Shelly and I had the best day yesterday. We went to Dum Dum, one of the stations where we work, and just hung out with the women and children there all afternoon. They painted our nails, braided our hair, and even cooked us lunch! It was pretty much a perfect afternoon! I absolutely love the families at Dum Dum... there are beautiful moms and babies and little children that just hang out all day while their husbands and fathers work in the city, mostly as rickshaw drivers. I think I could spend every day there just sitting and talking with them.
Last night, Shelly and I were walking home with our friend Samim... he's a little eleven year old boy that lives a few streets over from us at New Market and he's the cutest thing. We'd gone to have coffee with him and had the best time.... he's so tiny but he thinks he's our bodyguard.... he'll try and stop traffic when we're crossing the streets and tell creepy people to leave us alone... it's so funny. Well, we were walking down our street and it was pretty late... close to eleven or so.. and we passed a group of men and Samim told us they were bad men. Well, right after we passed them this man pretty much just started running towards us and yelling like he was really angry. At first we just thought he was drunk, but we realized pretty soon that something was really wrong with him. He was so, so mad at Shelly and me and yelling in another language, and then he just started singing "Because He Lives" in perfect English. After a couple of lines he starts yelling, again in perfect English, about how we are evil and need to go away and that we don't belong there. Shelly, Samim, and I ran behind a group of Muslim men on the sidewalk and they were trying to keep him away from us, and he just kept yelling and yelling, telling them that they didn't understand what was going on, and how we were evil and needed to leave. He was SO angry... he was literally trying to jump across a rickshaw and past the men to get to Shelly and me. We ran up the stairs to our hotel and could hear him downstairs for about ten minutes, just yelling and trying to come up the stairs. It was so crazy... Shelly and I are both pretty sure that this man was demon possessed. I know this is a touchy subject for probably most people who actually read this blog... we met a man in Jackson before who we know was demon possessed and when we tried to talk to people in the church about it, it was pretty clear that it was not something that they believed or wanted to discuss. Maybe it seems far fetched to a lot of you, but all I can say is you had to be there. This man was completely evil and you could literally feel it. He was a poor man... probably a rickshaw driver, and there's no way that he knows perfect English, if any English at all.
I guess the only reason that I'm writing about this is to ask, again, for a lot of prayer. Shelly and I are both pretty sure we will meet this man again, and we just stayed up for a long time last night praying for wisdom and asking God to show us what to do if we meet him again. Yes, it was scary... but we know that we serve a God who is much, much more powerful than Satan and we know that He will protect us. I have never claimed to be wise, and I've always admitted to being terrible at theology or anything that resembles it. I've read a lot in the Bible about demon possession, but honestly I have no idea what to do when we meet a man who has clearly been taken hold of by Satan. It was obvious last night that he couldn't touch us... this was a big man and in one leap he could have jumped on either of us.. but he didn't because I know he couldn't. Please just pray that we would be wise when we encounter things like this. I've never been more sure of evil than I was last night, but I've never been more sure that there is a God who is fighting for good... and I know our God will win in the end because he already has. If any of you happen to know much about this sort of thing... please feel free to share your wisdom with us. My email is HaleyLBoone@gmail.com- it would be so, so appreciated. I'll leave you with a verse that was really encouraging to us last night...
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
-Romans 8:35-39
Friday, February 29, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
More reality in Kolkata
It's been a rough past couple of days. And I'm not sure I can even explain why... but I guess I can try. It's kind of weird... most of the time I absolutely love living in India. I love the people, I love the culture, I love the work we do. I love pretty much everything about it. But the past couple of days I've just been so frustrated for some reason. I had a really long talk yesterday with my friend Mickey who's from Ireland, but he's been living in Kolkata for pretty much the past ten or so years. He was telling me a lot about just different stuff taht goes on here and the way that the people who live here can be so deceiving. He said that Sealdah, where I go pretty much everyday, is probably the biggest center for child trafficking in the world. And he told me that all of the women are pretty much raped daily by men from both the lower and upper castes. We talked about the women that walk around Sudder St... women I've gotten to know really well and really, really like. He said they're some of the most deceiving people you'll meet here. They live in villages and pay for babies to bring into the city for the day and just beg. This was right after I bought my friend Corina, a 14 year old girl who's always on Sudder St., rice and dol and oil for "her mom to cook with". I just left feeling so fooled and pretty upset. And then we talked about Indian men... pretty much most of the ones who hang around where we live are pimps and I found out some interesting things about some guys that we thought were our friends. It was just a frustrating conversation that left me feeling used and angry and like I've been lied to over and over again these past few weeks. And what I hate the most is that it's left me feeling so skeptical of everyone I meet. I feel like I can't trust anyone here and I absolutely hate it. At home I get made fun of by a lot of my friends because they say I'm so naive and I will trust anyone... and that's probably true but something that I've never wanted to change about myself. I'm so scared of coming home from India as a cynical person and one who doesn't trust people. That's not me at all and that's certainly not why I came to India. I came to learn about compassion and servanthood. I came to love the people that God places in my life and to learn about the reality of poverty in our world today. I guess I say most of this just to ask you to pray for us. It seems to be getting harder by the day... please don't think when I say that I mean it's getting worse because it's not. I love India more everyday that I'm here.. it's just getting a little bit tougher. But I guess when things get tough you start to grow a little bit more. At least that's what I'm hoping.
There's a song by Nichole Nordeman that I absolutely love and it seems like I've been listening to it pretty much every night these past few days. It's pretty much exactly how I feel right about now. It says....
"All praise and all the honor be,
to the God of ancient mystery,
Who's every sign and wonder turn the pages of our history,
But tonight my heart is heavy and I cannot help but whisper this prayer...
Are you there?
And I know you could leave writing on the wall that's just for me,
Or send wisdom while I'm sleeping like in Solomon's great dreams,
But I don't need the strength of Samson or a chariot in the end
Just want to know you still know how many hairs are on my head..
Oh Great God, be small enough to hear me now. ."
Thanks for reading this blog and thanks for your prayers. I know I say it all the time... but they are so appreciated and so needed.
There's a song by Nichole Nordeman that I absolutely love and it seems like I've been listening to it pretty much every night these past few days. It's pretty much exactly how I feel right about now. It says....
"All praise and all the honor be,
to the God of ancient mystery,
Who's every sign and wonder turn the pages of our history,
But tonight my heart is heavy and I cannot help but whisper this prayer...
Are you there?
And I know you could leave writing on the wall that's just for me,
Or send wisdom while I'm sleeping like in Solomon's great dreams,
But I don't need the strength of Samson or a chariot in the end
Just want to know you still know how many hairs are on my head..
Oh Great God, be small enough to hear me now. ."
Thanks for reading this blog and thanks for your prayers. I know I say it all the time... but they are so appreciated and so needed.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Back to Kolkata
Rickshaw Accidents: 4
We're back in Kolkata! We got in this morning after taking a night train from Varanasi. Our trip was SO much fun... but we are both really glad to be back in Kolkata! We spent the morning walking around trying to find a new guest house to live... everyone wants to "help" you and it can be SO annoying! After about an hour or so of searching we finally just said we don't care where we live... we're taking the next place! Our new little home isn't so bad though... we even have a TV!
Our trip was so much fun...Delhi was beautiful and not at all like I expected! We saw lots of temples, lots of historical things, and I even got my nose pierced(sorry again Mom...)! It was actually a lot cheaper than Kolkata so we did a little shopping and lots of sight seeing. It's not nearly as dirty as Kolkata and our guest house had RUNNING hot water!! It was a-mazing to take a hot shower! My standards sure have changed since I got to India.. our room was small and the bed had this thin little mattress... but after the table that I called a bed for a month it was like I was sleeping on clouds! I was in Heaven! We spent a day in Agra and had the best time... the Taj Mahal was beautiful and we met the friendliest people there. I even got to RIDE a camel! We found a local festival and Shells and I were like celebrities... we even made the Agra newspaper! Our train back to Delhi was late and so we sat at the station and played with the little children who live there for over an hour.. it was SO much fun and the children were adorable! It was pretty obvious there was no NGO in Agra... I don't think many people play with these children from the way they acted! We also went to Varanasi for a couple of days and loved it.. it's such a beautiful city built on the Ganges River. The city is known for is burning ghats... they are pretty much crematories all along the river... I think there are about 350 on the 7km stretch along to river. It was really strange... you can actually go up on a balcony and watch them light bodies on fire. It kind of freaked me out... we didn't stay there long. The city itself though is beautiful... I spent an entire morning just sitting on the steps to the river, reading and writing and playing with the kids. Varanasi is what you think of when you think of India.... men bathing in the water, temples everywhere, and cows ALL over the place! A monkey even came into my room one morning! We met some really adorable kids while we were there, too... if there's one thing I've found that is the same in every city it's that the street children are always so, so cute. And they're almost always so, so bad... which is probably why I love them even more!
I'm excited to go back to work at Sealdah in the morning.... I've missed my little friends there more than I can say! I'll write again soon... adios from Kolkata!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Our little tour of India
Greetings from Delhi!
Shells and I decided on about Wednesday morning that we wanted to go to Dhaka for the weekend because we are in between living places, but we couldn't get our visas in time. We went to the travel agent Wednesday night and said, "We need to go to Delhi... how soon can we leave?" Twelve hours later we were boarding our train (our 24 hour train) and here we are! The Indian Railway is something I think everyone should experience! We ended up with seats on different areas of our cart, and we said there is no way we are sleeping alone on this dark train tonight. So we slept together, with our bags, on this cold train and it was about miserable! But there was the CUTEST little old lady across from us who spoke no English but just stared at us the entire train ride and laughed whenever we did pretty much anything. We've decided she should be our Indian grandmother. Delhi is beautiful and SO different from Kolkata! We were so hoping the bird flu wasn't here and I'm pretty sure I dreamed about chicken last night... but we were disappointed to discover that it seems to have taken over all of India. So Shells and I have pretty much become vegetarians (except for mutton... which I'm still not exactly sure what animal that comes from), but not by choice. We ordered a cheeseburger tonight because the man told us it was beef, as in from a cow... but it definitely wasn't. I still have no idea what kind of meat I ate tonight, nor do I want to know. The city is huge and really modern. We got off the train this morning and had absolutely NO clue where to go... we know nothing about Delhi and our Lonely Planet just happened to be missing every page but one about it. Luckily, our really good friend from Kolkata happened to come up here the day before so we called him... and now we have a great and free tour guide! Sunday we are headed to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then Tuesday night we are taking a night train to Varanassi, which is known as one of the holiest cities in India. We'll be there a couple of days and then will get back to Kolkata early Friday morning. We are moving into the city that day so we are really excited about that! Ok I need to go so see you back in Kolkata!
Shells and I decided on about Wednesday morning that we wanted to go to Dhaka for the weekend because we are in between living places, but we couldn't get our visas in time. We went to the travel agent Wednesday night and said, "We need to go to Delhi... how soon can we leave?" Twelve hours later we were boarding our train (our 24 hour train) and here we are! The Indian Railway is something I think everyone should experience! We ended up with seats on different areas of our cart, and we said there is no way we are sleeping alone on this dark train tonight. So we slept together, with our bags, on this cold train and it was about miserable! But there was the CUTEST little old lady across from us who spoke no English but just stared at us the entire train ride and laughed whenever we did pretty much anything. We've decided she should be our Indian grandmother. Delhi is beautiful and SO different from Kolkata! We were so hoping the bird flu wasn't here and I'm pretty sure I dreamed about chicken last night... but we were disappointed to discover that it seems to have taken over all of India. So Shells and I have pretty much become vegetarians (except for mutton... which I'm still not exactly sure what animal that comes from), but not by choice. We ordered a cheeseburger tonight because the man told us it was beef, as in from a cow... but it definitely wasn't. I still have no idea what kind of meat I ate tonight, nor do I want to know. The city is huge and really modern. We got off the train this morning and had absolutely NO clue where to go... we know nothing about Delhi and our Lonely Planet just happened to be missing every page but one about it. Luckily, our really good friend from Kolkata happened to come up here the day before so we called him... and now we have a great and free tour guide! Sunday we are headed to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then Tuesday night we are taking a night train to Varanassi, which is known as one of the holiest cities in India. We'll be there a couple of days and then will get back to Kolkata early Friday morning. We are moving into the city that day so we are really excited about that! Ok I need to go so see you back in Kolkata!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A few more pictures!
Here's a few more pictures of our life here! I forgot to post these in the entry I just wrote, but I figured it'd be nice to see some of things I talk about!
A little update!
I feel like I haven't written in forever!! We've been really busy with work and some other things we have going on here, but everything is going so well! Kolkata is actually starting to feel like home! It's so funny... sometimes I just feel like I'm right where I'm supposed to be and I don't notice strange little Indian things.. and then other times I'm like, oh wow... this is definitely a STRANGE place!! So much has happened this past week, so I figured I would try to share a little bit with you....
**Sealdah and Dum Dum are by far my favorite things about living in Kolkata. We've gotten so close to the families at Dun Dum and the children at Sealdah. This past Sunday was a little rough at Sealdah... when we were waiting to buy the bread, we met a group of street kids and a couple of moms, who were definitely no older than 16 or so. One of the moms was holding the skinniest child I've ever seen. He was a little over a year old, and his arms and legs were like little toothpicks. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes were just miserable. I picked him up and I'm pretty sure he didn't weigh more than about 7 pounds. A one year that weighs seven pounds... how does that happen? We couldn't give them food there, so we asked them to wait at the platform for us but when we got there they were gone. We really want to set up a time to meet this lady everyday to give the little boy some good milk so that he can grow. I'm afraid if we don't he really will die soon. We also have a good friend there that we call Bread. She's a beautiful girl that's probably around 13 or 14 and she's so, so sweet. We thought for a while that maybe she was a prostitute becuase of the way she wears makeup and jewelry, but we just really hoped we were wrong. She ran up to us when we were leaving and she was so dressed up and in huge high heels. She is definitely a prostitute and she's no older than 14. That's not at all uncommon for India.
** Friday evening I was walking to our Platform at Sealdah and Shelly stopped me and told me she'd seen Rupa, but her head was shaved. I had walked past her, smiled at her, and didn't even notice it was her. I felt terrible. I went back and I just hugged her and said, "Rupa! you look beautiful!" She was with her dad, who was again obviously extrememly stoned. Rupa was really shy and would hardly even look at me. Her dad never let her come down and get food. I saw her the next morning waking up, and she just smiled at me and ran into the crowd. On Sunday, I happened to look up and see her little yellow dress... she was holding onto her dad's shirt and walking away with her head covered. I know she saw us and didn't want us to see her... she just kept her eyes on the ground and walked right past us. I can't imagine what kind of life she lives... but it seems more awful each time I see her and most of the time I can't even talk to her. Please keep her in your prayers!
** Shelly and I finally ate at Pizza Hut and it was a-mazing! My deep dish pepperoni pizza was probably the best pizza I've had in my entire life. Seriously. And to make the night even better... the workers at Pizza Hut here perform choreographed dances. Yes... choreographed dances. Really, really strange!
** Our friend Bina got married Monday night so I went to my first Bengali wedding! Our friend Bobby let us borrow sarees, so we got all dressed up and went to see our beautiful friend! It was a lttle strange... she's only met him once and they found him in the newspaper. She seems to actually like him alot, though! The food was delicious and it was so interesting to watch a Bengali wedding... really different from an American one!
**Shelly and I have somehow managed to become good friends with the son of one of the wealthiest men in Kolkata. Yesterday was her birthday, and so we went with all of our friends to Shaid's farmhouse in a small village outside the city. We had lunch and a cake for Shelly for her birthday... it was SO fun! We drove in the fields all afternoon and played cricket and took a long boat ride... it was so nice to be outside of the city for a few hours! It was a little strange to see how the upper class live in India... it was really strange actually. Shaid has tons of servants, tons of houses... basically everything in abundance. We were sitting on the rooftop of his apartment complex, looking out over the city, and I was just a little overwhelmed... it's so strange and seems so unfair that while so many people are literally dying on the streets of this city there are families who have so much money that they can have servants and cars and multiple houses. It was definitely interesting to see what life on the other side of India is like... but at the end of the day I knew that the India I've grown to love is the one that lives outside, on these dirty, dirty streets.
One of my favorite songs by Caedmon's Call says,
"You know I've heard good people say,
There's nothing I can do,
It's half a world away,
Maybe you've got money... maybe you've got time,
Maybe you've got the living well, that ain't ever runnin dry...."
Sometimes it seems like everyone I know at home thinks that there's nothing they can do because it is on the other side of the world... so they just don't. They stay in America and live in a bubble... a false sense of reality where all in the world is ok becuase everything is ok at home. Nothing about that picture is reality. The world is full of beggars.... people who are dying becuase they have nothing to eat, no one to clean their wounds, and no one to simply love them. I don't know about you... but I can't have things like that on my conscious. Yes... I came to Kolkata in faith... but most of the time I feel like there's nothing I can do to make this place any better. But still I am confident... with a lot of love, a lot of work, and a lot of tears... Kolkata can be changed. I know there will come a day, if people stop sitting around doing nothing, when people don't have to sleep on the hard concrete and eat from the garbage cans. Please pray for the beautiful, heart breaking people of this city. I just know that all of you would fall in love with their beautiful smiles and hearts.
**Sealdah and Dum Dum are by far my favorite things about living in Kolkata. We've gotten so close to the families at Dun Dum and the children at Sealdah. This past Sunday was a little rough at Sealdah... when we were waiting to buy the bread, we met a group of street kids and a couple of moms, who were definitely no older than 16 or so. One of the moms was holding the skinniest child I've ever seen. He was a little over a year old, and his arms and legs were like little toothpicks. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes were just miserable. I picked him up and I'm pretty sure he didn't weigh more than about 7 pounds. A one year that weighs seven pounds... how does that happen? We couldn't give them food there, so we asked them to wait at the platform for us but when we got there they were gone. We really want to set up a time to meet this lady everyday to give the little boy some good milk so that he can grow. I'm afraid if we don't he really will die soon. We also have a good friend there that we call Bread. She's a beautiful girl that's probably around 13 or 14 and she's so, so sweet. We thought for a while that maybe she was a prostitute becuase of the way she wears makeup and jewelry, but we just really hoped we were wrong. She ran up to us when we were leaving and she was so dressed up and in huge high heels. She is definitely a prostitute and she's no older than 14. That's not at all uncommon for India.
** Friday evening I was walking to our Platform at Sealdah and Shelly stopped me and told me she'd seen Rupa, but her head was shaved. I had walked past her, smiled at her, and didn't even notice it was her. I felt terrible. I went back and I just hugged her and said, "Rupa! you look beautiful!" She was with her dad, who was again obviously extrememly stoned. Rupa was really shy and would hardly even look at me. Her dad never let her come down and get food. I saw her the next morning waking up, and she just smiled at me and ran into the crowd. On Sunday, I happened to look up and see her little yellow dress... she was holding onto her dad's shirt and walking away with her head covered. I know she saw us and didn't want us to see her... she just kept her eyes on the ground and walked right past us. I can't imagine what kind of life she lives... but it seems more awful each time I see her and most of the time I can't even talk to her. Please keep her in your prayers!
** Shelly and I finally ate at Pizza Hut and it was a-mazing! My deep dish pepperoni pizza was probably the best pizza I've had in my entire life. Seriously. And to make the night even better... the workers at Pizza Hut here perform choreographed dances. Yes... choreographed dances. Really, really strange!
** Our friend Bina got married Monday night so I went to my first Bengali wedding! Our friend Bobby let us borrow sarees, so we got all dressed up and went to see our beautiful friend! It was a lttle strange... she's only met him once and they found him in the newspaper. She seems to actually like him alot, though! The food was delicious and it was so interesting to watch a Bengali wedding... really different from an American one!
**Shelly and I have somehow managed to become good friends with the son of one of the wealthiest men in Kolkata. Yesterday was her birthday, and so we went with all of our friends to Shaid's farmhouse in a small village outside the city. We had lunch and a cake for Shelly for her birthday... it was SO fun! We drove in the fields all afternoon and played cricket and took a long boat ride... it was so nice to be outside of the city for a few hours! It was a little strange to see how the upper class live in India... it was really strange actually. Shaid has tons of servants, tons of houses... basically everything in abundance. We were sitting on the rooftop of his apartment complex, looking out over the city, and I was just a little overwhelmed... it's so strange and seems so unfair that while so many people are literally dying on the streets of this city there are families who have so much money that they can have servants and cars and multiple houses. It was definitely interesting to see what life on the other side of India is like... but at the end of the day I knew that the India I've grown to love is the one that lives outside, on these dirty, dirty streets.
One of my favorite songs by Caedmon's Call says,
"You know I've heard good people say,
There's nothing I can do,
It's half a world away,
Maybe you've got money... maybe you've got time,
Maybe you've got the living well, that ain't ever runnin dry...."
Sometimes it seems like everyone I know at home thinks that there's nothing they can do because it is on the other side of the world... so they just don't. They stay in America and live in a bubble... a false sense of reality where all in the world is ok becuase everything is ok at home. Nothing about that picture is reality. The world is full of beggars.... people who are dying becuase they have nothing to eat, no one to clean their wounds, and no one to simply love them. I don't know about you... but I can't have things like that on my conscious. Yes... I came to Kolkata in faith... but most of the time I feel like there's nothing I can do to make this place any better. But still I am confident... with a lot of love, a lot of work, and a lot of tears... Kolkata can be changed. I know there will come a day, if people stop sitting around doing nothing, when people don't have to sleep on the hard concrete and eat from the garbage cans. Please pray for the beautiful, heart breaking people of this city. I just know that all of you would fall in love with their beautiful smiles and hearts.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Reality
I've been in Kolkata for three weeks, but it seems like I've been here so much longer! I am getting used to life in this crazy city... the crows no longer wake me up at night, the horns no longer surprise me, and I don't even scream (as much) any more when I'm crossing the streets! Along with getting used to all of the funny things about this place, I've found that I'm getting used to the poverty as well. And part of me hates it... I think it's awful to pass a beggar on the streets and not hurt, and sometimes I feel so guilty for passing up a child who lives outside on these dirty streets and not offering them money or food... but sometimes the poverty can become part of the scenery here. I know that must sound absolutely terrible to most of you... but when I go to the train stations early in the morning and give these little kids breakfast and play silly games with them... it's almost like I have to forget their situation..I have to forget that a lot of these girls will be sold into prostitution as soon as they are old enough.... I have to forget that some of these kids have never seen their mom or dad and never will... I have to forget that all of these kids won't go to school because they are homeless and the government refuses to acknowledge their presence. If I don't make myself forget these things... I don't think I could make it. I know they suffer enough as it is, so they don't need me to go out their and be sad. They've experienced more sadness in their short lives then I will probably experience in my entire life.
I've had some interesting conversations lately with other volunteers who have been here longer and know a little more about the reality of what these children who live on platforms face each day. Like I said... sometimes you have to forget what kind of lives they actually live and you really do forget sometimes. They are so happy most of the time, and just so excited to be loved that you forget how sad they must really be. My friend Adrienne has been working at Sealdah train station for the past 5 1/2 months, so he knows a lot about what really goes on there. He told me a story about a family who had two children... a two year old with Down's syndrome (which is really rare for India, as most babies born like this are killed immediately) and then a ten month old little boy. The parents were both drug addicts and apparently were out of drugs or money or both. Well, another family on the platform had a ten month old little girl, and they wanted a boy the same age so that he could protect the girl when they get older. The father of the two children decided to sell his ten month old son for 2,600 rupees (about 50 or 60 USD) so that he could have drug money. The mom didn't want to do it, becuase obviously this was her child, so they got her stoned and made her sign the papers when she couldn't think clearly at all. Adrienne said when he came to the platform the next day, the mom who bought the child was all happy and showing him her "new baby" while the mom, who was no longer high and beginning to realize what happened the night before, was screaming hysterically and begging for help. They've now kicked the family off of the platform becuase the woman was so upset about it and kept trying to get her baby back. Apparently, selling children isn't at all uncommon here in India. I just sat there in shock after hearing this story... you forget when you're just handing out food and playing with these sweet children the harshness of their lives. They live in a society that absolutely hates them, one where people refuse to even touch them because they are afraid that the gods will see and curse them in this life or their next ones.
So that's a little bit about life here in Kolkata... we have good days and bad days. Sometimes I am so happy here and love the craziness of this culture, and other days I just want to curl up in a ball and cry and cry. I think it will probably be like that the entire time I'm here. I never want to get used the poverty though... when it becomes normal, when I don't feel it deep inside me anymore... my work here will be useless. Please pray that despite ur differences, we will in someway be able to relate to the people of Kolkata and show them that we do love them, that we aren't afraid to touch them or feed them or hug them. Please pray that our love would be sincere, that when we love these children we can take some of their pain away. It's so hard to not be able to speak with them... but again, I know words aren't always necessary. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers all the way over here in India!
I've had some interesting conversations lately with other volunteers who have been here longer and know a little more about the reality of what these children who live on platforms face each day. Like I said... sometimes you have to forget what kind of lives they actually live and you really do forget sometimes. They are so happy most of the time, and just so excited to be loved that you forget how sad they must really be. My friend Adrienne has been working at Sealdah train station for the past 5 1/2 months, so he knows a lot about what really goes on there. He told me a story about a family who had two children... a two year old with Down's syndrome (which is really rare for India, as most babies born like this are killed immediately) and then a ten month old little boy. The parents were both drug addicts and apparently were out of drugs or money or both. Well, another family on the platform had a ten month old little girl, and they wanted a boy the same age so that he could protect the girl when they get older. The father of the two children decided to sell his ten month old son for 2,600 rupees (about 50 or 60 USD) so that he could have drug money. The mom didn't want to do it, becuase obviously this was her child, so they got her stoned and made her sign the papers when she couldn't think clearly at all. Adrienne said when he came to the platform the next day, the mom who bought the child was all happy and showing him her "new baby" while the mom, who was no longer high and beginning to realize what happened the night before, was screaming hysterically and begging for help. They've now kicked the family off of the platform becuase the woman was so upset about it and kept trying to get her baby back. Apparently, selling children isn't at all uncommon here in India. I just sat there in shock after hearing this story... you forget when you're just handing out food and playing with these sweet children the harshness of their lives. They live in a society that absolutely hates them, one where people refuse to even touch them because they are afraid that the gods will see and curse them in this life or their next ones.
So that's a little bit about life here in Kolkata... we have good days and bad days. Sometimes I am so happy here and love the craziness of this culture, and other days I just want to curl up in a ball and cry and cry. I think it will probably be like that the entire time I'm here. I never want to get used the poverty though... when it becomes normal, when I don't feel it deep inside me anymore... my work here will be useless. Please pray that despite ur differences, we will in someway be able to relate to the people of Kolkata and show them that we do love them, that we aren't afraid to touch them or feed them or hug them. Please pray that our love would be sincere, that when we love these children we can take some of their pain away. It's so hard to not be able to speak with them... but again, I know words aren't always necessary. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers all the way over here in India!
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