Friday 7/20/07

Friday morning Karen, with Leah assisting, taught nutrition classes to the local village women while Lee and I sat at the prayer mound and talked. I believe it was during this day's classes that Leah also taught the local village women about massaging tired, achy muscles - a major relief after back-breaking labor. Ashley and Jill had already returned to Shady Grove to teach the children there as it was thought that Jill needed to stay in a more comfortable location. That worked out well because Jill and Ashley were awesome with all those kids at Shady Grove. When we returned, I was really impressed with all that the kids had learned. Many of them are teenagers and I think that it really encouraged the Indian teenagers to meet a Christian American teenager and interact. God moves in mysterious ways and I believe Ashley and Jill were where they were supposed to be at Shady Grove while we were at Eureka Children's Home. Anyway, when Lee and I were finished visiting the prayer mound and touring the field that she hopes to cultivate, we took a walk down the road and visited a family with a 3-week old infant. Right after lunch we took Karen and Leah to see the baby and we found out that the mother had attended Karen’s maternity classes in Dec. while she was pregnant with him. The parents actually asked Karen to name the baby! I was standing beside Karen and she asked What? in disbelief. Did you say you want me to name him? They told her yes that’s what they said and she named him Elijah! Talk about a swelled head! We got pictures of this beautiful little baby boy with the red dot between his eyes and a white slash over the dot – which I believe indicates the caste he belongs to but Karen says it just means he had been blessed that morning with ashes from the temple – I don’t know. Anyway, the baby’s uncle then climbed a coconut tree and the family treated us to fresh coconut. We took pictures of this and the stone mill that they use to grind their grain. While walking back to the orphanage, there was a huge mound like a fireant bed with several large holes in the top by the side of the road that we had walked right by that morning. Brother Simon (the orphanage warden) said, “Sisters, move away from the mound. That’s a snake home.” I jumped about 5 feet sideways but Leah got close enough to take pictures. Simon said the local villagers worship this cobra because they fear it. Ughhh! That afternoon we took the mobile clinic out to the villages. Pastor Borris (Simon’s brother) is very active in this area and he is great with the kids. Karen and Leah helped attract kids with the stick-on vest and candy and Pastor Borris taught them Christian songs and dances. The parents as usual followed their kids. I saw a beautiful little girl there who had goiter. It was strange to see a skinny child with a huge neck. At the 2nd village we attended, Karen was really excited to see Diane running with the children. This was the 15-month old little girl she saw in Dec. who could not walk. Her mother had never fed her solid foods and Karen told her she needed to feed her solids to help her walk. It had obviously worked! I really enjoyed visiting this village also – there was an old woman there with a beautiful countenance who was very attentive to us. She seemed to radiate love and appreciation for our efforts. Also, it was at this village that I learned about the mysterious village people who lived on the mountain top. They were mysterious to me because I looked up the mountain and saw nothing but rocks and trees, but was told that the mountain was full of primitive peoples who spoke different dialects and earned their living mostly by the illegal drug trade. We were told that we would definitely not be going further up the mountain. I think I will always wonder about those invisible mountain people and pray that some day the gospel of Jesus Christ will reach them as well.

There are many superstitions among these people. The women believe that wearing a black bra causes breast cancer – a harmless superstition I guess, but they also believe that eating purple grapes will cause a mother to deliver a blue baby, and this is a belief that needs changing – also pregnant mothers who eat eggplant give birth to dark babies. We were supposed to be teaching against superstition and ignorance, but I’m afraid we brought our own bad habits to share. On the way home, Brother Sindersen (a pharmacist who travels with the mobile clinic to the mountain villages and , along with his wife, Grace, runs the Eureka Children’s Home) nearly hit a chicken and we teased him about finding a good one to hit for supper. (It was really interesting that at one time we ran over a huge stack of corn in the road. It’s piled in the road deliberately to be run over so the kernels will be separated from the cob. When I was little I shelled corn by hand for the chickens. I wish I'd known I could have just put it out in the road and let the cars run over it!) Anyway, after dodging chickens in the road, Karen and Leah taught Sindersen the American game of playing chicken on the road with oncoming traffic. Sindersen humored Karen and Leah (who both thought it was great!) while Lee and I (I guess because we’re older) just kind of put our heads down and refused to look. That earned Bro. Sindersen the name “The Crazy Doc” and I thought to myself that he would fit in very well with some of Tift Regional’s doctors. After dinner they sang and danced for us at the orphanage. Simon is an excellent dancer and some of the older boys are, too. Grace pushed a reluctant Sindersen out on the floor and he danced a little. Afterwards we gave Sathish and Deva and Leah’s foster child the gifts we had brought for them. Sathish and Deva received caps and family pictures and frisbees. I also met my sister and her husband’s foster child – Chandramohan (pronounced Chondra morgan). I told my sister she should just call him Morgan. He is a very sweet child and small-built for his age like most of the children of India - compared to American children that is.