The Path to School is Like a Box of Chocolates.. You Never Know What You're Going to Get

The 400 meter walk from our flat to the school can be uneventful or full of interesting happenings. Some days you may only see a group of children playing cricket in the nearby cow field/park, or only have 12 people stare at you, but then there are those special days when you see some pretty cool stuff.

Like the day we were walking home and saw 10 children making flat patties out of the cow poo they had piled into an enormous glob (see picture in my 2nd blog post), or the several mornings we see children relieving themselves (#2) only 2 feet off the road, or the morning we were almost ran over by some kids on a motorcycle intentionally steering their bike our way, or the morning we saw some ladies carrying the cow poo patties on top of their heads....

Then there are some days where we time it just right to see and/or be a part of the daily cow movement. As you may have heard cows are a little special around here. They are free to roam where they like, although we've been told they all have owners (I have yet to see an owner tending to their cows). And they absolutely roam where they like. We have a herd of about 18 or 20 that live near our flat. They are all black and look more like miniature Cape Buffalo from East Africa than they do cows. There is very, very, very little grass here so they mainly eat trash that has been thrown on the street. The other morning when we were out running we saw a huge white bull "grazing" inside of a dumpster... I mean all four legs up inside the dumpster...hhmmmm.....Anyways, back on subject, one special morning we got to see the cows cross the busy road in front of the school. They didn't wait on a traffic light, or look both ways before crossing. Strength in numbers baby. I'm just glad I had my camera.

The 400 meter walk is over before we know it and we enter the main gate into the Good Samaritan School, a very special place. Yes, the building is very nice compared to anything around it. The children who enter feel as though they have entered a new world. It's a place of Christ-centered academics where the "underprivileged are served by involving the privileged".

Taken from just inside the front gate.

After walking thru the front breezeway of the school, this is looking at the interior courtyard.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

And I thought Lancaster traffic could get hairy sometimes. Not sure where we were going (doesn't really matter because this story could be relative to any trip inside Delhi), but Bittoo, our driver was determined to get there in a hurry.

Let me back up and say that no matter where you are trying to get to in Delhi, it's always going to take between 30 min and 1 hour, unless it's between 7 and 9 PM, then it's going to take between 45 min and 1 1/2 hours.

Traffic is hilariously crazy. There are lines on the road, but they are only a suggestion and mainly a waste of paint. (We have determined they must have had road paint left over from painting lines in another city and decided to use said leftovers in Delhi)

The street layout for the city was thought about probably as long as it takes me to think whether or not PB&J would be a good choice for lunch. Side streets dart in and out. They come in to main roads at all different angles. Stop lights (few and far between) are never overhead, but usually on a post diagonal your position in the car. I rarely see them until we've already stopped.

Now to the vehicles.. So far as I can tell there are 9 main modes of transportation around the city. Walk, bicycle, bicycle rickshaw, auto rickshaw, motorcycle, car, big truck, bus, subway. Minus the subway, all said modes travel on the surface streets at precisely the same time.... and there are many, many, many of each. The goals of each: walkers: try to not get killed, and maybe stop and take a pee every once in a while; bicycles: same; bicycle rickshaw: see how much weight or volume in people or stuff one can get on the rickshaw and still be able to pedal. (i have seen several guys with loads so big they wouldn't fit in the bed of a pickup truck).. and .. try to not get killed (bicycle rics are very uncomfortable as Marshall and I found out this morning, but they're really cheap); auto rickshaw (3 wheels, prob a 20 horse motor): position the rickshaw at precisely the right spot on the road in cohorts with other auto rics so no other vehicle can pass; motorcycle: see how many times one can dart in and out of other moving vehicles and not die while attempting to get at least 2 people on the back of the motorcycle you are driving (we've seen as many as 4 on one bike; see pic below); car: some play defense, but most, like Bittoo, play a hard-charging game of offense, using every square inch of the road, and sometimes the sidewalk; big trucks: get in the way; busses: see just how many people you can fit in there; subway: not sure, I've only seen one entrance to the subway..... and finally.. the overall goal of every mode of transportation except walkers and the subway: set the world record in number of times horn is blown before arriving at destination.

Yes, that's a ladder with two men on a motorcycle.

Self-explanatory..... photo by Marshall (he made me put that)

...........

Bittoo is feeling rather bold on this particular day. He darts from one side of the road to the other, passing 14 cars in one felt swoop. He honks the horn at least once every 8 seconds. (I will write a blog later on citing the different uses of the horn.) We come within inches, no, centimeters, of taking out a man and woman on a motorcycle. Then we almost rub tires with another car... then we repeat that scenario 33 times over the next 1 mile.

We come to a stop at a stoplight behind a long line of traffic. We are all the way to the left on the street, about 150 yards from the light. A little girl comes to our window on the sidewalk side and asks us to watch her do flips on the concrete. We are admiring her talent when Bittoo decides he's waited long enough on this light. As the girl is in mid flip, he throws it in gear, lays on the gas and pops up on the sidewalk, missing the girl by 3 1/2 inches. He races up through the gears as we blow by every car waiting at the red light, times it perfectly to hit the street just as the light turns green, and comes out as the lead car in the pack of at least 250.

Only a mile up the road we see that we are going be at the tail end of another long line of traffic waiting at a light, so Bittoo puts his quick-thinking-cap on and rolls the Qualis in behind a bus as it enters the "bus only" lane to by-pass bad traffic spots. The "bus only" lanes are separated from the street by a curb and are guarded at the entrance by men with guns. We ride the bus lane for 1 to 2 miles by-passing car after car after car.. We even go through a bus pick-up station... Then we come out at another light in the lead once again.

We arrive (wherever it was we were going)..... alive.......Bittoo "007" Bond has struck............again................ whewwwww ... just another day in paradise.

Where Do I Live

After driving down the dirt roads of Uganda exactly one year ago I thought I knew what poverty was and that no poverty was worse than what I was then seeing. As I tend to be at least once a decade, I was slightly off.

Yesterday, Marshall and I met Raj. Raj lives in the next building over in our apartment complex, Sector 8, and he attends Asia-Pacific Tech where he is studying to be an engineer of some type. After talking about all sorts of things, including helping him understand why in the world two young guys would leave "America" for this place, we asked him how much his salary would be once he graduates and finds a job. Whether correct or not, he threw out a number in the $100K per year range. We concluded the conversation and promised to meet him the next morning at 7 to go for a jog. Then we walked back into our flat to find Gorilal doing his daily cleaning of our place.

Gorilal is our house attendant, hired by the school to cook our breakfast, do our laundry, and make sure the flat stays tidy and well stocked. Gorilal has a wife and three children. He knows exactly 10 English words and thinks "Good Morning" is the common greeting no matter what time of day it is. He loves to peer over our shoulders as we type out emails even though he can't understand a word on the screen. He was extremely proud the other day when he arrived back here from the grocery with a jar of diabetic orange marmalade (see Marshall's blog). He and his family live on less than $3 per day.

Gorilal's life is similar to that of hundreds of thousands of other Indians earning just enough at their job to survive; not to mention the hundreds of thousands more who have no job. The slums are full of families eating no more than one meal per day, but then there are thousands upon thousands outside the slum who don't have much more. Ananthi was just telling me today how one of the major problems many of the hospitals here see is a vast number of broken bones caused by a lack of calcium which stems from subpar nutritional food intake.

You see, in America we tend to have pockets for every class. There's a rich neighborhood over there and a middle class neighborhood over there and then there are some poor people way over on the other side of town, and if we don't drive over there and see their house and families, it's almost like the problem doesn't even exist. Poverty can't hide its ugly face here. Raj is about to make a lot of money in a few years, but he won't be able to look out his window without seeing the ragged effects of poverty all around him.

As I write this blog enty I'm laying half horizontal on my lovely, cushioned couch in my 3 bedroom, 8 bed flat, while only 100 yards away children are collecting and making cow dung patties with their hands to sell for fuel so their families can have at least one meal today.

So the question today is: If you were born into poverty would you rather be born into it in a rural setting such as the Ugandan backcountry where you may never see a "rich" person, or would you rather be born into a family living in a one room shanty made with whatever material you can find while your next door neighbor relaxes in his 3 bedroom, 8 bed flat while typing a blog entry?

I would say neither would be grand. So what can I do? I can start by being more aware of those around me no matter where I am in the world. Yes, I'll start there.....

He who gives to the poor will never want, But he who shuts his eyes will have many curses
Proverbs 28:27

Lord, hold my eyes open. Show me those in need. Give me strength to help and serve.

Pictures

And finally, some pictures.....

The Good Samaritan School courtyard (it's an awesome place)

Marshall with Ananthi (left) and Laura Marie

Rooftop worship service at Madahnpur Kadar slum

Marshall and Will about to go in a house in MK

Lovin Life

Will and I stopped to say hi to some kids outside our apartment who were piling up cow poo so they could pat it out, let it dry, and use for fuel

The Three Amigos just minutes before Will fell at Tughluqabad

Marshall on the "beginner" wall at Tughluqabad.. Will had already moved on to the "advanced" wall, his last climb for a while -- photo by Daniel Roberts while cliffhanging (just kidding Mom, I was already at the top)

Namaste!

Namaste! Greetings to you! This is hopefully the first of many posts we will share together. I invite all of you to join me as we venture into India and beyond. There will be fun times, sad times, maybe some mad times; but it will all be God times.

We (Marshall and I) arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday and we definitely hit the ground running. The week has been full with getting to know everyone and hopefullly letting them get to know us. Our flat is pretty cool. It has 3 bedrooms with a total of 8 beds. We're only a quarter mile from the Good Samaritan School, where we'll be serving for the next few months as teachers and admin assistants.



We've already had the privelege of seeing where most of our children live, a relocation slum colony inside Delhi called Madanpur Khadar. When we arrived at MK we parked by a trash pile where two cows were chewing on some garbage. The flies were so thick they seemed to cast a shadow on the filth below. We stepped out of the car and were immediately greeted by a handful of the thousands of residents that make up the populus of the few acre tract of land. Some people wanted to touch us, others just wanted to stare. We smiled as best we could, and tried not to swat at the fly swarm around our heads.

We immediately went to a house of a GSS (Good Samaritan School) child and held a Bible Study on the roof with 20 or 30 other followers. After making a few other home visits, to stop and pray for ailing children, we concluded our first of many trips to MK.

The rest of the week was filled with planning our time for the next few months. Marshall and I will be teaching a variety of subjects: Accounting, Music, Economics, Geography, etc...

The only mishap of week 1 came when our other American comrade, Will, fell while we were touring the nearby ruins of an ancient fort. The fall, quite a few feet, broke both of Will's feet (left heel and right fibula above the ankle while also dislocating both ankles). We have stayed with him in the hospital and arranged for his speedy return to the States where surgery awaits. We absolutely hate to see him leave as we were just getting to know him better, but know he needs to get back so he can heal and return to Delhi soon. While here he was working on a community ownership program with the Dakshinpuri slum, so I know he'll want to get back to this worthy project as soon as possible.

I am comforted this morning as I read from Psalms 37. Vv 23 and 24 "The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand." I know I will stumble, but I know the One who will catch me. I do not know what tomorrow will bring but I know the One who will bring tomorrow.

Blessings,

Daniel