Hi there all you peeps. It is Wednesday and I am doing very well. Have been to see Asha HQ who work alongside Tearfund here in India. The Health Minister for Southern Ireland arrived in the pm and we were all treated like royalty. None of us wanted that but there you go.
Since then we have been working in the slum area where we are working on the set project. The women and the children are amazing. No men in sight in the building all sleeping around outside. Half the group went to see some slum homes where they found each slum clean and tidy. One family of 10 lived in a room the size of the vestry. The 7 of the team were welcomed in and given cup of tea! All accepted! Not sure I will when it is my turn to go round on Monday.
I stayed with the other 7 and entertained the children. They are dressed so well. I don't if they are selected to join the project. I need to ask that question? They are super children aged from 5 - 13.
We were greeted in English and they give a mini introduction, ie, president, secretary, treasurer of each age group and mother's group! Incredible! We said our names and they liked the fact that I was a granny, mother, foster mother wife, auntie, church leader, etc.
Today we made Easter/Holi cards. Also beautiful colourings were done by the gals. I was given 5 to bring home. They like the name Sue - short and easy to say. I loved little 5 year old Giteeka. She was so good at drawing and numbering.
I have had so many curries and eggs. Not a pleasant smell sometimes but no Delhi Belly. 3 of our group are down with various things and were not two with Delhi Belly. Please pray for them. And for the rest of us that we do not get it.
Off to Missouri on Friday for 3 days to avoid Holi and have Easter ourselves.
There is more mural painting tomorrow and three other rooms to paint. There is a prayer meeting in the pm so no need to entertain the children tomorrow. We will see them again on Monday. No Bank holiday here.
That's it guys. My rupee time allocation is up.
Love you all and miss you all.
Sue x
Is that at all possible? Well, with the help of Tearfund’s Transform Programmes and, of course, God, Sue hopes her life will be transformed as she travels to India over the Easter period this year.
Tearfund works closely with a charity called Asha in India. If you would like to look at the Asha website it will tell you in immense detail of the work they have done and are still doing (www.asha-india.org) in the slums around New Delhi.
There will be fourteen of us venturing out to Anna Nagar a slum community in East Delhi. Much of the Transform Team’s work will be with women and children as many of the men suffer with alcohol addiction. The women work to feed their families, try to maintain some stability for their children and many work with Asha to help to improve the desperate situations they and others find themselves in.
The project our Team will be involved in will be the refurbishing and equipping of a community based Health Centre and Children’s Resource Centre at Anna Nagar. Apart from Sue getting extremely messy with the painting (she is not that good with a paintbrush), etc, we hope to be exposed to our areas of interest. Sue will experience, at first hand, how Health Visitors, Midwives, etc work alongside those families that live in the slums.
Over the three day Easter period we hope to visit places of interest including the Taj Mahal plus join other Christians in worship as we remember one of the most important of Christian festivals, Easter.
Thank you so much for your continued interest and for the money I have received from some of you. It will be spent wisely.
The Orientation weekend was a real indication of how difficult it will be to visit a third world area and Sue does not expect it to be easy at all. Please, above anything else, continue to pray for every aspect of this Transform project. When we arrive there from the 15th March, Sue hopes to use one of the computers at the Asha centre to send emails to Keith who, in turn, will let you know how I am coping.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
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