NOT NEGOMBO NEWS
Ayubowan Sri Lanka, Namaste India
At the close of
the last web entry we had our bags packed and were off to the Colombo
International Airport heading for India
One of the last
views we had of Sri Lanka (from the airport lounge) was of a number of chaps
playing a game of cricket on the airfield!
Hopefully they are hopeless batsmen or there’ll be a cricket ball
landing in the cockpit one day! That’s
probably a bit of an exaggeration – they weren’t actually next to the runway
but can you imagine a cricket game being held at any Australian airport – let
alone an International airport?
While waiting
in the lounge we also watched a couple of Indians repacking cigarettes to take
them from SL to India. Presumably
there is some sort of loophole in the Customs Regulations that enables the cheap
import of unpackaged cigarettes into India.
The two gentlemen involved had bought 4 huge boxes each of 10,000
cigarettes – that makes 40,000 cigarettes!.
They were busy taking them out of the bulk boxes and repacking the
cigarette cartons into other bags etc. Ken says that this is a common sight –
he’s seen it each time he’s been departing SL and usually also includes huge
bags of foreign liquor e.g. scotch whisky etc..
After an
uneventful flight to India we spent two nights (one day) in Chennai and did
almost nothing other than sit by the pool and read, snooze, etc which was lovely
after the busy time we had over the last couple of months.
As the plane made its approach into India the cabin staff walked the
isles spraying “goodness knows what” over us to ensure that those who are
traveling in from overseas don’t introduce unwelcome bugs into the country.
They don’t spray on the way out, so presumably they’re happy to allow
their bugs to leave with us!! J
Arrival in Hyderabad
On Sunday 22nd
December we got up at 4.00am and were at the airport by 5.30am for our 6.30am
flight to Hyderabad. We arrived in
time for the memorial meeting and enjoyed a Sunday “off”. The only duty Ken had to perform during the meeting was to do
a reading. It was a lovely meeting
and had a gathering that included brethren and sisters from India (of course),
UK, USA and Oz (including Marj Burgess, Tim Galbraith’s sister).
It was
wonderful to see some familiar faces. While
we have had the company of a couple of brethren and sisters in Sri Lanka it has
been great to be part of a bigger group and have lots of people around with whom
we can natter.
While in
Hyderabad we stayed in the Mission residence that provides fairly basic
accommodation in a flat about a two-minute walk from Tim and Sarah’s. We only slept there; we enjoyed our meals at Tim and
Sarah’s (some western style – some rice and curry) together with the other
12 or so others who came and went! Tim
and Sarah’s hospitality knows no bounds.
It’s been
wonderful to have lots of company and lots of activity happening around us
without being responsible for any of it. We
haven’t even had to work out what we’re going to eat for our next meal;
they’ve just appeared in front of us (usually rice and curry).
So we’ve had a lovely time catching our breath and recharging the
batteries physically, socially and spiritually.
Christmas in India
The
Honoured Guests
On the Sunday
that we arrived in Hyderabad, Tim Galbraith organized for Ken to speak at a
Christmas function being held by a home for the visually impaired that receives
some financial support from Christadelphians.
We arrived at the home at about 3.00 pm together with Bro Colin and Sis
Valerie Edwards (UK) and were shown to our seats in the front row.
Eventually the program got underway and a special welcome was extended to
“Mr Ken, an important guest from Australia” and he was invited to join the
other four or so people on the stage at the front.
Ken hopped out of his seat, there was some polite clapping, and Valerie
and Dorothy grinned at one another and laughed at Ken as he took his place.
The MC then announced that there was a further special guest – Mrs
Dorothy – (oh dear); more polite clapping and Dorothy took her seat at the
front while Valerie had a good but silent laugh. The next announcement was to welcome even further special
guests; yes you guessed it Mr Colin and Mrs Valerie.
Guess where they ended up sitting – yes, up the front!
The program started about 45 minutes late and had only been going for 15
minutes or so when Tim returned to collect us to take us Shunem.
There was a quick program rearrangement, Tim was called to the podium for
a quick presentation, Ken was called to the podium and after his 10-minute
presentation as the “keynote speaker” on the message of Christ’s birth
having an important future focus—his coming as King, we all excused ourselves
and headed off to Shunem.
The
Christmas Play
Sunday evening
at Shunem was a real treat. Shunem
is a home that has been established over the last three years.
It accommodates “old folk” – some of whom were previously homeless
– together with the children of lepers who are undergoing treatment for their
leprosy at the leprosy clinic and are not able to look after their children
while being treated. The children have a roof over their heads, clean bodies and
clothes, good meals every day, go to school, go to Sunday School, and are now
bi-lingual having learnt English while at the local school.
They are a very happy looking group of children but would have become
street beggars if it weren’t for Shunem.
The children
put on a Christmas play. It was
fantastic. The play went for about
30 minutes – maybe more – and the children didn’t miss a beat.
Some of them had some quite long speeches (including lengthy quotes from
Scripture) and some had multiple parts. They
had colourful and at times elaborate costumes and props and those who had
moustaches and beards painted on their faces were obviously impressed with their
looks! They performed the play on a raised platform which had
a very colourful tent erected over it. There
is a photo in the web site that gives a bit of an idea as to the spectacular
sight we enjoyed.
After the
performance (which commenced with a wonderful rendition of the song “Sixty Six
Books of the Bible”) we enjoyed a tasty meal of rice and curry and knew how
much Roy Taylor will grieve when he learns that he missed out!
Off
to Moinabad
The lead up to
Christmas also included a presentation put on by the children from Moinabad
followed by yet another lovely meal of rice and curry.
Moinabad is a village about a one-hour drive from Hyderabad where a
Christadelphian home for children has been running for approximately 20 years
and accommodates children who are either orphans or are from families who cannot
provide for them. Some of the
children from the “Moinabad family” are now adults having left home and
leading independent lives. There is
a photo of two young ladies, Padma and Pushpa now on the website.
Both of them grew up at Moinabad, now live in Hyderabad, both have been
baptized and are active members of the Hyderabad ecclesia and both now work in
Tim’s office. Moinabad now
consists of two families; an older group of children live with Bro Mathews and
Sis Lilly who are their “mum and dad” and the younger group with Bro Prakash
and Sis Suhaya who again are “mum and dad”.
The trip out to
Moinabad was quite an experience. The
van we traveled in is owned by the Moinabad Homes and is licensed to carry
sixteen. All seats in the van were
taken when we left Tim and Sarah’s and headed off on what we expected would be
the usual one-hour drive. It arrived
about two-hours later, having made a few stops to pick up extras.
We purposefully sat in the van and counted heads as everyone hopped
out. Our count may be out by one or
two either way – it was a bit hard to keep track – but we came up with the
figure of 51 people disembarking! Unfortunately
we were not able to pick up some of the people waiting for us – someone else
had to go and pick them up – they just wouldn’t fit in.
Christmas
Day
We returned to
Shunem on Christmas Day where our Christmas lunch was served (rice and curry)
and where the children from both Shunem and Moinabad received their Christmas
gifts. The gifts comprised packages
of trinkets that the children were very pleased with and fourteen of the younger
children received an additional gift of either a doll or a set of five matchbox
style cars. These cars and dolls
were purchased with money that Ken’s eleven-year-old nephew Alexander gave to
us “for children in India”. The
happiness on these children’s faces as they played with their new toys was a
precious sight. Again some of the
visions of joy are captured in the photos.
28th
December 2002 to 1st January 2003 – Bible Truth Camp
Each year there
is a Bible Truth Camp held at Moinabad over the Christmas/New Year period.
A Bible Truth Camp brings together a number of brethren and sisters and a
number of advanced contacts (and children) for a series of Bible studies and
discussion groups and often culminates in several baptisms.
The contacts attending are those who have already expressed a wish to be
baptized and/or those who have been undertaking Bible studies for sometime and
appear to have a good knowledge of God’s Word.
The 2002/2003
Truth Camp had approximately 150 people in attendance and while the studies were
based in the book of Daniel and we worked our way through chapter by chapter,
significant emphasis was given to the principles found throughout scripture
(including Daniel of course) regarding basic Bible teaching: e.g.
·
that God is one, that
Jesus is His Son and the Holy Spirit God’s power rather than the commonly
misplaced belief that they are all part of a trinity,
·
that Jesus will return
to earth to establish God’s kingdom on earth;
·
the need for
repentance and baptism, etc.
The practical
outcomes of these teachings on daily living were emphasized.
For example, if there is only ONE God, then He demands all of our
energies, all of our love, all of our devotion.
He will not tolerate competitors as He is “a jealous God”, as He so
often repeats. So in an idolatrous
Hindu based society, it is easy for Christians, including us westerners, to
forget that one God means that our pursuit of career, material wealth, better
education etc. at God’s expense is not something with which He is happy.
At the same time, if as Bible based Christians we deny the Trinity, then
we have no right to create a “trinity” of our own in which our Creator
shares equal billing with two of our other devotions.
The discussion
groups were small enough to enable contacts to raise any issues they may have
and for brethren and sisters to respond to those issues and to identify topics
that may need further consideration, explanation, etc.
All the studies
were delivered with the help of brethren who undertook translation into Telugu
and Hindi. Translators also
assisted in the discussion groups as required.
Ken was delighted to meet for the first time Anil and Sonia Sharma from
Muzzafanagar in North India where we had expected to be traveling after our
Hyderabad visit. Of course that is
not now our plan and we return instead in February to Sri Lanka. But he loved trying out his Hindi lessons and was pleasantly
surprised at how much he could understand and how much he could say J.
But he needs a lot more practice and reckons that only by living among
them and learning to speak it constantly, will he remember what he’s learnt.
Sort of shades of “being a doer of the language and not just a
hearer” (apologies to the apostle James, but the figure is still
appropriate!).
The 2002/2003
Moinabad Truth Camp culminated in the baptism of 14 new brethren and sisters
into the sin covering name of Jesus.
We met some
wonderful people at the camp. Some
we had met before, others we met for the first time. When living with and mixing with these people it is quite
mind blowing trying to come to grips with the circumstances they normally live
in. Many live in villages, in very
simple houses, cook on open fires and collect their water from the village pump.
Some are illiterate; some are well educated.
Some come from the low caste (known as the “untouchables”) while
others are from the more “acceptable” castes.
However when you put these people together, and the thing they have in
common is the Word of God, the boundaries disappear and their love for one
another and their love for our God are the things that matter most.
The meals for
all these people (including ourselves) were cooked on open fires in huge pots.
They were vegetarian, rice and curry dishes three times a day, eaten with
the fingers. The only variation on
this theme was the day that breakfast consisted of a wheat based staple instead
of a rice based staple…. and curry. This
is actually a slight exaggeration. Cornflakes
were available to the westerners for breakfast for the first two days.
Bread was also available for toasting however there is no electricity
between 7.00am and 9.00am so toast was a non-event.
2003 Starts with a
Bang
After a meal of
rice and curry, New Year’s Eve saw all of those at Moinabad sitting around an
enormous bonfire from about 11.00 pm onwards.
Tim had chosen a number of readings, selected a number of hymns and put
some thoughts together for a meditation service which concluded with us in
prayer to our Heavenly Father as the New Year commenced.
It was a reflective time and one which emphasized our nearness to God and
exhorted us all to ensure in 2003 we moved even closer to Him and His beloved
Son.
This was
followed by a typical Indian crackers event.
There were all sorts of noisy crackers – some of which sounded as if
they were more suited to a demolition site and which frightened us out of our
wits. We headed off to bed very
promptly after midnight passed as we both had really horrid colds but the
singing around the fire and went on until well after 3.00 am.
Ken says in the early days of these events, he used to sit with Tim until
those wee hours and they’d talk and catch up on events in their lives.
On this occasion, that waited to saner hours!!
Weather Watch
We are enjoying
quite beautiful weather. The
morning temperature is about 16 degrees and it climbs to about 24 to 26 degrees
during the day. But it is so, so
dry. Water is rationed in
Hyderabad. Tim and Sarah have tap
water available for one hour every second day.
They store this in a tank and if it runs out they have to purchase water.
Sandra Taylor
in Bangalore tells us that it has rained twice in Bangalore over the four months
she has been here.
As we head to
Adamali in the south-western state of Kerala we will gain altitude and the
temperature will be cooler still. If
only we had our pullovers and jackets which we left in Sri Lanka and thought we
only needed for our hill country visits there!!
While we have
been enjoying the “beautiful weather” some of the locals are “feeling the
cold”! Many of the young children
at the Moinabad camp are rugged and are clothed in warm jackets and balaclavas
or beanies! Some of the ladies wear
knitted woollen caps on their heads.
The Hyderabad - Bangalore Express
At 7.00pm on Friday 3rd January we hopped on the train from
Hyderabad to Bangalore for the overnight trip which should have had us arriving
at Bangalore at approximately 7.00am on Saturday 4th.
The journey is quite comfortable as the bench seats in the train are
arranged so that they can be raised to the horizontal position and every
passenger in the “sleeper class” (the one we travel in) can stretch out and
get pretty good nights sleep. There are about four “classes” on the train.
“General” – timber seats with as many people squashed in as
possible. Then comes “sleeper
class” or “second class” which is the one we book.
After that is first class followed by first class air-conditioned.
These both have better padded seating, fewer people per square inch and
of course a/c in the a/c section.
There is a catering service on board that has a limited variety of meals
but of course it does include rice and curry so we were in no danger of
suffering withdrawal symptoms.
The train “broke down” twice so it arrived at Bangalore about 4
hours late. However we were not
complaining given the two derailments and a collision between an express and a
goods train with a total of about 38 deaths that have occurred as a consequence
over the last two weeks in the Hyderabad sector.
On arrival in Bangalore we headed straight to the Mission flat, caught
up with some of the local brethren and sisters who work there and with Sis
Sandra Taylor (Hobart) who is here for about 6 months, did the never ending
washing and had a quiet evening catching up with emails and family news.
Sunday was spent attending the meeting and enjoying a fraternal lunch
(rice and curry). Ken’s
involvement at Bangalore predates any baptisms and the existing ecclesia.
On Sunday he sat through a full fellowship meeting and for the first time
ever (he thinks) watched the local brethren do ALL the work.
It was a pleasing and encouraging evidence of the ecclesia’s growth and
maturity. Monday saw us postpone
our trip to Kerala from Tuesday to Thursday to give Dorothy’s ears a chance to
clear a little more before flying – that nasty cold is still hanging around
but clearing.
Dr David
Ken picked up a tummy bug on Thursday
in Hyderabad (most likely from a western style hamburger rather than rice and
curry!) and as it hadn’t cleared completely he visited the doctor on Sunday.
The doctor, whose clinic is nearby the Bangalore Mission premises, is
London trained and used by all of the Mission fieldworkers if they need medical
help. We sat in his waiting room for about 15 minutes – no
appointments, no receptionist, no magazines to read but lots of graffiti on
walls to help pass the time! Dr
David prescribed some pills, charged a fee of Rs 50/- (less than Au$2) and
we headed off to the local chemist to collect the prescribed pills.
The 16 year old shop assistant found the required pills (which cost
almost Aus $4) and Ken was feeling improved within a couple of hours of taking
them. He has now several light
meals (the first since Thursday) and – so far, so good.
Except that now his trousers don’t fit!!
Uncle John
On Saturday 4th we received news from home about the death of
Uncle John Perry. Phil and Wendy
(and other family members) had kept us up to date regarding his fall and
subsequent failing health so the news of his passing at least did not come as a
shock. But he will be missed and it
is particularly hard to comprehend from this distance that life at home has
changed significantly for us. We both
saw Uncle John in September and Dorothy saw him again in October.
He was sprightly and keen to look after our ferns and orchids for us
while we were away.
He has left a faithful example and now sleeps in Christ until the day of
Christ’s return when he will be raised and by God’s grace will be granted
life eternal in God’s kingdom.
Our hearts go out to Aunty Jessie, Phil and Wendy, Leah, Hannah, David
and Sarah and to his extended family as they mourn his loss.
But despite the sadness we have a wonderful reassurance of God’s care
and full confidence in the knowledge that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared
for those that love Him”.
Where to From Here?
South to Kerala for a fortnight where we plan, DV, to spend time with
the brethren and sisters at Adamali. We
then hope to have a short break (about seven days) on “holiday” before
returning to the Mission residence in Bangalore on approximately 30th
January and then back to Sri Lanka on 3rd February.
Question: How
will we be feeling on 25th January?
Answer:
Homesick!
Daniel King (Ken’s “number three” nephew) and Lauren Waite are to
be married on 25th January and one of our regrets is that we cannot
be there to witness the wedding and celebrate their new life as husband and
wife. We will be thinking of them
on their happy day and our prayer is that their lives will be blessed by God and
that they will be of strength to one another as they serve Him together.
May God be with you both. We
will be thinking of you on the 25th and look forward to the photos.
We hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy a beautiful meal – we’ll
probably be eating rice and curry! But
if you tell us your menu, we’ll close our eyes as we chew and just imagine! J
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