Goodbye and Thank you

The time has come. Its been one heck of an eye opening trip. The memories, the lessons, the experiences, the sights, sounds, smells, the highs and the lows, the good times and the tough times have been incredible.

The last few days i have been helping at Kathmandu International Study Centre (KISC) with their activity week. I was one of the helpers for the kindergartens and grade 1’s. they had 2 teachers amongst the 30 children, but they had a young female volunteer helping them as well. i was placed into there probs out of desperation as they needed more volunteers for that group. Being an international school all different cultures were present but all speaking english. The past few days have been me just journeying with them and getting to know them, as well as supporting the teachers so that they can hear about God and also have fun. I guess my years of helping out at beachmission has really helped as it seemed like a breeze. Perhaps im the only male with them, but they really took a liking to me. By the end of the day, they all had to sit on my lap, and using me as a pillow as the afternoon crept up. The Korean kids kept trying to work out if i was korean or not, and gave me the nickname Mr Jon-ni. Even the teachers and volunteer said that they all really took a liking to me and that i was really quick in getting to know them. i’ve even been invited to come back again hahaha. It was hard to say goodbye to hey. They would constantly come up and give hugs and grab my legs and jump on my back to give me a hug throughout the days. And it was hard not to return the love, but im sure policy says i cant, so i had to make sure they couldnt sit on me. And then it got me thinking about the Bible and it coming to life again. You see, i imagine it with us and Him. That we claw and grab and grasp onto Him, yet, he would never drive us away, he would never pry our hands off of his leg and tell us ‘no’. Actually he asks us to come to Him as children. Yet, taking that scenario further, as kids we do let go of him as we see something else catch our attention. But he doesnt leave us, he’s right there watching waiting for us to come back, or else, he grabs us and pulls us back to Him.

last night, i also got to be a bit of a tourist and walked around the squares to buy some souvenirs. i saw the main square, where the earthquake damage had really affected all the temples. What once stood a grandeur sight for sure, only just stood the foundation. But nepal is reviving. The markets are open and selling things. yet then there’s the gas and petrol shortages. People are cramming onto buses, cars, tempos (electric rickshaws) all trying to get home. i had fun climbing onto the roof of the bus, with my fellow bus buddies and we just sat there as the bus navigated through the peak hour traffic. It wasnt pleasant on our butts though as we were sitting in a luggage rack. i forgot to mention that i had the chance to ride a bicycle through the traffic as well. It gets the adrenaline pumping as you weave and dodge cars and buses and motorbikes and pedestrians and other cyclists. Yet it was still so much fun! 

Finally today as its my last day here in Nepal, i was taken to Boudha, an area where the 3rd largest Stoupa stands. This all relates to Buddhism, the kind the Dalai Lama is. This area is kinda like a temple or shrine. we looked into monasteries and monks were all there chanting, praying and then on the streets shopping too.

Nepal and India really give perspective to life. you dont realise how privilege u are, really you dont. and theres a good chance that im gonna forget it and go back to comfortable living conditions, while my fellow man struggles to get gas, petrol, food, or just to forge out a life. I watched a movie called '3 idiots' and man its a good movie. A movie that really hits you hard, and encourages you - to not chase money but to chase what you're passionate about. What mark am i gonna leave in this life? i hope its not one of just that i existed, that i lived the safest, most comfortable life. But one where i did something knowing the privileges that i have been given, the talents that i have been gifted with. Another movie i watched called 'kick' was about a guy who was the modern day robin hood, who did everything for 'kicks'. But the ultimate kick was he was doing it for the helpless children. I cant help but agree - there's something about the kids here on this side of the world that you cannot help but show compassion, drive and passion to help and support them. Not only with money, laughter, joy, love, support, a listening ear, a lap to sit on, a shoulder to sleep on, but also hope. 

Thank you india, thank you nepal. Its not so much a goodbye, but a see you again soon.  Thanks God for igniting the soul

Boudha

sitting on the rooftop of a bus, stuck in traffic, looking at the ppl standing outside the petrol station 

stuck in the streets as ppl line up for rationed petrol

Nepal part 2

I've been in the country now for 6 days and i've only a few more days to go. I had the chance to explore the city and to see the earthquake damage. I had first hand accounts from MaryLou and her husband Keith about the destructions of the earthquakes. It is really sad to hear and see the damage that has happened around the city. But in saying that, the Nepalese are a resilient bunch of people. its been 6 months now and alot has been cleaned up - especially for a developing country like this. But unfortunately, the tourists are still staying away. The fear of earthquakes has scared them off.

But we walked the tourist strips and observed how the city was going. It's still hustling and bustling with life. The city is returning to what it once was. I had a chance to see some beautiful architecture - huge squares where hindu temples and oriental buildings are emplaced, with just concrete tiles lining the ground. no grass, no greenery, just squares.

And thats the amazing thing about nepal, never have i seen it in india. Buildings built so close together, stacked so high, where people live and sell things. Yet walking through them, the create squares - squares of peacefulness where no traffic can go. Some squares did have greenery, they had parks and even public bathing areas. Actually i find that a bit of a contradictory. People (Especially women) cover themselves up, its a modest culture. Yet here are these public bathing areas in the middle of the public squares with women bathing themselves.

Tonight i had the pleasure of having dinner with the guy who's running YoungLife Nepal. Him and 2 american YL directors came to marylou's house for dinner and some good hangs, and they've been teaching him how to grow his ministry. we ate some traditional nepalese food, but to be honest, its just like the indian food i had for 3 months. How do you know if you've been in india for some time? Well, there was 7 of us around the table - everyone eating with knives and fork. after eating it for some time, the Hom (The nepalese YL guy) and i just looked at each other, and i said that i need to use my hands. He looked at me and said yeah he needs to as well. so there was just the 2 of us eating with our hands while everyone used cutlery, and it felt good haha. and we both knew it, we just looked at each other and smiled.

My time nepal is coming to an end soon. The rest of my time i'll be volunteering at an international school as its their activity week. Its my last time see mary lou as well as she is taking her students away on a trek for activity week. We'll say our goodbyes tomorrow, at 5am as she needs to catch a bus to Pokhara (a touristy trekking spot) with her school students.

The remnants of a tall spire and tourist attraction. 150 ppl died while being in this tower.

ppl wear masks because of the dust and smog

selling fabric

so many wires. and this is a very popular cafe called Himalaya Java. also this is where Keith was when the earthquake struck 6 months ago.

Nepal part 1

I left Bangalore and headed for the airport with Reem at 11pm on 25th Oct. She had a flight to Aus at 3am and i had a flight to Kolkata at 6am. We said our farewells at the airport and it was time to contort the body to get some sleep. Getting a few minutes sleep i made friends with some guy sitting next to me, waiting to fly back to Delhi. Its so interesting how everyone has a story, i swear airports are the best place to hear them. It was time to check in and again get some more sleep. 6am rolled around and it was time to board AirIndia to fly to Kolkata. I sat next to a man and a woman and their 2 year old boy. He was an adventurous boy, trying to feed me pomergranate as well as trying to take my butter. We soon just looked through the inflight magazine together and tested his english. It was time to get off, but i had the opportunity to chat to the ppl next to me. I found out they were brother and sister, and the boy was the sister's son. They were both Nepalese heading back home from India. We hopped off the plane and realised we were gonna sit next to each on our flight to Kathmandu. What an awesome thing it was, coz it turns out he was a top bloke. We chatted in Kolkata airport (a huge airport btw) to kill our 5 hr wait time. He was so friendly and he was willing to give me a sim card to use for the fortnight i was in Nepal. He was also wanting to show me around Nepal and gave me his number that "if was ever in trouble" he would drop everything and come help.

We sat in the lounge waiting to board our plane. i forgot to mention that there were so many americans at Kolkata airport. Everyone wondered why? Next minute, all of them came sitting in the same lounge, all waiting to board to Nepal. 2 of them sat next to me, so i needed ask. I found out that there were 54 college students all part of this thing called 'World Race'. 11 months, 11 countries - serving and helping out different ministries and organisations. They asked me about what i was doing, and i told them that i was visiting friends and that i was a part of YoungLife. that got really excited because a few of them are a part of younglife in the USA. Its always like that, once you're in younglife, you're a part of the family. So we hopped onto the plane and headed to Nepal. I got the window sit this time, so i got to see outside, but unfortunately, the window was all dirty and scratched. But that did not stop me from seeing the views that i saw. Over the PA the pilot announced details about our arrival time and then said that we can see the himalayas and Mt everest. saw i quickly looked out the window and there it was - a vista of snow covered mountains. A sight that i have never seen before. Mountain after mountain covered in snow. Clouds would cover the top but some mountains still peered ontop of the clouds. what a spectacular sight. How much more spectacular if the window wasnt so scratched haha. As we descended to land, my mate that i made friends with a few hours before said that he would help me with the airport, and that he would call my contact, Mary Lou, once i reached the airport. Im glad he did, because Kathmandu airport was crazy! so many foreigners, so many ppl not knowing what's going on or wot to do. I had to buy a visa, but i needed to go to a counter, who told me to go to a different counter, who told me to go to another counter to fill out a form and then bring it back. gosh, it was hectic. Once that was all complete i went down to the baggage collection area to collect my bag. Theres only 2 carousels in a tiny room, and like so many flights coming in, so u can imagine what the scene was like....ppl jammed together trying to get their trolleys through with no luck, it was total chaos haha. but thats eastern culture, theres no lines. I lost my friend but then i found him again, he was waiting for me the entire time with a trolley to pick up my luggage. he gave me his phone and told me to call Mary Lou, she was outside waiting for me in the masses of people. I said goodbye to my friend and caught a taxi with mary lou. They crazy thing is that theres no petrol here, so taxis were demanding exorbitant prices, but thats what happens when theres no petrol. the airport was gridlocked as taxis jammed in together, trying to find business to at least make a buck. We drove through the streets of Kathmandu to lines and lines of empty cars parked on the side of the road, and lines and lines of motorbikes on the other side. All of them were waiting for petrol. A devastating sight to see.

We finally rolled up to a small alleyway and headed towards the gate. I made it to Mary Lou's place - a little bit of paradise. I made it to nepal!

From Bangalore to beyond

Well, my time in India has come to an end. what started as tasting bittersweet, has actually kinda just been bitter now for the fact that im leaving this place. This last week, i had the chance to actually explore and meet different people and see their ministries. I had the chance of meeting Abraham, a pastor of a church and a colleague of my bible college lecturer. I also had the opportunity to meet Sharola, her husband Andrew and the Crossroads team. Although we are so far a part distance wise, we shared so many similarities in regards with YoungLife back at home. It was sad to go because i had the opportunity to meet some young boys and play soccer with them. What was sad was i found out they were living in the slums. Twice i've walked to their club house/centre from my place, i would have to walk the streets to under the overpass. The streets were lined with waste, exhaust and smog fumes, and then people selling produce. From there i would cross the railway tracks (filled with even more rubbish and debris, and guys urinating from the tracks) to get to the other side of the underpass, and from there i would reach the club house.....I was told these boys lived in the slums just alongside that railway track that i would cross. I spoke to their mentor, a 21 yo guy, who felt sympathy for them when he told me they live in the slums. Crossroads also work in 3 special schools, as well as other colleges. Man, it was good to hang out with these awesome guys. I could see the tiredness on people's faces though. That it must be exhausting doing this ministry, not having church support or people's support for that matter. And how great the need is out there, to reach so many youth, so many that people have forgotten or ignored. And i can empathise with them, i know the feeling. So it continues to niggle and gnaw at my brain...where am i meant to be? For i know that i have been given so many privileges back at home, i know i have skills and knowledge, as well as abilities that i can use here, that i can use to support people.

As i continue to reflect i continue to see the the bible come alive; parables and characteristics come alive. it happened only yesterday. As i walked to locate Crossroads and as i walked under the overpass, i saw a man cross-legged, asking for money, with his crutches to his side. He was unclean, unshaven, just dirty looking. The sad thing is, that once you see a person like this, it starts to be come uncomfortably normal. normal to the point where you just walk past them and ignore them. And thoughts go through your head as you reason with yourself as to why not to stop, why not to give them money, or buy them food, or just treat them like a human being. Yet, thats exactly who he is....he's a human being, someone who due to unfortunate life circumstances has ended up like this. Imagine if we swapped places, would he have stopped for me? So this is where the bible comes to life. This is where hope comes. That God himself would come to meet and to know people on the fringes, those who are marginalised like this man. Jesus would go to the lepers, the blind, the mute, the sinners - all of those who were ignored in society, like i ignore that man. And he would give them something that no one would have expected - life, hope, joy, purpose, a reason, God. I have so much to be thankful for, and the necessity to share that is so dire.

So as India wraps up, i now head to nepal. What will it bring, i have no idea. but its where im going, and so i continue to learn and grow. So till next time India, i'll see u again definitely, as i've only begun to get to know you, your beautiful people, your amazing opportunities, your awesome cultures and clothing, your ridiculous traffic rules, your picturesque sceneries and your tremendous memories. Thank you.

some of the crossroads volunteers

The boys playing soccer with some of the volunteers

the boys

blurry photo of the staff and volunteers

Reunion

Since coming back to Bangalore, it had always been on our mind to come back to SEDS to see people one last time before we headed off. And this weekend we got the opportunity. But as per usual things dont always go to plan, so you just have to say T.I.I and to just go with the flow.  We were meant to be there on friday, but instead we got there on Saturday night. We were meant to go for a reception, but the married couple are no where to be found.

Hopping out of the car into the SEDS campus, i noticed someone coming towards me. it was dark but i caught a silhouette of a figure marching towards me ever so quickly. it was shivaji in all his playfulness and excitedness to see me. and i with him. We laughed as we met and high ten’d each other and then we sprinted down the long drive way to find the other boys. It was wen we were about three quarters of the way when figures started sprinting towards me. It was the rest of the boys. We all ran together laughing, full of joy, full of energy as we hadnt seen each other for 2 weeks. we couldnt stop hugging and laughing!! my what a feeling. the feeling of a reunion. the feeling of a familiar face. Reminds me of the dad in the lost son parable. The joy, the happiness, the absolute elation of seeing them again. The un-care for anything else right now but for the moment. They kept commenting on my haircut that i got from bangalore which only cost me $2AUD. They showed me everything they had done since i had left. It was so good to see them again. There’s just a joy that resonates in the heart as i remember this spectacular moment. 

Ecoscape + Bangalore

Ecoscape is a tourist place situated in the Nilgiris district, a mountain/hill range that connects 3 states. It was here where our study tour as a whole group would occur together for the next few days. A time of leisure, reflecting on our placements, and our time in india. Ecoscape is situated deep into the forest and the hills of tea gardens, which is owned by the Adivasi people. Similarly to the Aboriginals, the Adivasi people are tribal people who lived in the hills and land. However, people from other regions came in and not knowing their rights (or even about rights for that matter) they had their land taken away by rich people and businesses. So ACCORD (the NGO that my two colleagues worked at) is all about social justice for the tribal people - to get them their rights. Ecoscape is situated on 140acres owned by the Adivasi people, which Accord helped them attain. thats the connection.

We traversed down the hills to get to ecoscape, just being in awe of the surroundings. Tea garden after tea garden, greenery after greenery. It was so different to the india i knew for the past 2 1/2months. We kept walking down and saw women plucking leaves and placing them in oversized bags, placing them on their head and then walking them up the hill. And the bags are heavy….i found a half filled one and lifted it and it was not light! Makes you think twice about the effort it goes into making the tea that i drink.

We kept trekking down the hill until we finally made our destination, a little hidden resort in the hills. it was such a good sight. We were treated to chai and snacks, shown our rooms and just chilled in the afternoon. we were told that wild elephants had been spotted not far from us. This was a good thing but also a bad thing. Good in that sweet, we get a chance to see wild elephants, but bad because they can be quite aggressive if anything gets in their pathway and have been known to come to Ecoscape. We grabbed our gear and went on an elephant hunt. But in fact, it was us being hunted - hunted by those damn leeches! These blood sucking parasites would cling to your shoes, your socks and work their way onto your skin. they were the hardest thing to pull off. and can leave a nasty sting and draw blood if left on too long - but thats even if u notice as they inject some numbing poison into you. the trick to getting rid of them is (of course salt, but if u dont have salt....) pulling them off, and rolling them in a ball (As you would do with snot :) ) and then just flicking it….lucky ive had a lot of practice with that…jks.

We couldnt find the elephants but we found a stream, and were told that the elephants had crossed the stream onto the otherside. So we walked back to our accommodation with the sounds of elephants regularly trumpeting in the background. my my my what a sound. It was nightfall and we had dinner and played some Carrom - that game where you flick the discs into the hole. Luckily ive had some good practice with the boys here at SEDS. At night, we starred into the darkness of the Nilgiris. Fireflies would light up the night, with the sound of elephants, cicadas and frogs at night. What a sight, what a sound. The ambience of the atmosphere was spectacular. 

It was the next morning and i woke up early to see if i could see any elephants (We were told that dusk and dawn is when elephants do alot of walking). I went up to the kitchen where all the staff were and one guy quickly found me and said he saw elephants. So Shateesh and i went looking for elephants. But we couldnt find any. Breakfast was still being prepped and another staff member, ramesh, said to lets go find elephants so Megan and i were keen as a bean. we followed him through the jungle…….And there we saw it. Elephants. Wild Indian Elephants. we counted 11 in this herd. it was an amazing sight - elephants just grazing 40-50m away from us. We grabbed the rest of the group, and we all just watched silently. 20-30mins we were just about to leave when we saw them mating, or as our supervisor put it ‘sexing’. bahaha. One staff member chuckled as he said ‘mystery solved’ as to why the elephants were trumpetting so much yesterday afternoon and evening. 

later on in the afternoon, some of us made a trek which would take us across the border into the next state of Kerala. It was pouring down rain but the good thing about the hills is that the clouds move so quickly so the weather can change instantly. We started walking and every so often trying to get the leeches off of our shoes. i had a pesky one climb all the way up to the inside of my pants and onto the back of my thigh. Sneaky things. We trekked for a few kms crossing small waterfalls and being immersed in the clouds as they would roll past us. And then we made it to an abandoned house. This house provided the best spot to look at the nilgiris and to see all the trees in the surrounding hills. clouds would be strewn all across the mountain top. such a pretty and awesome sight! i’ve never experienced anything like it. It was getting dark so we headed back but we noticed the trail of destruction some elephants had caused along the way. trees would be ripped and branches pulled down just to get some fruit off a tree. its pretty funny actually.

That night we played a game of charades after dinner, but we had to end the game early and were told to go to bed, as sounds were heard in the dark. The staff though it couldve been elephants so he locked us in the safest place, our rooms. 

Our time had come to an end at Ecoscape the next morning as we packed our stuff and headed back to Gudalur, where Accord is. We stayed one more night at Gudalur and allowed our friends to say goodbye to their mates on their placement. its always such a big thing, to have time to say goodbye. We invest so much time and efforts with the people we meet at our placements that we need to make time to say goodbye to them. thats something i’ve found out recently.

We had the opportunity to have breakfast with Stan and Marie, the founders of ACCORD. again much like the founders of my placement at SEDS, and another placement called TIMBAKTU, there’s this vision, this desire, this belief, or this injustice that just fuels them to give up everything, to sacrifice and to just do it, even if people think they are crazy. 

So we hopped into the minibus (The one that broke down in bangalore…it got fixed and he drove up to meet us during the week), and we headed back to bangalore…..yet the bad run of vehicles breaking down didnt stop there. We were driving through the national forest and as you would have guessed, the vehicle broke down again. This is india. iT broke down where the signs said dont hop out because there are tigers around. haha but we had to, to try and fix the car. But as i have said before, things just always work out….there was a bus that was passing by and it was headed to bangalore. So we took a bus home :) and minimal people were on it, so we could stretch out and sleep we headed home to bangalore. 

We’ve now been in bangalore for a week. How we started the indian trip is how we’ve ending it. 7 of us in one house, having community over meal times, getting to know each other, getting to know the city and just doing assignments etc. Yet, the city has not become overwhelming anymore. infact, i walk the streets and i feel like i’ve been here for a longtime like i’ve live here or something like that. we go out and have coffee and we can barter with autorickshaw drivers now. We go on walks at night and have even checked out the night scene/life of bangalore. And thats where you see the other side, the other culture of bangalore. I feel like i’ve experienced, seen and tasted so much of india, yet theres still so more to see and do.

Gudalur

After arriving to bangalore for a few days, it was time to head off for a 6hour drive to meet our other 2 colleagues. Augustine, our supervisor, had organised it so the 5 of us would spend a few days with our colleagues at their NGO, and then we were to do a study tour - of learning and leisure as Augustine put it - where we were to just relax and enjoy india.

But of course, our run of unluckiness with vehicles had to continue. We were in Bangalore in our hired minivan when it had to breakdown in the middle of the CBD. People are starting to realise im a bad omen wen it comes to vehicles since ive been in 2 or 3 car issues now. But hey, everything just works out, it always does. I promise you - if something happens the best outcome will always occur. one just needs to trust Him. 

So in typical fashion we were given a new car, a van to be exact, with all of us jammed pack in the back with our luggage on the way to meet our friends. I was so super excited as i hadnt seen them in over 2 1/2months. We drove and stopped every so often (As we all have weak bladders) and we entered a big city called Mysore. Here, we had the opportunity to drive past the Mysore Palace where the royal family lives. Much like the English royal family, they hold no power but are of a prestigious reputation, thus people respect them etc. From what we could see the palace was big, and the architecture was amazing. We were told that a festival would be held here soon where elephants and others would parade through the palace to celebrate. 

We continued our drive and entered the National Park. Many signs were about saying that there were tigers about so we had to stay inside the car at all times, as we made our way to Gudalur, a city on a hill essentially. As we made our way through the winding roads we caught sight of wildlife such as wild boars, spotted deers, peacocks and domesticated elephants. It was such a different environment to what I had been used to for the past 2 1/2 months. I was used to arid, rural, deserty plains, or else the chaotic concrete jungle of bangalore. Yet as we progress to my friends we were driving through lush forests, cool breezes, crisp cold air and overcast weather. Thats the amazing thing about india: the sceneries vary, theres diversity and uniqueness. 

So we drove towards Gudalur and it was here where we saw tea being grown. Gudalur is at the perfect elevation to grow tea. Tea estates would surround this hilly town, or hill station as they call it. What a beautiful sight, just perfectly aligned tea plants growing all across the hills. And at the top of the hill, a city. such an impressive sight. We continued a little further from our 6 hr drive and we finally made it to Accord, the NGO where our friends were staying at. It was so so so good to see them again! to hear how they were going and to catch up. We had dinner together and then we had to call it a night as our study tour was just about to begin. 

Back to Bangalore

We'll we're back in the hustle and bustle of the big city, Bangalore. The streets are filled with vehicles at a speedy pace. The air smells of smog and the sound of busyness rings throughout the atmosphere. We have been welcomed back to the land of fast and constant internet to connect us to the world but to also distract us as well. We've been treated to hot constant flow of water from the showerheads. We have the luxury of big rooms and comfy beds and a washing machine to clean our clothes. Auto rickshaws line the streets as we walk 40metres to take us to the shops to buy whatever we want. We have tv here and cable so there's movies and series to watch at a flick of a button. We've come back to the first world (i guess you could say). Yet, something just feels a bit off.

There's no more beautiful sights of hills, agriculture, crops and nature. There's no more sounds of insects, of cattle, of the farmer trying to get his buffalo to move or the shepherd herding his/her goats. Theres no more smell of the clean and pristine air that we grew to love in the last 2 months. We dont have staff or the family, the boys or the school to occupy us - to make us feel like we are making a difference. i miss that place.

But we need to carry on. Tomorrow, we head off to the state of Tamil Nadu to an NGO called ACCORD. Here our other 2 colleagues are there, so we are spending a few nights with them, observing and learning what social impacts and what social work is doing there.

My time at SEDS and with alot of reflecting that i do (personally and for assignments) i ask myself what have i learn about social work here in India, and specifically in the rural areas. Social work focusses on 3 things; advocacy, human rights and social justice. Social work is the point where people and their environment interact. As one of my lecturer said 'everyone has rights, just some need help getting them'. I've learnt alot about myself (and u need to know about urself and your values as a social worker) the past 2 months. I learnt that i value education, i value human rights (the marginalised, the ostracised, the ppl on the fringe i love to support), i value the youth, i value culture and learning, i value that people are the experts of their environments and not me, I value getting people to reach their full capacity and to create outlets for people to showcase their talents, i value the rights of human beings (that everyone has hopes, fears, feelings, dreams, aspirations no matter who you are), i value social capital (that people can build a network of trust and support for each other), i value empowerment, i value social justice - that society is just for all and i value respect, and advocacy - that if someone is voiceless then i will be that voice and that i will lead so that others will follow to get their rights.

What a crazy 2 months its been! Thanks God for the opportunity. Now where to go from here is the question. i'll leave it in His hands :)

goodbye SEDS

Time to say goodbye

people checking out the photos i've collated over the 2 months here. probs one of my favourite photos.

Well its that dreaded time this week: its my time to say goodbye as we prep to leave SEDS on Saturday morning.

My lecturer asked me over the phone through our fortnightly conversations, "do you find it hard to say goodbye?" Immediately i answered "no", but the more i reflect on it, maybe i do. you see we went to the school on Monday morning to officially say goodbye during assembly. I had purchased a cricket bat in bangalore 2 months back and i wanted to give it to the school as a gift and a token of our gratitude for the way they've welcomed us. As the headmaster called cait and i to the front, Cait spoke first and then it was my turn. After speaking for some time i had to bite my tongue as a flood of words kept coming out - there was so much i wanted to say to the students and teachers, so much i wanted to encourage them and thank them for and just to tell them how much each and everyone of them will be missed. Even though i used quite alot of difficult english words i knew that everyone knew what i meant. A funny thing was that when i gave the bat to the school, the headmaster called Hasha, the smallest child of the school (who's in Lower Kindergarten) to come hold the bat while the school sang the national anthem. The bat is almost bigger than him. And he didnt realise that the bat was for the school, he thought it was all for him, so he would cradle and cuddle it haha.

The staff, children and people on campus have been so nice to us - how big their hearts are. it was cait's birthday yesterday (30th Sept) and so we went to the school assembly once again. They brought cait to the front and sang her happy birthday (all 3 verses of it) and all the children made her birthday cards. so many of them thanked her for the arts and craft she had completed with them. Ro, Rash, Jess and I have been cooking her brekkie and lunch and the girls also made her a cake. She might not be able to celebrate her birthday with her family, but she is family here so we celebrated it with her.

There's a guy here who i've made good friends with. he normally goes home every day but for some reason he's been living on campus. I asked him why hasnt he gone back to his village. his reply "because i want to say goodbye to you when you leave." How heartwarming it was to hear that. How nice and accepting people are here. So with the rest of my time, ive just been trying to hang with people one last night and say my goodbyes. my lecturer is right, i do find it hard to say goodbye. hard to say goodbye to people ive spent, ive grown with, ive laughed with, ive chatted with over the last 2 months.

one last surprise came last night which just made me jump with so much joy - Roja came back!!!! i was just sitting outside the dining room and then i heard her voice and i turn around and i see it - i see the great smile and joking sense of humour again! she came back with her husband and uncle and they are living on campus. You can just see the joy on her face! oh it must be good to be back home. So i ask myself - am

hanging with the boys at the fishing pond

singing of the national anthem. hasha and the bat

i missing home? and i think the answer is, im missing ppl more than the tangible things of home but there are bigger and better things that still need to be seen, experienced and accomplished here.

'Happy Birthday Coco' says the cake as the icing melted while piping it

The day of the wedding

its been a while since i blogged. alot of things have happened but to be honest they are things i can tell you easily and are not really blog worthy. i could tell you about how i went to chennai (about 6hr drive) to a music and surf festival on the beach. I could tell you how i had my first experiences with dealing with someone who has bipolar. I could tell you about how i went to Auroville - a self sustaining suburb (which has a cult-like feel). I could tell you about how our car broke down on the highway and that we needed to be towed all the way home making the drive back to bangalore over 14hrs. I could tell you how i and the 2 other volunteers here have this stomach bug for a few days now and that we all fight for the toilet. But no, this blog is going to be a bit different. You see, a blog is meant to be a place where you just pour out; a place where you pour out thoughts, feelings, emotions etc. I dont know if i’ve done a good job of that of late but this one i just need to write down as a blog to get it out of my head. This blog is all about what i observed at a particular event - and as my social work lecturer taught me thats the role of a social worker - to ask questions.

This blog is about me attending the wedding of roja and Krishna. Roja is a 19yo girl who works and lives here. She has such a bubbly personality, a great smile, always happy and a hard worker. Many a times we would chat or she would teach me how to cook or teach me telugu, and she’s always smiling and laughing (whether at me or with me im not too sure). She even recently would hide behind the kitchen door and scare us as we walked through. 

Yet, today was Roja's wedding day. A big day and a dream come true for all people im sure. Yet, this just didnt seem to be the case today. What happened to that sweet young girl with her ever- glistening smile and joy that shone from her presence? it just seemed to have disappeared today. You see, Roja's marriage was an arranged marriage. She met her husband 3 times before marrying him. He is 10 years older than her and i dont think they’ve actually talked to each other before - his family were interviewing her when i saw them together once. 

We drove 2 and half hours from home to see the wedding ceremony (which we missed because of our lateness in leaving, but we still got to be involved in the hindu blessing rituals) and in my mind i pictured young Roja to be so happy, this was her big day. But all i saw was something like sadness in her eyes, almost like she was lost. There was no smile, no happiness, just a girl standing there with her husband being mobbed with much aesthetic materials from all the people surrounding them. 

And so i thought to myself maybe its just me thinking these thoughts so i raised them at the dinner table tonight, but no, i wasnt alone, others felt it too. You could just see it in her eyes today that something wasnt right. Cait raised a good possibility that perhaps its because the dream has finally become a reality, and that the dream looked better. In addition i have other reasons; 1. that we were so far from home that she felt like an alien in the crowd - her home and family is here. Yet, my second thinking is that reality has hit her that she is no longer a teenager but an adult, a wife. See, the moments i interacted with her, she was a teenager - she would scare us, she would laugh and she would always interact with her adopted brothers here (she would punch them etc). Yet i think as Cait said reality has kicked in and she is no longer a teenager. She now has a husband - who she probs doesnt even know, and she has to take care of him. And who knows, the guy might be a great guy, i dont know. Seems to be a track record here of men leaving women here however. But this i do know, that Roja is a sweet young girl - always laughing, smiling, always cheerful, yet, something just didnt seem right today and it truly breaks my heart.

For He is good for His steadfast love endures forever

Apologies for the late blog - we didnt have internet for 4 days straight and the feeling of realising that theres life outside of internet has hit me, so i havent been on the laptop as much.

On Sunday 30/8 Ronny and I drove for about 30mins to a biggish village call Madakasira - its a village below a hill. Yet on this hill contains so much history - it was a fort and a summer palace for a king and queen and then the british rebuilt some of the fort as well. So we climbed the hills to the fort. It took about 1 1/2hrs to climb but it was so worth it. Such breathtaking views at every angle - the village was below us yet in the surrounding areas were sights of green crops and further still the hill ranges and ontop of each hill you can seen other forts and outposts. it almost felt like we were taken back centuries ago just staring into the horizon and pointing at hills saying ‘i want to build a fort on this hill and that hill’. It was amazing - something i’ve never experienced before. 

We were so buggered when we came home so we had a relaxing afternoon. I hung with the boys at the fishing pond which was awesome. We fished for a bit, but then we just played games - we built a human pyramid, and then i taught them leapfrog, and some other things - seeing if they can lick their elbows (u cant), asking them to stand up while sitting back to back with their arms interlinked, wheelbarrow races, touching our noses with our tongues, rolling our tongues, speaking in different accents, playing this game called ‘honey if you love me' we even did Heel and Toe. It was so much fun - something so simple for me yet great fun for them. 

On monday my fellow students at another NGO called Timbaktu came for the day. We got to hang out which was good fun. Secretly they came for the food because i kept telling them how good Manil's cooking was…..we had spaghetti for dinner which they munched down….bit of a dilemma for the girls though is that 2 of them are vegetarians….i should say ‘were’ because they smashed down that spaghetti. bahahaha. they spontaneously stayed overnight and stayed for another day - this time we had laksa for lunch - delicious….you know its a good meal when there’s silence in the dining hall because everyone is too busy eating.

 Im a guy who if i visualise something or have a project in mind then im gonna stick to it and see its done….thats y i dont do much because if i start it then i have to finish it haha. so the next 4 days have been me in my in project mode. I am the librarian at the school. As an observer i noticed that no one was using the library - why? because the shelves were just stacked everywhere - no one knew what books were there. So my ocd kicked in and it was my goal to revitalise the library. I spoke to the boys about it and wanted them to catch the idea so that they would contribute, they would invest, and they would take ownership of THEIR library. they caught the vision and they said they wanted to paint the shelves as well. this was so awesome for me becuase i wanted to find outlets for their creativity as the school is heavily academic. So we spent 4 days in the library just redoing it and resorting all the books. i found books in japanese, german, dutch - there were some reader’s digest magazines dated from the early 2000s. We finished the library and it looks amazing. well done to everyone who helped. The joy of hearing children say ‘wow! the library is so clean’ and actually taking interest in browsing the sorted books (the spines of all the books are now showing, with the faces of some of the books actually facing the person browsing). i have to thank koorong for giving me ideas of how to present books on shelves. The borrowing system has now been reinstated and the first book that was borrowed out was by a teacher and it was a book in Telugu entitled ‘who is Jesus Christ?’. Not having any influence in his decision making, im very interested as to why he picked that book. 2 other girls were so excited to borrow out books that the principal said to me ‘did u hear they joy when they borrowed those books?’

On Friday we celebrated Teacher’s Day. It was a day where students would celebrate their teachers. And they had a surprise for all of us. the students took all the teachers (myself included even though i explained to them im not a teacher, im a librarian) to the classroom where they began popping balloons that were filled with glitter, with a cake as the centrepiece in the room and on the blackboard ‘happy Teacher’s Day to all’. It was such a surprise because no teacher knew it was coming. obviously the teachers here have made such an impact on the students. During the consumption of the cake it had to of course turn into a food fight. i came out second best - cake was all in my hair and ear. We went to the taps to wash it off when it then turned into a water fight. i only had hands but the teachers had bowls of water to launch at me - so again i came out second best. 

The rains have arrived so now that each day its hot but int he afternoon the storm clouds come rolling in. on wednesday afternoon tuition was called off because the sky was black. So what did we do? well, we played soccer instead. The pitch was dirt and so wen the torrential downpour hit, the pitch turned into mud. It was the best fun ever. everyone was just laughing and trying not to slip. i scored twice and like every soccer player i needed to celebrate somehow. so i found a pool of water and skidded across it on my body. i expected to slide maybe a metre or two but it seems like i only slid may 20cm - obviously there was more dirt than water in that puddle. But the joy that comes from just hearing constant laughter. 

Lastly we found out that Cait is coming back on Saturday. it’ll be such a joy to have her back.

India has been such a great experience and i feel that Zim and Thai has defs prepared me for this place. you cannot help but love these kids and people here and thats what i cannot help but do - just constantly love, and show compassion, and support them in any and every way. As Augustine my social work supervisor said - ‘social work is just compassion and common sense’. and as one missionary said ‘you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving’.

i’ve entitled this blog from a verse in the bible that i recently read. i think its relevant and fitting that He is good and he is loving.

The rollercoaster called 'life'

The past few days i've been teaching at the SEDS school. What was meant to be me teaching PE and being the librarian has lead me to become a Hindi, Telugu, Science, Maths and Arts and Craft teacher haha. There's alot of books here in the library, but alot of them are 4th hand maybe 5th hand - hand me downs. Theres a collection of readers digest from 2007.....no kid is going to read it. So im determined and my ocd has come out to sort out every single book so the kids actually want to come into the library and read books - books which are actually suitable for them. we also going to trial a borrowing system where kids can take books home to read to encourage reading english, but we'll see how that goes.

I've entitled this blog 'the rollercoaster called 'life'', as life is unpredictable and you just have to journey with it. The above paragraph gave a glimpse of how things are just unpredictable. there are highs and lows. We went and visited my fellow colleagues at their placement just randomly a few days ago. it was so so so good to see them, even though we didnt get to talk privately much and actually ask how they are going, but all in all it was so so good. We hadnt seen each other for over a month. It was good to compare our placements and hear what theyve been up to, where they're staying etc. we always have to compare food and internet capabilities haha.

But a low has happened only recently. My colleague Cait has left back to brisbane as she was called home due to a family emergency. Her dad's health isnt good. I've been supporting her as much as i could during our month here, but reality had struck when she needed to go home. It was very sad to say goodbye to her....everyone at SEDS misses her, even the students as she introduced chatterboxes to the kids for arts and crafts and they went mental for them. She also did crosswords with manil and that really helped destress manil and gave her some leisure time. Even tonight manil said she couldnt do the crosswords. its really hit us hard. SEDS is like family and now one of the family has temporarily gone home. But we know she'll be back, she wants to come back. They've even left her room the same for her wen she gets back. We chatted about cait over the dinner table and then the pain of what the founding family of SEDS has been through came out. The amount of pain, ordeal, anger, frustration, confusion etc here is just incredible, i truly have never experienced anything like it. Yet, some crazy reason thats why i feel that i am here and my role here, to be a listening ear and perhaps something more.



Just an update: Cait's father passed away before she could arrive to see him. Prayers for the family and her would be appreciated. we all share in her grief here at seds

It was a dark and stormy night

It was a dark and stormy night....but let me go back a few hours before hand. It was 5:30pm when Rohith (son of Rajen and manil), Ronny, 9 of the boys here and myself decided to check out Nikhara Fort. Nikhara Fort is 510 acres of private land owned by some rich people. The entrance of the area is shaped like a medieval castle/fort/moat. This place wasnt opened to the public but Rohith has a way of convincing people, so we were let in. The reason we wanted to go here was because Rohith's father built something like a small dam in this area 15 years ago. It did alot for this area, but now the land is privately used, so its almost like they've been robbed - they built something for the people and now its owned by private ppl from an area who dont even know let alone even care about what he's done.

So, we signed our car in and then we drove around Nikhara Fort to the head office ( u cant drive around here cause its private so we had to pretend we were here for business). on our drive we looked around and saw that the land was filled with crops with really good irrigation. Another words, these ppl were rich. We drove to the head office, which was about a 3 story building - nice fancy garden, glass doors, marble floor, formal furnishing....this place was mega rich. we pretended to be businessmen and found out these guys were selling plots of land to wealthy investors so they can build holiday homes. i think their target was city dwellers who wanted to build a home so they can spend some time in the rural parts of india. after some discussion, we asked if we could explore and so we did. we hopped in the jeep with all the boys and drove around. this place was huge!!!! u would not believe it. it was almost like a suburb of its own. We drove to the back parts of the land and thats where we found Rajen's masterpiece - the dam he built 15 years ago. it was tucked away in the back of the 510 acres, out of sight out of mind. almost a piece of history just forgotten about. you could see it frustrated some of the ppl.

it was about 6:30pm when we decided we needed to leave as dark clouds were coming in - the previous days were 37-40 degrees max, so the rains were gonna be hard. We started driving back on the dirt roads and then the rains fell - thick, hard and fast. it was torrential. It was so bad that the boys pointed out that it was hailing as well. We were driving in the now muddy road trying to find our way out (as we drove so far down) quite quickly becuase ronny had a flight to catch in 5 hours time, that we realised were lost. the dirt roads had turned to slush and we couldnt find the route. it was then that we made the mistake of driving down an embankment (probs about 60cm) and our jeep rolled on its side. all 12 of us were tossed to the left side of the car. i had to prop myself against the roof so i didnt crush the 3 young boys sitting next to me. After taking a few seconds to realise what had just happened, we realised a miracle occurred, no one was injured. no windows had broken and no one had smashed into the sides so we were alright.

We were now all standing in the car and we needed help, but we had no phone reception. It was decided we had to walk. but u need to picture this - it is pitch black (u cant even see ur arm infront of you) with torrential rain pouring down, with no phone reception. Here's another miracle - constant lightning strikes lit up the sky for us to just see where to put our feet. So with this on our side we just decided to walk towards a light. we couldnt see anything for a maybe 10mins, not knowing which way to walk, when we saw a glow in the distance. Cutting through farming land, slushy mud, and thorns we aimed for the light. what a miracle that this light happened to be where the main office was in the distance. After about an hour of walking we reached the light and then headed for the entrance of the fort, where we were hoping a jeep from seds would come pick us up as we had got phone reception (Btw, we had to wrap our phones in plastic bags so it was quite hard to use haha). We met security at the front gate and told them what happened. Its pretty funny in that we signed in with a jeep, and now were leaving without a jeep. He told us we had probs walked about 2-3km. felt like forever, having to trudge through mud.

So we were waiting for the jeep at the entrance to rescue us, with some of the kids shivering, when we got the news that the jeeps couldnt rescue us. u see, theres road constructions happening and the roads were flooded. no one could rescue us. so, we decided we need to walk back home. It was then the rains halted, but then poured again. It would have been a funny sight, but there was us, all 12 of us, walking on the pitch black road in the middle of a storm. ppl would have thought we were crazy. yet it was one of the greatest experiences ever. the absolute pitch blackness and just walking and then some jogging as a group was such fun and such good bonding for all of us. no one panicked or complained, but we were just laughing and joking. i couldnt stop smiling and laughing about how funny the situation was. Every now and then lightning bolts the ground in the distance....that was one of my concerns, but my main concern was some wild animal attacking us, because a leopard was spotted around the area just a few months back.

As we were walking a motorbike pulled up and could take 2 ppl back to SEDS....we found out he was actually the father of one of the students who went to seds school. Ronny and a young boy went back because he had a flight to catch. so the rest of us continued to walk for an hour or so. again it was good fun! thankfully a car pulled up and we could fit in. he drove us for about 2km to where the road construction had flooded. here, lorries, buses and cars and blockaded both sides of the road as no one could cross. it almost felt like we were in a apocalyptic movie - rain was pouring, lightning flashing and cars and people just in pandemonium. what a spectacle. we navigated around the construction and continued walking (theres no street lights here). we walked another km or so when finally the jeep had come to pick us up. we discovered the another jeep was sent but went via a different to pick us up. what a miracle this night was. anything that couldve gone wrong didnt. anything that couldve went right did. what a miracle.

we went to investigate the damage the next day. we had to explain to the manager we got lost in the mud haha. we retraced our steps and we found the jeep. we discovered that we drove down into a small river, and we were surrounded by mud. we wouldnt have any chance of getting out that previous night. we also put the trip meter on and discovered that altogether, we walked around 6 km that night. the car that drove us, drove us for 2km. All in all what a couple of days. so many miracles, so many stories. we cant stop laughing and saying how lucky we are. seriously though, no one got injured and we made it home. someone's looking out for us.

storm clouds are coming to Nikhara fort

us reaching the fort entrance after walking 2km in the torrential rain and storm

the aftermath

P.S. in case u were wondering (and i know u are), where do farmers go to do their number 2s? Answer: in the fields...i know, cause i accidentally startled one on my morning walk.

Independence Day (not the American one, or the movie with Will Smith)

So its Independence Day in India. i've attached a blog which i wrote on behalf of SEDS describing the day. Enjoy!

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August 15^th is Independence Day for Indians all across the nation. On this day, India was declared independent from their British occupants. It was just last week that we joined in unity with Indians around the country by celebrating the 69^th Independence Day here at SEDS. After a week of practicing, choreographing and rehearsing, the students and teachers here at the school displayed a colourful, vibrant performance to the Joshua family, staff and guests as to what Independence Day meant to them.

The day began with students, teachers, staff and guests dressed in school uniforms and other bright and colourful traditional Indian attire, respectively, standing waiting for our chief guest, Ronny Smet, to arrive. As chief guest, Ronny gave his speech to the crowds reminding them of the past, the present and the hope-filled future for independent India. Jai Hind! Afterwards, the national anthem was sung as the tri-coloured flag was unfurled for all to see.

We all moved towards the marquee, where the stage was set for the students and teachers to present their performances that they’d been working hard on for the past week. As we took our seats under the welcomed shade out of the hot sun, the program began with a ‘welcome’ song from the children. The program continued with a dazzling display of Indian dancing from the students, comedic skits and dramas, a chorus of songs as well as speeches from teachers and students highlighting what Independence Day meant to them. All in all the SEDS school displayed their creativity and skills, their gifts and talents, their confidence in speaking English and ultimately their vibrancy of being Indian to the audience.

At the closure of the program, it was now time for the sports carnival/day to begin. Here the students showed off their athletic prowess in events such as long jump, running races, volleyball and musical chairs. Students were divided into their classes and competed with each other for prizes such as chocolates, lunchboxes and other assorted items.

As it is my first time in India and my first Independence Day celebration, it was such a privilege, pleasure and joy to witness and to participate with Indians here at SEDS to celebrate Independence Day.

the sprint line

in case u were wondering what we eat for breakfast

kids performing a welcome song

bollywood dancing

teachers!!!