) and a loving group of village women who gather together and share stories, problems, ideas and solutions.

After our three hour drive from Kolkata, we walked about 15 minutes into the rice fields which gave way to jungle like terrain at times and there we found the Project Center.

On this day we had the privilege of visiting the Kakdwip CSP.  This was a three hour drive from Kolkata through dozens of little villages that were just as busy as Kolkata except on a micro scale.  Everywhere we went you’d find a barber, many fresh fruit and vegetable venders, fish venders, and little stores (emphasis on little… I mean six feet wide and about 6-8 feet deep) lining the main road through the village.  The rickshaws and bicycles appear endless.  Most of the rickshaws in the countryside though did not carry people, but rather goods and foodstuffs.  They were the delivery drivers of rural India.  Every once and a while you’d pass a little store with three or four wooden benches set up in front of it and when you looked in you could see the glow of a small tv showing some popular Indian program.  For most of the kids and families in these communities, I’m sure it’s the closest thing they’ve ever come to a “movie theatre.”  And oh, have I mentioned the driving yet in my writing?  Some of the other team members who have traveled to Africa have told me India is tame compared to African cities, hmmmmm?  I’m sure that’s true, but I’ve never seen a group of people so happy to get off of a bus ride and praise the bus driver for keeping them alive!

If you know about Compassion’s church partnership model in their Child Development Centers (CDSP) and CSP’s you know that Compassion doesn’t just walk into a community and set up shop.  Existing churches come to Compassion and seek partnership providing programs, support and hope to the communities where they are already making a difference in the lives of the people.  The Kakdwip CSP and CDSP are outgrowths of the local Church of Nazarene that is in the community.  The Pastor of the church, church activities, and church finances are kept separate from the CSP & CDSP programs to maintain integrity for everyone involved.  Each CDSP & CSP has a Project Director and Manager and then a number of additional employees including a cook, social workers and in the case of the CSP, “Implementers.”

When we arrived we were warmly greeted by the women of the CSP who lined up on both sides of the entry with roses to give us.  Now I can’t tell you where they got the roses, but I will say they don’t grow anywhere near where we were.  They were all so thankful to greet us.  The women ranged in age from 16 to the early 20’s and all were married and living in the neighboring villages.  After the introductions we were welcomed by the women singing songs for us.  We then enjoyed 6 women who stepped forward and recited scripture passages that were important to them (remember – most of these women can’t read).  We were also blessed by two women who shared how important the CSP is to them, their children and their families.  They shared about importance of a strong Christian faith and were very thankful that we had come to meet them.  While all of this was happening some of the women Team Members had wiggled their way onto the floor and were snatching little one’s to hold during the presentations.  In the Indian culture, there are quite a few rules when it comes to men and women interacting and it would never have been appropriate for me to be down there with the women and children.

Thankfully the formalities concluded and we had “free time.”  That’s where we were able to interact with the mothers and children in a more casual way.  All of the mother’s wanted us to hold their children.  Various team members broke out toys, balls and bubbles to entertain and engage the children.  Lots of smiles!  It’s through these experiences I’ve found the camera has become a huge tool in bridging language barriers when interacting in large groups of non-english speaking people.  Whenever we took a photo of a mom or child we would always turn our digital camera around and show her or the child the photo.  There was always a huge smile when they saw themselves on the tiny 3 inch screen.  Most of these women have likely only seen themselves ever before a few times.  I found no mirrors while there so a reflection off of a pane of glass might be their only glimpse of themselves.  There are definitely no photographs of people or children, anywhere.  I believe they were all happy thinking that we were taking “them” home with us.

My emotions were mixed on this day.  I actually thought it would be harder than my time at the CDSP the day before.  However, though I was touched over and over again by what I saw, I think seeing the children with their own mother’s caring for them made it easier.  It was just the day before that our team had made a home visit to a 14 year old CDSP girl whose mother had abandoned her and whose father was too ill to work.  An aged grandmother was the sole caregiver and wage earner.  Though these little ones were vulnerable, there is something comforting about seeing them being held tightly and snuggled by their own mothers.

There are dozens of these ponds all throughout the villages. These ponds are a source of water for bathing, washing clothes and cooking.

These two photos were taken during our home visits.  The mother/daughter photo is taken in front of their home which is shared with four other family members.  They are fortunate as their home has clay tile for a roof.  The back of the home is made of brick and the front and sides are made of a thatched roof type of material.

Jharma and Mayna

The second photo shows the mother on the left in blue, her name is Latika and her daughter’s name is Soma.  Soma is being held by her mother in law whom lives with the family.  The other lady is a neighbor.  You can imagine what it’s like for a group of white people showing up in these neighborhoods.  All the kids and neighbors are out in full force watching….

Latika and Soma with her grandmother

After being involved with the CSP for just over a year, both of these two families have now given their lives to Christ through their exposure to the Word of God through the ministry.  The Hindu deities are gone from their homes and they have found true hope and freedom in Christ.

The photo is a one and a half year old little girl named Sushmita.  Her mother held her little hand in my Bible and I traced her fingers and wrote her name so I couldn’t forget.  Please pray for her and the 49 other mothers and children of the Kakdwip Child Survival Program.

Sushmita

Soli Deo Gloria!

EK

What happens at a Compassion Project?

After our time at the East India Compassion Headquarters we headed out to the first Child Center, Kestopur.  Driving in Kolkata is a dangerous sport.  Even though we had a modest sized van (shorter and narrower than our 15 passenger van at home) fighting for road space in traffic left us, the passengers…. well, just closing our eyes at times.  We were told that the distance we were traveling from the HQ would only be a 10 minute rickshaw ride, but it would be a 45 minutes in the van.  You get the picture.

Upon arriving at the Project Center we found many smiling faces and feverishly waving hands coming to us from inside the church.  We were greeted very warmly by the local Center staff and treated to boxed juices (sorry Matthew!).  Since I’m talking about drinks, let me digress a moment.  If you haven’t had Indian food, you need to.  It’s not all spicy and the traditional favorites are now my favorites!  We have an Indian Restaurant near our home and I’ve only been there once. Now it looks like Lisa’s going to benefit from a few more nights out for rice, dal, potatoes, chicken and of course, naan. The Staff at the Compassion HQ treated us to a spectacular lunch before traveling to the Project Center.  Unfortunately, there were no, “to go” cartons.

Some of the 250 children at the project

Old students studying for High School exit exam.

Ok, back to the good part.  The sixteen of us were taken into the church where the 250 children were broken up into five groups. One group was practicing songs, one happily engaged in water colors, another oil pastels, a fourth in writing and the last group was twisting jute into various beautiful pieces.  I would have to say that it was probably a tie as to whether we were more excited to see them or they were more excited to see us.  We were able to move freely through the large open church and watch as the children conducted their classes.  As I saw the joy, discipline and artistry at which they created these beautiful pieces of work, I just stood there and wondered, “Lord how many men are pulling rickshaws or selling vegetables on the street right now that have the skills of these fine young men?  How many women are maidservants in the City who can first imagine in their mind these beautiful pastel scenes and then breath them to life as they do so vividly on paper?”  I was also blessed with watching and listening to a group of 50 or so 7-9 year olds singing for us.  One little boy, Bolaram, caught my eye because he had a smile from one side of his face to the other as I looked at him.  I knew what that look on his face meant; I have a lot of experience with boys in my own home who when asked to sit still, keep saying with their body language, “CAN I GET UP NOW?”  I was on the verge of losing it.  You know that point when you bite your lip, hard?  When you clench your teeth and tighten your jaw?  Neither act really stops you from crying, though I guess it can hold back the flood of emotions that want to spill out.  After a bit longer in the church watching the children, many were allowed to break from their routines and we all felt like stars as they rushed to us with book and pen in hand asking for signatures.  Most can’t read or speak English (though they’re slowly learning) but they wanted to say hi and get a signature.  I knelt down on one knee and was able to look each of them in their eyes and ask their name and tell them mine.  What a blessing!  After about 10 more minutes of that I had to go outside.  Needed that fresh air, you know?

Water color class

Eric was gifted with one of these beautiful paintings!

Well we’re off on a new adventure today…. three hour bus ride to the rural Child Survival program, each way.  I’ll write more when I can.

Soli Deo Gloria!
EK

Be Still My Heart

The love of my life with the children of the Kestopur Child Development Centre in East India.

Compassion East India

I’m writing this at nearly 11pm India time, exhausted.  I awoke at 5:30am this morning as did most of the team. Our bodies are all off kilter a bit and some folks woke up as early as 3am and couldn’t go back to sleep.  So, because of my physical and emotional tiredness, this will be a short post about the first part of our day. Still to follow later today will be thoughts and photos of our time with the children at the Kestopur Child Development Centre (EI-107) and my impression on  two home visits that we made to Center families.

Ever since yesterday the theme of Love and John 15:12 have bounced back and forth around my head and heart. The only way you can describe it is that for these kids, it doesn’t matter if you are Baptist, Presbyterian or from the Church of Christ.  If you come with Christ’s love, they see it and sense it and reciprocate.  It’s easy to “fall in love” with the children here.  They have so little, yet are so joyful.  Grammy Cookie has shared about this with me many times when she said, “when we grew up in the depression and during the war, no one had anything.  We were poor but we didn’t know it because everyone was in the same boat.”  These kids live in poverty, abject poverty.  It’s a poverty that can’t be found in the US.  Lisa and I have seen dire poverty in the US urban communities such as Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.  We even spent quite a while working in various public housing projects in Philadelphia during the early 1990’s.  Cinder block homes, few windows, broken windows that never get fixed, no landscaping, boarded up units next door, cockroaches setting up a home within a home – all of this was disgusting and a shame in the US.  But those kids could find ways out.  There was free public school for all.  There were after school programs, sporting teams and even in the worst situations, guaranteed government checks each month.  But many of the families that the Compassion children come from make the equivalent of about $40 to $50 per month, and that’s in the City.  In the country the monthly income goes down to $25-$30 per month.  There is no running water in their homes and only those who have good steady jobs can afford electricity.  Poverty is a way of life for these children.  Christ’s love given to them through the staff at the Compassion projects gives them hope for change and hope for a real future.

We started Monday at the East India Compassion Headquarters where the staff oversees 186 child centers and 21 Child Survival Programs which when combined assist nearly 45,000 adorable kids and about 1,000 new or soon to be moms.  We were blessed to be able to participate in the morning devotional at the HQ that involved a time of song and teaching with all of the staff.  We walked around and visited the many staff members offices and cubicles (nearly 50 employees to coordinate so many good activities and programs for Compassion in East India).  The staff shared a little about each aspect of the in-country process from identifying new project centers, to center budgets and finance, reporting requirements, goals and missions.  The country director, who has worked for East India Compassion since it began just seven years ago, spent an hour with us sharing his dreams and visions for sharing God’s word and love through Compassion to the children of East India.  He was a great man who seemed very practical and wise about what he and the staff can accomplish vis-a-vis what God is accomplishing throughout East India.  Nearly 85% of the Compassion children in the East India Project Centers come from non-Christian homes.  85%!!!!  Compassion is the hands and feet of God helping to fulfill the Great Commission in East India.  When asked about the violence that occurred against Christians in Orissa State (immediately South of Kolkata), he shared a story.  He said that most of the Child Centers had to be closed, some were burned or damaged.  Once the active violence had subsided he participated in a meeting with many of the project center staff from the area encouraging them to stand strong and continue to be faithful as they re-open the Centers.  However to his surprise, he said that the staff joyfully showed him their scars from being beaten and with said that “now we have scars to show our Father in Heaven that we were persecuted for him.”

Eric at the Compassion East India Country Office

The Compassion staff at the country and local level love God and love the children.  This verse from Jeremiah came to mind as I was writing, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Compassion staff members share Christ with these kids and in Christ they find love and hope.

SDG!
EK

Sunday in Kolkata

We left our hotel late today, allowing everyone to sleep in and rest after the 21 hours of flying it took for us to get here (not counting layovers). All 16 of us traveled in a small, narrow mini-van and quickly moved down a few roads that were full of taxis, motorcycles and various trucks and small cars. The amazing thing is because it was Sunday, the traffic was “light”. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like tomorrow. India’s cars and roadways are set up similar to England due to the English influence so the driver sits on the right side of the car and then drives on the left side of the road; this is very backwards and awkward for an American. The roads would normally fit two or three lanes of vehicles except that these roads don’t actually have any lines or lanes. I guess that allows many more vehicles to get on the road at any one time? There is chaos trying to get where you want to go safely.

As I sat looking out the window, while we were driving 40 to 50 mph amidst the ragtag assembly of vehicles all pushing forward (these drivers could use a lesson or two from ants who at least now how to stay in a straight line), taxis and motorcycles quickly merged onto the road and often times chose a driving location that was just inches from our bus. I saw motorcycles with kids riding on the back (no helmet laws here) and men and women running across the streets and in between traffic (remember the video game Frogger?) just feet from our fast-moving van. Van drivers in Kolkata must be terribly calm people with high blood pressure to endure this every day.

Driving to our destinations today seemed somewhat dreamy. I guess because I was in a vehicle moving quickly past everything remaining static on the sidewalks, it felt as if I was at times watching a movie and not being part of real life. Kolkata, to the outsider, looks like a city with one foot stuck in the past and half a foot trying to step forward. Many of the residential and commercial buildings appeared very old with lots of wear and tear on their exteriors. Again, this is part of that movie feeling like I was on the backlot at Universal Studios driving through a set for a movie in some far off land. Amidst the once lovely old buildings built sometime when India was part of the British Empire, were brand new buildings in various stages of construction. I immediately noticed that the scaffolding for many of the buildings were very long 2” thick trees that had been tied together to build a web structure that could be climbed upon. OSHA would not be happy with this scene. And then finally, within the backdrop of the buildings, and the dangling bundles of phone and electrical lines hung from pole to pole like a rat’s nest, I could see the people. Some times I could just see their faces, other times I saw them fully engaged at work, trying to sell food or goods in their tiny 5 foot wide store made of old wood with plastic and other scraps for a roof and side structure. There were rickshaws with men running passengers, big three-wheeled bicycles (reminded me of Anna Gregg) carrying huge loads of bananas or other items and giganotosaurus trucks; some carrying cargo that looked like they were on the way to the local dump and others carrying human cargo that were sitting all over the back of the truck, the top of the truck and the sides of the truck. But with all the looking out of the windows I and the other Compassion Team members were doing, there was just as much, if not more, looking by the Indians who found interest staring at a group of white people moving around their City.

As we exited the van, we had about a 1/2 mile walk to our first stop, a Hindu temple. The street was full of old buildings on one side with the other side containing vendor after vendor, all crunched in next to one another trying to sell something, anything, to passers-by. The vibrant colors of India were in full force as bracelets, toys, pictures, food and bright red and yellow spices were available in any quantity. As we moved closer to the Hindu temple the number of beggars increased. It wasn’t just one person, standing asking for money though. There were groups of women or men, just sitting in the middle of the road with their hand or a bowl held high asking for a handout. Sadly, they were the fortunate ones. The more difficult faces and bodies to walk by were those where their legs were emaciated or bent under them on a rolling board or where one eye stared straight ahead while the other eye peered up and down the road.

View of the street from the Hindu temple.

When we arrived at the temple, we first entered a preparation area where Hindu visitors could bathe in “holy water” before entering the temple. Imagine the dirtiest, algae infected swimming pool you’ve ever seen. Yep, that’s what this looked like and the smell didn’t disappoint either. The sounds of men chanting and singing and the harmony of “hare krishnas” playing over and over in my ears didn’t bother me as much as it made me sad to see how people can be deceived. Yes, the evil one works overtime keeping these people happy and content in their polytheistic religion where it seems they can never work hard enough to please the gods. We never entered the actual “temple,” we didn’t want to, but the sights of those people immediately around the temple were enough. There were people putting coins at the base of a “holy tree” and receiving a colored dot blessing in return. There were men pouring coconut milk on an altar used to sacrifice 30 goats each morning. We found one woman laying on the ground, praying before the Alter. Oh Lord, how these children have been blinded so. There were no smiles to be found here. This was a place people went who needed something. This was a place where people went to get “strengthened” and asked that their desires be met. Their faces were faces of fear and want, no joy or thankfulness could be found here.

After we looped around the temple, we walked a little further down the block and came to a small, unassuming building with a sign that read, “Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa’s Home for the Sick and Dying Destitutes.” Here, on the opposite corner of the block from the temple, was a place where God was ministering to the sick and dying men and women, through the servant actions of a group of loving volunteers. We entered the building which was divided into a men’s room and a women’s room. Each room had approximately 40 or so beds which were nearly full and there were probably a half-dozen young and old men and women serving in each side of the building. These volunteers seemed mostly college aged though there was also a group of dedicated volunteers that would have reminded you of your grandparents and all of them were caring for those that needed help. Some were helping medically, others were cleaning the floor, some served water, and another woman was just sitting quietly feeding an elderly woman. These people were the hands and feet of God-loving those who had no where else to go and no one else to care for them. I had found a place of joy and healing. I know that the healing isn’t always physical, but it is spiritually. Both the volunteers, who spoke many different languages, and the patients, seemed to smile at times while we were present. Their work is love in action. This is loving one another as God loved us. To God, we were as sick and broken as the people in the Home and He came to us and gave us hope and a reason for joy. These volunteers needed to buy no cards or gifts this Valentines Day. Their work is love and it is communicated not through language, as most of the volunteers did not speak Bengali, but through their actions. These volunteers deserve our prayers for the work they have chosen. As Mother Teresa said, “My vocation is love.”

Missionaries of Charity

Tomorrow I hope to share more thoughts and sights of Kolkata as we visit a Child Development Project Center.

Soli Deo Gloria!

EK

A Valentine Lesson from Mother Teresa

What better way can I introduce Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on Valentine’s Day, a day set-aside in the United States to share one’s love for each other through cards, candy and flowers than to share it through the eyes of one person? That person is Mother Teresa.

This woman left her home and family, never to return. She came to India and spent the rest of her life serving the poorest of the poor.  She formed the Missionaries of Charity ministry in 1953 and they are still giving themselves to serve the outcasts over a decade following Mother Teresa’s death.

The tomb of Mother Teresa

I’m not a huge tomb photo taker, however, I thought that the message, her message, God’s message can be most easily communicated through this photo. In the headstone of her tomb is carved John 15:12, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

I walked up to and peered into her little bedroom in the Missionaries of Charity building.  It measured approximately 12 feet by 10 feet.  This is the room where she loved the young and old, the sick and dying from 1953 until her death in 1997.  Her room remains untouched with the sparse furniture she used and only two items hanging in the room.  One was a picture of Jesus, the second was a sign that read, “My vocation is Love.”   She loved when no else cared.  She loved because Christ first loved her.

My prayer is that today is a beautiful day for you and your family – one full of love!  I pray that you will express deep love and thanks to those who are in your life, those who matter most to you.  I also pray that when you think of love, you remember the life of a women, small in statute but overflowing in joy and love!  I pray that your heart would overflow abundantly with love every day of the year and that we would have no need to express any greater amount of love on this “Holiday” than we do all year round.

Soli Deo Gloria!
EK