day 16

Today was a great day! Yesterday for the fourth of July we celebrated with watermelon, mashed potatoes and fireworks! Ive never shot off huge fireworks until last night and it was so cool to shoot off fireworks on the beach of the Arabian Sea. Once in a lifetime experience for sure. Earlier in the day we did house visits and one of the families we visited had a son that worked on a cruise line. They were so proud to have a son with a job and showed us every picture of him from his adventures. It was fun to be in india on the 4th of July looking at pictures of their son in NYC. All of his pictures from America were either in front of limos or in front of Wal-mart haha. That is what people know about America: we have big cars and big stores. Yesterday we also handed out the hygiene packs and taught the women what their period was and why we have it. They were all so giggly because they don’t ever talk about it! When we handed out the hygiene packs with sanitary items in it they wanted to wrap them in newspaper to take them home because they were embarrassed. I got one picture of the women holding their hygiene packs but I had to beg for them to be in a picture with them! I have gotten to know two more women well, Durga and Kamla, the two women in these pictures. Durga is so sweet and yesterday wanted to hold my hand during our nutrition class. It means so much to me when the women open up and allow you to touch them and be near to them. Durga invited me to visit her house on Friday and im very excited about that! One of the muslim leaders came up to us on the way out of a house yesterday and told us never to come back, the mosque next to the slums has heavy influences on some families and we are not always considered welcome by their leaders- but the community is open and there is no way for them to ban us from being there, I just pray they will not hassle the families we have been visiting in the slum. Everyday I learn more about the women we are visiting, and many of them are still currently CSW (commercial sex workers) or daughters of CSWs. Its hard to know when they do not openly talk about it still because of the stigma associated with being a CSW or sex slave. I passed a woman in the slums today who had one eye that had been gauged out: a common punishment for trafficked girls that try to run away.

Today I helped with 2 more sewing classes and children’s nutrition. We handed out milk in the children’s nutrition class which was fun because everyday they come with their cups but we only have enough milk to give it out twice a week. We played with them after and they always want to take pictures. The token phrase is “Me teacher, one photo, me teacher, me teacher, one photo!” and then you take it and they say “Show teacher, show teacher” and then you do and its back to “Me teacher, one photo, one photo teacher!”. Its never ending but its fun because rarely do they ever get to see themselves and we try to print out the pictures so that the children will have a picture of themselves, because it is likely to be their only one.

During the sewing class we hear loud screaming and crying outside and naturally all the women ran to the window to see what was going on. Someone in a family living nearby had died and all the women were outside the house wailing and mourning their loss. I had never seen so much sadness before and I remembered that for this family that doesn’t know the Lord, there is no hope in death. It broke my heart to think that this person could encounter the God that I know as loving and full of grace in the setting of judgment and not know Him. It made me remember how quick life is in the grand scheme of iternity and the reality is, I serve a God that is righteous and Just above all else and because He is, we cannot be with Him unless our sin has been wiped away and paid for. Someone has to pay for it, and He doesn’t want us to pay for it because He loves us so much- but unless we come to Him with that and ask for Him to forgive us and allow His son to pay our debt- then we cannot be with Him. He is too righteous and Just to be in the presence of sin. I forget that so often because I am caught up in the way that He loves me and provides for me and gives me Joy- but its great truth for those of us who know Him and really sad truth for the family today that did not.

On a lighter note, the women had a great sewing class, the later class in the day is a class full of new women and its exciting to see us be able to have 8 more women come off the streets and learn a new trade that could change their life!

Last note, I spent some time in the Indian hospital today with a woman and we started talking about her diabetes. Shout out to Macy Whitener, we got to talk about how I had a friend with diabetes and she was horrified when someone explained what a diabetes pump was and that a machine would be on your body! They do everything manually here. But it was interesting to see what their hospitals are like, and to say the least- if I were in medical trouble I would not trust this hospital to save me. Their emergency room consisted of a room with the sign “trauma and casualty” and all their patient rooms were a bed and a plastic chair. No air conditioning, no machines, and no medical equipment of any kind. Not even a band-aid. Medical care in India leaves much to be desired!

Here are some pictures from today and yesterday!

The best of america haha: