Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
We want better water
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Not even 1 month back I was driving a SUV through the crowded highways and byways of South India. I was trying to keep up with my friend Prasanna who himself was driving an SUV but doing about 15 mph faster than me which doesn’t seem like a lot but when you are already doing 60 -65 mph in posted areas of 35 and you are dodging kids, animals, motorcycles and hoping not to meet a bus or larger truck going the wrong direction, that extra 10 – 15mph makes a huge difference. Call me an idiot for wanting to drive in the first place but really, driving in India is fun and chasing Prasanna is even more fun; think NASCAR and your chasing Jimmy Johnson in your Toyota.
Ok, enough of this but I was driving fast and enjoying most of the experience primarily because I had the AC going full blast, music was playing and a cold 2 liter bottle of water resting in the center console. Having the opportunity to take a drink whenever I wanted was magnificent and never really thought about until I got outside and again experienced the rush of hot, humid, Indian summer heat.
We finally rolled into a village which Prasanna was taking us to because in this place they requested water and according to Prasanna it was a needy tribal area so I decided to shoot some video to give you the reader a glimpse of what I experienced. I have edited a lot out as who wants to sit through 20 minutes of video listening to people you can’t understand? So I give you just 5 minutes I think and in this 5 minutes you will see and hear the need. This place unfortunately is typical of many places requesting water. I will say though that at least they have water. Many places in which we carry out our work there isn’t water in the village suitable for drinking. The suitable water is some distance from their dwelling and a considerable amount of time is spent each day in water collection for that day.
My goal in capturing this video is to just bring awareness to how millions of people live each and every day. The reality for this is harsh compared to us. They struggle to survive, we, better yet, I, struggle to find something to drink cold enough to satisfy my whim. For these rural people, they struggle to find just plain water safe enough to use without fear of sickness.
Village needing water (Click on the link to watch the video.)
For this village and countless others, money is all that is needed and not much of it. For less than $2,000 I can outfit this village with a hand pump water project and villages just like it. All I need is your help, your money. Do you want to change a life and make a real difference? Give me some cash and I will change a village with something as simple as water.
Tuni – Oct. 25
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Tuni is home when it comes to India. Trichy is my field for which I and others so diligently work; the ground which we believe will one day yield a harvest, and yet if you were to offer me a chance to live here, well it would be in Tuni.
It is not that the city is anything special, its that there are a group of believers here that have formed a wonderful commuinty which in so many ways reveals what community life must have been like in NT times. For this reason Tuni has become my “oasis” that I can go to whenever I am in India. The community at NASA, for me is a place of love, rest, acceptance and resultantly rejuvenation.
This trip is no different.
We arrived Sunday afternoon aftr a short flight from Chennai to Vizag and then a 1.5 hour car ride for which I assumed command of the SUV. Pulling into Light of Love was everything I hoped for; warm greetings, lots of familiar faces, Esther and coffee, Schaun, Troy, Jason, KC and Allen from Kansas and my good friend Bob from NM.
After moving our things we were treated to a wonderful meal and at that pointed we could have called it a day, yet it was only 2 in the afternoon and more was to be done. Just outside were hundreds of people suffering from HIV/Aids and leprosy, and yet you wouldn’t know it by looking at their faces.
These folks were singing, clapping and expressing joy and it wasn’t because we showed up or because they were fed. My belief is that it was because we were now all together, we were in community and so we began by worshipping the One who has secured our future.
Witnessing this event brought tears to my eyes and allowed me to share a message which confirmed their hope and belief in a God who knows their name, their situation and has a place waiting for them because they have put their faith in His Son, Jesus.
The joy that can literally flood our souls when we come together in community and truly worship God for who He is and for what He has done is amazing. I can only imagine what heaven will be like and I have a longing in my heart to get there. My suspicion is that it is going to be a lot like yesterday; enjoying community, sharing a meal and worshipping Father God.
So what now?
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
It’s August and school is starting up and I think I heard a Christmas jingle while strolling the mall shopping for back to school supplies, just kidding but I wouldn’t be surprised. School is starting up here in the Midwest and by Labor Day we’ll all be back in a grove with school and work and life will have a normal ebb and flow to it, but what about the rest of the world?
All I know is India and from what I know about India, rural south India to be exact school is already in session which leads me to my request; water.
This past trip I received several proposals for water projects for schools. Hundreds of kids are barely making it each and every day because they lack access to safe drinking water. I want to do something about it but I need your help, specifically your dollars.
Without donations we can’t help, hundreds, no, thousands of girls and boys go to school each day to learn and grow and yet they do this at their own risk. They don’t run off with a lunch and a water bottle, many of them don’t have a lunch to take and if the school does serve a meal it is very simple and plain. Juice to drink? Forget it. They will be lucky to have water and if they do, the chances of it being safe to drink, free from contaminates is slim.
So yes, each and every day that I don’t or can’t act is a day they suffer and are at risk and thus the urgency to act. Unfortunately this isn’t an isolated issue but a prevelant one and even with the widespread demand which can easily be overwhelming, I, better yet, WE, must act.
Do you want to be involved and save a life? Send me any amount you can and together we can and will not only make a difference – we’ll save thousands of lives!
Visit our GIVE page to make your donation or send us your check by mail, however you choose to give is fine, just give!
Riding the train
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Riding a train is a lot of fun and when it is done in India at night, well the fun is compounded. I am using FUN loosely of course as Kim, Sue and Tracy would probably differ with me on what makes for a fun time. Starbucks, a good book, clean clothes and a planned agenda are probably more up their alley.
Me, loosey goosey is how I roll.
Picture the scene, mobs of Indians running and walking for their train that leaves in 5 minutes, it’s night, the train if full with people hanging out the doors and maybe even the windows. There are about 25 cars, so the train stretches down the platform and into the hazy, smoke filled night. 4 Americans and their luggage, a Catholic priest, photographer, ex-Catholic priest and his son, driver and no this isn’t a joke, it’s the truth. We run back and forth looking for 1A but all we find is A1 which I have learned from experience are not one in the same.
We ask Indian Railway officials for help but like many, no help. Finally this young priest tells us just get on, grab a seat, force someone out of theirs, this is your car, no problem. Problem was I knew it wasn’t our car as there was no 1A on the Rockfort Express bound for Chennai. The trains starts moving and our luggage and the ladies are taking up the entire vestibule of A1. Sure enough, wrong car and it turns out we are supposed to be in H1. Funny, our ticket doesn’t say that, but H1 was where we were told our sleeping compartment was.
Let’s go to H1. Well you need to jump off the train to do this, next station in 5 mintues, station stop 30 seconds. Holy Cow.
In Trichy they joined 2 trains together to make one really long train and resultantly you can’t walk the entire train, so from where we were we could only go so far until we bumped into the end of the car.
On 3 let’s jump, one, two, three – off I go, next Sue, Tracy and then Kim starts throwing off luggage and then jumps herself as the train comes to a stop.
H1 was to far for us and our luggage in 30 seconds so we elected to go 2 cars and jump back on and then make our way up to H1 through the narrow passage ways of 2 and 3 tier sleeper cars jammed with Indians.
Good news was we made it; bad news our showers we had about an hour earlier didn’t do us any good as we are now hot, sweaty messes. Oh well, Chennai is only 7 hours away, we have a sleeper car to ourselves and it has a wonderfully functioning AC. Thanks God for the simple pleasures and for making it a FUN night…at least in my book.