Saroj's House

The lady who comes to work in our home in the mornings is called Saroj. We visited her house recently with a Christmas hamper. Her home is fairly typical, and involves about 12 foot square with a cooking corner, and a washing corner.

She, her husband, and one son sleep on one bed, one son sleeps on another thin bed, and one son sleeps on the floor.

It is a very simple life.

Saroj was very excited that we gave her a small Christmas bonus, and bought a new sari to wear to her Christmas service at her Church (she is also a Christian). She wore her new sari today to our house, and was really happy and giggly when she came to the door wearing it. It is quite humbling how small things can make such differences to peoples lives. But it is also quite revealing that the more we have, the more difficult it is to make us happy!

Saroj has a lovely, happy, family. We are very blessed to have her coming to our home.

Church children's Christmas party!

Yep, another Christmas party!

This was a party for our church sunday-school. There was a magician and santa, then a meal, and Alistair had a good time.

Dress to impress!

Thankyou to 4 Australian students who were recently with us; Alison, Bethany, Esther and Jess. They came from a Church in Aus to help at another youth conference in Hyderabad.

They were only with me for one day, but they gave JSK lots of girls dresses that a friend had made, and we were able to get a fair few of them to girl patients on Friday afternoon before Christmas.

So thankyou to the friend, whose name I don't actually know!

Jeevan Sahara Kendra Christmas Do

Well, it is certainly Christmas party season here in Thane, which feels very surreal, as it is still 25 degrees at night, and more than that, we are not being bombarded with "X"mas consumerism constantly.

I still haven't managed to think of a Christmas present for Jo. I'm thinking that maybe I should have told her that the keyboard I got her for her birthday was actually a joint Christmas and birthday present! (do you think I could still pull that off?- her birthday was in May!!). Alternatively, we do have some painters coming to re-docorate our bedroom next week, it was at Jo's request, so could I tell her that's her Christmas present? - to put this in perspective, Jo has already told me that the bike I bought myself is actually my Christmas present!

Anyway...
...About the JSK Christmas party, it was on Saturday, and was a very successful programme. Lots of patient's gave very encouraging and uplifting testimonies, and as I looked round the room, I was struck by the number of patients who had attended our centre very sick over the past year, but that now by the grace of God are doing really well. Many of them would have been dead without the help and support of the team at JSK.

It was quite humbling to share with the people there the story from Luke 17:12-19;

As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

I shared that Jesus is still working to heal the sick and outcast through the hands of we his servants, and that we all still need to go back to Jesus and say "thank you" for everything he has accomplished in each of our lives.

I also read Psalm 103:2-3;
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

I really felt fulfilled and content at the party. Being here in India is not just about helping others. It is about fulfilling God's good and perfect will for our lives. If we humble ourselves and do as God directs us, that will ultimately bring us more satisfaction than following our own selfish desires.

Lok Christmas party II

Our JSK team did a sketch as part of the programme for the Lok hospital Christmas party on Friday.

We got a bit of a laugh- here you see Shanti dressed up as a local politician! (see Alistair stage right!)

Yours truly also spoke for a few minutes about Jesus being the light of the world.

Lok Christmas Party

It was the Lok Christmas party on Friday.

There was a mix of old and new in the nativity play, with santa meeting Mary and Joseph!

The party was held in the centre of a housing society with lots of highrise flats overlooking the proceedings. This meant that all the inhabitants heard the Christmas message, as well as the party attendees.

It was a really good night, with a free meal as well.

Denise and I also won the "paper dance" game, and so we now have a couple of presents under the tree!

Z's dead baby, Z's dead...

Hey, prize for the first person who can tell me the significance of this set of keys/key-ring! 

On yer bike!

Well, here's a pic at last of the new bike, taken on my mobile by a local shopkeeper next to my work. See how the colour matches my helmet (no-one can accuse me of not being in touch with my feminine side?!) 

New Links

With "blogger beta" it is now much easier to add new links to the template for your website. You can check these out if you feel like it. I'm not sure if the independent cafes site is fully functioning yet. (it is a concept that Jo's brother Chris is toying with).

I really am a convert to blogging, and would recommend you all start doing it! It takes only a short time to set up and manage, and it a good way for people to keep up to date.

Skype is also fabby. I had a beer with my brother on-line last week!

Denyse

Last Wednesday a clinical psychologist from the "brain injuries unit" in Glasgow arrived here in Mumbai. She has taken a 1 year unpaid leave from her work, and is planning to be with us for a few months. You can see her hiding behind Freya here!

She seems like a really nice person. We hope that it will be a great support for Jo her being here. They have both been going into the hospital together a fair bit this week, meeting with consultants etc. They are planning to run some training seminars for the nursing and medical staff further down the line. They may also visit some other hospitals and charities, to see just what sort of service is available here in India, and also to get an idea of the best ways that Denyse can be used effectively during her time here.

As Jo will be a bit busier during these few months, I will be doing a bit more in the way of child-care, especially in the afternoons. Most of my doctoring with patients occurs from 9am-3pm anyway, but I'll be likely to miss some meetings and not be available to do teaching at Lok for a wee while.

Peter Foster's visit

One of the pastors from our home church in Glasgow came to visit us last week. He was going to a wedding in Chennai, and so he took 5 extra days, and came to see us on his way there. He left yesterday. We had a really great time with him, it was so nice to be able to relax and chat with someone quite similar to yourself, from a similar culture, (and with a similar sense of humour).

Unfortunately during his time here he had the audacity of beating me at an Indian game called Carrom (quite like a game of pool, but with draught pieces on a slippery board instead of balls- sort of a pool/air-hockey hybrid). I thankfully had the opportunity for revenge by then narrowly defeating him at the real thing on the pool table we have in our apartment complex "club house", (which also has a small swimming pool and sauna, gym, jacouzzi, table-tennis!)

During Peter's time here we also enjoyed swimming, getting on and off moving trains (when he didn't leave me behind in rush-hour), going to collect my new bike, the bazzars, A tour of Mumbai (including this boat trip round the harbour), and much more.

It was a shame Peter's visit was sooo fleeting, but great to have him to stay, and to get to know him a bit better.

Youth Against Aids

Here ae some photos of the stage at the Youth Against Aids (YAA) day conference we held on Dec. 2nd.

The day was a great success. We had about 400 young folk attend throughout the course of the day, and about 200-250 people there most of the time.

We had hoped for 400 atendees, and so it is nice to meet your targets.

There were 2 really good bands that played, and some people with HIV gave their stories from the stage, which was really brave, and had a really good impact. there were also a couple of really moving plays, and a main speaker. In the afternoon there were 7 different seminars, and I gave one of these on the basics of HIV. I'm not a big fan of public speaking, (even those of you who know me quite well are surprised?!) but the talks went quite well I think.

At theend of the day there was a candle lighting ceremony, and everyone sang, and waved their candles in the air for this. It had gone dark by that time, and so it was a really effective way of creating the right atmosphere. We ended by singing "shine a light in every corner of the world".
 

World AIDS day

Here is a photo of the stall we set up near the train station here in Thane on World AIDS day, which was December the first.


















A lot of people walk along this stretch of road by the lake, and in the course of the day we spoke to hundreds of people, and gave away as many leaflets. Maybe a life will be saved (or even a chain reaction of many lives!- if you prevent one person getting HIV, you also prevent them infecting others, and those others infecting others......)
Thankfully the weather was nice- Well, hey, it is warm and sunny every day after all!

Last year on World AIDS day there was a big procession involving many schools around Thane, and then in the afternoon there was a big Government meeting with lots of media and politicians. This year there was no big event though, but we did what we could to continue to raise awareness.

It was Lynne's last day with us. She is a nurse from Scotland who worked with us for 6 months. She was a very compassionate and caring person, and will be missed. (Hi Lynne if you're reading this!)

Success!

Wayhey, Party on!

I was successful in my bid, and am now the proud owner of a Bajaj CT100!

The bike I put a bid in for was actually a brand new bike basically. It had driven 45km only, and had never actually been registered for road tax or a number-plate. It cost me about 300 pounds, but would have actually been 500 pounds from a garage.

What's more, it was the model I wanted, was the first bike I saw in the warehouse, and is the same colour as my helmet!! When I saw it I felt "that bike is for me", and I was right!

The bid I placed was only about 6 pounds higher than the next bid, so I feel I've had a good day today!

Motorbike madness

Hello all, I currently drive a 16 year old scooter here in India. It was donated to our office by someone who had bought a new bike, and I have basically spent a lot more that it was ever worth getting almost every part of it replaced. However I think it was worth it, as we now have a fairly reliable vehicle.

However, we have a new member of staff who has joinet our team recently, and he hasn't got transport. Therefore I have decided that as I can afford to get a new bike, and he can't, I will buy a new bike soon. Then he will be able to use the scooter.

This photo is of a Bajaj CT 100 Winner of best bike in it's class last year (bottom of the range!). I found out about a garage that houses lots of bikes that have been reclaimed by the banks, and so yesterday I placed a closed bid on a bike there. I will find out in 2-3 days if I have been successful! But anyway, I should have a new bike soon.

US the most "Christian country in the world?

On 26 October, the UN General Assembly’s First Committee (which deals with disarmament and national security) passed a draft resolution requesting the Secretary-General to look into the possibility of creating a comprehensive, legally binding international instrument to control the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.
Co-sponsored by 116 states, the resolution received overwhelming support. Of the 164 states that voted (the delegates of a number of smaller states were absent), 139 were in favour, including Britain and the whole of Europe; 24 abstained, including China, Cuba, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and Somalia; and only one voted against – the United States.
It appears that most of the world would like to control the trade in conventional arms – the assault rifles in the hands of the boy soldiers of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and the warring militias of Chechnya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tonga......
The voting patterns over the last 12 months are revealing. On a resolution on the illicit trade in small arms, 172 countries were in favour, with no abstentions and only the US against. On a resolution towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, 168 were in favour, there were eight abstentions, and four against: Equatorial Guinea, India, North Korea and the US. On a draft resolution on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, 175 countries were in favour, there were four abstentions, and two against: North Korea and the US.
Is it naive to ask why the richest and most ‘Christian’ country in the world should go out on a limb and set itself against all that seems right and honourable and Christian in this way? Is it too simplistic to wonder why the US is willing to vote against everyone else and align itself with North Korea?
Not that we can, with integrity, express self-righteous indignation at the voting patterns of our partner in the ‘war on terror’. Even now, the British government is using all its diplomatic skills to back the US in blocking a ban on cluster bombs.