Sunday, April 19, 2009

Observations


Being in a new and very different place one tends to notice their surroundings more. So, here are a few observations I’ve been able to make since being in Delhi.

Shopping carts here are much easier to use than those in America. The manufacturer didn’t stop after putting two caster wheels on the front. No sir, they attached two caster wheels to the back as well. It is so much easier to navigate the three 15 feet long aisles at the Morning Store grocery store when you have rear-wheel steering.

Cows love to hang around, and in, the dumpsters. With a huge shortage of grass where else would you go? There’s probably some healthy snacks down in there somewhere.


OSHA has NOT made it to Delhi yet. Check out my man here balancing himself more than 60 feet in the air waiting for the concrete bucket to be lowered to fill the column on this building being constructed next to our school.


Trimming your yard can be a full day’s work when scissors are your tool of choice.


Christmas can happen anytime during the year. If you’ll look closely you will see the words “Samaritan’s Purse” written on the boxes loaded onto this fine blue truck. Inside these larger boxes are all of the small shoeboxes many of you helped assemble at your churches last December for Operation Christmas Child. There are almost 1,000 shoe boxes on this truck getting ready to be delivered to children who may have never received a gift before in their life.


Small children are the cutest ever. Even the ones who have had to shave their heads for health reasons. Meet Neyha (girl on left) and Mukis (boy) dressed in their Easter best, the children of Gorelal, our faithful cook.


Children take prayer time very seriously.


The face of no-education is painful to look at. I caught my friend here peering thru the gate at our Dakshinpuri school center. The school is located inside the slum. I doubt this boy has ever been to school before.



Living in the slum would suck, period. This past week here is what was written about one of the slums we work with.

Dakshinpuri:

Dakshinpuri is a large slum community. The whole slum is a coalition of small, congested houses, narrow dirty lanes, improper drainage filled with garbage and defecation. The slum houses are without any windows and made of mud, brick or thatch. The streets are narrow and mostly just two feet wide. One side of this small path is the open drain which allows only one and half feet for walking. These winding mini streets are sometimes miles long leaving no escape route in case of fire or any other danger. People are supposed to use small toilet blocks constructed by the government on the outskirts of the slum with no proper water facility. The slum home situation is not conducive for positive upbringing. Parents often abuse the use of alcohol and drugs. With very few of them having any education of their own, they are not even able to make enough money to feed their precious children. The children are mostly neglected and do not have any knowledge of good hygiene, proper dressing, regularity and discipline that the children outside the slum are being taught.

And the final observation. Education, nutrition, health, and, most importantly, the Peace that passes all understanding can bring joy to the most destitute of situations. The smiles make it worth it all.



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