July 2007

On the way back to India

It does not seem long since April when I wrote about the shootings in Blacksburg. The event made us more aware of life—and especially of the beauty of spring in the hills of Virginia and how fortunate we are to have a house in this part of the country. We have really enjoyed being part of the co-housing at Shadowlake Village. But at the same time, news events and documentaries make us more aware of the inequality in the standards of living around the world, and these motivate us to go back to our work in India.

Timothy and Daniel.

Once again we were packing and moving in June (three times in four years). We were very happy to find a family to rent our house in Blacksburg for two years. We managed to visit Daniel and Kelli on our way to Dallas where we met with more Smith family members before getting on the plane. British Airways is more generous with luggage and allows us to stop in England on our way to India at no extra cost.

Kelli has finished her studies in Boston and is back in Iowa City looking for a job. After the Smith family reunion in Dallas, Kelli and Dave were driving a 20-year-old car on a 14-hour trip back to Iowa City. After about four hours, it shuddered, smoked, and died. It was on a Sunday evening, and not much was open. Her granddad had put in a new radiator and water pump and it had brand new tires! It was towed and after a night in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was diagnosed with a seized crankshaft. She was offered $300 by the local scrap dealer. They took the money, rented a car, and drove the rest of the way home. Her great sense of humor and years overseas may have helped put the experience in perspective, but they are still a bit “vehicle-challenged” in Iowa.

Daniel has entered a painting in a recent art show and continues performing in and managing a local improvisational drama group in Louisville. Timothy is doing a semester abroad in Bangkok taking courses such as “Introduction to Thai Performing Arts” and Thai architecture—a left-brain challenge to a more right-brain guy. Hilary patiently follows her parents traveling schedule and is looking forward to being back in boarding at Woodstock School. She recruited one friend from Blacksburg High School to do her final year at Woodstock, a brave move.

Melanie, Hilary, and Scott (left to right) at Bexhill, England.

In England, we have packed many visits and events into our time here, such as Wimbledon tennis, Salisbury Cathedral, cream teas, a dip in the sea in Devon (only Hilary), Twelfth Night performed outside at Guildford Castle, Surkhet Reunion with 30 friends from Nepal, all in the rain, this being the wettest summer for 40 years.

We have been asked over and over again if we are looking forward to going back to India. We have mixed feelings: we are happy to be going back to the same house in the same community and seeing friends and neighbors, but the work side of things will be different and is as yet loosely defined. When invited to work with a partner organization overseas—in our case Emmanuel Hospital Association—there are added problems of not knowing what the job description will contain. This is often worked out face-to-face, not long distance over email. So there is uncertainty. Also there will be new responsibilities working directly for the PC(USA) as the health and development consultant for the area.

Our immediate personal concern in the next week (we are still in the U.K.) is to pack our bags and reduce to one piece of hand luggage, a new rule. We need to take lots paperwork in our hand luggage. Then, in Delhi, we’ll have to get our nine bags onto the train and off in Dehradun, into two taxis, and up the hill (one hour) to our house in Mussoorie. It is the compulsory haggling over porter fees that Scott dreads. I stand by looking helpless as Scott makes every effort, in Hindi, to persuade them that we know the fair rates and will not pay five times the price just because we are foreigners. This also may be done in the rain.

Still, the adventure is ahead and we are happy to be on it.

Scott and Melanie Smith

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 114