A Passage to India

A Passage to India

You know how I said that there were to be twelve of us on the team?
Well as of today there are 9 (a girl from Jamaica arrived one hour
ago!). It has been incredibly difficult for a lot people to obtain
visas for India and many people have been sadly denied entry. At the
moment the guys are comprised of a Mizo guy from Burma and three
Indians from three completely different parts of India (North East,
Orissa, and Hyderabad). Then there is a girl from the USA (she is
actually a part of an American Samoan church which has a branch in the
states), a girl from the Netherlands, and a girl from Taiwan. So far
we are getting along swimmingly and no one has ostracized me (yet) for
my love for Justin Bieber.

For the past two weeks we have been based at the Tamilnadu Theological
Seminary (TTS) - an ecumenical bible college in the south of India. I
am more than impressed by the college - I am in complete awe. Walking
through the library and book store you see a plethora of books
covering challenging topics such as feminist theology, theology from
Dalit and subaltern perspectives, eco theology and even eco-feminist
theology! The coordinator for this leg of the trip explained to us
that while ministry to the elite of society is important, TTS is
dedicated to the society's marginalised - and from what I have seen,
heard and experienced so far he is right. For instance, students in
second year are expected to live in a neighbouring slum for a year
(the school actually owns buildings for this purpose) and third year
students have to spend 3 months in an NGO and 3 months in a poor rural
community. Furthermore, one Wednesday every month they celebrate the
one-pot-festival. This festival starts with dancing and singing around
the campus and concludes with a meal of rice porridge. It serves two
purposes: One, providing a meal for some of the margnialised in their
community and two being in solidarity with the poor. And just
yesterday TTS didn't hold any classes as the entire school celebrated
Women's Day. So I am pretty excited to be here! Though there is a lot
to take in and process.

Our first two weeks have been mainly orientation but we have done some
pretty exciting things and I have been challenged beyond measure and
there are many questions going through my head at the moment. One of
my highlights has been our visit to the neighbouring slum where we
visited a number of the TTS students. One of the homes belonged to
three girls who we have made close friends with. They said that they
feel 100% safe and the community spirit is very strong - though it was
pretty evident how difficult life is in the slum. We have also visited
a circus, the MASSIVE Meenekash temple, a palace, YMCA's schools for
mentally challenged and hearing impaired kids, and I have even had a
personal visit to the hospital (don't worry mum! I am fine now). We
have participated in a worship service in an Anglo Indian church
service (this was super duper interesting), and we have attempted to
dance in saris at the church's Sunday evening worship service. The
list of activities, places and people that we have visited could go on
and on.

The more that I see of life in India and the more people with whom I
speak to about their experiences here in India, the more that my
emotions take a beating. I have only been here for two weeks but there
is certainly no denying that life in India can be extremely hard for
many people. There are massive issues and injustices that people have
to face each and every day, and the reality of it is really beginning to
sink in - these are real problems affecting real people. Every
encounter feel like a punch right in the gut. This is real. Witnessing
a woman being treated for injuries inflicted by her husband - WHACK.
Meeting with a group of agricultural workers whose land will be taken
by the government for almost nothing for the sake of economic
development - SMACK. Seeing a women having to carry her daily water
and people lining up for their rations of food - THUMP. Realising that
one of the reasons for the extremely low ratio of girls to boys at the
school for mentally challenged kids is probably due to female
infanticide - WHACK!

At the same time, though, we have met a number of incredible and
selfless people doing incredible work in their communities. These
people, in partnership with God, are successfully stamping out the
massive injustices around them and in their communities. Nevertheless,
life here can be hard.

This evening we head to Bangalor for a month... I don't quite know
what we'll be doing but I think that it will be very practical.

That is all from me for now.

Please keep us in your prayers!

Petra
P.S. I FREAKEN LOVE INDIA