|
January 2000
Dear Friends,
We thought we'd share something Daniel, now 17, wrote about
an experience at the boarding school he attends in the Himalayan
foothills. We do this to share how short "mission trips"
can make an impact on someone's life, usually quite unplanned.
The Smile
"North India has experienced yet another major earthquake.
The earthquake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. Most of the
damage has occurred in the Chimoli district where at least 100
people are reported killed. Many uncertainties remain." —BBC
report, morning of March 29, 1998.
A BBC report of a disaster is one thing, experiencing the actual
destruction and discovering its uncertainties, is entirely another.
Mussoorie, the town in northern India where I live, was scarcely
affected by the earthquake, but many of the villages near us were
less fortunate. A small group of us decided to help. The instant
the final bell rang on that Friday afternoon, I grabbed my bag
and jumped into one of the three jeeps. We had packed the vehicles
with everything from rubber gloves and Band-Aids to potato sacks
and pick axes.
After the rough seven-hour drive, we spent the night on the
cold, bare, cement roof of a local church. I woke feeling refreshed.
It took an hour of vigorous hiking to reach the affected village.
Seeing the destruction, I felt a great surge of sympathy. Almost
every house had crumbled in the earthquake. People were walking
around in a daze.
At first, the villagers could not believe that a bunch of phirungi
(foreigners) had come to their village to help. To show that we
meant business, we cleared a path in the ruble so that the cows
in one shed could get in and out. After that, the jobs came pouring
in. I broke down unstable houses, set up temporary shelters, and
even helped carry valuables out of people's houses. Unlike the
Western context, their valuables were not their credit cards,
jewelry and televisions. Rather, they most valued the cases containing
their harvest, which was their livelihood.
I noticed the hopelessness that I had seen upon entering the
village was disappearing and people were starting to work on their
own homes. We may not have brought money or medicine with us,
but we offered hope, and that was what these people needed most.
A particularly moving moment was near the end of my stay in
the village. I noticed a house further away from the rest of the
village, half hidden by the forest. I saw an old woman sitting
motionless in front of the house. She was staring out in front
of her and seemed oblivious to my presence. When I asked if she
needed help, she said nothing. Her roof was caved in and some
slates where hanging precariously above her. As I worked on removing
the slates, the rest of the group found me and we worked together
to stabilize her house. Once we had finished, I glanced back at
the woman. She was looking at me, smiling. That tired smile meant
more to me than any award or formal
congratulations ever could have. No award could have taught me
how much I took for granted in my life, how much of what I thought
was important was actually frivolous. No award could give me such
confidence that what I was doing in that village was right.
As we packed up our things and bid adieu to our new friends,
I hoped that the woman would not think of how I had helped her,
but rather, know how she had helped me.
On January 13 the Nepal home Minister refused our application
to renew our work visa. As you know, since 1991 we have been working
in Nepal with the United Mission to Nepal. And so the final refusal—even
though we had been "on hold" for several months previous
to this notice—was a shock. In our heads, we know it was
simply an individual decision of single person who made his decision
due to internal political reasons. But, in our hearts, it is a
little hurtful after what we still believe to be a positive contribution
to the marginalized peoples of rural Nepal.
We have spent about five months in the Presbyterian Center in
Louisville. We are grateful to God for slowing us down and letting
us see the love and dedication the people here at 100 Witherspoon
Street have for the mission and for the mission workers of the
Church. They are overworked and undervalued, and it is rare that
they get to share their own stories of commitment.
We are arranging to return to Nepal (on tourist visas) from
March through June to pack up our house, possibly plan but not
participate in an "impact evaluation" on the project
we were with in west Nepal, do some research on community development
activities in other parts of Nepal, and look into a possible position
in India with a group of 17 Christian hospitals.
Communication will be somewhat "Stone Age" for the
next few weeks as we must set up a new e-mail once we get back
to Nepal.
Until February 25, our email is Melscofam@aol.com.
We will send around a new email when we establish one in Nepal.
Daniel's email: danielsmith@woodstock.ac.in
Daniel's snailmail:
Woodstock School
Mussoorie
U.P. 248179
INDIA.
Kelli's email: kellishireen@excite.com
snailmail:
Macalester College
1600 Grand Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105.
Please stay in touch.
Yours sincerely,
Scott , Melanie, Timothy, Kelli, Daniel and Hilary Smith
|
