The Indian Transformation

Hello everyone, and thank you for you prayers!

Life is so different here in India, much more than I had anticipated. Even though I've been in Mexico and had times where i had no means of communicating, i never felt as lost as i have here! The language is so different, and their are so many (over 500) that my ear has a very difficult time hearing sounds that are common to them. I'm attempting to learn some Hindi phrases, but I seem to make more people laugh than I am actually communicating with! I learned a Hindi song which they were all supprised by! It was fun because Newbegin (that's his name) the song leader taught it to me and asked me teach it to the children because he thought theywould get a kick out of that :) I think the teachers got more enjoyment out of it though when i sang it with them before i gave a message.

One thing that has been the most life changing things has been seeing the total and absolute poverty that is prevalent. The mixture of life and lifestyles is hard to grasp. We have poverty in America, but not like this! And it does not mix as homoeneously as it does here. It is very sobering to see the conditions that these people live in. It literally kept me from sleeping, and sometimes I wake up thinking about it. It's more striking considering the harsh weather conditions here! The temperature has only dropped below 100 degrees F once in a week and has many times soared above that to nearly 125 (some estimated even higher). We get to go back to the appartment and cool down and drink some cold water, and sit under a fan, or in my and Willie's room we even have a window A/C unit! But so, SO many of the people here live in these mud or brick, or metal huts covered by canvas or tarps! These structures remind me of a fort that i would have built in my back yard with materials i could salvage from the wash. And if they are lucky, they have set up where they were able to pigtail off of a power line and rig a light bulb. I know when David went to Africa he came face to face with some of these same thoughts....but it's one thing to tell another of your experiences or emotions, but when you feel it yourself it's the difference between someone telling you that a glowing iron is hot and them branding your chest with it! I know that it is good for me to be here, my most earnest prayer now is that when i return to America that i will not simply return to the typical comfortable American mindset and lifestyle. I may not be able to cure all illness and eliminate all poverty in Delhi, but I most certainly can live off of less and have a have a heart of compassion for a universe that is larger than my personal interests.

The people here are very wonderful! They are beautiful both inside and out. I have never seen such large group of children with such beautiful faces and INCREDIBLE smiles! And they are so attentive, so sweet, and so generous though they have nothing. They all recieved a gift box at the end of the week of VBS, and both Willie & I had children offer us thier candy with such persistence that we had to take it! These are children that take a bus ride, some over an hour both ways, from the "under privileged" areas! You can imagine what that means after what i described above. They come from the slums. The school was first called the Delhi Slum School for "Auntie" Ananthi (a Ph.D in Linguistics) started it in the "toilet complex" of the slum. The school is now called the "The Good Samaritan School" and it was built by the supporting funds of "The River Foundation"! It is truly an amazing school as you may see from the picture below. It is a beautiful structure and a haven of rest and excitement for all who get to work and attend it. The layout of the building is that of a Sweedish Hospital so they say, and even in the extreme climate all rooms are able to remain at a comfortable (well, bareable) temperature without the use of any A/C. When the electricity goes out, which kills the many many ceiling fans, and you are in the middle of a praise song where 1000 bodies are jumping and dancing then it gets closer to the un-bareable side of things. Without exageration this exact senario occured and you could visibly see a cloud forming over the crowd from all the perspiration! It was laughable! :) I also had to sit for I thought i might faint!

We purchased 30 guitars 2 days ago. I have nearly 120 children enrolled in my "Summer Guitar Class"! And they will be devided into 3 groups. One small problem is that most of them do not understand english very well (or at all) and i have to communicate some difficult concepts like music theory! :) The Lord will be with me. However the guitars were quite nice for the price as compared to US $. They were all full size, cut out (meaning you can play very high on the frets), with pick-ups and volume adjustments! And they came in 3 styles: natural wood, blue, and black. They are called "Givson" guitars, the makers were creative because many Indians think that it is the same as the very expensive American made "Gibson" guitar because the font is the same and with the Indian accent givson sounds the same as gibson!! :) Anyways theywere 2500Rs. Which is almost $60.00 US. Each one came with a carry bag, a pick-up cord, and a strap. The scary thing is that the school purchased all of these because of an idea i had months ago when talking to Auntie that i could teach as many students as had guitars in hand! Then when i arrive, she tells me i will be accompanying them to the purchase of 30 guitars to ensure their quality, and then try to teach 120 kids with a language barrier! I still laugh when i think of it. Anyhow, the guitars were purchased with funds relegated to other needs in the school however Auntie thought this was more important! Thus i am not going to stop talking to people i know until i get the entire purchase of the 30 guitars covered twice! For now they have to use more funds to build a storage unit where they can safely house and lock the 30 guitars, and i am working on getting their PA system to a practically functional state! It is ABSOLUTELY amazing what they make-do with! They currently have an old tape deck as the amplifier, every button is broken and the tape deck is bent and stuck protruding outwards. This they connect to a switch board with a whopping 4 channels and the screw attachments for the speaker leads fall into the housing if you are not gentle with them! It's quite funny, but they get more use out of that and give more praise to God with that than an American Mega church's sound system! So please, if you read this and want to sponsor one or more guitar please e-mail Alison: alisonkorock@hotmail.com

I need to go and i hope that the next entry will not be so long from now as the last one was, however it is very difficult to get to the "cyber cafe" and the connection at the school is via mobile phone.

Please keep me and Willie In your prayers and may the Lord's gracious blessing be with you.
With much love,
Barak

This girl was so precious!! All i would have to do was look at the girls and they would start to giggle and cover their face and wisper in their friends ear and point back at me...i think they were flirting with me ;)

There were nearly 700 kids and they all sat at attention on the concrete floor. These kids here are so well behaved it's amazing! It makes American kids look so pathetic.

Willie & I are starting to "dig" the Indian toilets! They are flushwith the ground. You place your feet on those ribs and...well...squat and get-er-done! Everything seems to flow better in that position! We're getting so good that we can even do it in the middle of the night without falling in!!

Willie Was the STAR dancer! So many complimented him on his good dancing! None of the men would dance, and the ladies just couldn't get over Willie gettin' down!

This was simply amazing. Next to the school there is a large building project going on, but the amzing part is the woman fron & Center....count the bricks! Mind you, it's 105-125 in the noon day sun!

This is the "flat" that we live in. The tan door on the bottom below the green covering is our door.

This is a very common scene, and it can be in an alley or on the main highway with heavy traffic!

Precious Auntie Dianna Raj! Uncle & Auntie Raj have become our Indian parents! They live with us and us with them and they take care of us. Every morning Uncle brings us tea!

This is one of the workers children! She is so beautiful, well i think she's a she indicated by the make up under the eyes.

Here the senior boys were helping me learn Hindi. We had so much fun for nealy 2 hours!

Our wonderful sister Nesa (left) and Nana(right). Nesa is a civil engineer and Nana is an Electrical engineer...yes they both have the "Nack"! Nesa cooks us takes care of ALL of our meals! She is a wonderful cook, and she is the one that helps us around Delhi or with anything we might need. They both are office staff at the school. There is one more woman, Bency, who we are good friends with as well. The three of them usually always have lunch with us every day.

"Uncle" Daniel Raj in our flat.

The Good Samaritan School. Front view. And that is the Toyota "Qualis" that we are chouferred around town in.