The kids here are crazy well behaved… or maybe they just have the attention span of... something with a really long attention span. The people here take some kind of weird pleasure in feeding you until you burst, then asking you if you want more. The vices that are common in America aren’t universal. For example, Indians don’t lock their bikes if they are just going inside for a quick minute. No one has told me to watch my bag or my pockets when I am in public.
The past few days were a blur of travel and food and introductions, we went to villages were Pastor Kiran has a church and shared a message, gave candy and prayed for people. Today, finally, we got to do a little bit of what we had planned, a sort of abbreviated VBS for the kids in the orphanage. Because of scheduling, we had to combine two half days into one full day. That meant that we got to have all the fun, chaotic, hilarious moments with the kids and the language barriers. For part of the day, we read a children’s story to all 115 children. Nico would read one sentence and the translator would talk for a good paragraph or two, including a few question answered by the kids. It was pretty entertaining to guess what they were saying when they were ‘translating.’
My favorite part of the day was leading the children in learning songs. Dana and I would perform the song for the kids and then our translator would have the kids learn the songs by rote. Then we would all sing together and learn the motions. There was lots of jumping and clapping and waving. The kookier we got, the more fun the kids had. I loved the little boys in front who would completely forget about singing and just jump during the entire verse, completely off beat and completely oblivious.
We are all exhausted from the long day, but we are wrapping up VBS tomorrow. I am definitely excited to give the kids their Christmas present after all the hard work from so many different people. I know the kids will love it and it will be a powerful blessing for the kids.
One prayer request, yesterday we visited a tribal village and we shared a Gospel story in a little one room school house where a church meets. The area is strongly Hindu, but because everyone there is an untouchable, no one cares that they are learning about Jesus. They were very, very poor. It was obvious that they don’t have the money for food, hygiene, etc. All of the kids faces were dirty and their hair and clothes in disarray. Most of their protein comes from any snakes or rats that they catch. We found out afterward that about 50% of the village has HIV. With sexual abuse with the community, it has been hard to control the spread. We met Evangeline there. She is a 9 year old girl who was left on the street when she was 6. During her three years on her own, she was raped and abused regularly by strangers and passersby. During this time she was infected with HIV and she now has TB. It is against the law for her to stay in the orphanage with the other children, so Kiran pays a widow to take care of her. After police officers called Kiran and asked him to take care of her, he choose this village because it is the place she felt the most comfortable and it is quite likely that she is from the area since her facial features seem to match. She is still obviously scarred from her three years of trauma. She never smiled or engaged in the story, but kept to herself. It was more than shyness, she still doesn’t trust people. So pray for healing over her body and her life.
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