Chris and Kris in India 30

This Month.  (Post early for Christmas)  :) :)

Comment (2)
A look at where we work

The progress of HDS

The colours of our garden

May we wish you all a very happy Christmas, may God
bless you and keep you safe in the coming year.

Chickenopolis

Comments from Kris                                                     

Comment 1 from both of us.                                

We learnt something quite strange and surprising to us this week.

We learnt that last month 169 people read this blog.

We thought we were mostly talking to members of our home church, a few friends, maybe 15 or 20 people. It has come as a complete revelation to us just how many of you out there we have never met who follow us and our life.

So to you all unknown readers, we say welcome and may God bless you and we hope that you continue to enjoy reading about our experiences of India and our desire to save lives.

Comment 2.

Hey I get to make two comments this month!

There is an old UK saying “Home is where the heart is”. For us having just returned to India after an enforced (but very happy) visit to the UK we can confirm that old saying.

We have found peace here, a spiritual peace neither of us feel anywhere else, a closeness to God, a feeling of harmony. We are here to serve Him and knowing that gives us a calmness in adversity that we find very wonderful, a sense of rightness in our lives.

In the UK we were tourists, running around taking photographs, eating foods we can’t get here, visiting old friends and family and generally having a very busy but happy time.

Then our Visa’s were granted and we were so full of joy knowing we were coming home. Some regret that we didn’t get to see all the people we had planned to but the speed of our application for visa’s took us completely by surprise. Four days from application to approval, we are still a bit stunned by the speed of it.

So, we are home, our spiritual and physical home is India now and always will be we pray. As a friend and mentor said who has also followed where he was led by God, “At least our epitaph won’t read “Watched TV and did nothing in life”.

One final word, if you have a calling, or dream then follow it, do it, be true to yourself, and listen for God’s guidance in all things and never lie.

Jesus taught that truthfulness should be habitual, and that oaths ought not be necessary for those who give testimony.

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfil your vows to the LORD.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; and anything beyond these is of evil” (Matt. 5:33-37). Be honest to yourself, and to others. When you lie you only deceive yourself.

Our Lord taught that truthfulness should be a way of life, so that no oath taking is ever necessary. We should, as it were, always speak as though under oath.
Chris.

A Look at where we work
Buddha Architectural College, this is about 3 Kms from where we live, Chris is teaching Workshop skills and English and Kris is teaching Art and Design. We are both working the same days together which is nice. 

Views of the inside of the building

Kris in 'Teacher' mode

What a place to work, lovely building, staff are great as are the students, but like all students they need a push now and again! More on the college in comments from Kris.

Beautiful piece of art, all you see was built from a flat lawn

The students range from all faiths and are fascinated by the fact we are Christian, we must have testified 20 times already! We keep getting asked 'are you catholics?' so we have to explain our faith and why we have come to India to live, our hopes and our dreams for us as people and the Ngo. God has been so good to us, He has given us so much. It isn't always easy (rarely easy!) but we are certain this is all His will and we follow where He leads. The path ahead of us is obscured from us but we both KNOW it is being cleared of obstacles and traps by our Lord. We never struggle alone.

HDS (the Health and Development Society)

Well we have done it! we have achieved what a lot of people said was not possible to do, we have formed an Ngo made up of :Women, Men, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Christian members. The governing body (7) is led by a Sikh woman with remarkable drive and ambition for the society.

Not all here have welcomed this multi faith approach but as it says in the bible we live our faith by example. All faiths working to one end, the well being of all Indian peoples, wonderful.

Although we had all the paperwork done last month the governing body has to meet and elect officers before we could officially begin work as an Ngo.

What with honeymoons, late work coming up to Christmas it is proving difficult to get all the governing body together in one place to meet! Our first project should be starting in January so urgency is the key! But this is India...............

The colours of our garden

 

 

      

Chickenopilis

Inspired by a friend in the UK (Les) we are building 'Chickenopilis'. All you see here is recycled other than some of the wire. Since we 'melted' our bee hive last summer (Place in full sun..............oh yeah, all the wax melted and they left home) we have had the hive sitting awaiting a new use.......this is it. We intend to try bees again but when we know more about the life of the Indian bee! 

Nest Box

A view of the pen showing the 'drawbridge'
 entry. A hatch will eventually be fitted here
 in the end fence to allow the chickens
 to clear the growing area when we clear crops.

Training Bottle gourd along the wire, another hatch here
for the same reason as above but on this growing area..

We still have the roof to finish and put in a light to keep them warm over winter later we intend to put hatches in the end and side to allow the hens to clear weeds from our growing area's and add fertiliser as they go, (no pun intended). We will erect temporary fences so they can wander but not get out of the garden area. We hope to have five happy birds soon. 

We have found a trustworthy supplier, Udaipur Agricultural College, who are also in favour of saving this local variety of hen known for its flavoursome eggs, if somewhat smaller and less frequent laying. A standard egg in the market costs Rs3-5 each these eggs (when you can find them which is rare) bring  Rs12-14 each.

The chickens will become our little workers, fertilising, weeding, and giving us high quality eggs. 

 The eggs they produce are a little smaller but so much more flavour and if we help to conserve a local breed then that's a bonus.

 We have decided that a cockerel is not a good idea, don't need one for eggs and they get up and awake a little early for us and our neighbours who by the way think getting chickens is a great idea.

      The back can be removed for cleaning,
   there are perches inside to give them
plenty of room.

The rope raises and lowers the 'drawbridge' entry 
so they can be closed in safe and sound at night.

Fully enclosed, wire buried in the ground 6", marble to
stop them uprooting it. A sand pit 1' deep about one metre
diameter wire roof. Draw bridge door.
Now all we have to worry about are snakes!

Comments from Kris

Well here we are again writing the blog, it does not seem five minutes since the last one, and yes I know we are publishing this one early for Christmas.

The last few weeks since we returned to Udaipur has been very busy and interesting.

We went to a friend’s wedding recently which was a really lovely occasion, not much time to meet the bride in between all the different parts of the ceremony but we will have the opportunity to get to know her soon.

The groom’s aunt painted my hand with the traditional Indian body decoration called Mehndi, which was very nice of her. It looked very beautiful and took ages to dry, I had been advised it would take 15mins to dry but it took around 30mins, not so easy to not smudge it in that time. Once dry you scrape off the brown paint and do not wash the area for several hours to allow it to darken naturally which enhances the effect. I was so impressed I will get it done again for a special occasion. See the photo of Sahiba and myself holding out our hands after we had the Mehndi applied.

We have been busy consulting on an exhibition at the college and it has reminded me so much of my time doing fine art at university in Sunderland. The frustration of things not working out as you first thought, but then having to redesign is all part of the challenge of being an artist doing an installation. It is a good opportunity to get to know the students and see what they are capable of. To be honest they are more capable than they think they just need a little encouragement and a nudge in the right direction. It is hard for some to realise that they can give their ideas and we will listen to them and incorporate those that fit in with the brief for the Installation. We will show photos of the exhibition in a later blog. The exhibition will be held in the college between 24^th and 26^th of January 2015 so we are pushed for time to get everything in place.

I was reminded the other day that I was seen on the back of a police Inspectors motorcycle and asked what had I done. Funny really as they also wanted to know where Chris was. Well it was a Police Inspector from CID who just happens to be an artist and had invited me to view his art work, Chris at this point not being an artist was not invited as it was one artist talking and discussing Art with another artist. He was later invited to see the work. But the stir it caused that I was seen on a police bike was interesting. I am hoping he will come to see the student’s exhibition at the college as we are still in contact with each other and I think he will find it interesting.

Another funny incident happened again some time ago, Chris and I were at our landlord’s home and when we were leaving and in private our Landlord (who just happens to be a Senior Criminal Advocate) asked me why I was in Court the previous week. Looking and feeling very puzzled, I explained I had not been in or to Court and that I had no idea where the Court was. It turned out I had been going to an office of the telephone company who shared part of the court building and our Landlord had seen me walking in the corridor near the Court part. He was very relieved when we figured it out and I still think it is very funny. Having gone to our landlords chambers at Court to see him I now know where the Court is, that was also a funny experience as the security man kept asking if I was sure I wanted to go to his chambers. Our landlord is quite a formidable and honourable man and a lot of people are in awe of him, some are actually afraid of him you can tell this by the look on their faces when they hear his name. If ever I need counsel he is definitely the man to have on your side, I have nothing but admiration for him and would trust him to get me (us) justice if ever there was need.

It is really nice that we live here in a multicultural colony with Muslims, Hindu’s, Sikhs and Christians it is really friendly and people are very welcoming to Chris and I, everyone knows we are Christians and accept us as we are.

The other nice thing is that the local ladies who work on the colony as servants all say hello when I see them and I get lots of smiles. I have found ways of saying Namaste when riding my scooter, either raising one hand or nodding my head as I say Namaste when riding by.

For us we do not differentiate between castes because for us everyone is equal and we treat everyone the same. When someone calls at our home we offer Panni (water) and then we find out what they want. It is very important to Indians to offer hospitality just as we do. In fact a couple of years ago we were told by a senior Sikh that it had been noted that we offer hospitality to all who come to our home no matter who they are or what caste we are.

It is a nice feeling to be accepted for who we are, and I think the attitude of all on the colony is a good example for others of accepting others faiths and living in harmony. Oh, if only the world as a whole would do the same thing life would be so much better.

We have been working hard on Chickenopolis it is fortunate that I am lacking in the height department ( me being a shorty under 5 feet in height) as I can stand on a chair and fix the roof in place very comfortably without touching the roof with my head. So I feel in this instance my lack of height is a definite advantage. I am really enjoying the build it is very creative and relaxing if not a little time consuming.

I hit a pothole (read crater in road), when dodging a motorcycle who pulled out suddenly from nowhere in front of me and the car driving to my right. Needless to say we both expressed our displeasure in the usual Indian manner; Der…………. some people should not ride motorcycles. See photo of what it did to my beloved Yamaha Ray, 

Chris assures me it can be put right, thank you Chris.

Well that’s all from me this month,

God Bless, Kris

A Final thought:

On the 25th of this month Christians all over the world will celebrate the birth of Jesus, an event that changed the world. If you believe as we do that he came to save us from our sin and that he is the Son of God then the 25th is for you is a story just beginning. 

Even if you don't believe you will no doubt celebrate anyway, maybe santa will come, maybe not. 

In either case can I ask something of you? Will YOU give just 10% of the cost of your Christmas dinner to those who are in need this year, miss out on that extra last minute spend and do what Jesus asks of us all, to love your neighbour as yourself. Please think of the less fortunate and do something personally to help them.

May Kris and I wish you all the happiest of Christmas,s and a joyful new year.

God bless you all. 

Chris and Kris in India 29

Hi all, 

Comment

Our NGO, aims and ambitions.

A look back at our UK visit

Comments from Kris

Comment

Well here we go, its Tuesday10:30am, the day we leave the UK.

We hadn't planned this visit frankly because we didn't have the funds after putting £2000 on the 'Mr Barclay' card for my illness. 

Please don't misunderstand, the health care in India is second to none and it saved my life but it has to be paid for and we have to live on a very small pension as we are not allowed to earn any money in India, believe me, this can get very tight at times!

Just it seemed as though we had managed to clear the debt and could expand the work we were doing from home our NGO changed its policy to 'All long term workers must be Indian'.

So there we were on our way to the UK again. NO money, we had paid our rent until January, and cancelled the internet etc. and put our faith in the Lord.

Off we went with just a bank card, following His path.

After the fastest ever visa approval known to man (4 Days) we are returning to our home in India, (Just over three weeks in the UK).

Cost of this to us just under £2,300, now once again the credit card is maxed out.

The reason for all this expense is because India won’t let you change employers 'in country' you have to return to your country of birth!

With respect to the Indian system, there has got to be a better way, all this money wasted that could have saved so many lives.

Surely this needs looking at?

Now we have a new Prime Minister in Mr Modi maybe there is hope as it is his stated intention to reduce 'red tape'. Is this perhaps one way of helping those that are only there to help his people? Like us completely self-funded, and cannot afford to spend money on air fares when it could do so much more good helping the needy.

We will see what happens over the next year or two.

In the meantime we will work on paying off this debt.

Sadly that will cut heavily into what we can put into our work here unless we can attract sponsors, which is of course our first order of business.

We have a new NGO to start and get up and running, a Mahindra jeep to buy how we will find the money to buy it? Our faith is we will find it, that’s enough, Faith. Both of us have new jobs teaching, me Chringlish and workshop skills Kris will be teaching Art and design. There will be no doubt knowing us a fair bit of crossing over jobs going on!

In case you are wondering, 'is it worth it?'..........Oh yes, every frustration, the stress, the worry, the times we fall out, YES and every penny spent, when you see a dead three week old baby that could have been saved the money and all the other problems just don’t matter anymore, they must just be overcome.

The adventure continues.

Our new NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation)

H.D.S.

(The Health and Development Society)

                                    An NGO registered in Rajasthan India

Mission Statement

To provide free health care and training to rural communities.

To provide safe clean water where needed to communities at no cost       

 to the user.

To develop any method or scheme that will improve the standard of living and education of all communities of whatever race, creed, colour, caste or religious belief.

To whenever possible empower women in the community to take a leading role in projects.

…………………………..

Our first planned project.

We will initially visit 1 village a week, on a set day. In this way the villagers will become accustomed to our visits and get to know us. As we become more known and accepted we will expand into other villages. 

We plan to start our project in a staged way, Breast Cancer Awareness, teaching rural communities how to self-examine for signs of a cancerous growth. By doing this we hope to reduce the number of deaths that need not have occurred had the cancer been detected earlier.  Kris’s previous sessions on this subject have proved very popular and beneficial.

Any women showing suspicious lumps will be put in touch with the local Government hospital for treatment. If necessary we will provide the transport to and from and set up the appointment. Kris will repeat this several weeks running based on attendance. As an incentive to attend each woman as she leaves will be given a bar of soap, in this way we hope to begin to introduce a healthy living style through part two of the program ‘Health and Hygiene training’. Even if at first the soap is sold, this will give an extra income to the woman.

At the same time Chris will be taking water samples from the local water supply, wells, streams etc. and recording location, date, time, longitude and latitude of the water source so we can keep accurate records and observe for contamination of that source. The water test is simple to do and a result is ready in 18-48 hours and will be recorded for statistical and research purposes.

If the test shows that there are Pathogens present we will introduce SODIS water purification (UVA Radiation by exposer to the sun) these units are built by us and use no electricity or resources. Each unit will be set up for a family and training given in the proper use. We will monitor use and retrain as required. At this stage in the program we will continue to test the water and record the results. We will also be checking if there have been any cases of diarrhoea or child deaths due to diarrhoea prior to our visits, and after Sodis introduction, recording all relevant information.

During the monsoon we will educate the local villages about collecting clean drinking water through the water catchment projects we will introduce.

At the moment ‘monsoon water is considered ‘dirty’ due to the high levels of contamination in it after contact with the ground. These will range from simple house hold sized units for clean safe drinking water to village ponds suitably lined and of sufficient size to extend the growing season.

By introducing clean water conservation we aim to give the rural population clean drinking water all year at no cost to the user.

At present over 4000 registered children die each year in Rajasthan from water related illnesses. This figure is for the cities only as rural communities rarely report births and deaths as there is no incentive to do so.

Other than Breast Cancer Awareness and Water Testing which we will start immediately, we will introduce other projects based on the community’s needs and willingness to take part, as funding allows.

Step one, transport.

Well, it won’t be the first time we have set off to do a session on our Royal Enfield motorcycle, we intend to do just that, start as much as we can and progress!

A look back at our UK visit

We left Udaipur at a temperature of 30 deg C and arrived to a foggy London Heathrow at a cold 11 deg C at about 7am, yes it was a culture and body shock. We were tired and cold and knew we had other hours’ drive ahead to Kris’s brother’s house in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 
but it was just so good to have finished traveling through airports.

We did the polite but brief hello’s then crashed in bed till tea time, to be given a traditional Sunday Roast Dinner which was yummy, it felt slightly odd however to be having one for breakfast! Body clock all confused or what!

Then it was back to bed again!

We stayed there for a week; it was the perfect week’s rest that we both needed. They gave us all the foods we had been missing the last 2 years which was fantastic, and Marti even made us an Indian meal as we were missing it so much. It was great to see the 3 kids and get to know and play with them once again, Skyping is not really hands on for that kind of interaction.

At the end of our stay Kris’s brother drove us up to Durham, via Leicester to visit Kris’s Aunt Jenny whose health is poor at the moment, she really enjoyed seeing us and we were so happy to see her laughing and smiling even if it was for a short visit. It was very enjoyable visit to be able to catch up with cousins and family.

We then drove to the village we used to live in, near Bishop Auckland, where we stayed with our friend Eileen.

It was Eileen who rode across America with Chris on his epic adventure. 

Eileen kindly put Kris on the car insurance and let her use the car whilst we were around, this was greatly appreciated. We stayed with her for about a week while visiting friends and catching up on the ‘local news’. We also visited a really good friends garden that he and his son and (soon to be?) son in law have made, lots of fresh veggies and chickens that are laying well. That has inspired us to change our own garden.

Then it was into Durham City to a house some wonderful friends lent us while we were waiting for the Visa’s to be processed.

Tuesday AM, the Visa application was presented at the Indian High Commission 

Wednesday we did a month’s shopping and made plans for who to visit next.

Thursday we were text to say our applications had been approved.

Friday 10.30AM we had then in our hands.

Four days...............................

We stayed another week, to visit Kris’s other two brothers and so that we could show at the following Sunday service all the members of our home church a presentation of the results of their fantastic achievement supporting us in our effort to build a new dormitory at Panavar. I-connect stepped in and gave us nearly 50% of the cost to build a solid concrete roofed building so that at a future date a second storey can be added, for their help getting this done we shall always be grateful, as I know the boys at Panavar will be.

This is now completed but they still need more beds and support.

That was Sunday.

Our next venture there is we hope to build them a garden so that they can produce some of their own food.

Monday we gave all the food to someone who needed it, doesn’t God have a great way of arranging help for people who truly need it.

We wish to thank all our friends and family who invited us to visit and fed us, sorry we could not see all of you we just ran out of time.

We flew out of Manchester and set off home on Tuesday.

INDIA..........................this way!

What a week! What a visit!

Memories

                                

Does anyone remember the old saying 'Look before you leap' guess who didn't! Nice one Kenny. He is the fiance' of my niece, I worry for her  :)

I wasn't the only one who thought it was cold!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Looking back now it all seems a bit surreal, in a way it doesn't feel as though we were gone for three weeks; friends can’t believe how quickly we were home again.

All the formalities at the Foreign Registration Office went smoothly (with some help from them with their new on line registration) and they warmly welcomed us back home.

Home, yes India has become our home, we hope to work here for the rest of our lives but only God knows his plan for us, so as ever, we follow where we are led to do His work and praise His name.

Comments from Kris.

Yes we are back home, it’s hard to describe the feeling as we drove through the city on the way home. I was especially pleased that the local shop keepers and market stalls the owners had missed me, and were pleased we were back so quickly.

I picked this as soon as we got back here, it's called Bottlegourd, it is lovely fried with garlic or with other veggies in a stir fry, very versatile and it tastes nice. Chris wants to know if he can make wine out of them! More info on what we are doing in the garden next month, including,

 Chickenopolis!

Its a pity we could not catch up with everyone whilst we in the UK we just ran out of time. Sorry that the blog is a little longer this month but we have so much to tell you we have cut it down significantly as it was turning into a book, more updates next month, including a look at where we will now be working.

Thank you once again to everyone who welcomed us back to the UK and looked after us we do not have the words to say how much this mean't to us. 

One last thing, if anyone wants a copy of the Panavar presentation we did please feel free to copy it from Mark Tallentire.

God bless you,

Chris and Kris