Catherine's visit

I know that the chronological order of my blog has been all shot to pieces recently, but hey!

Catherine was here with us over easter. It was great having her here.

I thought I'd be really clever, and put postings about Jo's sister Catherine's visit on in reverse order (from below to above- fellow bloggers will understand what I'm talking about!) Basically when you make a posting it stacks itself on top of the others in reverse chronological order as you read it. Therefore, if you are reading someones blog, you must scroll down to where you want to start reading, and then work upwards. I thought it would be really clever to start posting at the end of Catherne's visit, and work backwards, so that you could all read the postings from top to bottom instead. (we did a similar thing for our Kerala holiday). I unfortunately got distracted, and so now my blog is more unperfect than before!! I realise this is far too complicated.

Basically...

...Read on, and see how you go!

Biker Girl!

After Catherine's arrival, I took her for a spin on my bike around the locale. She quite enjoyed the bike, and suggested her boyfriend Neil should get one for London!

I guess that she would join me in being entirely honest that the picture of her driving was staged. She said that she wanted a photo of her on my bike, to prove that she is as hard as Neil! ( there is an earlier posting of him actually riding my bike)

This photo Catherine took of Lok Hospital is actually the best I've got. They have recently put a new sign on top of the building, which makes it look more dashing in photos!

This shot below is of the local street where fruit and veg are available in the evenings. This is "real India".

A little work

Catherine was able to come with me to work one morning, and we went to visit a couple of patients in their homes in a neighbouring suburb called Mulund. There is one Church member there "Zane" who has left his full-time well paid job to volunteer with the Church helping be advocates for patients with HIV/AIDS. We have a small orphanage there- just 2 kids, with one lady who ceres for them. Here is Catherine standing outside.

I had actually never visited the area before, but it is built on a hill, and has a really nice village like atmosphere, and the neighbours are all very friendly. I think Catherine enjoyed the visits, and it was really encouraging for everyone for her (and I) to be there.

A day in Mumbai

Do't worry too much about the giraffe in the centre of the photo. He's quite tame.

We often go into Mumbai with visitors (we actually live about 1 1/2 hours from the centre, in a suburb). Catherine went for a day with her friend Jess to see the work with "Women's India Trust". Jo went the next day to meet them, and I babysat overnight, and then joined them the 3rd day! It was kind of a "Staggered assault" by the family on Mumbai. I'm not sure if the metropolis would have coped too well with us all arriving at the same time!!?

Unfortunately there was a nasty fire in a shop in the centre of Colaba. It was a shame, but it meant that Catherine was able to get some photos of firemen for her "India project". She is a primary school teacher, and wanted photos of lots of different professions.

We love to go for a trip around the harbour on a boat. It takes 30 minutes, and is great fun for the kids. In the background you can see the gateway of India.

Horsey Horsey Don't you stop

I've mentioned below the trip to Matheran, with the shots from the car, and the toy train, but here are some shots of our time actually IN Matheran itself. We were there for 1 night on good Friday

The town is a hill station about 2 hours from Thane. Uniquely, the town's council have maintained a motorised vehicle free zone in the villiage. This means that to get to the villiage, you can either get the toy train, or drive half way, pay to park, and then get a horse or hand pulled rickshaw the rest of the way to the villiage. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "park and ride"!

The town also do not allow polythene bags. These create a huge pollution problem in the rest of India, and when monsoon comes they can create havoc with blocked drains. Part of the problem is with the attitude of Indians that as long as they are not directly littering their own driveway, there will be someone else less fortunate than themselves there to clear up their litter. Many of the women we treat work picking through other peoples rubbish, and they earn less than a pound a day!

Catherine, Jess (friend who is also doing voluntary work here for a womens charity) and I went for a 2 hour horse-ride the evening we were in Matheran. We all really enjoyed it in the end, once we had got the hang or the rhythm! We even galloped a short way!

This photo is of Catherine and I at "sunset point". There are many viewpoints in Matheran. It is a plateau type hill, which you can walk or ride all around, getting views in all directions. Most of the paths are in the shade of trees, which is definately a Godsend. We also went for a bit of a walk the next morning. It was very hot! However I think that Alistair and Freya had the right idea of how to travel, as you can see below!

Dolkan village

Yesterday John (pictured above, a Nursing lecturer from Carlisle) and I went to Dolkan village, 2 hours from Thane, to visit a remarkable man called Abraham. The village has no good doctor, and many people suffer without good medical care. The photo above is of the main villiage centre, which has a good number of small shops. Below you can see the local shoe shopping precinct!

For many years Abraham has been serving the community in grace and selflessness, to try to bring better health-care to the village.

It was humbling and satisfying to see the relationships that Abraham has now built with the locals. They all love and respect him, and he jokingly confiscates money that local children were gambling with, and a chewing tobacco box from a young boy, and they love him for it. You can see him below standing to the left of the tree addressing the youth.

Abraham is a small man, not reaching my shoulder, but he has such a big heart, and a matching smile. He has remarkable enthusiasm in a difficult task, and he gives all praise and honour to God.

Until last year he was living in a small shack smaller than your garage, but last year with the help of Lok hospital, a beautiful home was built for him, with an inside toilet (the first he's ever had), and 2 bedrooms. He cannot believe God's goodness to him, but the truth is that he deserves so much more!!

A few months ago he was bitten by a viper, and went to a hospital an hour away, received no treatment, and went home to begin fighting the effects of the bite. He was expected to die, or at least lose his leg, but he has survived, with only some swelling remaining in his affected leg.

Funnily enough, there are some bible verses about this;

Mark 16:18 "they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Luke 10:19 "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

However we shouldn't just let ourselves be bitten for the fun of it, as we are also warned in scripture!!

1 Corinthians 10:9 "We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes."

People in the village have told him that he should not be alive, and that his God must be very powerful. Perhaps he was also able to survive because he is so fit. Fitter than me certainly- at the age of 52. He regularly walks 20km per day to visit outlying villages/farms. He has a scooter, but finds it a bit daunting using it. He recently fell from his scooter in fact, and so it sits with a broken brake-lever unused at the moment, while Abraham walks 20km on his swollen leg.

I am very moved by his courage and determination, and so I'm planning to go and visit him once a month, and help him with his medical work. He doesn't speak much English, but my Hindi is now just about good enough to get by!

Adam

"Right" to carry arms?

A US shooting rampage at the Virginia Tech university has left 33 people, including a suspected gunman, dead.

The US constitution says that all men have a right to carry arms. In the film "bowling for columbine", Michael Moore opens a bank account that gives a free rifle as an incentive to new customers.

Is it not wrong in todays world of screwed up youth and terrorism that people should have an automatic right to carry murderous weapons?

I know that Americans are very proud of their constitution, but are so many young lives worth it?

Is it ever "right" to carry arms without good cause?

From the car

As we were travelling to Matheran we saw some interesting scenes from the car.

1) Washer women

2) The 'toy train' that takes about 2 hours to cover a distance you can do in the car in about 1/2 hour

3) Children pumping water, and women carrying water from the well

The easter message

Catherine brought us real easter-eggs for the kids, all the way from the UK. The reason for the easter eggs in the UK is that it is suppoesd to symbolise the stone being rolled away from the entrance to Jesus tomb when he raised himself from the dead.

I'm not sure that Freya and Alistair fully appreciate the easter message, but I know they appreciated the chocolate!

The easter story

A man and his ever-nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem.

While they were there, the wife suddenly died.

The undertaker told the husband, "You can have her shipped home for $5000, or you can bury her here, in the Holy Land, for $150.

The man thought about it and decided to have her shipped home. The undertaker asked, "Why would you spend $5000 to ship your wife home, when it would be so wonderful to be buried here and you would spend ony $150?"

The man replied, "Long ago, a man died here, was buried here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance."