I can’t believe I'm in Calcutta or Kolkata, India and wow
this country blows my mind!!! When I was in Thailand I never really had a
culture shock moment but when I came here the second I got out of the airport I
was blown away. All the taxis looked like they were from the 60's and no one
wore western clothes all I saw was saris on women and collared shirts and
long pants on men. Then we got on a bus to go to the place we were staying and
drove down the streets EVERYONE honks their horn and the streets are so loud
that you almost have to yell to talk to the person next to you. While driving
you see rickshaws, men taking baths in the street, women washing dishes in the
street, cows just lounging around, and lots and lots of cars and people
everywhere.
But now that I have been her for 10 days it seems less
shocking and I'm starting to see past the noise and the busyness and see the
people. Where I live there is a family who lives outside on the sidewalk with
three young boys and every time we walk by they try to grab our bags or cling
on to us asking for money. The first time it happened I
was completely shocked because this crying screaming 2 year old
grabbed my leg and was begging for food and wouldn't let go. I was heartbroken
and realized that this would just be my first experience with
absolute poverty in this city. But even though I see cry’s of
children for food, families lying in the dirt asking for money, crippled
people. I see the hurt in their eyes and pain and it hurts me and it breaks me
in a way I have never felt before. But I know there is hope although I feel
overwhelmed and can’t see the end of this present poverty I know that I am not
alone. The pain and the heart break it causes God must be so unbearable for
him. I can’t even imagine how his heart breaks for his lost sons and daughters
that are forgotten and unloved by their fellow family. Kolkata is a hurting
city a city in need of a wave of love to sweep over the streets. And this wave
starts with pray because when we pray GOD moves. It’s not us who can change
this city it’s people from Oregon City or from Germany, Africa anywhere in the
world taking time to intercede on behalf of this city taking on just a small
part of this blanket of pray that needs to be spread out over the city.
So please
Pray for this city a few things that I have felt lead to pray for on some of my
prayer walks is for hurting people: Street children- safety, education, food
-Beggars-
healing over their bodies and safety from the heat
And
lack of clean water
-For the
wonderful ministry’s that my YWAM team has been involved in. Some of the names
are light of hope, life connection, Howrah Train station, BMS street School,
Campus evangelism and others whose names I don’t know.
So in the last 10 days I have had the opportunity to meet
and work with some wonderful people and organizations. I have been privileged to
get be involved in a ministry called light of hope which is a school for the
children in a very rural community outside the city. There are usually around
20 kids that attend every day and they range in age from 1 to about 6. This
school is in the middle of nowhere dirt roads and about 1hr and 45 minutes away
by bus and 2 auto rickshaw rides; it’s quite the journey. But once we get there
it’s wonderful the first day was interesting because we didn’t know what was
happening or what to expect. The first time we walked in we scared a few of the
kids because they had never seen white people before (I had only heard of such
a think but never experienced nor did I think I ever would) and they cried for
about 25 min but soon where fine and warmed up to us. The room that was the
school was attached onto the small little tin house that has three little
rooms. The classroom has chalks boards, books, puzzles, a few broken toys and a
tarp on the ground. We get to teach ABC’s, colors, sing songs, color, feed them
lunch. After school has ended for the day around noon we get to have lunch with
the couple who run the school and pray with them and sing worship songs, and
prayer walk through the community. These kids crave love they just want someone
to lay a hand on their back or to hug them or pick them up and carry them
around. Because so often they seem to be a parent to their siblings; I see the
five year olds picking up 2 years and putting them on their hip to comfort them
and walk around the room with them. These children just want love and to be treated
as a child and not a parent.
Another ministry I get to work with once a week is Mother
Teresa house and I get to work in the home for disable women and children. I
had a rough start with the mother Teresa home I struggled a little with all
that was going on around me there was just so many women and children and not
enough staff to take care of all of them and they were all crammed into such a
tiny place. But the main thing I struggled with was how rough some of the staff
where with the women they pushed and yelled. I spent my morning in the physiotherapy
room helping to massage the girls (which scared me I was afraid of hurting
them) at first it was hard and once the therapist realized I didn’t know what I
was doing they just let me help them. I really enjoyed the room because I got
to help hold and support the girls who couldn’t walk and help them take a few
steps and lie back down and try again.
But Please along with praying for this city please pray for
me personally as I am having a hard time with adjusting to the food with my
stomach and am taking antibiotics and also this is a really heavy city that is
spiritually hard to cope with. It’s hard to explain but there is quite a
heaviness that I feel and constantly have to pray through. And the last request
is for safety for me and my whole team please this city is full of crazy cars
and also for safety and wisdom when we are out in public and the men in the
city.
