Day 38

I wrote this blog earlier today and couldn't post it because the Internet went out, naturally. But since then I have been spending time with our contact in Mumbai and now everything I wrote earlier seems so unimportant. This will be scattered, I can already tell because I am still so shaken but maybe I can add more later if people have questions about what I am about to write. Macky, the woman that Rahab's has working in Mumbai reminds me a lot of of my Grandmama in both stature and personality. And after hearing her stories I know that only she could do the work she is doing in Mumbai. Everyday she goes into a working brothel and spends time with the women who are not busy with customers. Most of them she says came around age 12 but she cannot be sure because none of them know how to write their own names let alone know their own birthdays. She tutors them and tells them bible stories except for when men come and some of the women leave to work and then come back. She says a man will walk into the brothel and pick a woman and take her into a closet with only a curtain covering the door and soon after will walk back out and the woman will then come out and hand the $1.50 she just made to the madam or pimp at the door. One of mackey's friends just got pregnant from work and is about to have her second abortion in 6 months. The goal Is to remove the women from the brothel if possible but in order to do so the women must want to leave and ask Mackey for help, because if she starts stealing women the pimps will first off come after then and kill the women and secondly Mackey will never get access to these women again. But since she appears to be simply tutoring them, the pimps let her be around the women. The stories she told me made my skin crawl and made us both cry. These girls are children that are sold from Bangladesh and Nepal and even one they have been taken out of chains they stay at the brothel out of fear and humiliation. Seeing the women we deal with on our side and how much hearing their stories hurts me, i cannot possibly imagine watching the women that i love in a brothel. Plus she said I couldnt come with her into the brothels because men always want white young girls, which is why mackey is the only woman that could do what shes doing. She said that she hopes I leave this trip changed forever and carrying the burden of these women that will never lift. To continue fighting for god's daughters for the rest of your life. After seeing what I've seen and hearing what I've heard, theres no way I possibly could leave unchanged.

Now here's my seemingly unimportent blog compared to everything else:







Indian food will be the death of me:


Ruppa, our sweet friend with the burn on her leg is healing well!:


Oh India:


If these preschoolers arent the cutest thing youve ever seen, you're crazy:



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Cant believe that a week from today Ill be on my way home! There are so many things left to do and relationships i want to grow and people i want to see before its over!

This weekend was wonderful... Friday i didnt feel great all day but i wanted to be out because i have such a limited time left and today Im finally starting to feel normal again. Yay! But friday i helped in the preschool again and taught two nutrition classes... for women and for the children. We have also started a new bag making class for the women and they love it! They are so focused on making these bags and its wonderful to see. Rahab's will buy the bags that they make from them and so its also a source of income for the women. After the bag making class we had some down time so I went out into some of the slums that we dont usually go into because we dont know all the women that live there. I met three wonderful women that spoke english... they are all muslim and 2 are in school still and one is a mother of three. Their names are meenza, sefura and caroliza. They were so funny and sweet and before i knew it I had been sitting and talking with them for an hour. During the call to worship all the women cover their heads and meenza didnt, I asked her why and she said "because it messes up my hair". Haha typical 16 year old even in India. I told them i would come back on monday to see them... so excited to see where those friendships go.

After we were all done in the slums we went to panjim for an all night worship service... i wasnt sure if i was going to be able to even stay awake for that long but it was wonderful. The lord redeemed so much of my image of Indian men through it because there were so many wonderful indian men there that are actively reaching out and helping others in their community. it was so nice to see that they arent all greasy and abusive! The music was led by a band of 4 indian guys in their early 20s... they were just like any other group of american boys with guitars. Some things are the same everywhere! A woman sitting next to me continued to put her hand on my leg or hold my hand and if you know me you know my love language is touch so I felt so incredibly loved by her that night even though I didnt know who she was! I got to talk to her after and her name is Geeta, she has her own school and shelter for indian children and has opened her home up to women who need a place to stay. She has the biggest heart in the world and was so encouraging. She has also chosen the single life and for an indian woman... thats a big deal.

Yesterday we just stayed in panjim and took the new team of girls around to the market and such because they wanted to shop shop shop. It was fun but im learning that i can only go to shops and look at indian magnets so many times! Ive just been here for so long I dont feel like a tourist anymore so when we do tourist-y things like that i feel so silly. But also, if you know me... shopping is one of my greatest talents so by no means did i just sit back and watch. Im going to come back to america and try to bargin with everyone out of habit now.

This morning we helped out with sunday school for the children, they are so precious. I took a video of a few of the songs we sing and will post them later. they are too cute for words. The Lord this weekend has redeemed so many things that I struggled with here and its so refreshing and im thankful that I will get to end on this note. My time left here seems so short but a week is still a long time and im excited to spend one more week with my friends here... Prayers for quality time with the women my last week here.