The Road to Manali

Saturday, July 14 - Onward to Manali

When we got off the plane in India last night, we discovered that our tickets to fly to Manali this a.m. were of no use. The only airline company to fly to an airport close to Manali decided to go on strike. Our leaders got us into the same hotel we will be staying in later in the week. To accommodate our 17 plus people, the Orphan Outreach leader and our Indian leader had quite a task. We arrived at our hotel at about 2:30 am here. We were more than exhausted having been 24 hours awake.

While we waited for the bus to take us to the hotel, there were many people hanging around the airport in the middle of the night. One person in our group saw a man walking with his family who had two knives strapped to his belt.

As we left the airport, I saw 5 guards parked in a jeep with one seated behind an automatic weapon, aimed a what, I don’t know. I saw another armed guard as we left the airport grounds.

After a short night , we met for  breakfast at the hotel restaurant and had an amazing Indian breakfast. I had a thin crepe-like fried pancake on which I put three flavorful sauces on different pieces as I ate them. The sauce flavors were coconut, like a basil pesto, and a mixture with lentils in it. There were other mixtures that included chickpeas and curry. Rice seems to be a favorite staple.

We boarded the bus and I was thankful to be able to go to see the children I've been imagining for so long.

  

Orphan Outreach has a full-time employee to arrange all travel, meals . . . in India. His name is Uma and he works very hard to accommodate the many changes like what happened to us. He said one good thing about this bus trip instead of flying is that we would get to see the countryside.

Going through the city of New Delhi was amazing. It was truly crazy. I will tell you as much as I can about the many things I have seen and am experiencing that are so different than our culture in the posts to come. I think everyone but Uma had their cameras up to the bus windows as we experienced India for the first time. We make jokes about tourist buses full of Japanese picture takers through the bus windows, well, I now am one. I have many photos to share as I have time to assemble them. I also hope to have a travelogue at church and with as many of you as would like to see them and to hear about this amazing trip.

Once we left the city, the land was flat and there were many fields of rice. I saw water buffalo for the first time. For lunch today, we stopped at McDonald’s. This is India, so on the menu, there were no hamburgers, but they did have a Chicken Maharaja Mac. While we waited for our food the electricity went off and on twice. As I walked into the building, I got to see and smell jasmine flowers along the sidewalk.   

We have been told that the men like to approach women who encourage them. Some of our young and beautiful team members didn't realize that the men we encountered were encouraged by the way they related to them when we would stop for a bathroom break. There was a car load of them that showed up many miles into the mountains at two of the breaks. This was scary, and we all learned not to make conversation, eye contact or do anything that might be thought of as encouragement. 

After about 10 or so hours the land began to become mountainous. 

(Here is what I wrote as the bus traveled into the mountains. Picture me sitting in a bus seat with my lap top in the dark typing like crazy so I'd be distracted from looking out the window.)

I will agree, it was VERY interesting. I will add to his thought, it is very good that we entered the mountains at night. This ride is interesting and a bit scary. Right now we are on the only road to Manali and it is a major truck route. It is 2 lanes.  Although it is 9 pm on Sat. night, the road has bumper-to-bumper trucks in both lanes. It is now dark, so we can’t see how close we are to the edge of the mountains. When I asked you to pray in the last blog entry, I didn’t imagine how dangerous the mountain roads would be. Our leaders had to sign a waiver to prevent us from suing them if there should be an accident. The roads are very narrow and there is only inches between vehicles when they meet each other.  The road has many switchbacks and the surface is very bumpy so we are bouncing and swaying. There are hairpin turns and very short straight sections between the turns. The mountain comes right down to the road and there is very little shoulder on the opposite side of the road. Another contributing factor is that in the straight sections there are  trucks parked along side the road on both sides to rest and stop for the night. Our bus driver has to have skill at turning this bus on the switchback roads and quick reflexes as cars are parked and are meeting us at the same time. Picture this: our bus, a long vehicle, has to make wide turns on these hairpin curves. (Remember, we are in the left hand lane  in India.) The on-coming traffic (which includes trucks, cars, and motorcycles) is coming toward us. So this is what we see: headlights coming at us IN THE RIGHT HAND LANE and we are over there making a wide turn, now factor in NO GUARDRAILS. Oh, yes here is one more factor. Because this is an uphill grade, some vehicles move slowly, so it means that vehicles must pass on this road.

I just looked out the window and saw two black cows wandering alongside the road. They are everywhere, just like you have always heard. Since they don’t wear headlamps, they are a bit difficult to spot in the dark.

I decided I couldn’t watch much more, so I practiced calculating Rupee–to-dollar tables in my head then I decided to write this. Anna just mentioned that our 35 or so pieces of luggage in the bottom of the bus helps lower our center of gravity and makes us more stable.

Let me say that all you have heard about Indian driving is true.  It has to be experienced to believe.

Uma said that traffic rules are just suggestions and the lines on the road are for decoration. When a vehicle comes to a blind curve, another vehicle, or pedestrian in the road, they blow their horn and just keep going figuring that the other people driving or walking have been warned.

At one hairpin turn a truck broke its axle. The nose was up against the mountain and the back was hanging out into the road blocking one lane and part of the other. There were rocks along the cliff side of the shoulder of the road. It looked like the truck had been abandoned, but then I noticed the door was open and I could see the bottom of two feet where the driver was laying down in the cab. I could see the axle laying on the pavement. Our bus came to a stop so our driver could decide if we could get around the truck without going over the cliff. He decided he could. He inched forward between the cliff and rock (guard rail) and the truck. There was only 2 inches between us and the truck as we went past it. I was on the side of the truck, I am thankful I wasn't on the side of the bus where I'd see how close we were to the cliff. 

(We heard later that after we passed through, there was a huge traffic backup. Others weren't fortunate as we were to get through.)

The good thing about this bus trip instead of the plane is that it has allowed us to share with one another, and to bond before we meet the children tomorrow. We also have had a chance to rest and recover from the jet lag. If we’d flown into Manali we would be jumping in tired and without this time together.

Oh yes, I see lightning in the distance. We were told that there could be a thunderstorm tonight. It is now 10pm. We left Delhi at 10.00 am. There are another 5 hours left before we arrive. Uma just said when we see the kids tomorrow and see how much they are looking forward to our visit, it will make this crazy bus ride all worth it  (I thought in my head, kinda like childbirth.)

Please continue pray for us. We meet the kids tomorrow and will be here until Wed. when we take this bus ride back to New Delhi if the airline is still on strike.

God is good. I have heard the stories of some of my team members. They are very inspiring. Last night when it ‘hit the fan’  and it looked like we might not be able to come to Manali  at all, our leaders and team members were very calm. I saw two team members with their heads bowed asking God to be in charge.. . . . and here we are on our way.

If you want to follow this trip there is also a blog and there is a photo of us with all the luggage last night at the airport. It was taken as we waited for the bus to take us to our hotel. John Balyo is with us from WCSG 91.3. He posted the picture on Facebook so you can go to their page to see the picture. He tagged me, so it might be on my Facebook page too.

BTW: India would be a great place to be in sales for vehicle brakes and horns.

Keep Praying,

Linda

We are here!

Please pray. The airline that was to to take us to the mountains has gone out of business. We have to take a 15 hour bus ride from Delhi to Manali. The day will be long and the roads mountainous.
I can't write more because we are in a hurry to catch a bus that has been chartered at the last minute.

Breakfast at 11:00 pm

I thought you might like to have some details about the trip.  There are 17 of us, mostly from western Michigan. We are currently in Amsterdam. We had breakfast in the air before landing . . . at 11:00 pm our time. Right now my body says it is 4:00 am. We will be flying for about 17 hours. There is a 10.5 hour time difference. India’s time is ahead of Michigan.

We are bringing with us 16 suitcases of items for the kids and adults we will be meeting.

The photos were taken on Tuesday night at the packing party where all donations were packed into suitcases. We literally had a living room full of items to divide into three locations: Manali, South Delhi and North Delhi. Some of the items are for gift bags for the kids and adults, some are vacation Bible school supplies, and some are sports equipment. All suitcases and items will be left in India when we finish. So for example, each location will have a soccer ball and lots of school supplies when we leave.

We will be doing vacation Bible school activities in each location and playing games. In Manali our theme is the Olympics. In addition to items to donate, we also have 3 suitcases of materials for lessons, crafts and sports equipment for the ‘Orphan Outreach Olympic’ games. In the evening we will eat with the kids and have a movie/popcorn night. We will be with the kids from the The House of Grace Orphanage on Sat after we arrive, and all day Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday we will go on an outing and have a picnic with the kids from Rainbow School.

In the Northern and Southern Slum Schools we will also have vacation Bible school activities, crafts, and games. We won’t be able to do the Olympic theme, because we won’t be at each site as long as we are in Manali. One highlight is an outing with the kids to a doll museum.

You can see from the photos that the suitcases contain the types of items I mentioned above and  also have hygiene items, over the counter medicines, lots of school supplies and candy . . . lots of candy. We have one whole suitcase with only candy in it.

I asked a friend, who is also a missionary in India what kinds of things we should bring for the adults who help us and who help the children. She said they would like a really good pen, one that the ink flows nicely through and has a good grip. She also said that the ladies might like scented individually wrapped bars of soap. Her words, “It would be a prized possession.”

When we were waiting for the security guards to go through our luggage at the Grand Rapids airport this is what I saw. The guard opened a suitcase which revealed it was brimming with a mountain of  multicolored toys. I watched him poke through it a bit and he must have decided it was too much trouble to take things out and have to put them back, so he zipped it back up.

I am unsure when I will have another opportunity to write again. I was disappointed to find the airplane from Detroit to Amsterdam didn’t have WiFi. I don’t know if the next plane to New Delhi will have it or not. The next hurdle is going to be to purchase a plug adapter to charge the computer when we land in Delhi. I did read that type of adapter will be available for purchase.

(I tried to upload some photos, but after half an hour I had to stop trying.)

An Astronaut with ADD

I've decided that I know what it would feel like to be an astronaut with ADD. I have a mission to go on (tomorrow) and my head is filled with so many thoughts that I cant' figure out what to take care of first.
Here is a sample of my stream of conscousness thinking:   the carryone luggage can only weigh 24 pounds total, be sure to pack the electricity converter, there is no adapter for India in the set! get one there?, can't get an India ATM capable debit card at my credit union - Anna got one, can I go to her credit union on the way to the airport?,  the floors have dog hair all over them, this house is a pig-sty, there is stuff growing in all of the toilets, my dog nanny/housesitter will be living in filth if I don't clean, gotta get out clean sheets/towels, go to the library, pay the bills, weed garden, weed flowerbeds, get irrigation set, is my will up-to-date?, where ARE those scissors . . .

I have piles of stuff in each room that need to be packed or put away. When I walk from one room to do something in another, my ADD kicks in and I don't do the task I came there to do. I forget why I am there and begin to do a task in that setting. This task means getting something from another location or putting something away, so I go to the next location and find something to do there. Consequently, nothing gets finished! Yesterday I put on a pot of water to boil. I went away to do something and forgot about it. I came back later to discover it hadn't boiled dry, but it was close. I also put milk in a pan to warm for cocoa and did the same thing! Thankfully, it boiled over and I heard it.

I have been thinking about my teammates, many are leaving fulltime jobs, children, households and one person works fulltime, is in the middle of an intense summer grad class, and her back went out of place last night. I have it easy!

I'll post pictures from the packing party as soon as I get a few more things . . . done.

Donations and the Packing Party

These are two suitcases of vacation Bible school supplies to be used at the orphanage in Manali, India. The funds for these items were donated by the people and friends of New Hope Community Church. I also have a third suitcase with items for the children and their caregivers donated by my students and friends. Today, my dentist office donated 96 tubes of toothpaste. Thank you Dr. Johnsen and staff!

In addition to our own personal suitcase,  each of us will be able to bring a suitcase full of donated items and vacation Bible school supplies. Because there is a 50 pound weight limit on suitcases, we need to be as efficient as possible. Tomorrow night, Tuesday, the 18 of us going on the trip will meet in Grand Rapids to have a Packing Party. We will bring suitcases (that will stay in India) and all the items we have received as donations. We will pack, removing items from packaging that adds weight and takes up space. We will distribute the items in various suitcases so that none of them exceeds 50 pounds.

Please continue to pray for us. This trip starts in 3 days and there is much to do: packing, finishing work and school, leaving families, finalizing lesson plans and making sure that all materials needed for those lessons are in the suitcases.

It promises to be an exciting trip. I am thankful for your prayers and I hope you enjoy taking this journey with us.

What is an Orphan?

As I read the profiles of the children we will be working with at the orphanage, I was surprised that many asked for prayer for their families. My understanding of an orphan needed to be expanded.

UNICEF classifies a child as an orphan if:

-         Their parents or caregivers die.

-         They lose contact with their caregivers (street children or refugees)

-         They have been separated from their parents (detained parents or abducted children.

-         Their caregivers have given them over to the care and custody of another (disabled children or children from poor families that cannot care for them).

-         They have been kept in prolonged hospital care (HIV-positive children).

-         They have been detained in educational, remand, correctional or penal facilities as a result of an administrative or judicial decision (suspected or convicted offenders).

Today UNICEF estimates that 163 million children are orphans.

I never realized it, but every year there were orphaned children sitting in my classroom.

This is sobering.

Help Wanted!

Help Wanted . . .

You may be watching this blog and thinking that you are just that, ‘a watcher.’

Well, here is an opportunity to become part of this adventure.

Recently I read something that can help illustrate how you can be a partner in this trip to India. Dr. John De Vries has been involved in a ministry called Mission India for many years. He wrote about the importance of prayer and included this about his Grand Rapids neighborhood in his book titled “Does it Pay to Pray?” He wrote, “Near my home is an inner-city apartment complex of a hundred units. They are filled mainly with fatherless ‘families’ and illegal immigrants. Crime was so high that the police responded to fifteen calls there every day.” “But seven senior women in a neighboring church decided to become ‘friends in the middle’ and started to pray for that housing complex. They began intensive prayer, and as a result, two years later, the police reported less than fifteen calls for an entire summer! Much happened, of course, to bring about this amazing answer to prayer, but it was the 'friends in the middle’ in the form of seven elderly women who started the flow of blessing. They could never minister on-site in such a situation, but they could pray.”

If you will look back at the my blog entry titled "Ouch and Other Bits of Reality" you will see that India is a similar place to that apartment complex. There is violence and extreme poverty both economically and spiritually. If you want to read the full article go to http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1139.html

God is ordaining this trip. When we met as a team, I could see how He has hand-selected people with a variety of gifts to be on this team to accomplish what He has in mind.

One team member shared with me that she had a dream in which God was looking down on the children of India with great love for them in His heart. God indicated to her that it was His desire for her and the team to bring His great love gift to their awareness.

I am filled with anticipation and excitement to see what God is going to unfold. I feel honored to be a part of this work. The Evil One does not want to have people know of God’s great love, nor to have them be in a loving relationship with God. There WILL be opposition to our team.

Your help is wanted!  Please be part of our ‘friends in the middle’ prayer team.

 Please pray for our safety, for our health, and for us to have unity within the team. Please pray that God’s love will flow through us to accomplish and grow what He desires.

Watch this blog. I will update you with prayer needs as we go.

You CAN be a vital part of this trip, even though you are on the opposite side of the world from India.

God is going to do amazing things. I am excited to have you be a part of this adventure!