Thoughts from Yesterday

Sounds of the day: The almost ever-present horn honking. Little girls laughing. “Akah!”

“No one is in a hurry…yet no one is patient.” – Anthony, in reference to driving in India

If I could describe driving in India with a few words, they would be: Bumpy, Stop-Start, Horn-Honking, Crazy, Trusting, Close, No Observation of Lanes, Stressful. There was a time today where we were afraid a big truck was going to crash into the window in our van because it was so close. The drivers here must be very trusting because they are constantly driving within inches of each other and mainly navigating their moves by honking their horn. I would never survive driving in India.

 These are some amazing murals on walls along the road

 This is how close people ride to each other on the road

This is one of the vans we travel to and from the orphanage in

11 hours of sleep is incredibly refreshing after many hours of travel.

This is where we are staying 

This is the view from my window

I love spicy Indian food. Even when I’m eating it with my fingers (which is a traditional Indian way to eat food). I also love Indian tea!

It’s crazy to think about how many girls in India are not given the right to live—just because they are girls. There are between 70-80 girls at the Home of Love. But how many more were not so fortunate?

Imagine sleeping here on a mat with 70-80 other girls 

It could be easy to focus on the bad in a place where dirt is everywhere, people lay along the street seemingly unnoticed, little girls sleep in a tiny room on mats, all dogs are mangy, and the air is humid and polluted? But there is a lot of hope. Just look around—look at the bright colors, the stars hanging in the tree outside, the laughter and joy of little girls, the generosity of even the lowest members of society, and little children who can barely speak, but yet know the English word “Chapel.”

This is part of the garden at the Home of Love 

 

This is where a worker at the Home of Love cooks food.

I loved playing with the girls at the orphanage today. I wish I could take so many of them home with me, especially the little ones. It’s hard to communicate with them because of the language barrier, especially the young girls, but when I play with them, we don’t need words—just smiles, laughter, hand motions, hand-holding, holding, and the simple actions of tag, sliding down sliding boards, playing with mangy puppies, and running. Children here, although of a darker skin tone, speaking a different language, and living in a poor living situation, are not so much different than other little children.

I am blessed to be here. I love the girls. I love my team. I cannot wait to see what God has in store throughout the next few weeks!

A very tiny mangy dog that may not have long to live, due to the rough handling of the girls.

Please be in prayer for our health. Pray that dehydration won’t be a problem and that the food will continue to set well with everyone. I will try to get some pictures of the girls tomorrow. For now, here are some amazing pictures by Ben Daron (one of our team members) on his blog: http://sendben.com/blog. He's also trying to update with pictures everyday.