Day 9

Today the preschool was really hard for me again. I felt worn out all day, maybe from lack of food, but I just didn’t have the energy to teach the children or deal with the teachers sitting around. The boys hit so much in class and it creates so much anger in me because everyday I work with women who are beaten by their husbands or family or pimps and then in preschool the boys already push the girls around (which is typical for that age anywhere in the world I guess) but here I know what those same actions can look like when these kids grow up. Its nice to think though that we can make a difference here and maybe some of these children wont grow up and abuse other people. Things got better after lunch, we went to a man’s house named Saresh who lives in the slums and tutored children there. It is so much nicer because the kids want to be there and behave while you are helping them. One little boy I tutor is named Arul and he and his 2 sisters have horribly crippled legs. His sister has learned to stand but he goes everywhere by scooting on his butt. It is amazing to me that his sisters were not killed at birth because many many healthy Indian girls are killed because they are girls. But to be a girl and to be crippled is more than just a death wish. After tutoring we hand out food to them and their families and then go on house visits. We first visited the house of a priest from the local hindu temple. The husband was not there but the wife had asked us to come. She said something was wrong with her son because he was not doing well in school and only wanted to paint all day. She went on and on about how he had a mental problem and they had taken him to all the temples and prayed to all the hindu gods for them to make him smarter. She said her husband had given up on him and she was the only one who cared anymore. In india sons are a prized possession and this boy was their only son so for him to not do well in school was a huge disappointment. Their daughter, on the other hand, was extremely smart but the mother never mentioned her. Daughters are only a burden. We asked if we could pray for them and she said yes, she said she believes in Jesus because she believes in all the Gods (some people share this view in India). Saresh translated for us and shared the gospel and prayed for the family and afterwards the woman asked if we could get her a bible. We moved onto our second house visit which was a strictly hindu family. Two of the little girls attended tuition and the one boy had fallen off a bridge the day before and broken his arm and was in a lot of pain. He had an ace bandage wrapped around it, that’s all they did for his snapped arm at the hospital. We asked if we could pray for them and she said no, because they are hindu if we prayed to Jesus in her house then bad things would happen. So we talked with them for awhile and then left. It was cool to spend time with women, married and not, and even though we have no idea what their stories are just supporting them and being in community with them can go a long way. After we road the bus back home I went to go visit Sunita, a woman like Leila who sells things on the beach. She has a similar story; she is a very tiny woman, looks almost 12. she has a 3 boys which is a huge blessing in India and she is a believer. Her husband beats her badly and drinks too much but has no job and depends on her to make all the money and take care of his children while he spends all the money on alcohol and then beats her. Her story is not as positive as Leila because her husband continues to beat her but we also pray for protection from her husbands hand. It is amazing to see these women who are battered and abused but still have such amazing faith.