Let me tell you about 2 ladies who you need to meet; Geeta and Shadraa.
Meet Shadraa. She is possibly the sassiest Indian woman I've met haha. She comes over to clean and cook for us. She is the nicest lady, who's always smiling. She speaks an iota of english, and we speak an iota of Kannada so we just communicate with hand gestures and just by pointing. She's always keen to socialise and teaches us how to cook. Her favourite english phrase is 'eat eat'. She treats the girls here like her daughters-being playful with them, and we treat her like our mum haha. She's so respectful that she waits till we sit down and eat and sees if we enjoy her dishes. we invite her to stay for food but she always leaves with a big smile and a wave.
Geeta is a social worker. Her burden are for the women in India; those who are oppressed, marginalised, those who are treated unfairly, those who are victims of domestic violence, those who's rights have not been heard. She is a passionate activist, rounding up support from the communities and going to government to make changes for the better. It was amazing to hear from her the social issues in India, specifically for women. She talked much about the caste system (a hindu belief where people are pretty much ranked and their identity is dependent on which class or 'caste' they belong to), the patriarchal system and how this has bled into the mindset of indians and even faiths, such as Islam and Christianity (both which don't preach anything about castes). Depending on what caste you are, it determines your life pretty much; who you can marry, what job you can do etc. She also spoke about dowry deaths, bride burning, how women are being raped yet they are blamed rather than being the victim. It was so amazing to hear what she was doing to change perception, to protect women and to have their rights acknowledged. At this current time, she's standing up for the rights of domestic workers, those who work in people's homes. Currently they are not recognised as workers under law (i don't believe) thus employers are taking advantage of this and are abusing them, scamming them, treating them horrifically, and there's no laws to protect them. As Greeta put it well; India has a hand on the moon, yet a foot in s**t. India has the power, the technology and the knowledge to reach the moon, yet it is shackled to this mindset which holds them.
Its very interesting yet saddening in a sense to hear that the caste system has trickled into the Christian faith. Greeta mentioned a key word that has hit the nail on the head on what the caste system is; identity. you see, the caste system is something where people can identity themselves; a way for them to find their purpose, their value, their worth. Its a way of knowing who they are. And Greeta made a great observation, the Christian faith does not preach about a caste system. so the question is, why is it there? So why are Christians still using castes to identify themselves? See, Jesus would say that He is the way, the truth and the life; that the Christian's identity is in Him, and not in anything else. How freeing that is. How freeing that one does not need to be restricted to their caste, that the Christian does not need to rummage around trying to find their identity, no, their identity is in Him. Oh how restful, how comforting, how peaceful that is for the soul. Yet, it scares me that perhaps some Christians here in India haven't fully surrendered all, that they still place their identity in something else besides Him......Yet it scares me and frustrates me even more that we can do it back at home, we just don't call it caste.
Thanks be to Him for redeeming us, rescuing us, freeing us and liberating us.
Meet Shadraa. She is possibly the sassiest Indian woman I've met haha. She comes over to clean and cook for us. She is the nicest lady, who's always smiling. She speaks an iota of english, and we speak an iota of Kannada so we just communicate with hand gestures and just by pointing. She's always keen to socialise and teaches us how to cook. Her favourite english phrase is 'eat eat'. She treats the girls here like her daughters-being playful with them, and we treat her like our mum haha. She's so respectful that she waits till we sit down and eat and sees if we enjoy her dishes. we invite her to stay for food but she always leaves with a big smile and a wave.
Geeta is a social worker. Her burden are for the women in India; those who are oppressed, marginalised, those who are treated unfairly, those who are victims of domestic violence, those who's rights have not been heard. She is a passionate activist, rounding up support from the communities and going to government to make changes for the better. It was amazing to hear from her the social issues in India, specifically for women. She talked much about the caste system (a hindu belief where people are pretty much ranked and their identity is dependent on which class or 'caste' they belong to), the patriarchal system and how this has bled into the mindset of indians and even faiths, such as Islam and Christianity (both which don't preach anything about castes). Depending on what caste you are, it determines your life pretty much; who you can marry, what job you can do etc. She also spoke about dowry deaths, bride burning, how women are being raped yet they are blamed rather than being the victim. It was so amazing to hear what she was doing to change perception, to protect women and to have their rights acknowledged. At this current time, she's standing up for the rights of domestic workers, those who work in people's homes. Currently they are not recognised as workers under law (i don't believe) thus employers are taking advantage of this and are abusing them, scamming them, treating them horrifically, and there's no laws to protect them. As Greeta put it well; India has a hand on the moon, yet a foot in s**t. India has the power, the technology and the knowledge to reach the moon, yet it is shackled to this mindset which holds them.
Its very interesting yet saddening in a sense to hear that the caste system has trickled into the Christian faith. Greeta mentioned a key word that has hit the nail on the head on what the caste system is; identity. you see, the caste system is something where people can identity themselves; a way for them to find their purpose, their value, their worth. Its a way of knowing who they are. And Greeta made a great observation, the Christian faith does not preach about a caste system. so the question is, why is it there? So why are Christians still using castes to identify themselves? See, Jesus would say that He is the way, the truth and the life; that the Christian's identity is in Him, and not in anything else. How freeing that is. How freeing that one does not need to be restricted to their caste, that the Christian does not need to rummage around trying to find their identity, no, their identity is in Him. Oh how restful, how comforting, how peaceful that is for the soul. Yet, it scares me that perhaps some Christians here in India haven't fully surrendered all, that they still place their identity in something else besides Him......Yet it scares me and frustrates me even more that we can do it back at home, we just don't call it caste.
Thanks be to Him for redeeming us, rescuing us, freeing us and liberating us.
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| Greeta and us, and a key photobombing us |
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| Shadraa, the sassiest Indian woman |
They sound like lovely and strong women Jon!!!
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