Day 4 - Good Shepherd Homes

What an awesome day we had today meeting the kids at Good Shepherd Home. GSH has a total of 116 kids in 3 different facilities right now, but they are in the process of building one larger home that will enable them to take up to 400 children when it's completed. We got to see the property that is the future site.

I love hearing the heart of the director of this home. Their vision (and how they operate now on a smaller scale) is to have smaller "foster homes" all together with a communal kitchen that cooks for all the homes so the house parents can devote their time and energy to the kids. They operate family style.

Mung & Ching are house parents to a group of boys. We sat and had tea with them and talked with the kids for a while. Most of them have been at GSH for 8 or more years, and they feel blessed to be safe now & getting a good education & the love & support that will help them transition into adulthood.

The boys have been working on a photography project. A young man donated cameras and is teaching them basic photography. The boys love learning, and several have proven to be naturals with the camera. Who knows, maybe there are some up & coming photographers in the group!

The beautiful setting that they live in now is a stark contrast from the life they lived on the streets of Mumbai. There they struggled to survive and protect themselves from abusers on every side. It's so good to see them living in a part of the countryside that is peaceful, and away from the crowded city. They are safe now.

We also heard stories of the kids who first came to GSH 10 years ago. One of the first girls is now a nurse, and she wants to get her masters next.

All around, it was a great day. I've had some trouble with swollen feet (still from flying) and a pain in one of my legs. Please pray for me if you have a moment. I'd like to make the most of every day, and not spend any time in an Indian hospital!

Check back Wednesday for a report on the transition home of GSH...Tshirts & more....

Patty

Day 3 Part 2 - the beautiful children of Santvana

In the afternoon we loaded up in the vehicle and headed out of the city to Santvana (the Comforter) Children's home. Santvana is home to 30 kids, and about half are HIV+. Many of the kids who are HIV+ are true orphans, with no living parent, since their parents have died of AIDS.

Some of the kids are children of prostitutes, and now they are living away from the Red Light area, and in a safe, loving environment, free from sexual abuse.

We did a craft project with the kids. The theme was "You are children of the King". Teaching this concept is so significant because in this society they have very little value. The children with HIV are untouchable, even by their own families. You should've seen the smiles on their faces as they proudly wore their crowns. Check out the pictures and see their beautiful faces.

Our team donated $650 (the first installment) toward a desperately needed vehicle for Santvana.

I'd also like to say a big thank you to the ladies in my Steppin' Up Bible class in McKinney. You just paid the school tuition for Rhani to go to computer school for 3 months, and you paid for Leena to learn how to drive. They are both teenage girls, and these skills will make their future more hopeful! Thanks, Ladies. Can't wait to tell you about it in person. The kids at Santvana are getting Kids' Bibles and some books from you too!!

Check back tomorrow to hear about our time at Good Shepherd Homes....

Day 3 Part 1 - One of the faces of human trafficking

Today was emotional. There is no other way to describe meeting a young eunich in the red light area this afternoon. He is an orphan. A number of years ago he came to the city looking to find a job. He never knew the cruel and awful pain he would go through when he came here. Gangs of eunichs here are on the look out for young boys that are new in the city, runaways. Then they befriend them and often drug them and make them into eunichs without their knowledge. We don't know Anand's exact story of how he became a eunich, but his original intent in coming here was to find a job.

Now he is an orphan, and a eunich. He is not a he anymore. He dresses as a young woman, but really he has no gender. When they did the surgery they botched it, leaving him maimed & without the ability to urinate properly. His stomach is so bloated, and he is in terrible pain. We all shed tears as we listened to the story.

Anand came to see our friend who works among these people asking for her help. We surrounded Anand and prayed. Prayed for healing, prayed for the Lord to intervene. We all cried.

Psalms 10:17-18 " LORD, You know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will listen to their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so people can no longer terrify them."

Lord help us to do our part.

For this particular blog post I will not post any pictures of faces to protect the identity of those working in this area.

Day 2 at Hope of Glory

Today our team was with the kids & staff of Hope of Glory Home, which is home to 30 bright kids, most of whom have been rescued from horrible situations on the streets of this city. We heard from a little boy named Mark who is 11. He came into this childrens' home a number of years ago, and since that time he has new hope for his future. He goes to school, has a warm bed and people who care about him. He was thanking God for giving him this life, and for answering his prayers.

Kelly is great! She had an art project prepared for the kids. Each child had an individual square that they designed, and when we put them all together they make a beautiful landscape scene. Kelly is working on completing the piece while I'm blogging. She did a great job of drawing out the kids' creativity. Later this week we'll take the completed wall art back to hang up in their home.

Join us tomorrow as we go into the Red Light Area & to visit the "Comforter Childrens Home".... It's going to be great! You won't want to miss it.....

The cleanest slum I've ever seen...

Saturday we got off to a great start visiting a slum area in a city between Pune & Mumbai. Our friends have a project to work with the people of the slum to improve their lives & community. The people are very poor and up until recently they had no toilet system or trash bins. This team installed toilet buildings and suppllied trash cans so everyone in the community can bring their trash to. A group from Australia came in and did a trash pick up throughout the slum, and held an educational class on keeping the community clean.

The biggest impact for the people of the slum was that these foreign people would come in and pick up their trash. In India only people of the lowest cast would do this kind of work. It was a huge testimony of serving the people and it has opened many doors in this slum for the team on the ground here in India.

Seeing this project first hand gives me many ideas for linking people in the US with other slum projects in the future!

There are hundreds of opportunities like this here!

Patty

Sorry, I can't post any pictures on this project! But it was clean!!!!

Tatty & Jelly made it....

Kelly & I were in a small group of people from our plane whose luggage got lost out at the Mumbai airport out on the tarmac, but waiting 2 hours for them to find our bags seemed like a good alternative to having no clean clothes after traveling 24 hours! Thankful that we had our bags in hand, we made our way out the door into steamy Mumbai. Looking through rows and rows of signs with people's names on them, we finally spotted a sign that made us look twice! Our driver met us with a smiling face and a sign that said "Tatty & Jelly" YWAM Air India.

Check back tomorrow for Day 1 in Pune!

Patty & Kelly (aka..Tatty & Jelly)

Heading to the Airport!

All the last minute details are done and we're loading up and heading to the airport. Bruce & I will pick up Kelly on the way.

Join us on our journey to India! Check back Saturday for our next blog post. We'll be on the road until then!

Glad to have you along,

Patty

Spring Break Week

Friday night started off with some beautiful cello music. Caleb played in a Spring recital, and kicked off the week long holiday from school. This is Caleb with his cello teacher, John.

It's great having the kids off school, but with my India outreach just about a week away, my work load is a lot heavier this week. I'd appreciate your prayers. Lots of details to finalize before I get on the plane next Thursday, and we're spending a few days off on Thursday & Friday to have some fun as a family...so hopefully I'll get 'er done.

note in my inbox today

This morning I received a note from one of the orphanage directors that we work with in Pune, the city that I'll be going to in just 4 weeks time. Here's an excerpt from his letter...Here are a few pictures from one of my recent trips to this childrens home.

"Your coming with teams is a very humbling experience for us. Thanks for taking all the pains to see our kids off the street. Its amazing to see how God is moving people with passion for supporting ministries. We have started rescue project from the streets of Mumbai and Pune. We have a team that visits the kids, ministers to them. We are preparing to rescue at least 200 kids in 18 months time."

the little tapestry of hope...

In our bathroom there's a hand stitched tapestry picture with four simple words: Trust in the Lord. I don't love the style of the picture, and the frame is kind of outdated, but I just can't get rid of it. The longer I have it, the more attached I've become. The other day I was wondering why this picture has such a grip on me. It's not because of what is stitched there. It's because of who stitched it and what the picture represents. You see I bought it about 15 years ago. It was stitched by a former prostitute in Asia, and each picture that someone bought was a way that she could live free & with dignity for an entire month. That picture in my bathroom represents hope. The picture represents freedom from slavery.

In 6 weeks I board a plane for India. This trip holds some new possibilities in addition to visiting some of my favorite kids in the world in 4 orphanages. I will be meeting with several ministries that rescue & help victims of trafficking get out of the life of prostitution. I will be meeting with them to see if there are practical ways we can partner with them to develop income generating opportunities similar the one I mentioned above.

I can hardly wait,

Patty