Tim's Indian Adventure

LAST DAY

2009-07-08T04:15:00.002+01:00

Suddenly I find myself waiting to go home. This is crazy! How have three months of my life gone by so fast? I haven't updated my blog or compiled my thoughts as much as I would have liked to and for this I am extremelt sorry.

I feel a real mix of emotions which in truth is making me feel physically sick. I miss home and the people but i don't wanna leave. My heart is in one place but my body longs for another; I'll let you decide which is which. THIS IS SO STRANGE!

I'll be home soon however and as it's my last full day, the boys are treating me to a full Kerala Body Massage. I'm not sure if it's actually a treat or just a lot of pain.

I'm gonna really miss this place and don't really kno what to write..... it's had a massive impact on my life.

Goodbye India

Hello Great Britain

Residential School for Juveniles with mental disabilities

2009-07-02T07:26:00.000+01:00

I had arranged with Tanya and Jojo (some English girls that were friends with Raj) to go with them to a residential school in a part of Bangalore called ‘The Dairy Circle’ and just spend time with the children/young people for a couple of hours. This school was a government run organisation and catered for around 60 young people all with some kind of mental disability.
The girls had told me that they had visited this school only once before with a team of about 8 people; some from England, some from India with a mix of male and female. We had discussed about what they had experienced and seen at the school in their previous visit and, to be honest, they painted a pretty bleak picture about the conditions. The images that they placed in my mind were like something that you would expect to see on a ‘panorama documentary’. For example, ‘half naked boys, playing around in their own faeces with their clothes soiled by urine, semen and excrement.’ So in my mind, before arriving at the school I tried to mentally prepare myself to see some absolutely dire human conditions. I have to admit I was feeling very nervous about the whole visit as I didn’t really know why I was there, what I should be doing or how I could help.
Before going onto the premises, I met a guy called Pete (from England) and his wife Becky (from the U.S.) and talked to them briefly about my trip to India and about youth work and other things. It took my mind briefly off where I was and what I was about to be exposed to. I’m sorry if I’m making it sound over-dramatic, but I really feel I have to honest about my thoughts and experiences.
Entering the complex through a locked gate, we walked around an inner courtyard where we could see what looked like outdoor showers and toilets, a facility to dry clothes on and some open ground that comprised of just dirt and weeds. Eventually, after passing some offices and placing our bags and balloons inside, we came to a room where there were about 40 kids inside. This room was very small and the kids were all sat on the floor in rows wearing a mixture of attire; some in what seemed to be the normal dress of blue shorts and blue shirt, and some in just long brown t-shirts that covered their under regions. It was very obvious from just looking at most of the kids that they had some sort of mental disability. I also became aware, from closer contact, that many of the kids had sores, bruises, cuts and burns over their bodies. I was later informed that this may have been the case because of unhygienic conditions and diseases but also because of abuse from staff members and other kids in the school.
Becky asked one of the staff members if we could play with the kids in the bigger room just round the corner. After much argument, we were allowed to move the kids into the bigger room to do a drawing and colouring session with them. The sense of excitement in some of their faces that someone had come to visit them to break their normal routine was very prevalent, however a lot of the older ones were just confused about what was going on or just not bothered at all. We spread out lots of sheets of blank paper and passed out crayons and started helping the kids draw. Many of them just didn’t know how to draw because they have never had the opportunity and some were unable because of their disability. Everyone sat on the floor as we helped them colour and draw.
I found the smell of the place absolutely appalling; being very similar to the smell of the local sewers next to Raj’s house, but just contained within one room. I had to just ignore this however and block out any feelings of discomfort to be a part of what they were doing. In this instance it was colouring, however, often some of the kids would touch me and just want to shake my hand or want to sit on my lap. Brief thoughts of, ‘well actually I don’t want to be touched by you because you’ve probably not washed your hands for weeks’ had to be put aside. All these kids wanted was some attention and someone to care and if, as a Christian, I was too worried about becoming unclean to do this, then who would be willing? I had to put all my feelings and concerns aside and just get one with playing with these kids like I would any other kids.
During the colouring session, there was one older lad I noticed who just sitting in the corner masturbating. Jojo had warned me that a lot of the kids do this because there is nothing else to do and they don’t know any better, but still it was a little shocking to see. Just as I was thinking about it and what to do; ‘should I go over and talk to him or go and give him some crayons?’ Pete went over to him with a big piece of paper and said, ‘Why don’t you do some drawing like everyone else? It’s much better than masturbating.’ I felt I little sense of shame and asked myself the question, ‘Why didn’t you just go over instead of considering it?’ I had missed an opportunity to try and connect with this guy because I let my inhibitions get the better of me.
After the colouring session we took everyone outside into the patch of open ground and gave them loads of balloons and balls to play with. Many of them became fascinated by the balloons and became very possessive as we didn’t have enough for one each. A lot of the kids wanted to be picked up and held especially this one little guy who had no bottoms on and a very dirty and smelly shirt. I had to just ignore these facts and pick him up. As I picked him up he clung on to me like some kind of koala, getting such comfort in the fact that someone had their arms around him. However when I wanted to put him down again I found it difficult as he just wouldn’t let go. He would then follow me around, grab my arms and try to scale me (he was a really good climber) and if I didn’t pick him up then he would bite me. This really hurt, so more often than not I picked him up and carried him around with me. I was then told by Pete and his wife that this particular kid had just had a heart operation and the staff had advised not to pick him up. So I had a dilemma; I wasn’t supposed to pick him up and if I didn’t he would bite me and follow me around. Also there were other kids that wanted attention and wanted to be played with. I still have bruised from this kid’s bites and I’m really glad he didn’t break skin because as Tanya says, ‘Who knows what kinds of diseases these kids have got.’ This may seem a harsh statement but unfortunately this is the sad reality of it.
After different simple games like throwing and catching the ball, making different noises with balloons and some clapping and singing, it was time to have lunch. It was a real struggle to calm them down from all the exciting and new things we had been doing with them and we had to get them all sitting down against the wall in a corridor. The lunch wasn’t much at all; rice, dhal, some sort of wheat and a glass of water served from dirty plates and cups. As there were only 4 staff members (1 male, 3 female) for 60+ children, we helped serve the food to speed things up a bit. During lunch we found that a lot of the older children stole food from the younger children and it was a job for us to try and stop this from happening. Also children stole from the ones who had the severest disabilities because they weren’t able to stop them stealing the food. This was sad to see, as it really had become survival of the fittest to the extreme.
We left shortly after their lunchtime and convened outside the complex for a short de-brief of our thoughts and feelings and any questions we might have. This also included a passing around of hand sanitizer. After leaving Jojo was asking me what I felt about the place and to be honest I didn’t really know what to feel. I had never experienced anything like it in my life. It seemed like a totally hopeless situation; it was government funded and because the government was so corrupt it meant that it hardly got any funds; they whole place was seriously understaffed and because the staff had no passion for the job they kept leaving; the conditions of human living were the worst I have ever seen, literally having no hygiene or luxuries at all; and I was left with the feelings ‘What on earth am I supposed to do about this? Is there anything I can do about this?’
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go for lunch with the rest of the team as I had to meet the BBC Teens and help them practice for Sunday’s worship. Catching an auto back home, the smell of the place was imbedded in my clothes and still stuck in my nostrils, and the images of these desperate kids living in such terrible conditions wouldn’t leave my mind. When I got home I had to throw my clothes to wash and take a long shower...

Delhi & Agra

2009-06-29T16:38:00.003+01:00

Tim has just sent the following through....

The Journey
Leaving Bangalore at 10.30 on the Monday evening, Nandu and I started on our journey to Delhi. This would be my longest train journey ever, being 36 hours in total, and to honest I was dreading being stuck in sleeper class carriage, with no A/C in the cramped conditions. I had travelled back from Chennai with Raj once, but that was only for 5 hours, and the prospect of ‘living’ on a train for 2 days didn’t really appeal to me that much. But, as with a lot of things so far in India I have had to adapt and just get used to the conditions and persevere throughout.

It turned out that the trip wasn’t so bad after all and it went surprisingly fast. Nandu and I spent a lot time talking and playing card games. I remember on specific game lasting an hour and a half (leaving me with a headache). The journey also gave me chance to catch up on reading, ‘If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat’. We didn’t interact too much with the people in our compartment, mainly because they were speaking Hindi and another language which Nandu and Kashmiri (which Nandu couldn’t understand). Any sort of talking was quite casual and the sort of small talk which I generally dislike, but you’ve got to start somewhere eh?

Some of the scenery from the train window was great and the further we travelled north the hotter it got in the train, with the wind outside actually burning you if you stuck your hand out the window. Unfortunately we had booked the side berth bunks, which meant that being tall it was very cramped for us, and had to sleep curled up most of the time. It wasn’t too bad though.

On the morning of arrival in Delhi, I had expected the train to come into the station around 7am. Unfortunately I had miscalculated the actual arrival time, waking up too early in readiness only to find that it actually arrived at 11am. Another few hours didn’t matter however with 32 already under my belt.

One thing Raj had warned me about Delhi, was that everyone would hassle you and never ever take no for an answer. Be it auto-rickshaw drivers, bicycle-rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, shop owners, restaurant owners, travel agents...etc. Absolutely everyone wants business from you and also being a foreigner, in their minds there is more prospects to get more money than then usually would. This really got on my nerves throughout my stay and I found myself getting increasingly frustrated and stressed with everyone. Nandu also found it difficult because walking around with me and not having a typical Indian haircut or wearing typical Indian clothes; he was also regarded as a foreigner. I came to learn a phrase from Nandu in Hindi which meant, ‘Look, I’ve already told you once, don’t you understand me?’ This was extremely helpful when people wouldn’t take no for answer.

Day 1
Upon arriving in Delhi we had many worries already on our shoulders. Before we left I had given some money to Santosh to book us some tickets home to Bangalore on the June 15th. Santosh however wasn’t able to be book any tickets, so we had to spend a lot of time in Internet cafes, agonisingly trying to find tickets home. This was stressing both of us out as there seemed to be no hope.

Another task we had was to book tickets to and from Agra for the next few days so we could visit the Taj Mahal. We had found tickets available online which we were pleased with, and so made our way to the nearest travel agent to book the tickets. Even this proved to be a headache as all of the places we went to said there were no regular tickets available and only expensive ones. This was a classic example of people trying to cheat us. We went to a few different agencies and failed to find an honest one where they weren’t trying to take advantage. Eventually we ended up in a long queue at the railway ticket office. Even though it took time, we were much happier to wait and pay the actual cost quoted on the net, than pay over three times the price buying them from some dodgy travel office.

So far this journey had been full of obstacles and stress upon arriving, and guess what; things seemed to be getting worse. Before leaving Bangalore I had booked to stay at a Youth hostel on the net. It seemed reasonably priced, clean and with a/c. Getting to the hostel however and booking in was prevented because; we found out, the airport immigration hadn’t stamped my passport upon arrival! This meant that I wasn’t officially (on paper) in the country and they couldn’t accept me at the youth hostel because I had no proof of how and where I entered the country. This worried me a lot and I became even more anxious about the strange place I was already in.

This began our search for a hotel that would accept us. Taking a break for lunch in an air conditioned restaurant calmed us down a little, but neither us of had much appetite and accidentally ordered too much food. The restaurant we visited had good food and service, but it was more expensive than usual. After lunch we found a hotel that would accept us, but which was much more than I had expected to pay. I thought about it and because of my stressed state and the fact that I was tired, I decided that we would stay just for one night and then make our way to Agra and find a cheaper place. The hotel actually wasn’t too bad and the a/c made the room feel like a fridge. This was great because the temperature outside was more than 45 degrees. CRAZY!

So our first day in Delhi had been spent mainly trying to find hotels, book train tickets and stress out about things over which we had not a lot of control. We did find time however to take a short walk to the main shopping area in the city, in which we found a HSBC so I knew where I could draw funds when needed. In the evening we retired to the hotel room early because our train to Agra was at 7am the next day.

Day 2
Getting up early, paying the hotel bill (being surprised and cheated on a 12.5% luxury tax. What the hell is luxury tax?) Catching an auto to the station, in which the driver tried to cheat to us out of more money but I just walked away and making our way through a packed station to the train on time. In fact we were early, which allowed us to relax and put our feet up whilst enjoying a cup a tea before enduring the cramped conditions of the journey. It took about 4 hours to get to Agra and I was sat next to a 10 year old Indian boy who was very smart. We spent our time playing noughts and crosses, paper-rock-scissors and giving each other maths sums to do on paper. The other half of the journey I spent listening to my i-pod and talking to Nandu.

Getting out of the station to Agra we were bombarded by taxi and auto drivers wanting business until we eventually got to the pre-pay auto stand where we could get into the town for a fair price.

Travelling towards the town the auto guy brought out little books filled with recommendations and reviews of his personal tour guide service. People from all around the world had written short comments about his service in English, French, German, Portuguese and other languages. I was quite impressed with all of these comments (reading quite a few) and he asked us if we would like him to take us for a day’s tour of all the sights in Agra, including the Taj Mahal, the ‘Baby Taj’, Agra fort and other sights. He said he would do all of this for Rs. 700/- (under £10) for both of us and I agreed. Nandu had his reservations and was convinced that he wasn’t all he seemed to be.

The auto driver’s name was K.K. and he was probably the ugliest guy I had ever seen. Unshaven, about 50 years old but looking older, extremely bad teeth and breath with old remnants of chewing tobacco stuck in between them, partially black, grey and ginger hair and wearing the dirtiest shirt I’ve seen for a while. He seemed nice enough though and spoke good enough English.

He took us first to a hotel which he recommended; we said that we didn’t want to spend more than Rs. 1500/- a night, but he took us to this hotel anyway. It seemed nice enough and I managed to bargain the clerk down to a price that was more reasonable. Nandu still thought that we were paying too much, but the room was nice enough with good a/c. The hotel food and facilities were quite expensive but we didn’t really have any plans to use them as we would mostly be eating out and spending our time sightseeing. After settling in our room, we met up with our ‘guide’ and embarked on our tourist’s adventure of Agra and all its wonders.
Itmad-ud-daulah ‘Baby Taj’

This monument or ‘tomb’ was like a smaller version of the Taj Mahal, hence people calling it ‘Baby Taj’, in fact it was built some years before the Taj. It cost Rs. 120/- for me to get in and Rs. 10/- for Nandu. Even the local people in Agra didn’t recognise Nandu as being Indian and so he had to show his identification everywhere for him not having to pay the foreign tourist prices.
‘Taj Views’

K.K. had said that he would take us to many different place in Agra where we would be able to get different views of the Taj Mahal. This seemed like a good prospect and would save us a lot walking. We managed to get a lot of different photographs, including one from the back side of the Taj, managing to get it’s reflection in the water.

Craft shops
He took us to a place for lunch, which Nandu said would be very expensive and was right. There was a lot of other foreign tourists here also and it seemed like the place where all the auto driver guides took their fares. I offered to buy K.K. lunch, which later on we found out was a mistake, because lunch was in fact provided for him free of charge from the restaurant as well as him getting commission for him bringing us to the restaurant. We were slowly becoming aware that K.K. was getting much more out of us than we had first thought.

He took us to three craft shops which were literally right next to each other, and he received commission from everyone one we went into, regardless of whether we bought anything or not. He never told us this (why would he?) but we learned from other sources, that this was the case.
Carpet Shop – This shop had a workshop where we could see how the rugs were made on the loom. It was made clear that everything had to be hand crafted in Agra because if there was a factory the pollution would destroy the precious Taj Mahal. This made sense and I admired everyone sense of preserving their historical heritage (and they depended on the continuing tourist trade to survive). Part of me however couldn’t help but think that they might have just imported goods from elsewhere, but that may be just my sceptical side coming through. The rugs and carpets ranged from small wool and cotton mats, to beautifully designed and crafted Kashmir silk patchwork rugs. The price differences were vast of course and we were free to bargain and barter to a more agreeable prices. I only bought a couple of cheap mats as momentums to bring back home.

Marble Shop – In the entrance of this shop there was a demonstration on how the marble was crafted and polished. It looked like agonising work and when having a go at sculpting the marble myself, it proved to be true. I did think however, these guys had probably been doing in for years and were used to the tough marble. The display room was full of ornately crafted marble table tops which, I have to say, were not to my taste. I did however spend time looking at the chess boards and how the pieces had been sculpted. I didn’t really want to buy anything from this shop even though the salesman was pressurizing me into buying, showing me anything and everything. “No, I am not interested in marble tea coasters, thank you!”

Jewellery Shop – This jewellery wasn’t very interesting and he didn’t really seem very authentic even though he insisted it was a family business that had been passed down for generations. Everything looked good but to be honest I wasn’t interested in jewellery. He did manage to fleece me on some bracelets. ‘Apparently’ they were 92.5% sterling silver; even though I bargained him down in price I still think I got fleeced. They should make a nice little gift for someone back home anyway. He talked with us about the different stones he used in work, showing us loads of examples. Even though it was nice stuff I wasn’t really interested so left quite quickly, I had a bad feeling about the place anyway.

Taj Mahal
After all of the shops that our guide insisted on showing us, we eventually got around to seeing the Taj Mahal. This was after all the main reason for coming to Agra and I can honestly say, if all we saw was the Taj, I would have been more than happy. This 400 year old ‘love monument’ is to put it bluntly, BREATH TAKING. I found that every time I saw the Taj I had to stop and look and just think, WOW! It cost Rs. 700/- to enter and only Rs. 20/- for Nandu. Being one of the 7 wonders of the world it was built by this bloke (whose name I forget) to commemorate the death of his favourite wife, whom he must have loved a lot, and had planned to build another version of the Taj, for his own tomb, but using black marble instead of white. Was he a little bit crazy perhaps? Just walking around the gardens of the Taj and taking time to take everything in was incredibly relaxing. I remember having it as one of the things to do before I die; visiting the Taj, and I can honestly say the whole experience and place was incredible. We left the Taj after taking loads of pictures and as the sun started to set. We were extremely hungry, tired and hot from our day of tourism that all we wanted to do was chill out, grab something to eat and watch the cricket.

Day 3
Waking up at a reasonable time, Nandu and I decided to try and find some cheaper accommodation. When coming to check out however the clerk, a Punjabi guy with a massive beard and turban, argued that the agreed upon price was for 2 nights stay and that if we wanted to leave early we had to pay the full price. This began another round of debate and bargaining.
After this we found a reasonably cheap place to have some Puri for breakfast and to think about the plans for the day. In the restaurant we found out that the guy serving us was Tamilean and was very friendly and helpful giving us lots of advice about where to stay and how to successfully survive in Agra without being cheated too much. If only we had met this guy on the first day! Nandu felt so relieved at meeting someone from where he was from and they talked for ages in Tamil, with me interrupting constantly asking, ‘What is he saying?’ This guy took time out of his day to help us find cheap accommodation and also gave us the names and numbers of some contacts in Delhi of people who would be helpful and honest, like he was. He seemed like a really nice guy as he took time out of his working day to help us out. We gave him about 30 bucks for helping us, which I didn’t think was much at all, but Nandu explained that he probably only earned about 5 bucks an hour where he was working.

After settling into our new hotel room, which was really just a fanned room with a bed and a shower, costing Rs. 400/- for the night, we embarked on seeing the rest of what Agra had to offer.

Agra Fort
This fort was absolutely huge and the photos I had don’t really do it justice as to how vast it is. I all of the areas in the fort were open to the public you could probably spend the whole day getting lost. Unfortunately all of the interesting looking parts were closed to public, including things like the walls, the dungeons and some of the many palaces within. Still, the parts that we did get to look around were great and I really enjoyed reading all of the history about it. This was the main fort, apart from the Delhi Red Fort, that functioned in Medieval India and was used as the command point for the whole country for many of its Rulers. I kept thinking, ‘My Dad would have loved to spend time looking around here’. The place was truly majestic and I kept trying to imagine what it might have been like when the fort was fully functioning in its original time period. I would have loved to have spent more time looking around and reading about the history, but there was more to do and see today so we had to move on.

Sikandara
This place was another huge tomb, although I’m not really sure who for. It had 3 massive entrance gates to the grounds (just like the Taj) and in the grounds were found loads of wildlife; peacocks, deer and monkeys. This was a beautiful place to walk around and just relax in, being quite similar in its surroundings to the Taj apart from having less people and therefore less hassle. The main tomb went underground this time into a huge chamber only lit by one flaming chandelier. Walking around the back of the tomb we found some scaffolding going up to the roof terrace and I was so tempted to climb up and see exactly what they were keeping from public view. But the prospect and likelihood of being caught and spending the rest of my days rotten in an Indian prison for defiling their sacred heritage was to prevalent in my mind to ignore. Me and Nandu had running joke about which ever of us dies first, then the one still alive had to build them a tomb exactly like this to commemorate his life. We agreed that making a replica of the Taj again for each other would just be too greedy, so this sort of tomb would suffice. What idiots!?

The rest of the day was spent looking around the town, going in different craft shops, being bothered by tonnes of rickshaw drivers and having dinner at pizza hut (I’m afraid I’m still struggling to eat Indian food all the time). Getting an early night in our new hotel room seemed like the best of ideas because we had to be at the station at 6am. However, due there being no a/c and the fan not working due to constant power cuts, neither of us got a very good night’s sleep. The cold shower in the morning was really appreciated (something which I would complain about in the UK) and after checking out at 5am we made our way to the station by auto. This completed our visit to Agra and the Taj Mahal and although everything about the attractions was fantastic, I was relieved to be going somewhere else. Perhaps I’ll come back here one day with different company...

Day 4 (Back to Delhi)
Our fourth day began with a four hour train journey back into the central station in Delhi, drinking lots of tea and having chance to write up some thoughts in my journal. In the seats opposite us three Indian gentlemen were having a heated discussion about something or other. I asked Nandu what they were saying, but he couldn’t understand. It obviously was important to them all because they all gave their opinions very furiously and in a manner I wouldn’t really want to argue with. It was really interesting to watch and to my surprise they all shook hands with smiles after the journey and parted with good will. I couldn’t help thinking to myself; in the UK this would’ve probably ended in a fight.

Arriving back in Delhi our first task, yet again, was to find somewhere to stay. This time however, because we much wiser about where to go and what sort of prices to pay, we found a nice place, with a/c, that only cost us Rs. 600/- per night for both of us. Although it wasn’t the best kept hotel and the walls and floor were a bit mucky, the service was friendly and there was a good internet and tourism facility. After settling down and cleaning up, we decided to look around the immediate area and found that there were loads of hotels on the road we were staying on (there had to be well over a hundred) and there were also a lot of back street restaurants where we could eat cheap. The rest of this fourth day was spent relaxing and trying to book a tour of Delhi for the next day. We got a really good deal from the hotel we were in, providing us with a private driver for 8 hours who would take us anywhere we wanted to go for only Rs. 800/-. We also looked into whether the tickets home that Santosh had sent through courier had arrived, which they hadn’t and worried Nandu a lot. I must admit I was a little worried but not really too bothered. I had come to the conclusion that it was out of my hands and worrying about it would only spoil my trip. What does it say in the gospel of Matthew...?
‘Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?’ Matt 6:27

‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own’ Matt 6:34

To Nandu’s devastation India were knocked out of the 20/20 World Cup by none other than.......England! Hey!

Day 5
So today was our tour of Delhi and it began at 9am sharp, that is after our driver had smoked a cigarette and drank his tea. We ate breakfast in our room and headed downstairs ready to experience the sights that Delhi, India’s capital city, had to offer. We actually got to see loads on our tour and I was really pleased at the feeling of exhaustion at the end of our trip. If I hadn’t have been tired I would probably have thought that I didn’t get my money’s worth. So what did we see you may ask? Well I’ll tell you...

Birla Mandir
This was a really big Hindu temple with some, what would have been lovely gardens if the water fountains were turned on. Being the first thing we visiting a feeling of negativity came to mind. I thought, even though this temple was really very grand, I hoped that the rest of the tour wasn’t going to be just full of temples and statues. Even though being a Christian I didn’t believe in any of the Hindu ‘God’s’ I did enjoy reading about and seeing the artwork that depicted the Hindu’s histories and values. The artwork and sculptures were really well preserved and maintained and the whole place functioned as both a temple where Hindus could worship and a tourist attraction. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any cameras inside so I only took pictures of the temple from the outside and of the gardens.

India Gate
This huge structure was India monument to all those who had fought and died in World War II. All of the names of those soldiers were inscribed into the stone and it was guarded heavily day and night, also having ceremonial attachments and objects to show the nations continuing gratitude and respect for their countrymen. Nandu says that there are roughly around 90000 names engraved on this massive monument and I couldn’t help thinking about how many soldiers Britain had lost in the wars (millions).

Parliament and Presidents House
After seeing India Gate, just up the main road in direct view was the houses of parliament and the president’s house. We briefly drove up the drive, jumped out of the car and took some quick snaps while the car kept moving because there was no stopping or parking allowed. It was like we were on a mission to collect intelligence about the layout of the president’s grounds for some top secret reason (not really). It was a pretty lush ground and was heavily guarded as well. We didn’t spend too much time there and moved onto the next ‘attraction’.

Indira Ghandi Museum
We visited the home of Indira Ghandi, the first women prime minister of India and Mahatma Ghandi’s granddaughter. Her home had been turned into a museum, displaying all of her personal belongings, including the garment she was assassinated in, and detailing her life’s works in the form of newspapers and photographs. I have to say I didn’t know who she was at all and wasn’t really that interested, but I thought, as I’m in India I should try and learn as much about the culture and its history as I could.

Mahatma Gandhi Museum
Next on our list was the Mahatma Ghandi Museum. Again, just like Indira Ghandi, his home that he used to live in and its grounds had been used to display everything about his life, his works and what he stood for. It was a pretty interesting place with a lot of information to take in. Upstairs was an modern electronic museum where, if you had the time, you could spend hours looking at all of the interesting gadgets and gizmos that were depicting Ghandi’s story. We didn’t have time however to look at and read everything, although we took our time, our driver was keen to get on. We visited the spot where he died after being shot and continued on our trip. I bought a small brochure that had a lot of information about Ghandi’s life in it, as a souvenir.

Local Factory Outlet
After lunch at Dominoes Pizza, our drivers took us to a big sort of mall where all the locally made handicrafts were sold. A lot of the items we saw were identical to what we had seen elsewhere but at the actual cost that it should have been. There was lots of nice things; wood carvings, marble sculptures, jewellery and lots of textiles shops. I really didn’t feel like a buying anything but Nandu bought a shawl for his Mother. Apparently it is a big tradition in India to buy a souvenir for your family from your holidays wherever you go, be it 100KM away or 6000KM away.

Lotus Temple
Unfortunately because it was a Sunday, The Lotus Temple was closed. It was used as another Hindu temple for which God, I forget. I did manage to get a couple of pictures of it as we drove past though.

Red Fort
The Red Fort in Delhi was apparently exactly the same as the one in Agra but not as grand. We opted not to go inside but instead just drove around it towards our next destination. As time was moving on Nandu and I both thought this was the best option.

Raj Ghat
This beautifully constructed and well kept park and gardens was the location of the final resting place for the ashes of Mahatma Ghandi. Walking around the gardens, the sun was beating down at its hottest and without a lot of shade and lack of water we were both struggling in the 46 degree heat. It would have been great to spend some time relaxing on the grass and take some time out and possibly have a picnic, but again because time was running our we didn’t have the opportunity. Coming into the actual place where Ghandi’s ashes were, we had to take our shoes off and be quiet in showing our respects whilst visiting the final resting place of the father of the nation. Nandu had mentioned that in Bangalore, space for burying the dead had run out and the government had to double stack the graves and he thought this massive use of ground was a waste of space.

Ghandi Memorial Museum
After Ghandi’s cemetery we visited another of his Museum which was smaller than the last but much the same. In this museum however they had preserved the robes that he had been killed in, covered in blood and bullet holes, poor guy.

Red Light District
The last place we visited before being returned to our hotel was described by our driver as ‘a big business centre’. I didn’t quite know what he meant until we got closer and he said, ‘ladies business centre’, in other words, Delhi’s Red Light District. Whilst driving up the road he was explaining that all of the houses’ first floors on the road were used for prostitution. We could see loads of women of different ages looking out of the windows and hanging around by the stair wells. Our driver said, ‘If you like, you can buy. If not then no problem, we’ll go back’. ‘Thanks’ I said, ‘I’ll keep that in mind’. I don’t think he had a clue that we were Christians and weren’t in the habit of visiting prostitutes. It did put in my mind however, ‘is what the people in Delhi think about westerners; that they all smoke hashish (having been approached a few times to smoke it) and are all heavily into prostitution?’

Our tour of Delhi had finally ended and we gave the driver 50 rupees as a tip, knowing that he probably didn’t see a great share of the 800 we gave the travel office. We retired to our hotel room for some time and after resting found a nice, but a bit expensive, restaurant to have dinner. Tonight we ate Indian food as Nandu was missing his staple diet of rice. I ate something called paneer masala, which is quite a spicy curry using tomatoes and cottage cheese as the main ingredients, and a few japatis. With the discussion being about the sights of the day and sharing our opinions about The Fisherman Trust, we spent quite a long time eating before going back to the hotel to watch the cricket and to sleep.

Day 6
This was to be our last day in Delhi and to be honest we were a bit lost as about what to do. We enjoyed a long time in bed taking up most of the morning, before checking if our tickets had arrived by courier. They had! All our worries had been wiped away and our prayers fulfilled, we would be returning to Bangalore the morning after and been arriving two days after that.
We spent our last day in Delhi looking around the main shopping area. This was called Connnaught Place and contained a plethora of different shops ranging from the highly priced ‘branded’ shops such as Adidas, to many street merchant selling their wears on the pavements. This was the equivalent on Bangalore’s MG Road and was extremely busy with all classes of people rushing about for their own reasons. The actual layout was a huge circle of buildings with roads in between and you could keep going round and round until you got tired or lost. The inner circle was where most of the branded shops were, and then there was a middle section in the circle where you would find all the independent merchants and then on the outer ring (where the main road was) was all of the restaurants and street vendors.

Everyone wanted to sell you something or get business out of you. On one occasion I was approached by I guy who wanted to clean my shoes because he said they were dirty. I said they were fine, but when looking down I found a massive pile of crap on my trainer. He then proceeded to clean it off and asked for Rs. 350/- which seemed extortionate for cleaning my shoe. I told Nandu and he said, ‘What? Kick him! Give him 10 bucks and tell him to get lost!’ A guy told me later that these guys would have actually put the crap there themselves so that they can clean it off and extort people. Why is everyone out to cheat me? This really frustrated me and I became extra cautious about everyone from then on. Actually after that point I began not to enjoy my experience of walking around the main shopping area of Delhi. Nandu managed to buy a book on photography and I bought some new sunglasses because my old ones had broken.
In the evening we ate dinner in the hotel room and retired early because our train left at 7am. The next morning we awoke early, paid our bill (minus the luxury tax) and left a tip for the lad who had attended our room for the last three nights.

My whole experience of Delhi and Agra as a whole leaves me with very mixed feelings. Nandu and I both agree that the places and the historical heritage that they contain are absolutely amazing and definitely something worth visiting. This does come with the cost of putting up with the attitude of the local people. Please don’t understand me, there are some people who are genuinely honest and want to help without any cost, but you have to be very careful who you trust even though they may seem like the most upright person in the world. A perfect example of this was KK, tour guide in Agra, who although had a lot of good reviews from others and seemed friendly and honest, what he didn’t tell us was about the commission he received from every place he took us.

There is the unfortunate truth that if you are a foreigner in these extreme tourist areas, you already have the image of having lots of money and therefore need to be taken advantage of. This is something that I struggled with and found that it spoilt my experience somewhat.

Journey Back

I was pleased to get on the train back to Bangalore and was actually looking forward to the journey back. This time round we got chatting to everyone in our section, played card games with them and other stupid games. We also got into some great debates about religion which I found challenging and much different from any conversations in the UK, these guys I was talking to were much more open to hearing about my faith in Christ. We talked about what sorts of work we were all into; Nandu shared about TFT, I shared about my youth work in the UK and the work I was doing in India, one guy had just set up his own I.T. business in Bangalore and another two guys were working for a school in Delhi that taught street kids a trade (they were actually street kids once as well and smoke lots of weed and drank lots of rum on the train). The journey went really fast and after two days and one night we were eventually back in Bangalore with a feeling as though we had never left and as though our adventures in Delhi and Agra were distant memories.

Update

2009-06-29T10:02:00.004+01:00

Hello!

Once again I must apologise for the lack in blog posts. I have extremely busy going here any there and doing lots of things, all of which will be on here in time. Any time now a long report about my travels to Delhi and the Taj Mahal should be posted on here. I'm finding it harder and harder to keep and type up a journal as time goes on. Hope you're all doing well.

Tim

Benson Raj

2009-06-18T12:24:00.001+01:00

This guy seems so passionate about Christ and reaching the poor for Him and is spending all his effort, money and time in loads of different projects that have been established through years of work and experience living and working in India. From talking to him it is apparent that everything he does is for someone else’s benefit and he gives Christ all the glory in the extensive and exhausting work he does. This is a brief over-view of the things he is involved in.
Blessing Streams
School for slum children in a slum called BAGLUR. This is relatively small school consisting of roughly 20 kids aged between 7-14 years old. The school runs every day from 9am – 1.30pm and runs on very low finance and funding. It is in fact running at a loss because of the lack of support and is in great danger of being closed. The education system is very informal following a government provided syllabus which is designed for uneducated children to reach a level of education where they will be able to join a regular school. So far around 50+ kids have ‘graduated’ from the school and moved into main stream education. Being established by Benson and Pastor Jaye Prakash, it has been running for 5 years. It encourages the local slum kids to flourish in areas of learning that they have interest in and if they are finding education too difficult it helps them to find a trade that they can learn by identifying their interests and skills.
Currently the school rents small premises and employs 2 full time teachers. It provides lunch for all of the students and teachers everyday and is able to administer some medical attention where needed. However, all of this comes at a cost of Rs. 18000/- (£250) minimum to keep running each month. At the moment the funding they receive is from raising money themselves by exporting gifts and ethical merchandise abroad, and by receiving donations from visitors (mainly foreign).
On the weekends they have a scheme called ‘Winner’s Club’ (Saturday, 3pm) where everyone from the local neighbourhood is invited to play games, sing songs and fellowship together. On Sundays there is a church service held on the premises where all of the children’s parents are invited to come along.
Benson has ambitions to open a hostel for these slum kids where they can receive shelter, food and medical care. His vision in this ministry is to see “one teacher like himself in every district in Karnataka (more than 26 districts)”
Football Outreach
This ministry works with young people from the local slums, aged around 15+ years, who are very ‘rough’ and often violent, facilitating and training them to play football and have competitions. A lot of these young people are heavily influenced by alcohol and are often used by political parties to stir up animosity and violence between other parties. By playing and teaching fair play and control through football, Benson and others are able to communicate good values to these youths by example and instruction and eventually introduce them to Christ. This sort of evangelism and discipleship through sport has been running for over four years and is a very good tool for rehabilitation and helps young people to become part of acceptable society by giving advice on how to get jobs. This program runs from 6am – 8.30am every morning.
Bible Clubs in Schools
Benson has been visiting schools and delivering short bible clubs for the last 25 years. Providing classes and clubs for years ranging from 1st standard to 10th standard, they last for 15-30 minutes and include;
- New songs (Christian)
- Prayer
- Talks from the Bible
Some schools give permission for him to deliver classes often without Government approval. He has to be very careful however, about ‘preaching’ the gospel. There can’t be anything like an alter call or an open invitation to give their lives to Jesus.
His talks from the Bible are often based on things that they children can use and relate to, tailoring them to each specific age group. Some typical topics are;
- Faith
- Friendship
- Trust
- Loving one another
- ...etc
He finds using visual aids very helpful to keep attention and make things more interesting. However because of the lack of funding (in fact virtually nonexistent) there are lack of resources, like a guitar for songs and a variety of visual aids.
I have not yet had a chance to visit any of Benson’s ministries, but I am so keen to get involved and learn much more about the work and the workers.

BBC Teens Camp Video

2009-06-18T10:40:00.006+01:00

Here is a short video presentation that I put together to show in front of Banaswadi Bible Church on the Sunday following the camp. I then went on to interview some of the youth about of the camp in front of the church. I hope you enjoy it!

BBC Teens camp

2009-06-09T20:57:00.009+01:00

There's another great report Tim has done from one of the camps he has been to. Click here to go to the Fishermen Trust blog and download a copy from the 9th of June post.

BTM Camp @ AVALANCHE

2009-06-04T12:28:00.002+01:00

The BTM camp was a much older crowd ranging from 18 to 28 years old. At first I felt a little intimidated by the older crowd but then as I got to know them more I thought my original apprehensions were stupid. They were a really nice bunch of people and were a mix both from Bangalore and Chennai. They were really supportive of one another and it was good to spend some time with people my own age. Actually, I was probably one of the youngest there even thought I was a leader. I later found out that most of the campers thought I was Raj’s age and they were shocked to find out that I was really 22. I don’t look 32, surely?
These notes are taken directly from my written journal with a few things added. I hope you will be able to follow my thoughts and feelings. If not, please ask me about anything you’re not sure about or anything more you want to know...
Wednesday 19th May
- Preparation for camp
- Building up a good relationship with Nandu
- Brigade Road and MG Road
- Different outdoor adventure shops looking for gloves. No joy!
- I bought a knife, a mini maglite and a travel first aid kit; coming to a total of Rs. 3000/-
- SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A ‘MACK’
- Getting to know Nandu has been really good. He has been sharing things about himself that he hasn’t with others; past relationships, ambitions, desires, family, views and opinions.
- HAD TO CANCEL PLANS WITH JOSH AND BECKY AGAIN.
- Bus journey at 10.30pm from Satellite bus stand. Not a bad journey although hot and sticky
Thursday 20th May
- Arrived at Ooty, 7.30am
- Beggar women are good actors!
- Had a spicy breakfast at a back street cafe full of flies. It made my stomach feel on fire.
- Bus journey from Ooty to Emerald, the driver was a nutcase! It didn’t help that I had my ‘fast driving’ playlist playing on my I-pod. AWESOME BUS JOURNEY.
- Arriving at Emerald dam it started to pour. Raj was 2 hours behind my group so I decided to take the lead and take everyone to the campsite.
- It rained, flooded and poured!
- I lost my flip flops and trekked 9 km through the Indian wilderness BARE FOOT, soaked to the skin because of the monsoon and my bible got soaked. Not happy!
- Eventually arrived at Avalanche with Praveen, Farrukh, Ankith and Gladwin. Another camp was still going on run by an American ministry.
- 1 hour later the truck arrived and we all had a chance to freshen up and change to warm, dry clothes.
- Dinesh, Nandu and I went to set up rock climbing on the waterfall. COLD! The waterfall was very muddy and heavy this time. Whilst setting up, the group came and it started to pour again. We had to call the whole activity off and pack up in the pouring rain. I felt very sorry for Nandu and Dinesh as they were both very frustrated that their effort had gone to waste.
- We all walked back absolutely soaking and miserable. We found the whole group playing football. This thought was in my head, ‘Do these people realise how much effort goes into the organising and running of these camps?’
- Decided to sleep in the door this time.
- Worship by Roshan
- Talk by Pastor Vincent. I thought there was a good message, themed ‘LINK TO GOD’ and discussing Saul’s conversion to Paul being knocked off his horse. But I thought the delivery style was kind of weird and I didn’t warm to it too much; too long, he repeated himself unnecessarily, he kept shouting and it was too complex and ‘Christian’. Maybe I shouldn’t be so critical but I can’t help these thoughts coming into my head sometimes. I’m sure some people don’t like the way I preach.
- GROUP DISCUSSION ‘How have we linked to Jesus?’
- DINNER! Mostly chicken noodles and chilli sauce.....BUT......for me and Raj and some others we had the luxury of peppered beef steak. Lush!
- Absolutely knackered and went to sleep early. Had a restless night due to sleeping in what was like a cave full of bears. Why do we snore so badly?
Friday 21st May
- Woke up 6.30 – 7.30
- Sleeping in dorms with 15 other blokes must create quite a stench in the morning.
- I shared the morning devotion, talking a little bit of testimony and how God has changed my life and asking ‘What plans has God got for your life?’ (I also need to prepare more and have more structure and more importantly need to seek God more in prayer and through the word)
- I’m started to struggle with all the flipping rice.
- AM activities ‘river crossing’ and ‘tree climbing’. I took a back seat in leading because I wasn’t feeling up to it. IS THIS A BAD ATTITUDE?
- Had a go at tree climbing; found it very difficult and my arms and legs ached afterwards. BUT I persevered and got to the top eventually!
- PM activities I lead the river crossing which I really enjoyed because I was able to interact with people well and give constant encouragement. I thought the blind folding exercise where people guide one another was really effective as it included a larger group of people at a time. Also very entertaining to watch.
- Raj and I took a large group swimming whilst another group played football. People are finding great achievement in learning to swim (or just float with a life jacket).
- HAD A SCARE WITH ONE LAD WHO JUMPED IN AND DIDN’T COME UP FOR AGES
- I gave Raj my opinion about the next few days activities, with my preference (and Nandu’s) being ‘GORGE WALKING’ and ‘KAYAKING and SWIMMING’. These activities could encompass the whole group instead of people waiting around to have a turn at certain rope activities.
- AN EXTREMELY TIRING DAY SO FAR
- I was asked to lead worship in the evening. SONGS: Strength will rise, How lovely is your dwelling place, Light of the world, Lord you have my heart. Also sang a song for a time of ministry; From the inside out.
- Pastors preach was much better tonight I felt. The content of ‘hearing’ God’s word, then ‘heeding’ it (Luke) was really strong and he used good examples from his own life. I still don’t like the style of shouting all of the time and repeating himself. But ‘hey’ we’re all different and the message was good so I didn’t mind too much.
- Dinner I didn’t eat any rice and was prepared not to eat. Sam made some tomato soup for me.
- In the evening we went for a night walk, in the dark. Nandu, Glen and I ran off ahead to hide and scare people. The girls all screamed! Ha ha ha!
- Around the camp fire we played a few games and took turns in singing songs. I played a few secular songs including, Kings of Leon and a bit of Bob Dylan. Everyone seemed to be very relaxed and at ease.
- Went to bed
Saturday 22nd May
- Woke up around 6.45am
- I’m still reading through Matthew and am still really upset that my bible is soaked!
- Feeling exhausted today and my stomach is a little bit upset.
- MORNING DEVOTION: Led by Raj, talking about the activities and comparing them to spiritual truths. Was a good talk and covered a lot in a short time with good interaction from the group. Raj asked me to close with a song, ‘Never let go’ to minister and for a time of reflection and prayer.
- I still think there is so much more for us and God wants to pour out his spirit in awesome ways. If only we had faith and weren’t afraid to trust him and pursue his spirit.
- I opted to stay at the camp when everyone else went gorge walking, because I was feeling so tired and a little unwell. I sort of disappointed myself because of my lethargic attitude and for missing out on the opportunity of getting to know the group more. I said to myself, ‘I’ll do it on the teen’s camp’. So I grabbed myself a couple of hours kip in which I had strange dreams of home. I wish I could remember them!
- Dinesh came to wake me up at 1.15pm and asked about kayaking. I felt really frustrated and annoyed that Raj hadn’t told anyone that I was resting and of the lack of communication in general. I became a little angry in front of people when I shouldn’t have.
- Lunch was late due to another group coming to see Avalanche campsite, and it consisted of vegetable rice and an egg curry. It was okay.
- After lunch I took the group that was ready, kayaking and swimming at the lake. I copied what Anupa had been teaching about the basics of kayaking and only capsized 2 people this time, including Pastor Vincent.
- THE MUD FIGHT WAS AWESOME AND MOSTLY EVERYONE GOT FILTHY!
- Swimming and kayaking went off without a hitch and we even made a massive bonfire on the beach. It was a lush time and fellowshipping with everyone was fantastic.
- Early evening I joined some of the lads to play football. They are really good and I am rubbish. My team won though!
- THE EVENING TALK was about.... well I can’t really remember, but it had an altar call of sorts at the end to dedicate their lives again to God and (more important) there was a chance for anyone to know Jesus for the first time. In my heart I was desperately praying that Farrukh would say ‘yes’ to Jesus and accept him as his Lord and Saviour.
- Late in the evening I gave everyone and anyone the chance to say something.... I was over the moon when Farrukh said how much he had enjoyed the camp and loved everyone on it and how much respect he had for Jesus and the Bible. I had never heard this from a Muslim. I was really touched because he said something about me being isolated here in India and how much respect he has for my change in lifestyle. I’m definitely going to email him or call him up. I wish that one day he may come to know how much Jesus loves him. I ain’t giving up.
PRAYER – FARRUKH SHAKIL
Sunday 23rd May
- I woke up late (7.45 am)
- Had to wash up, pack up and clean up
- Breakfast (Purri)
- Morning service in the woods with Holy Communion. I shared ‘The Father’s song’. I felt quite distracted for some reason.
- Arvind got baptised in the lake (he’s from a Hindu background). It was a very powerful moment, ‘Amazing Grace’ was sung. It reminded me of ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’
- I found this girl called Tina very beautiful, but can never talk to her. I HATE SMALL TALK! Why is it that only foolish jokes and thoughts come out of my mouth? Am I made to be a fool?
- Chose to ride in the truck back to Ooty, which was HORRENDOUS! It was like travelling for 2 hours on a dodgy fairground ride which you know really isn’t safe.
- I explored around Ooty for a few hours on my own, unintentionally. Yes, that’s called being LOST!
- I saw a guy with no legs pushing himself around on a piece of wood with wheels who was begging. I walked straight past him at first but then a thought struck me. ‘Tim! He’s got no legs and you’ve just walked by him without giving him anything or without a second thought! What’s wrong with you?! At home you wouldn’t think twice about giving a homeless person a couple of quid. So I felt led to give him Rs. 100/- which to me would be £1.50 but to him would be so much!’ I really believe God is changing me in these sorts of ways because he has such a heart for the poor and the helpless.
- I eventually got to the guest house after about 3 hours and a visit to Coffee Day.
- I grabbed an hour kip due to exhaustion
- The journey back was terrible! Hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, no?
- I HATE 9 HOUR COACH RIDES!
DREAMS
I had a dream about sharing the gospel with Farrukh openly and just discussing things with him. Something, which to be honest, I am TERRIFIED to do. Sharing John 14:6 ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’. Explaining to him that it is only be Jesus and Jesus ALONE that any of us are granted access to the Father and access to heaven. I can’t remember the specific details of our discussion but I do remember that Farrukh would NOT accept this and he walked away.
God is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and share, letting me know that he will be with me when I step out in faith for him.
What will be the real life outcome? Lets see...

Short Update!

2009-06-03T05:58:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone following the blog! Just to let you know, I have just come back from my third visit to the jungle and AVALANCHE camp. I think this was to be my last visit, which is sad, but due to each trip being utterky exhausting, I am kind of glad that there won't be another trip. Maybe next year if God leads me back to India, I can visit Ooty and AVALANCHE again. To follow this post should be two more reports from the last two camps detailing everything that went on, including my thoughts and feelings (these shouldn't be too long, if I can only find time). I have taken so many pictures out here, but unfortunately I don't have the time to upload all of them, so I'm picking my favourite ones and posting as many as possible.

As some of you well know, I have extended my flight tickets for another month. I feel that time has just flown by so fast and I need more time to see more, do more and meet more people. So my tickets are now for July 8th. I do miss home a lot however and all my friends and family. See you all soon. Much love x

News from J team camp: Avalanche - May 11th – 15th 2009

2009-05-27T11:20:00.009+01:00

This was to be my first experience of a camp at Avalanche, Ooty; and what an experience it turned out to be! The camp was organised by a Christian organisation called J-TEAM based in Chennai and all of the young people attending the camp were from Chennai and the surrounding area. Attending the camp were about 30 young people ranging from the ages of 14 to 21, the older youth being leaders and volunteers.

Arriving in Ooty on the Monday at 6.30am after a long coach journey of nine hours, The Fishermen Trust team had a few hours to recuperate from the arduous journey and get some breakfast until meeting up with J-TEAM and travelling on to Avalanche campsite itself. The journey consisted of another hours coach journey through awesomely unspoilt valleys and reservoirs and then a 10Km hike from where they coach could no longer travel over pine forest covered hills and streams. The trek to the campsite was not only breathtaking in the sense of physical exertion but also in the incredible beauty of the surroundings we were walking through.

On my short but tiring walk to the camp I got talking to one of the volunteer instructors called Glen. He seemed to be a very timid guy but once taking the effort to talk to him he seemed to be quietly passionate about things; things like his walk with God, his past and family life, music and worship, and learning to instruct outdoor activities such as The Fishermen Trust do. I also shared my interests and we seemed to be getting along really well. I really enjoyed talking with Glen and hearing about his life.

Once eventually arriving at the camp I was extremely tired and was looking forward to a rest. But I soon found out that there was so much to do, including unpacking the truck of luggage, putting up tents, arranging accommodation for everyone, and lastly having lunch. So after all these things had been accomplished it was time to be properly introduced to the J-TEAM and start getting to know people, and what better way to do this than via an outdoor activity! I have to be honest at this point I was knackered from all the travelling and hiking but I suppose I did have some energy left and the prospect of visiting a waterfall and have a swim was too much of a good thing to pass up.

So the weeks first outdoor activity was to be rock climbing around a beautiful waterfall area about 3Km walk away from the campsite. Nandu, Michael, Glen and I left about an hour earlier than the rest of the group to set up and check the safety of all the equipment ready for the activity to start straight away when everyone else arrived. Unfortunately however we hadn’t given enough time to set up and the group arrived early, so I was asked to keep the group busy with a wide game for roughly half an hour, which was fine as I already had a game in mind. Also I occupied half the time with getting the whole group to cross the river at a shallow point. In hindsight I perhaps should have thought about the safety of this as the water was flowing quite fast and most of the young people couldn’t swim. This is something to definitely consider next time perhaps?

The rock climbing at the waterfall seemed to be a great hit and the young people showed real perseverance in completing the task. There was also a lot of encouragement from the other members of the group when people were climbing. This was really good to see and needs to be encouraged more especially by The Fisherman Trust team.

Before I continue I would like to note the general schedule for each day in the J-TEAM camp. This schedule was quite flexible due to different things taking longer than expected and due to the youth taking their time in doing everything (as teenagers usually do).

This is the schedule:

06:30 Wake up
13:00 Lunch
06:45 Solo time
14:00 Activities
07:15 Freshen up
17:00 Team Challenges
07:45 Leaders Meeting
18:00 Free Time
08:00 Worship and Morning devotion
19:00 Worship, Talks and Discussion
09:00 Breakfast
21:00 Dinner
10:00 Morning Teaching (J-TEAM)
22:00 Free time/Night Activity
11:00 Activities
23:30 Lights Out
Solo Time

The solo time in the morning was something designed by J-TEAM for all of its campers. In the space of half an hour the youth had chance to read the bible and spend time alone in the morning focussing on specific scriptures and praying. Because this was a Christian camp this exercise was mandate and all of the youth had to spend some time on their own. I was told that because TFT weren’t part of J-TEAM that we didn’t have to do it, although I felt that I wanted to do it even though I was tired, not only because it was one of the only chances I had to be alone and in the quiet but also because I could set a good example. We found that during the camp some of the youth struggled with the concept of solo time and prayer and often needed direction, which was given.

Worship
All of the worship was done by members of J-TEAM and led by a girl called Joanna who seemed to have a lot of authority in leading and passion for worshipping the Lord. A lot of the songs sung were action songs and to my surprise the young people really didn’t mind joining in and fact very much enjoyed doing the silly actions. This would be a totally different story for a lot of young people in the UK as they would usually be very non-committal and not want to embarrass themselves by singing, what were really, songs designed for a much younger Christian group. I even found myself letting my inhibitions go by the end of the camp and getting involved in all the action songs where as I would usually take a back seat in anything including actions in the UK.

The general format for praise and worship was to do three or four high energy action songs and then change the mood of the session by doing a few slower paced worship songs, which usually led into a prayer or a talk by Raj or me.

Morning Devotions
For the morning devotions Raj had asked me to share something for about 15 minutes with the group each morning. I must admit I felt a little lost about how or what I would be sharing so I was compelled to think, pray, prepare and ask God as to what I should share. I felt very unprepared on the journey to Ooty, but I thought 9 hours on a coach alone with my thoughts was the perfect opportunity to pray and think of things to say.

Here are just brief descriptions of the devotions I shared each morning:

Tuesday – Romans 5:7-8 ‘Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

In this devotion I used the example of someone walking down the road, and then crossing the road unaware that a bus was coming. I asked Raj to stand up, and asked him that if a bus was coming my way and you could push me out of the way sacrificing yourself to save my life. I said, bearing in mind that you know me a bit and you think I’m a good guy, full of life and many talents; would he save my life? Raj said that he probably would save me or at least the intention would be there. I then asked the same question to one of the youth, who didn’t know me, and he straight away said he wouldn’t save me and sacrifice himself. I then asked Raj the same question but instead of me being in front of the bus, this time it was a guy who was drunk and seemingly wasting his life. Raj said that he didn’t know what he would do and would have to think about it. When asking the youth the same question he again said, ‘Definitely not! He doesn’t deserve to be saved’ I then gave a short testimony about my life and how I used to drink heavily, explaining that the drunk in front of the bus was me. I then read the scripture and got others to read it, using the fact that Jesus would have step in front of the bus for me, regardless of our situation, and in fact did sacrifice himself on the cross for us so that we could have life. All of this said emphasising the fact that although I was a drunk and becoming a massive waster in life; Jesus still sacrificed himself for me.

Wednesday – Jeremiah 29:11-14 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord and I will bring you back from captivity.’

1 Corinthians 2:9 ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’

In this devotion is gave a testimony about my aspirations throughout life and the obstacles I have faced that stopped me fulfilling them. Starting from an early age I narrated about each one like so:

- Michangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle), dream crushed because my brother was Donatello and always used to beat me in fights
- A fighter pilot in the RAF, dream crushed because I have a colour defect
- An actor, dream crushed because I was too big and too ugly to play the Romeo parts I wanted to play
- Bar manager, feeling of un-fulfilment and boredom in my work
- A Doorman/Bouncer, feeling of boredom and the work not being to my character

I then asked the youth what they thought was missing in all these aspirations and we came to the conclusion that I had never consulted God on the plans that he has for me. I then read the scriptures and explained about my position in life now of trusting in God and the fruit that has come of it, for example, receiving a job from 2XL out of nowhere and my recent position in India.

Thursday – Psalm 139:13-16 ‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’

I started this devotion by getting all the youth to look to their left and say out loud a good attribute about the person sitting next to them. This was a great encouragement exercise and I definitely think that people felt good because of it. I then went on to read the scripture and explained about how God knows us intimately and cares about us using parts of the scripture to support this. This devotion was all about encouragement and how God’s wants to encourage each other in this world that is full of discouragement.

Friday – Matthew 28:20 ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

Deuteronomy 31:8 ‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’

The last devotion was designed to encourage the youth that things don’t need to change when they go back to their home, schools and colleges. I told the story of the how when Jesus left the disciples they became discouraged and a little hopeless as to where their help would come from. Reading the scriptures I let the teens know that they could turn to god any time they need help or feel hopeless, because of the confirmation of the scriptures just as Jesus said to his disciples. We then had a short discussion about prayer and reading the Bible.

Activities
Throughout the week The Fishermen Trust arranged and provided the main activities for each day using its own equipment and its own staff and volunteers. These activities included:
Rock Climbing – The rock climbing activity was undertaken just next to a waterfall about 3km away from the camp site. It consisted of two climbing routes, which were relatively simple, and the youth were asked to climb up as far as they could with the support of an instructor (Nandu and Michael). A lot of the youth found this relatively difficult to achieve but they still relished the challenge.

River Crossing – The river crossing was constructed using two ropes to cross a stream. These ropes were secured to two trees either side of the river and the task was to first cross the stream and back again, being safely attached with a harness and sling, and also to hang upside down from the harness, pull themselves back up to the rope, and come down from the rope. All of the team members had to do this one by one.

Tree Climbing – The tree climbing activity proved to be very physically taxing for a lot of people because it relying purely on the strength of the person doing the activity. Using a system of pulleys on the ropes itself each person had to pull themselves up the rope to the top of the tree. Everyone had a try at this, even the older generation of but there was a great sense of encouragement and support from other group’s members for people.

Abseiling – The Abseiling activity was held in mixed regard by everyone. Some people had done it before so felt comfortable in doing it because they had already overcome their fear of walking down a sheer cliff face backwards, and some people were very nervous and it took some time for them to complete the activity. Just observing I found Nandu to be very encouraging and supportive of everyone displaying vast amounts of patience when people took time to overcome their fear. After the youth had made their way down the cliff face with the help of rope and harness, they were given the option of being dunked in the pool at the bottom or to just be lowered down, giving the exercise another aspect of fun.

Monkey Crossing – The monkey crossing was a new exercise for The Fishermen Trust and it was the first time that we had done it with a group. It took quite a while to set up as we wanted to make sure it was safe and accessible to the young people. It proved quite a hard activity to do as it required the participant to pull themselves along a rope using just their arms and upper body to cross a gorge. I found it extremely hard because I was quite heavy and had a lot of weight to pull across, whereas someone lighter found it quite easy.

Kayaking – The kayaking exercise was lead by a trained volunteer which was part of J-TEAM called Anupa. She has been trained in the UK in sailing and water sports and lead the exercise in a really friendly and clear way. There were only 5 kayaks so only 5 people could kayak at one time. Anupa only covered the basics of kayaking, for example how to go forward, backwards, left, right and more importantly how to keep balance. The people that weren’t kayaking had a small swimming session in a shallow part of the lake with the use of lifejackets, which I oversaw. Because swimming was something unfamiliar to a lot of the youth, they found great delight in just behind able to stay afloat in the water.

Gorge Walking – I didn’t take part in this activity because I had to focus on the kayaking and swimming activity being the only strong swimmer apart from Raj. This activity was also led by someone from J-TEAM, a guy called Augustine. The group had to hike up the gorge where we conducted the monkey crossing and abseiling and further, just exploring the surrounding area and trying not to get too wet.

Personal Testimonies
Nancy
On the second night of the camp a girl called Nancy approached Barnabas (whom had lead the talk that evening) and had opened up to how she was feeling about life and how God had had a massive impact in her through this camp. She also came and talked to me the next morning. Apparently before she came to this came she had become so fed up and had wanted to end her life. However through the words that God had given me and Barnabas to share, she had found a fresh hope in life and God had spoken to her directly about the awesome plans he has for her. I feel so honoured that God would use me in such a way to speak into a desperate situation and help save a life without even my knowledge. It is definitely no coincidence that I felt led to share a word about God’s awesome plans and purposes for us when Nancy was feeling so purposeless to extend of wanting to end her life. THIS IS NO COINCIDENCE!

Darun
One night a lad called Darun approached me after the talk Raj had shared and asked me how I gave up binge drinking. He wanted to know because he has a problem with smoking and can’t give it up. I told him my testimony and how every time I tried to do it on my own, I always failed and just continued to binge drink. Then I told him how when I prayed to God for help, I was able to control my habit and give up straight away. He asked me how God helped and I told him of how ‘by coincidence’ the people that were influencing me to drink had been temporarily taken out of my life by different circumstances and how new people were brought into my life that could encourage me not to drink and that had also been through the same struggles as I was going through. Now I believe that this was no coincidence in my life, but God intervening through people to help me give up my habit. Darun was really encouraged by this and after our conversation he opened up to a lot of things; like not really wanting to come on this camp; not really having a strong faith in God; and not really believing in God before he feels him or sees him for himself. After our conversation including both of us sharing about our struggles in life and what our thoughts were on things, I asked if I could pray for him and he agreed.

My prayer was that God would reveal himself in Darun life and that he would put people around him that would be able to encourage him in things of God and not of this world. I really felt that I made a connection with Darun and that because of my openness he felt more comfortable in sharing his concerns with me and I was able to listen.

I would have to say that my first experience of an Avalanche camp has been absolutely incredible. Although I didn’t get much sleep because of Raj snoring all night, it didn’t really matter cause the adrenaline and energy of the young people really kept me going through the times when I was feeling exhausted. The young people remained enthusiastic the whole time even when they were wet and tired, and I feel I really was encompassed by this and found myself feeling very good about everything.

I can’t wait ‘til the next camp!

Apologies!!

2009-05-19T07:30:00.002+01:00

Hello to everyone following my blog. Sorry for the lack of any updates of late but I have been extremely busy in the Indian jungle away from civilisation. There will be updates soon! Thanks for keeping up to date so far and please continue.......when i eventually post more. Much love, Tim

Wednesday 29th

2009-05-09T10:18:00.001+01:00

This morning Raj had requested my presence at his house for breakfast so we could catch up on everything that had been going on and to discuss the next step in terms of my trip and what’s going on with the Fisherman Trust. I really looked forward to this because Raj and I had become quite distant over the last week due to VBS and myself being constantly exhausted. He had most graciously prepared a full English breakfast with beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon, sausages, egg and tonnes of toast. It was a massive feast and pretty much the most ideal breakfast for an Englishman, with Raj constantly trying to feed me more and more. The toast literally did not stop coming. It was good to fellowship with Raj once again and just to catch on both our weeks and how we were feeling about things. After breakfast I was absolutely stuffed and felt like I had to sit down for about an hour. Luckily it was Raj’s plan to just relax and discuss about plans for the trust, talking about things like how to approach corporate businesses for funding; what to do about hiring Santosh and where to get his salary; and what my involvement is with TFT.
In the evening I had to go to a VBS feedback evening at the church, whereas Raj and the rest of the team had one last camp with People Pro to complete. I felt a bit guilty not going along to help, but Raj said it was important that I go to the meeting. The meeting was really laidback and more of a social that a meeting as such. It was really good to chat and get to know the rest of the VBS team because I hadn’t had much contact with the rest of the volunteers and teachers during last week sue to everyone being so busy. I got talking to some volunteers from WYWAM ministries that had also been helping. One lady called Gladys approached me and just got chatting about where we both from and how we got to where we were in life. I found the level of conversation got very deep, very fast which I really enjoyed, being one that dislikes small talk, and we talked about our past and how I was from the UK and used to be addicted to binge drinking and now I’m not, and how she is from Peru and tried to kill herself three times because of her life circumstances. Conversations lead on to how we came to be Christians and how it led us here. The openness was fantastic and I felt like I could really connect with these people even though there was a massive language barrier sometimes.
The evening started off with some silly games like charades and 4 teams and then progressed onto writing sound our feedback on different sheets about different items and how we felt about each for example, transport, mentors, teachers, the worship, the space; things like that. I wanted to be honest and my feedback was generally positive but I did feel the communication was lacking between the teachers and leaders and I often found myself not knowing what was going on when for example the almost surprise inspection of the class on the last day, which I wasn’t too pleased about and felt was a little unnecessary.
The night finished with a meal, which was flipping boiling and way too spicy for me. I am getting a little tired of rice if I’m honest and really crave a bacon, brie and cranberry baguette! Do they have brie out here?

Tuesday 28th

2009-05-09T10:14:00.001+01:00

Today was another easy day and I spent some time walking around my local area in the heat. I really feel like my body in baking in a huge outdoor oven. What’s worse is that I keep on forgetting to put sun cream on, sorry mum! The local area is a mix of slums and then people with nice estates. The roads range from dirt trails to neat tarmac with pavements. There are trees everywhere lining the roads to give shade, which is important because I’d probably die without the shade. Thank you God for trees, they’re so useful.
In the afternoon I went to the office again to pop on the internet and speak to my dear mother. I am missing my friends and family, but I find that I haven’t had a lot of time to myself recently so I haven’t been dwelling on home too much. Just the fact that I’ve already been here a month makes me think about extended my stay because time has gone far too quickly.
In the evening I had planned to have a movie night with the teens who I had been teaching at VBS. I got a lot of people’s telephone numbers from Kezi, a girl who lives above the office who was also in my class. I had bought a copy of ‘Facing the Giants from a local Christian bookshop for about £4. I had seen it before many times but I think it’s still quite a powerful film no matter how many times you watch it. Once you get past the cheesy American acting, the content is really good. I thought I’d treat the teens and buy some popcorn, crisps, pop and ice cream with cost me just over a fiver. Things are so cheap here in comparison with the UK. I had about 10 teens turn up for the film, which was a good number because my living room did have limited space. I asked Priya’s permission beforehand and she kindly let me borrow her TV and DVD player. It was good to spend some more time with the teens socialising and letting them socialise together in a safe environment. I find a lot of the parents are very strict here and very protective of where their children go and who with. I had to phone a few parents to explain who I was (VBS teacher), what film they would be watching and what time we would be finished (around 9pm).
The film was big hit with most of the teens and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Some found it too cheesy and very predictable but I have a sneaky suspicion some of them had seen it before. All in all however I think everyone had a good night and they are all keen to meet up again and do something else as a group.

Mon 27th

2009-05-09T09:59:00.003+01:00

Today I had a day off and just took time to relax from the hectic last week. I was in desperate need of a lie in and time for my body to recuperate, although I still found myself waking up around 6am, which is just crazy! I took time in the morning to catch up on my blog and finished reading Acts. It was good to just stay in having my thoughts and reflecting on the week. So much goes on out here and I’m finding time is going by so quickly. This Monday begins my fourth week and although I have done a lot and met loads of awesome people, I still want to do more, see more and meet more people and build better relationships with the people I’ve already met.
I caught an auto-rickshaw to the office in Lingarajpurum around mid day. I’m sort of used to arguing with the drivers now. I’ve seen a little note on the side of most of the vehicles saying, ‘If this driver tries to charge more than the set amount, please inform the police.’ So it is actually illegal to over-charge on the rickshaws; it doesn’t stop them from trying though I suppose. It actually got me thinking as well; what would the police really do if you did inform them? I hate to say it but, they’d probably do nothing because I keep hearing stories of how corrupt they are out here. The other day I asked to go to where the office was and the driver said 10 Rupee more than the meter. I asked ‘Why?’ and he just smiled at me and said ‘plus 10 Rupee’. I just jumped off and said he could forget it and as I was walking off he said ‘plus 5 Rupee’ and I said, 'No! Just the meter or I’ll get a different one’. He knew as well as I did that another rickshaw would be along any minute that wouldn’t try and charge me extra, so he just sort of should his head and off we went on our way. The thing is not to let yourself be intimidated by them and you won’t be cheated.
At the office I spent time updating my blog and catching up with any emails and of course, Facebook! Flipping Facebook! Is it taking over our lives just a little bit or has become a part of our routine that we just accept? I also spent time research on the net what advice is available from India itself when it comes to alcohol, sex and drug advice. It seems very hard to find and I found hardly an useful website or companies that are focused on giving any counselling on these things. From talking with Raj and others, alcohol and drug abuse is as much a problem here as it is in the UK. In India however I don’t think it is as public as the UK and to talk about it openly and seek advice on it is considered a bit of a taboo. I need to look into this a lot more and gather local and national publications to see if there is any help available in them.
After the office I wandered around Kamanahalli, which is basically a long road with all sorts of shop on ranging from high class Levi’s and Reebok stores to snake charmers and fortune tellers on the street. The mix of society here is so diverse! I didn’t really buy anything apart from some lunch and just spent a lot of time looking in different shops and trying to converse with the local people. The level of English ranged from really good to none at all. I also spent a lot of my time being stared at which I’m still getting used to.
I spent some time at home and started reading through Exodus this time about Moses and stuff. Reading the later parts has proven difficult but I am so keen to understand the whole history behind my faith and life that I’m gonna persevere. I mean I’ve wasted too much time not reading this great book and as soon as I pick it up I find new things every time that I just spent a lot of Christian walk never knowing. I mean if I don’t understand my Christian faith myself then how am I gonna explain it clearly to others.
I decided to go for a walk around MG Road in the evening and because Raj was at a camp I thought I’d see if Manoj was free and if he wanted to go for a stroll. So we agreed to meet up at about 8pm and head off to the main road to have a look around. Again it seems we got their too late and places were started to close. It didn’t help that Manoj was 45 minutes late, I suppose I’m really going to have to get used to the Indians and their timings.

Drama Workshop

2009-05-09T09:40:00.003+01:00

Each day on the VBS program I was given around 45 minutes to do a drama workshop with about 50 or so kids. I had originally thought of playing some drama based games and then working through some Christian sketches that I had brought with me.
I quickly became aware that these kids were of very different levels of confidence and ability when it came to performance. From playing a few simple games on the first day’s session I knew that splitting them into groups and giving them scripts to learn might be too much of a task for some of them.
From watching some sketches being performed in the church already it seemed that people didn’t seem to speak a lot but instead perform to music including voice-overs. They were very affective pieces but it’s a shame that when they did speak they had to use microphones. Whatever happened to projecting your voice? I suppose coming from a performing arts background based in theatre it’s just in-grained in me.
So I spent the first few session just introducing new drama games to try and bring them out of their shells and to also see who the natural leaders were in the group so that I could use them later in separate group work.
I found that even games like ‘wink murder’ and ‘follow the leader’ were new to them and most of them seemed very shy when it came to doing things outside of their comfort zones. For example, acting out a death in ‘wink murder’ would come second nature to me but most of them just sort of sat down without a sound when it came to dying, possibly because they didn’t want to look stupid and possibly because they weren’t used to acting in front of strangers.
After the first sessions of simple games and different exercises I split them into six groups and worked on some improvisation exercises. One of these exercises was to, in groups, think of a story from the bible and act it out to the rest of the group without any speech (mime basically, but without the makeup). The rest of the groups then had to try and guess what the story was. This was a very simple exercise which a lot the groups found quite easy, but I think that it got the kids thinking for themselves in terms of how to act and it also got them used to acting in front of a small audience. During this exercise Anita and I would wander from group to group to see how everyone was getting on with the task and giving any advice, help and encouragement where needed.
I was informed on the Wednesday that the teens would be doing a skit competition on the Friday afternoon after all of the classes. This was a perfect example of lack of communication. I would have loved to have known this earlier and even possibly a week before just so I could have made the drama sessions more structured towards this goal.
There were two things I could think of doing with them in such short notice:
1) Give them scripts to learn in the their groups
2) Give them a theme to work on so they can come up with their own sketches
I went for the second option because not only did I not have 6 different scripts for large groups, but I also think expecting them to learn a script in two days was a bit outrageous. Also doing things this way gave them more freedom in terms of what they could do.
Because the group was already split into 2 groups, I made to two groups into 3 smaller groups each, making 6 groups. I mixed the abilities and ages of the groups to make things fairer and elected an older leader for each group, just to keep things a little more organised. I gave each of the groups a different theme to work on and gave them the Thursday and Friday session to come up with and prepare short 3 minute sketches. These themes were connecting to the work we had been doing throughout the week;
- Who am I?
- How should I live?
- What help do I have?
At first some of the groups struggled with coming up with ideas and those who weren’t that interested struggled with motivation. I, Anita and Paul were constantly going from group to group to give suggestions and ideas jus to keep things flowing. A couple of groups came up with some great ideas straight away and I have to say these were mainly groups with girls as leaders where as the boys were very distracted and unmotivated. At the end of Friday’s session the groups would be performing their sketched to the rest of VBS (teachers and younger groups) and they would be judged to see which sketches would be performed on the presentation evening. I don’t think the reality that they would be performing in front of 200 people had become reality to them. I felt a bit sorry for the groups that weren’t that confident because, just like me, they had been thrown into the deep end without much preparation time.
The performances didn’t really go too well I feel due to the unorganised mess of the whole group. Trying to keep 50 kids, who have never really done drama before, back stage, quite and where they are supposed to be in order of performance is a hard thing to do. My stress levels were quite high because I was keen to keep the six performances flowing and off and on quickly, and when you have kids messing around, not listening and disappearing on you when they’re supposed to be performing, I couldn’t really wait for the whole thing to be over.

Here come the boys!

2009-05-04T21:01:00.002+01:00

Got hold of a great pic tonight of 'the boys' - the guys who either work for TFT or are volunteers associated with the Trust.

From left to right: Tim, Michael (back) - volunteer, Nandu (front) - TFT instructor, Raj - TFT CEO, Dinesh (front) - volunteer, 'Pastor' Barnabus - volunteer

VBS (Vacation Bible School) report

2009-04-30T20:44:00.006+01:00

This week’s main focus was the Vacation Bible School in which I have been asked to teach at, teaching the older teens class.

I had spent most of the weekend praying, thinking and preparing for the weeks lessons. We were given a rough guideline as what to teach in the lesson from ‘Youthwork Magazine’ but a lot the stuff recommended was quite out dated and required a lot of resources.

I didn’t know where to get half of the stuff that was detailed so I decided to change the exercises a little bit. Also a lot of the things suggested might not have been suitable for the age group I was teaching. I felt that they might feel a bit patronised and bored if I just got them doing a lot of craft work and just preached at them from a page.

I was also asked to play guitar during the worship sessions at the beginning of each day. So I had to be at church at 7.30am every morning to prepare for worship with Roshan. Roshan is a really passionate guy who has a great ability of engaging with the young people through worship. He asked me a lot for advice, but I think he seemed to be doing a great job already. The sound could’ve been mixed better each day but as the sound engineer was always late, there wasn’t much we could do.

The usual format for the days was:
07:30 - 08:00 Arrival at set up for worship
08:00 – 08:30 Teachers Devotion
08:30 – 09:15 Worship Time + General
09:15 – 10:45 Classes (including break)
10:45 – 11:20 Drama Workshop
11:20 – 12:15 Re-surface (General)

However, I found that these timings were very lax and never really went to plan. So, taking a class of 25ish teenagers, aged around 15 and 16 was quite a big challenge for me. I thought that covering the material given so that they could understand it and apply it to their lives was important.

I also thought building good relationships with them as individuals and also as a group was important too as I would be spending the whole week with them. Each day was given a theme and a plan of study:

Day 1: Who Am I? Exploring who they are, who other people say they are but also about what identity they can find in Christ and who God says they are.

Day 2: How should I live? Exploring how people live and what influences they come under, then looking at how God says we should live and how to run the race he has set before us.

Day 3: What help do I have? Exploring what help there is in our daily lives and who we turn to, then looking at what help is available from God and how he can help?

Day 4: Where am I heading? Looking at how to continue with the race God has set before us, looking at how we trust in our own abilities but also trusting in God primarily.

Day 5: There was no plan for day 5 so I designated this day as a total day of drama workshop, due to the drama competition to be held at the end of the session.

Day 6: The Saturday of the week was an activity day where everyone got on the buses and travelled to a resort sort of place where all the groups did different outdoor activities and had a picnic.
Day 7: On the Sunday all of kids from VBS came to the church meeting until after the worship, and then went off into their groups to practice for the evening’s presentation for the parents. The evening’s presentation included a showcase of some work that each of the group had been doing, award giving, and a short gospel message aimed at the parents. I felt like I’d just been chucked in the deep end a bit, but then I think that’s what I needed really. It helped me to not always lean on my own strength and abilities but so much more on God.

The big man upstairs created flipping everything after all and if anyone should know what these teens need and what will be most impacting to them, then he would. It makes me think, ‘Why don’t we trust in God more?’ He made us and everything, and he knows everything we’re feeling, thinking and doing. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows where we need a boost and encouragement and he knows exactly how to do it!

As I said, I really felt led to build up good relationships with these teens and try and give them a sense of belonging and acceptance and freedom and respect. I followed the guidelines loosely and tried to stimulate discussion by asking questions and sharing aspects of my personal testimony, being honest and real with them. I think they really appreciated my openness and honesty. I think this definitely made them feel more comfortable about discussing their own struggles and thoughts about God and Life.

The bible studies were good times as well, letting them do a lot of the work instead of me telling them the way it is. They came to their own understandings and formed their own opinions and I just sort of shared my approach on things afterwards. The studies weren’t too intense though, because I was aware that 1/3 of my class were Hindus. This shocked me because I was under the impression that it would be only Christians that would come to a ‘Vacation Bible School’. I found myself explaining the gospel in new ways that were easier to understand and I sort of shocked myself with the capabilities that were coming out of me. I think this was a real testimony of God working through me, because I really didn’t have a clue, being scared out of my wits and feeling under-qualified.

I did a lot of team games with the group that they really enjoyed. A lot of the time I tried to link them in with the teaching and relating them to how life can be sometimes, so that they could understand why we were doing these (sometimes ridiculous) games.

A lot of games however were just to build relationship, bring people out of their shells and for good fun. The sessions were often hard work because of the heat. I often found myself exhausted after each day and having to take an afternoon nap before doing something in the evening.

The evenings then were spent focussing on preparing for the next day’s session; gathering resources, preparing exercises and praying for wisdom. At the end of the week there was a gospel message given by some bloke from another church. I personally thought his approach and delivery wasn’t that good and was quite cheesy, using picture boards and also a puppet. Then I remembered that the majority of these kids were quite young and that he was pitching it really at their level. I felt a bit sorry for some of the teens from my group because looking at their reactions they looked bored and a bit patronised. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a message that was more directed at them. BUT...... God can work through every situation and did in this instant. At the end of the message there was an invitation for people to accept Jesus and what he’d done for them (an altar call).

There was one lad in my group who stood up straight away. When I saw this, my head felt like it was going to explode!! God really does put you in the right places at the right time. This lads name was Akshay and he had joined my group on the Tuesday. He had come to VBS on his own and I don’t think he knew anyone. I got talking to him one day about who he thought Jesus was and what he had done. After talking with him I found out that he was a Hindu and that he just thought Jesus was a good man who lived and died and had done some good works. I had a massive discussion with him about what I believed and also had a discussion about what he believed. I didn’t know much about how Hinduism worked, but I wanted to be sensitive and not go into in too deeply. Because we were doing a lot of bible study I asked him if he wanted a bible and he said yes. I thought to myself, ‘this is definitely a door of opportunity’. I said I’d get him a bible for the next day and in the mean time I gave him a funky little leaflet explaining the gospel and about Jesus. I went to the local Christian bookshop and bought him a hardback NIV and wrote a verse inside. ‘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 Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 8 : 38-39 Throughout the week I just got to know him a bit more through the exercises and discussions in lessons. Even through, what I would consider as a cheesy gospel message God can touch people’s hearts and call them to him to show his love and compassion to us through accepting what Jesus has done for us on the cross. BOOM!

Day 14 (Sun)

2009-04-30T07:34:00.004+01:00

I made my own way to the service this morning, on foot. I took a wrong turn somewhere because I thought I would be able to take a short cut. It turned out alright however and I arrived at the church on time. I really enjoyed the worship because they played songs which I had grown up singing, for example, ‘Lord I lift Your Name on High’. The worship group were really united and passionate about what they were singing or playing and the worship leader, Josh, seemed to be very receptive to the Holy Spirit and it all seemed to flow really well. Even though I felt like an alien and out of place, I still found it very easy to worship.
After the worship and the notices, Raj grabbed me and took me out of the service to meet with the teens. We met in someone’s lounge nearby and I was introduced to everyone. Raj put me on the spot and asked me to share about myself and why I was here and what I will be doing. I sort of expected this to happen and didn’t mind sharing, I shared a bit of my testimony and how I became I Christian and said about what God has done for me. Then I went on to explain a little bit about why I was here and what I would be doing, working with them and others who come to Vacation Bible School. I gave them the chance to ask any questions and they all seemed quite shy. Hopefully once I get to know them better I’ll be able to share more with them and encourage them in their walk with God. I am becoming more aware that one of the main reasons I here is to come among young people like these and encourage them in what God has in store for them.
After church I got talking to some of the lads from the teens’ group. One lad in particular called Sandeep, talked to me about the struggles he has with his parents. His mum is a Christian and his Dad is a Hindu. I didn’t really know what to say because I wanted to be sensitive to the situation. I felt some encouragement was needed about God’s love, and nothing being able to separate him from it. I said something like, ‘you can turn your back on God, but he’ll never turn his back on you because he loves you too much’. I told him about my plans of travelling without any input from God at all and then told him about how much help and support came from God as soon as I let him in on my plans. Some of you might not know this, but at one point in my life not too long ago I almost jacked in everything to do with God. Because I was practicing Jiu Jitsu and working on a bar and training to be a door man, my plans were to travel to Brazil on my own and train in Jiu Jitsu down there for a year. Then travel to San Diego, then New Zealand, then Nepal and then home. I had plans to work for a year, save money and go and live my life on my own and do what I want. However, I came to realise that I could do all this and so much more with God on my side. I also made the decision that I could never really deny what Jesus has done for me. So I decided to start trusting in God, and as soon as I did and started listening to him, many more doors started opening. Like India, Brazil and I believe even Africa somewhere down to line. I also realised that my desires to go off on my own were so selfish and worth nothing really but life experience. This is the short version of the story and there is so much more to it, but I thought I’d just fill you in. Anyway back to Sandeep, I think he was really encouraged by this and I hope to build a good friendship with this young lad.
Raj and I went to lunch with a lovely couple called Josh and Sarah. We went to an Andra restaurant and ate off banana leaves. I didn’t have a clue what sort of food it was and so just dug in and tried everything. BIG MISTAKE! What Raj hadn’t told me was that this type of restaurant specialise in chilli chicken. This flipping blew my head off and was spicier than most of the curries I had ever tasted back in the UK. I’m gonna get him back somehow. The food was really nice though and so filling. Indians can eat so much rice! Raj had three helpings whilst I could just about manage one.
In the evenings I thought I’d go to Raj’s and watch the Everton FA cup match against Man Utd. We went to get a couple of bottles of beer to enjoy whilst watching the match. I thought Raj was going to watch it with me, but he had to go out to a friend’s place. So I thought, ‘Lovely, a night in watching good football with a couple of cold beers.’ There were only three things that went wrong;
1) The match was on later than expected (2 hours later) so I had to channel flick for two hours
2) The beer wasn’t really very nice
3) THERE WAS A POWER CUT!!!!!!!!!!
So, a power cut just before the match was about to start! I found myself sitting in the dark four two hours with only lightening, heavy rain and the sound of a Muslim singing from the local Mosque. This place is surreal. Apparently power cuts are a big part of life here and when they happen (and they happen frequently) there is nothing you can do! Raj eventually came back from his friends place, soaked to the bone, to find me sweating alone in the dark.
We decided to chance a trip home when the rain had stopped so that I could get some sleep. Unfortunately we got caught in a torrential downpour from the heavens. Raj was getting more and more concerned about me getting ill from the rain and kept insisting that we took cover until the rain had stopped. I however was keen to get home, explaining all the way that rain is the everyday weather of the great nation that I’m from. I had to tell him every two seconds that I’d be fine and to keep going. In hindsight, the rain was pretty heavy and I reckon Raj had trouble seeing where he was going more than anything. WHOOPS!

Day 13 (Sat)

2009-04-28T09:55:00.002+01:00

Today was a massive day of rest for both me and the rest of TFT. Due to getting about 2 hours sleep on a hard floor, I was absolutely knackered. I was supposed to meet Roshan at church for a worship practice at 10.30am but I didn’t get back from the camp until about 11am so I had to miss it. I felt like a flipping zombie and the heat was unbearable. Me and Raj stopped for breakfast at this supposedly high class restaurant, which apparently the Queen had visited once. I that was the case then I hope she brought some toilet roll and soap with her. The restaurant wasn’t that classy at all; more like dark and dingy. The food as okay though. I slept until 3pm without a shower or a wash, I was too knackered!
I had a meeting with the rest of the VBS teachers, just purely updating us on what was going on. Anita did a little speech updating everyone on what we would be doing with the teens. I really felt a bit scared about taking the classes and felt a bit unqualified being the youngest person there and taking the oldest class. I really need to look more to God’s presence and power on this one instead of relying on my own abilities; something of which I am guilty of doing a lot at home.
The pastor’s message was quite prominent I feel. He was talking about the feeding of the 5000 when Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You give them something to eat’, relating it to us giving the children whatever we have, i.e. ‘Giving them something to eat’ but then before that coming to God and he will multiply whatever we have, just as Jesus did with the loaves and fishes. This really enforced the fact that any skills and abilities I have can be multiplied and be more much impacting if I give it to God first and focus on him and his will for not just my life but for these kids’ lives as well.

Day 12 (Fri)

2009-04-28T08:54:00.004+01:00

Today was the first of the camps for People Pro. Getting up around 6am and taking an auto to meet Raj. This was the earliest I’d been up and ready to go so far. I travelled in the Taxi with Nandu and feel back to sleep. I was tired, it was hot and it was going to be a long day.
Arriving at the venue we unpacked all of the equipment and instead of the priority being to set up, Raj sent everyone away for breakfast. This sort of frustrated me because I’m guessing it would take quite a while to set up an abseiling course and a river crossing course and check it for safety. But hey, I just kept quiet. I’m the sort of person who likes to being practically prepared and in control of certain situations; here I felt neither of these things. I felt time ticking away and a little bit helpless because the guys seemed to know what they doing in setting up and I didn’t really know the routine.
The kids came in two waves, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They were aged between 6 and 10 and were almost in need of entertainment. I found that if they weren’t doing an activity then they got bored really easily. So Raj and I were kept on our toes in thinking of things for them to do. They were a great bunch of kids and were really enthusiastic and ...well... happy and carefree as kids that age should be I suppose.
They found the abseiling really daunting at first and the river crossing quite easy, but really good fun. I suppose it would have been better over a pool or an actual river, but hey, that’s life. Everyone loved the water slide, my idea may I add. We had a few bumped heads due to people not going down on their fronts as asked, but apart from that most people seemed to get the idea and enjoyed it thoroughly. I loved it as well, bringing back great childhood memories. Good times!
Putting up the tents was arduous as I was flipping knackered.
It started raining just as the kids were coming back from dinner. It’s strange how when it rains here, it just starts pouring down like crazy. Then out come all the bugs and mosquitoes.
- Games and songs inside
- Stories around the camp fire when it stopped raining
- These kids had never camped before in tents! Something I find really weird seeing as I grew up doing a lot of camping every year.
- Slept in a tent; well I say ‘slept’... more like was kept awake by Raj and Barnabas snoring!

Day 11 Thursday

2009-04-28T08:44:00.002+01:00

Nandu picked me up at 10am and we went to the office. Can’t really remember what I did in the morning; I went on the internet for a bit and typed up some games for Friday’s camp at Wood rose. Nandu had been preparing all the equipment for the camp. I went to two meetings with Raj. One was to see the Oasis Trust members who were overseeing the camp that we were doing for them in May; one was to see People Pro, who we were doing the one day camps for more privileged kids.
1. Oasis Trust. Raj seems to have a good relationship with these guys and it seems that funding is scarce everywhere in India. In the UK, charities get a lot funding from the Government, whereas in India there is no Government funding at all. Raj managed to make an agreement of fundraising the same amount as the Oasis Trust would. Raj’s main struggle in finding funding from India itself. There is money here but it’s hard to get hold of it for these types of projects. Raj’s faith in God’s provision is enormous as there is great witness to his provision already, e.g. bike, offices, equipment. More support and funding needs to come from India though.
2. People Pro. From the meeting with People Pro, the issue of contacting Corporates seems to be prevalent. Jojo and Tanya have mentioned and discussed this as well as the guys from Oasis Trust.
I went to Commercial Street to look for a bed sheet. I went too late, everything was closing. I went into an expensive looking cotton shop. It looked like they were about to close, but they were still keen to sell me something. There were loads of beautifully made, good quality bed sheets, wonderfully patterned and stitched (not that I know anything about textiles). When I asked how much, he said 4000 Rupee. Raj said the most expensive sheet I’d probably but would be about 1000 Rupee. Way to expensive! I knew they were trying to cheat me because straight away another salesman came along and gave me a 50% discount! Do they think I’m stupid? I left the shop even though they were still trying to sell me stuff.

Day 10 (Wed)

2009-04-22T12:49:00.004+01:00

- Raj picked us up for a meeting with Anita, another youth worker at VBS, taking the younger teen’s group.
- Went to office and was restless
- Walked from the office to my house. Took about an hour and was scorching hot! There are so many shops everywhere, mainly general stores, garages for bikes and chemists. But instead of big walk in shops like we have in the UK, the shops here are all the size of a single garage and you just walk up the front and ask for what you want.
- I also went to MG road to exchange some money and take a look around. Some guy tried to sell me some drums for about 10 minutes, following me up the street. I said ‘No, thanks’ about 50 times.
- On my way home I got asked for money a lot.
- In the evening I met two English girls who have set up a fair trade business that helps local villages. I would like to learn more about this. They seem like really nice girls and I got on with them straight away. They’ve been out here for some years on and off, working and setting up contacts through working with the Oasis trust. Christian girls. I think Jojo likes me, but then again, I am full of myself so who knows?!? They’ve invited me around to their new place for a swim, a go on the Wii and for some Chateauxneuff du Pape. VERY NICE!
- Raj is still always concerned how I’m doing, it’s good I suppose, but his over concern annoys me a bit. I suppose that’s the way he is. He is a good man and deserves/needs a good women to rein him in. Well, not rein him in, just house train him a bit more. He needs someone who will put up with him but someone who will love him as much as he would love her. I suppose that’s what we’re all looking for isn’t it?
- I’ve found the auto-rickshaws aren’t too bad as long as you don’t let yourself be intimidated. Always ask for the meter and make sure it starts at 14 rupee instead of 40 as the one I first got on started at. Thieving, cheating GITS!!

Day 9 (Tues)

2009-04-22T12:40:00.001+01:00

Today I decided to stay at home and try to recover. I was feeling sick and drained from my stomach fluctuations so I thought a day off would be good.
I spent the morning in bed mostly and did a lot of thinking and praying. I mean earnest prayer out loud. Usually if I pray in my head, my mind seems to wander and I lose focus on what I’m praying about. So, of late I have been praying out loud whilst I’m on my own. Because I’m totally isolated from everything I know and am used to, I find that my prayer life and communion with God is becoming a much bigger part of my life since I’m out here.
I’ll be teaching the older teen’s group at a Vacation Bible School next week and the stuff we’re teaching is based on Hebrews. So during putting some washing on and drinking lots of tea (earl grey), I worked my way through Hebrews. It’s a great book with some really encouraging scriptures, but I found I had to concentrate a lot to understand a lot of what was written.
The rest of the day was spent watching some Indian TV and playing guitar. I had also packed all my bags in readiness for moving to my new place. I really feel in need of my own space. Raj is great and so is his flat, but it’s quite cramped and I’m never on my own just spending time by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a social recluse, I just to have my own space once in a while. I suppose being in India I have to get used to being surrounded all of the time.
My new place has lots of room, a large bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom. IT’S ACE!

Day 8 (Mon)

2009-04-22T12:32:00.002+01:00

This day has been the worst so far. It was very hot in the night and I had about an hour sleep from having to empty and control my bowels constantly. I think the worst is yet to come. NICE! What made things worse was the thought of the evening’s entertainment and how I would cope. Raj says that this sort of stomach upset is to be expected and that I should just work through it. It’s a right pain though because I’m feeling so drained of energy and can’t focus on anything apart from my stomach.
Raj’s friend Clifford came over early this morning to meet me. I wasn’t really feeling up for meeting with anyone new at all, so I just put on a polite face and listened to him and asked to odd question. I’m making things sound really bad aren’t I? Sorry, they’re not really. I suppose I’m just feeling rotten. Clifford was a really nice guy and an assistant pastor at a local church. He is also an excellent singer and guitarist, which is ace!
I spent some time in the office doing...well...nothing really. All I wanted to do was go back to bed, so I fell asleep on the stone floor using my bag as a pillow.
Raj wanting me to help with the preparation and the cooking of the food for the evening, but I wasn’t feeling up to it at all and decided to try and get some sleep instead. I felt kind of guilty leaving him to do it all but I thought, preparing food and having diarrhoea doesn’t really mix.
I got about 2 hours sleep, being constantly however by Raj banging around in the kitchen. I’m beginning to feel like I need my own space.
When I awoke, Danesh was already here. Praveen, Shrini, Francis and Rajheev shortly followed. These guys are awesome and so full of life and great fellowship. I had a great laugh getting to know them and some of the stories they were coming out with still make me chuckle now even as I write this. Although they are all older than me, I still feel like they are still my age in a sense. It is so true what people say, ‘You’re only as old as you feel’. Well for these guys it really does show telling stories of their university days as if it were yesterday. AWESOME!
Raj asked me to play again and I didn’t mind. The guys were really receptive and appreciative and my playing sparked more banter and conversation.
Francis had invited me over to his place for dinner sometime. I really hope to connect with these guys even though they are older than me. Hopefully good relationships can be built

Day 7

2009-04-19T10:42:00.003+01:00

I woke up at 5.15am this morning ready to go to the Sunrise service at BBC.

Raj took ages to get ready so we were late for the service by 30 minutes and so missed most of the worship, which I was pretty gutted about. The service took place on the roof and because we were late we had to stand. I’m not complaining it’s just that I had an aching back from getting used to the hard bed. I don’t complain to Raj mind because that would just be rude and very un-British.

The preacher was a Kiwi called doctor Ian Pain and I found the content of the preach was really good, theoretically trying to disprove the resurrection of Jesus by closely examining the circumstance around the event, but I felt he lacked any dynamics and was very monotonous, elongating a lot of his words. Plus, all I was thinking about was my back. How unchristian of me!

There were two baptisms as well, which doesn’t seem much of a big thing here. I have found that no-one claps or rejoicing physically when someone decides to dedicate themselves to the Lord, something which we do a lot of back home.

After the service we had breakfast on the roof, which consisted of curry, again! All this spicy food is making me constipated I think, it was nice though and I ate my fare share. I’m getting a bit frustrated with people always offering me more and never taking, ‘No’ for an answer. Raj and Manoj says its part of the culture to feed their guests plenty and they find it rude when something is left.

I am so tired, but Raj insists on taking me to the local market where he would usually get his meat from. The people in and around the market are always trying to sell you things shouting, ‘Hello Sir!’, or something else in a different language.

Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery on the way to the market, otherwise I would be showing you all sorts of pictures of dead chicken and unclean beef just dangling for rusted shelves. I truly was quite disgusting and the smell was horrendous, especially in the fish market.

After the local market we walked to Commercial Street where the higher class shops were and where you would find branded clothes. The people in this part of town are also vastly different from the local market, wearing trendier clothes and spending more money. There aren’t any beggars either like in the market.

People begging is something which I have gotten used to very quickly, just saying, ‘No’ or giving them some sweets or maybe a couple of rupee (pence) just so they’re satisfied. It doesn’t really bother me, unless they follow you around and start prodding you.

I think the Lord is changing my heart to really start to care and be aware of true desperation. I think this is a big part of my trip; opening my eyes to the things unseen in the UK.

I came home and had a long knap whilst my clothes washed. We had lamb and chicken biriani for tea which Raj’s aunty had made for us; it was lush I might add. I think I’m getting the hang of just eating with your right hand. All I have to do now is learn to wipe my backside with my left hand only.

We planned to meet Steve, Raj’s friend, for some lemon tea, but on the way I decided I needed to go home due to terrible stomach pains. THAT’S RIGHT, DIARRHEA!!! I have a very restless night, having to try and control my bowels. I would go into the intimate details of everything, but I won’t. If you would like to know more about my diarrhoea trouble, please email me and I’ll tell you the whole story!

Day 6

2009-04-19T10:40:00.001+01:00

Saturday would usually be a day off here in India.

I caught an auto rickshaw to BBC, cost me 70 rupees. I think he ripped me off, but to be honest it would cost less than a pound in the UK so I wasn’t too bothered.

The worship practice went really well and I found my subconscious memory came in handy being able to pick up the chords to the songs really easily. Roshan, the young guy who would be leading the worship is a really good musician and singer and knows his way around the songs really well. We went through the song ‘Dive’, by Steve Curtis s Chapman, a song which I have liked for ages, but which I have never learnt. I went really well, although I think if I could get hold of an electric guitar to mess around with, that would be great.

I spent a lot of the day just chilling at Raj’s house due to being so tired. The damn heat just takes it out of you and my eyes are constantly heavy.

I took a stroll to a local store called, Thom’s. I don’t know why, I just felt like the walk. I suppose because the pace is so slow out here, I need to find things to fill my time.

I found a music shop that sold guitars, sitars and loads of things. I needed to restring the guitar Keith has given me to gove to Benson and I needed to buy a soft case for the guitar because apart from being white and associated heavily with wealth already, walking around with a posh hard case for the guitar makes me look like a pop star. The case and strings weren’t too expensive by UK standards; 150 rupee for the strings and 350 rupees for the case, so that’s just under £7.
So, I spent most f the afternoon restringing and tuning the guitar and just chilled out until Raj had come back from paying some bills. I find that going anywhere here is difficult unless you have a bike or want to pay for a rickshaw.

I think I’ve given Raj the impression that I am a master chef because he keeps telling everyone I am. This is a little frustrating because I said I can cook a bit and he takes it that I know everything about food. I suppose mentioning that my Mum is a trained chef didn’t help.
So, in the evening I taught Raj how to make homemade burgers with melted cheese in the middle of them. Manoj joined us for the meal and I think they liked it. Actually I think they were just being polite, but I loved it! I think Indians don’t like the food unless it is spicy, but being a Brit I can’t be eating spicy food all of the time.

After the meal we watched the movie, ’Seven Pounds’ (the new one with Will Smith in) and I found out that Raj and Manoj are really big softies, just like me. Well we all like to put up a front don’t we?

Day 5

2009-04-19T10:37:00.001+01:00

Went to Banaswadi Bible Church this morning for the Good Friday service.

It started at 9.30 and finished about 12pm. I was feeling very tried and found it hard to stay awake let alone concentrate on what was going on. The service was focussed on the body of Christ on the cross. Each cell group did a short presentation on the different parts of the body they were given.

- Crown of thorns
- Face
- Shoulders
- Back
- Side
- Hands
- Feet

The presentations involved things such as readings, songs, dramas and movement peices all of which were quite simple but it was good to see that all members of the church got involved from the youngest member to the eldest.

In between each presentation the pastor, Albert Davis, would lead the congregation in some scripture reading from John. I found this quite difficult because it was a sort of call and response thing and when reading with the rest of the congregation I found it hard to take in what I was reading.

I went to visit my new place where I was going to stay. It’s so much cooler than Raj’s place. It has a lot of space as well as my own fridge and shower facilities. The family who own the place have been struck with the tragedy of the father of the household dying suddenly, leaving a 15 year old son, a 14 year old daughter and a young widow in her mid 30’s. Raj says me staying there will be a blessing financially but also to the young lad who has just lost his dad. I don’t know what to think or feel about this situation or what it will be like.

Nandu took me up to main road later in the evening. The traffic is mad, there are so many people on the streets and vendors are also trying to sell you stuff even when you said ‘NO’ for the sixth time. I suppose it’s out of desperation and because I’m white they assume I have lots of money.

I wanted to buy a street map a Bangalore so I didn’t get lost and to have for a reference in case any rickshaw drivers were trying to rip me off. Nandu says some drivers will take advantage of tourists that don’t know their way around and just go round and round in circles. I’m adamant that I’m not going to be one of those tourists! Just let them try and rip me off!

Assistant blogger!

2009-04-19T10:33:00.001+01:00

Sorry it's taken so long to update the blog. Tim has moved house (from Raj's to another house) where he thinks he will be for the rest of his stay.

As consequence of this Tim has no interenet connection at the house and so it is going to be increasingly hard for him to update the blog and be in touch with people.

To try and help out I (Dave Hider) am going to take over posting items on Tim's blog and when he sends through content.

Day 4 09/04/2009

2009-04-15T09:02:00.000+01:00

- Woke up at 7am
- Read the word and prayed
- Showered and dressed
- Fell back to sleep until 9.30am
- Met Rachel, a youth worker at Vacation Bible School where I will be working
- Went to the office
- Raj, Barnabas, Nandu and I travelled over an hour on bikes to visit a posh part of town where we will doing an outdoor activity day for rich kids.
- Good facilities for Indian standards
- Came home and went out on my own.
- Came back to Raj’s
- Met Manoj, AWESOME GUY
- Went into town had lemon tea, some zulfi (frozen yogurt) and some lime juice
- Played songs and talked
Walking around Bangalore on my own at night was something I would never had done on the first night I got here. Now I feel more comfortable. I walked into a shoe shop and asked for size 14 sandals, to my surprise, they had some. He said they were real leather, although they didn’t look it, and that they cost 400 rupee (which is about £6). I said, ‘No thanks’ and he said, ‘Why? What happened?’ and I said, ‘because I don’t like them.’ I think he swore at me in Kennada, but I had already walked off by then, so more fool him.
It’s so flipping hard to cross the road because everyone is in such a rush to get places!
I found a Barista coffee shop and as soon as i walked in two young girls saw me and started giggling and nudging each other. I like to think that they found me strikingly handsome, but in reality they were probably just laughing at how funny I looked to them.
I haven’t seen another white person all night and feel a lot like a foreigner. However, everyone is really friendly and polite and I find that they don’t stare until they have passed you. Then they stop and turn around to watch you.
I’ve found another western thing; Pizza Hut! The menu is slightly adapted for Indian cuisine, but the principal is the same, just so much cheaper. I can get a regular pizza for around 70 rupee (less than a pound)! This is so reassuring just to find something I know, even though I am having a of trouble understanding the waitress.
By the way, I’d just like to say, ‘I can’t stop sweating!’ Being a hygiene freak, this is a problem for me. However I do fins reassurance in the fact that Raj and Nandu are also struggling in this 40 degrees onslaught.
Should I be drinking this much cold pepsi?
Manoj seems like a really cool guy. He said it was good to see that I was so open and relaxed to talk. He said most English keep to themselves and don’t talk like I do. I said it was probably because they were so overwhelmed by their surroundings and quite scared being in an unknown culture. He was brought up a Christian and said he didn’t know much about other religions and found them quite foolish because they worshipped things like monkeys, dogs and even penis’s! I asked him what it was like being a Christian in a place surrounded by so much religion and diversity. He said it was really hard because he’s constantly being challenged and also subjected to lots of scrutiny. Hmmmmmm.....
I played a lot of western songs to Manoj and Raj, which I think they really enjoyed. I even played a bit of ‘Take That’ which they loved. It was good to spend time chilling with them and share my passions and interests.

Day 3 08/04/09

2009-04-15T08:51:00.000+01:00

It’s hard finding time to update my blog all of the time because I seem to be so busy, but I’ll give it my best shot. Also I don’t have a lot of access to the internet out here.
I seem to have a lot of wind. I am farting all of the time and being British I always try and do it when no one is looking. I haven’t had an upset stomach yet, but must remember to buy some diarrhoea tablets just in case. Thought you might like to know.
I asked Barnabas to share his testimony today, but he said it was a very long story and that he would share it sometime in the future.
On the terrace he shared some testimony about his fiancé and not being able to get to the USA because he was cheated out of two months wages from an old job. He seems like he has had a very hard life, striving for purity. I think he was very upset about this but because it was dark I couldn’t really see. He needs 80,000 rupees to get to the US (£1000). I need to write his story down in full. I feel for him greatly.

Day 2

2009-04-13T11:09:00.000+01:00

I woke up at around 10.30am, having a very restless night. It is just too hot and I’m sweating from just lying still. I’m soaking through the sheet Raj gave me and the pillow is also full of sweat. I’m not used to the temperature at all. Had a shower and dressed in shorts and t-shirt. Even with the fans in the house (ceiling fans) it is still boiling and very humid.
Breakfast with Raj with was good. I’m not really a breakfast person usually getting up too late to have any. Raj is very hospitable and generous, plying me with much toast, scrambled eggs, tea and spicy sausages. I couldn’t eat too much but didn’t want Raj’s efforts to go to waste so tried to eat my fill. Tea is much the same as home, praise the Lord!
Two youths that Raj has connection with came to visit after breakfast, Andrew and Stanley. They seem nice enough. I’m not really a small talk kind of person, as with a lot of Brits, but I want to really make the effort over here. It was good to chat with them about what they do and their interests. Cricket and motorcycles was the main topics of conversation, both of which I nothing about.
Raj was very excited to show me his new motorbike, a Royal Enfield Bullet, and I have to say I was very impressed. It seems to be his pride and joy and I can tell he takes good care of it. It’s a really smooth ride and even without a helmet I still feel very safe. The traffic and the roads however, are absolutely manic. Not only are you contending with cars, buses and auto-rickshaws, but also with donkeys, cows, dogs and even people. Adding to that, there aren’t any lights at crossroads. Mayhem! It somehow seems to work though, with everyone always on the move. Hereford, your traffic problems seem negligible in comparison.
Arriving at the office, it was not what I expected. It was located in a back street of Bangalore just off the highway, on the ground floor of a three story building. I met Barnabas and Nandu for the first time. Barnabas is a man who is very devoted to praying, and he seems to have a lot of time for everyone. Nandu is one of Raj’s main climbing and activity instructors and seems like a very gentle and easy going person. He is 21 years old so I am hoping to connect with him well.
The prayer and worship was fantastic and very different to anything I’ve experienced in the UK. At home it seems that we don’t worship together if we don’t have access to a musical instrument. Here we cracked straight into worship, sitting on the floor. 4 men singing together in worship, without any apprehension or inhibitions, was really great to be a part of. We didn’t need words or microphones or instruments, just ourselves to sing in worship to God.
For a couple of hours afterwards I spent some time in the office just chilling and going on the Internet, whilst Nandu and Barnabas went to buy chicken and things for the BBQ, and whilst Raj thought of a recipe for the chicken. I’m already finding the pace of things here quite slow. It’s as if it takes a long time to do a little, but I suppose I have to see how it goes.
I met one of Raj’s teenagers from the church group called Kezi. She was really nice and interested in where I was from and why I was here. She taught me some typical phrases in Tamil (one of the local languages) and spent most of the afternoon laughing at me trying speak it. I didn’t mind though.
Barnabas and I went to a general store on the back of his motorbike, again the traffic is hell, but everyone seems used to it. The general convenience stores over here are much like ours, just much cheaper and surrounded by parked motorbikes and people begging.
I met up with the rest of the teenagers that Raj is sort of in charge of in Banaswadi Bible Church. They all seem pretty nice and well educated. It’s kind of hard starting relationships because they’re all so shy, but I just got talking anyway and showed an interest in them by asking loads of questions about themselves and answered any questions they had. They’re just normal kids really but with much more respect for their elders, unlike a lot of the kids in the UK.
Met a Hindu lady called Impa, who was really talkative and answered loads of my questions about the place. She also asked loads of questions, about me, the UK and what I was doing here. I was really open to answering and mentioned the fact that God was a big part of the plan. That is when I found out she was a Hindu, and I thought, ‘uh-oh, I’ve put my foot in it’ but she wasn’t troubled at all but just sort of changed the subject. She has offered to take me shopping on the main high street to show me some fine fabrics and materials and also to make sure I don’t get cheated. She explained that being white and British, people associated it with wealth and so knocks the prices of their goods up by 600%! CRAZY! So at least I won’t get cheated if Impa is with me.
Got home that night around 10pm and Raj and myself shared some of our testimonies and what God has done in our lives. It was god to hear this from Raj and I would’ve liked to have heard more, but I fell asleep on the roof terrace.....flipping jetlag eh?

Day 1 - 06/04/09

2009-04-08T08:02:00.001+01:00

I am too big for plane seats. Remember to go first class next time if it’s cheap enough. ‘Ben Hur’ is a very long film and very cheesy, good old English classics.
No problems with the baggage. I feel rude asking for things on board, but then again I have paid for the flight so why not take advantage of the privileges.
I sat next to a well dressed Indian guy. He was travelling back home to India after working 5 years in London. He did say what he did but I didn’t understand what he was saying and didn’t want to appear rude by asking him again. Now and again we made the odd comment to each other, ‘thank you’ mainly, passing food trays to and fro. I think my English was a little fast for him to understand.
Mumbai airport was very busy and there were probably only 3 white people in the whole airport.
Met a guy named Mohammed Rahjeev, from Chennai, who helped me through customs and told me how corrupt Indian airports used to be. He was a very pleasant fellow, but I couldn’t think of much to say, so I didn’t. I got the impression that the stewards thought I was impatient for asking whether I was in the right place or not. How was a supposed to know?
The plane to Bangalore was full of mosquito and just like a coach, but with wings. It was quite an uneventful flight.
Bangalore airport is very new. The Lady at customs let everyone else through apart from me. Ooo, suspicious looking white person. Fair enough though, I was wearing a baseball cap and a dark hoody.
Met with Raj, caught a taxi to his, and talked about his plans. My usual answers were things like, ‘Yeah, I’m up for anything Raj’, whilst positively crapping my pants and wishing I’d done more preparation for this trip.
I’m feeling very overwhelmed already and I’ve only just got here. Prayed to God for my protection and peace. I NEED HIM, PURE AND SIMPLE!
A word from Raj,
‘We are vastly different people from different cultures, but we have one thing that brings us together.....JESUS our Saviour!’ I’d just like to say a huge AMEN to that.
Really hot in Raj’s house, hard bed, didn’t sleep well.
Street dog’s everywhere!

2009-04-08T07:38:00.000+01:00

This is me, playing guitar, in the UK. I have brought a guitar over to India with me, in order to use it in the churches and activity camps. I intend to leave it in India anf give it to a guy called Benson who does a lot of work in orphanages and with kids from the slums. Hopefully it will be a great blessing to him.

Welcome

2009-04-08T07:23:00.000+01:00

Well, this is the first of many posts on my blog! This is the site where I will be letting everyone know what I will be getting up to in India. I really hope you find this interesting.