December 2, 2007

Dear Friends,

It is the first Sunday of Advent so let me share a few stories of hope from my work in India for this season of hope. Jesus lived in a backwater town in a backwater country and mixed with backwater people. These examples of “backwater” people in non-dramatic situations highlight God’s unfailing love even when “no-one else is looking.” I hope we can see Jesus in the non-dramatic and feel part of God’s mission to all the world.

Hope in Nagpur

The simple building for the "night shelter" for street children.

The Church of North India runs a drop-in sleep center for street kids in the central Indian city of Nagpur. Up to 30 of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of street kids in the city can come to the center, which is close to the bus and train stations where most of them “work,” for a safe night’s sleep and much more. I got to see the center on a visit to Nagpur as PC(USA) consultant for health and development in South Asia.

Usually in my capacity as consultant I have to push well-meaning projects to think about how their work will become sustainable in the future or how to evaluate the long-term impact. With the shelter for street kids in Nagpur, all I could do was marvel at the transformation of independent, tough, rather hopeless kids into a sort of extended family of brothers and sisters.

Three boys at the Church of North India's shelter singing at an evening welcoming program.

I have to say that this ministry never will be sustainable. It is difficult to follow these kids after they leave the shelter to go back to their “real” and very hard lives, much less try and see how the shelter experience impacts their lives in the long run. But for the time they were in the shelter I could see hope in their eyes and in their actions. The people who run the shelter have a God-given ministry to the boys and girls that come.

The next two stories are from the Emmanuel Health Association (EHA) community work in Duncan Hospital on the border between Nepal and India. It is in the state of Bihar, probably the most infamous and poverty-stricken state in India. During the past monsoon Bihar suffered its worst flooding in living memory, even the hospital went through a couple of weeks with water a foot deep in its buildings.

Compassion that made a difference

A 37-year-old widow who is HIV positive brought her two young children with skin rashes to one of the medical camps the community health project conducted in a flood-affected village. She told us how our visit to her home with a food and hygiene packet had made a big difference in her life.

Before the floods, she had been a field laborer and earned four kilograms (nine pounds) of grain. Her family survived on this. When the fields went under water, there was no work and she could not get enough food to feed her family. She was surprised when the flood-relief team visited her home to deliver a food packet. The villagers had refused to visit her family because they feared becoming infected with HIV/AIDS if they went near her house. When they saw members of the EHA relief team going into her home, her neighbors changed their minds and saw it was safe to mix with people who are HIV positive. The visit from the EHA team not only brought food but it brought love and new hope from her community.

This little family managed to ration out their food packet for 15 days, and although they still have a daily struggle to survive, they experience a renewed compassion and acceptance that continues to touch their lives.

Nishima’s story

Nishima Khatun from Naikatola village was illiterate until she completed the EHA literacy program last year. Recently she found an opportunity to put her new skills to use. Nishima discovered that, although a government house-to-house survey had been conducted to update the poverty list register, her family was not on the new list. This would have serious consequences, as it means her family would not be eligible for any of the government schemes targeted at helping the poor.

Nishima wrote a request to the local government offices but had little hope that her letter would be approved, since she had no other way to influence the decision. However, to her great surprise, it was accepted, and she was called to resubmit her application for help. She could do this on her own. Her family’s name was added to the poverty list register.

Nishima has now been elected secretary in the women’s group established by the project community staff, and she is now able to write the group’s minutes. She can also check her children’s school work. Becoming literate has made a lot of difference to Nishima, and she is keen that her children make the most of their own opportunities to learn.

We are looking forward to having most of our family together at the end of December for a couple of weeks.

Christmas greetings,

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