Foreward: Internet connectivity is not working that well with my PC in Latur. Pastor Samuel has allowed us to use his PC and we are very thankful. This post will not include pictures and the photo sites won't be updated with pics from Monday as they are already downloaded on my PC and not on the camera SD card. The pictures are quite precious and I will let you know when those become available for viewing. For today forward, I will be able to download images to the blog and photo sites using Pastor Samuel's computer.
Monday October 24
At breakfast, we said goodbye to Pastor E as he was heading to Southern India. The rest of the group were going to travel to a different part of Mumbai to some slum daycares. These are places where children in the slums can go for two hours each day to learn some educational lessons, learn about the love of Jesus, and get a snack. Many parents in the slums do not send their children to school and thus increase the chance that their children will remain in the same cycle of poverty. These parents are encouraged by the daycare workers to send their children to school and provide a great headstart. Hopefull with the lessons and tnd love they receive, they will resist the temptations to engage in bad behaviors such as hurting others and stealing.
As we drove in to the city, we passed areas of wealth and areas of poverty. Shanty or lean-to houses within sight of skyscrapers and buildings that house the financial industry. After about an hour of hot, cramped traveling, we turned on to a side road lined with falling down booths, trash, old cars, and debris. Our destination was not one of these booths, but instead a small cramped room down a narrow passageway. Inside this dark room were about 20 small children who were both awed and excited to see us. They sang us several songs and then we got to interact with them for just a few short minutes. They wanted to touch us and they wanted our attention, but the big delight was when the cameras came out. They loved seeing themselves on the digital camera display. Their faces were so sweet and their smiles were so bright, it made your heart hurt to think of the way in which they had to live. Quite sobering to realize that the best part of their day was 2 hours in a hot, dark, very cramped room with a nasty, unclean floor.
Less than 10 minutes and were off to the next daycare. This one was also down a side road, but there were more structural buildings in the area and the entrance was down an alleyway that was triple the size of the previous one. There were again about 20 children, but this room was larger, bright, and airy. They sang songs and a few stood up to recite the alphabet or count in English. The time for them to leave came while we were there and several parents came to retrieve their kids. Many milled about the area waiting to see us as we left. The emotions running through each of us at these daycares were quite mixed. It was sad and heart-breaking to think of the living conditions and lack of opportunity afforded them. Their bright faces and huge smiles made us smile and wiggled a spot of warmness into our souls. Sometimes it is easy to ask the question "How do they live this way and still show joy?" First, we must caution ourselves that we are trying to put ourselves in their situation and then compare the comforts and privilege of our daily life. These children do not know of such things so they do not pity themselves like we would pity ourselves should we end up in that scenario. We all know someone, maybe it is even one of us, who has fallen on hard times and complains to Jesus about difficult things are and question why God would allow that to happen. Seeing these children is a great reminder that we need to have a
Monday October 24
At breakfast, we said goodbye to Pastor E as he was heading to Southern India. The rest of the group were going to travel to a different part of Mumbai to some slum daycares. These are places where children in the slums can go for two hours each day to learn some educational lessons, learn about the love of Jesus, and get a snack. Many parents in the slums do not send their children to school and thus increase the chance that their children will remain in the same cycle of poverty. These parents are encouraged by the daycare workers to send their children to school and provide a great headstart. Hopefull with the lessons and tnd love they receive, they will resist the temptations to engage in bad behaviors such as hurting others and stealing.
As we drove in to the city, we passed areas of wealth and areas of poverty. Shanty or lean-to houses within sight of skyscrapers and buildings that house the financial industry. After about an hour of hot, cramped traveling, we turned on to a side road lined with falling down booths, trash, old cars, and debris. Our destination was not one of these booths, but instead a small cramped room down a narrow passageway. Inside this dark room were about 20 small children who were both awed and excited to see us. They sang us several songs and then we got to interact with them for just a few short minutes. They wanted to touch us and they wanted our attention, but the big delight was when the cameras came out. They loved seeing themselves on the digital camera display. Their faces were so sweet and their smiles were so bright, it made your heart hurt to think of the way in which they had to live. Quite sobering to realize that the best part of their day was 2 hours in a hot, dark, very cramped room with a nasty, unclean floor.
Less than 10 minutes and were off to the next daycare. This one was also down a side road, but there were more structural buildings in the area and the entrance was down an alleyway that was triple the size of the previous one. There were again about 20 children, but this room was larger, bright, and airy. They sang songs and a few stood up to recite the alphabet or count in English. The time for them to leave came while we were there and several parents came to retrieve their kids. Many milled about the area waiting to see us as we left. The emotions running through each of us at these daycares were quite mixed. It was sad and heart-breaking to think of the living conditions and lack of opportunity afforded them. Their bright faces and huge smiles made us smile and wiggled a spot of warmness into our souls. Sometimes it is easy to ask the question "How do they live this way and still show joy?" First, we must caution ourselves that we are trying to put ourselves in their situation and then compare the comforts and privilege of our daily life. These children do not know of such things so they do not pity themselves like we would pity ourselves should we end up in that scenario. We all know someone, maybe it is even one of us, who has fallen on hard times and complains to Jesus about difficult things are and question why God would allow that to happen. Seeing these children is a great reminder that we need to have a
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