Updates from India 66

Hello again welcome to our first blog of 2018.

Its been a strange month, plans derailed, unexpected happenings. Most important the weather daytime is starting to warm up. Still very cold at night, down to 5degC and believe me when you have adapted to 50degC summers then that really is cold.

We had a visit from some friends who were riding to Mumbai in the south for a big biker meet and then heading home 4000km!

Converted the bike to solo as Kris finds riding in winter to painfull on her knees. We will go back to two up when the weather is warmer.

 What Happens When You Take God Out Of Schools
I still think this is a very powerful piece of writing from the internet. It is based on American society but reflects on all of us. Please read and forward if you believe we should all look closely at what our faithless society is becoming. It is our society and our responsibility.  

Let's see, I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained (In the USA) she didn't want any prayer in our schools, 

and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school.... the Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour as yourself. 

And we said OK.

Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said an expert should know what he's talking about so 

we said OK, we won't spank them anymore.

Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said no faculty member in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued. (There's a big difference between disciplining and touching, beating, smacking, humiliating, kicking, etc.) 

And we accepted their reasoning.

Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won't even have to tell their parents.

 And we said that's a grand idea.

Then some wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons all the condoms they want so they can have all the fun they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school. And we said 

that's another great idea.

Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we said it doesn't matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private as long as I have a job and the economy is good. 

We said fine.

And then someone said let's print magazines with pictures of nude women (and nude men) and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female and male body. 

And we said we have no problem with that.

 And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex.

 Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers  (and the internet) say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.

Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan who, by the way, also "believes" in God.

Funny how we are quick to judge but not to be judged.

Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail (and the internet) they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Jesus is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Funny how someone can be so fired up for Christ on Sunday, but be an invisible Christian the rest of the week.

Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.

Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me.

Are you thinking?

Pass it on if you think it has merit! If not then just discard it....no one will ever know what you did, for sure. But, if you discard this thought process, then don't sit back and complain about what a bad shape the world is in.....

Garden.

Well it’s that time of year again. After a slow start because of unusually cold temperatures slowing germination things are at last beginning to grow.

It is still very cold here at night so we have been sowing in trays indoors. The weather here in India has definitely changed over the last ten years and that change seems to be becoming more obvious each year. Summers are later and hotter (up to 50degC here) and the monsoon, our only source of water has consistently been less than is used depleting the underground water stores that we rely on. More and more bore wells are going in drawing that water for Industry and private use. Nobody seems to care, ‘water is a right like the air, and we have the right to use what we need’ is a comment we often hear. It cannot go on forever; already many wells that used to be productive all year are dry in the summer. Lakes that are fed by run off from the monsoon are going dry. Water tankers are becoming a common sight visiting many homes towards the end of summer. And still apathy reigns. Not a single day passes where we don’t see water flowing down the street from a hose or an overflow. We have plenty of water….it’s just after monsoon! It’s like paying into your bank every month, and then you slowly increase what you withdraw. First your surplus goes, then you have to start being more careful, finally, the account is empty. If you are lucky your bank will let you overdraw for a while. If we run out of water people die, crops fail and famine visits us again. But its India isn’t it; they are used to famine and drought. Well don’t feel too safe, climate change is coming to all of us no matter where we live.

Rant over, back to the garden.

We have been trying every year to improve our crop of tomatoes. More fruit from less space. Adjusting sowing times and soil conditions definitely have helped. So has our method of pruning to only two main stems. This year we have seen the greatest improvement in growth and so far in flowers on the plants. We sowed early but kept the plants indoors until the ‘wild’ varieties popped their heads up. We then transplanted into bags of worm compost (normally used as a feed for poor soils). Since then Kris has regularly fed them on her secret mix. Dilute chicken poo from a 40gal barrel we have. The water is from the RO (Reverse osmosis) water purifier we use. Most users waste this as ‘bad’ water, not fit for use, probably as a result of the purifier manufacturers advertising the need for only ‘pure’ ‘safe’ water in the home.

Why all the bother when tomatoes are available all year around in the markets? Simply the taste, gorgeous fresh sweet tomatoes organically grown….nothing compares.

We have planted the centre bed with nasturtiums and surrounded it with a small flower border of daises and petunia

. For only the second year since we got here we have succeeded with Sweet Peas, they are growing well and looking strong in a planter under the sitting room window.   We are hoping the scent will drift into the house.

Kitchen Garden growing well.

The kitchen garden is looking good. As expected the brassicas are doing best in the lime rich soil, courtesy of six months of chicken poop in it, as are turnips and swede. Tomatoes here are immigrants from who knows where but we have decided to grow on and see if we like them. Seeds in the fridge again soon?

One other small border has been made in front of the chicken pen, two varieties of annual climber 

and one perennial moonflower.

The whole garden is looking good and even the dogs have learnt what ‘GET OUT OF THERE’ means so fewer holes!

Our only failures so far are herbs and melons. We have one more sowing of melon that went in today as well as sunflowers that we are growing (we hope) for the seeds.

The leeks are growing as is the garlic in the front bed. 

Our old friend is doing well these days.

 Both the dogs are well, Chilli is growing, soon be as big as Blue'

So, all in all things are going well here.

Our jeep sprang an oil leak!
Nothing serious, an oil pipe had blown. Just very messy. As luck would have it just as we came onto the colony returning from a wedding.

As you can see we had some visitors this month. 
Friends from the bike club Delhi chapter just passing through.
They stayed with us for one night so we did a quick oil change.

This was parked just outside visiting a neighbour, lovely bike but our roads in Rajasthan would kill it. Imagine this off road!

 Harley Davidson.

Bike converted to solo use

Back to two up as the weather gets warmer.

 It works by being able to bolt/unbolt this entire rear section with only six bolts. About twenty mins work. It took a few attempts to finalise this design!

In solo configuration

Warm Aid

We have been out and about again this month giving blankets to the needy in our society.

This time it was to an orphanage in the city, 40 new blankets for them.

We have also had a donation of Rs18000 about £200, anonymous from church friends. Fantastic, this means so much to us and to the people we can help. There is a government blind school we are going to visit, if needed they will be our next donation.

For details of Warm Aid please have a look at our Facebook page.

Comments from Kris

Well, I have been thinking about all the names I am known by since coming to India so I thought I’d share the ones I remember with you.

I am known as Christine; Kris, Mrs Chris Chris; Mrs Hyde; Mrs Hydeee; Ma’am and Auntie and these are just the ones I know about. I am sure eccentric foreigner would be in the list too but I have no intention of changing who I am to conform and become boring.

Chris and I were talking recently and I said that when we came to India at least I would have no further use for my nursing qualifications, how wrong I was.

Since coming to live here I have given IV infusions, IV medications, IM and SC injections, dressed wounds, a lot of this was for friends and neighbours who live on the colony one was even a doctor, I’ve taken out sutures, removed a catheter; removed a gun pellet from Moti the street dog, nursed sick birds and my hens, nursed a very ill street dog; assisted at road traffic accidents giving first aid, taught first aid to students, taught self breast examination seminars, given nutritional advice and taught hygiene to name a few. Chris falling off his bike and breaking his foot needing to strap the foot several times daily as we were in the middle of nowhere whilst on a riding holiday, I have to say he is still my hero we carried on with the riding and the holiday despite his pain but the strapping and high boots helped. That’s my Chris for you he will not give in and I admire him for that. 

There have been numerous accidents mainly involving motorcyclists not wearing helmets, some of the victims of these accidents alas died from their injuries but not all. I was most touched to receive an email a few weeks following an accident in Dungapor with thanks from an elderly gentleman via a friend whom we stopped to give first aid to. He alas was not breathing when we got there but after ensuring he had an airway he started breathing and Chris and I treated his wounds. He had a large deep laceration on his forehead where a stone was lodged, I managed to remove it clean the wound and put a pressure bandage on to reduce the bleeding, I bet he had a horrific headache afterwards. He also had lacerations to his hands and foot. What is most disturbing is that the man in the car who knocked him off his scooter just drove on never stopping. The locals took my advice and got him to hospital after they had all stood and watched me treat his wounds. After all, there is little to do for entertainment in some of the rural villages. The gentleman who was in his eighties or thereabouts alas lost his scooter as it was totalled by the cars impact.

There have been many opportunities to use my nursing knowledge that I am thankful God gave me the compassion to care for my fellow man and animals. So much for not needing my nursing, there are too many stories to tell.

Well, that was some of our month. Looking forward to next month.........Visiting GOA.

May God bless you all (even if you dont believe in Him)

Chris and Kris, Udaipur Rajisthan India.

Updates fron India 65

Wow, 2018.
Happy new year everyone.
Comment.
Our story, the final part.
Warm Aid 2017.
Christmas is here.

Luke 16:13

16:13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

For us this has been the cornerstone of our life in India. We came here at Gods direction, to do His will, to serve in joy.

All about us we see greed and avarice, people cheating and lying to make more money. In a country that has so many poor perhaps it is understandable that people are so afraid of losing their wealth and becoming destitute. In Europe where so many have so much the same greed is common, as it is all over this world. Most countries have homeless sleeping on the streets.

I am not going to preach on this, I’m just going to tell you about us. You and I both know it is wrong to ignore those that have so little, no home, no clothes, and no food. So why do we?

To succeed in life and make money is the aim of most people. A car, a nice home, money in the bank. Ok by me, nothing wrong with that. It is when we do it at the expense of others that it is wrong. When you turn away from the needy with a cold heart when you could help. When you have a good income but won’t give anything to help the cold or hungry.

Where is the compassion for those who need our help?

As a person of faith I believe God sees what you do, He knows what’s in your heart. Even if you don’t believe in a God surely it’s our duty to help our brothers and sisters who are in need.

Every year we run ‘Warm Aid’ collecting clothes and money for blankets to help our very poor get through the winter. Many people contribute to this and for that we are so grateful.

At the end of this year we will have given 500+ blankets and supplied clothes to well over 1500 people.

I know I shouldn’t be disappointed by people but I know so many with spare cash for meals out, parties, buying things that are not needed, just wanted, who give nothing to help their fellow man. They close their minds to the suffering about them. Content in their belief that ‘Those people don’t matter’ but God made us all.

We came to India to live and to work for God.

We live on a fixed income that has fallen by 20% this year as the Pound falls and the Rupee rises.

We rent a nice house; have a 30year old jeep that we restored. I have my Royal Enfield and Kris has her Yamaha scooter. We have food on the table and enough to pay the bills. And like most people we have debts, in our case the credit card. There have been times when because we have given money to a cause or paid to put on a Breast Cancer seminar in another city we have had to use it. Every year we pay Rs70,000 for visa’s to remain here in India. Diesel to run the jeep out to villages to help also adds up. We take nothing from Warm Aid for expenses bearing them ourselves. We believe that God will help us pay the credit card, He will guide our path. Money should be a tool with which to do good.

We support the education of four children, and give our time freely to teach.

Many months we struggle to make it to pay day. We are not rich, we are just two people who are following Gods word in complete faith that He will provide.

So why do I tell you all this? We weren’t always like this.

Kris and I have owned our own houses, had a good income, good jobs and lived a full life. We both had money in the bank, our own car each and I bought a new motorcycle to tour Europe, and bought another in the USA to ride from West to East, a six week trip. Money was not a problem for us. Were we happy? Well yes, but it was a happiness based on what we had, not how we lived, it was material happiness not spiritual.

Now we struggle for money but are happier than we have ever been. The joy of seeing someone who was cold and hungry get food and warmth is beyond anything I have ever felt. There is great joy and fulfilment from helping others. It changes your life forever.

There was a comment in a film, ‘Do one random act of kindness every day’. Try it, your life will change and your heart will be opened. There is something in the human spirit that recognises when we think of others needs and help them, spiritual, a deep happiness that glows inside.

If you believe in God how can you not help? If you have no faith in a God you should at least have compassion for those about you who suffer. What a world it would be if we all cared just a little more.

 Our story

Part 7 Final part

India

To those who have been here you will understand what I am trying to say, to all of you who haven’t yet visited all I can say is if you ever get the opportunity then take it and come, you will never regret it or forget the impact it will have on you.

It is said that India is an assault on the senses, I have to disagree, I have found it to be a huge expansion of your senses in the best way possible. You see more colour here, more smells (good and bad) more tastes, even the people are different from any I have ever met before. We are still struggling to understand the caste system and how it moulds people’s lives from birth to death, and yes if you are of a particular caste it is so hard to be anything but of that caste. We take for granted our freedom to change jobs and careers, not so easy for an Indian. Indian people we have met from a High Court lawyer (QC) our first landlord, to the woman who for Rs200 (£2.30p) a month sweeps our drive and takes away our rubbish have all been friendly and warm to us. 

Some are at first reticent or perhaps shy would be a better choice of word but as they get to know us they relax and then you are privileged to be given a genuine smile and a greeting when you meet again.

We are not the stereotyped English ex pats they seem used to, we never could be. Even the rickshaw drivers are learning we won’t pay tourist rates ‘WE LIVE HERE’ amazes them and given a little English and our small Hindi we are slowly being accepted.

 A quick word about the journey here: to ship three boxes of 30Kg each (all our worldly goods, including our Pc ‘The Beast’ (massive memory 13.5 TB and super-fast) and our coffee machine that Kris had bought me and her Magi mix food processer I had bought her.

Door to door we were quoted £900 by a Uk company. We did it ourselves for less than £400. It took us a while to sort out but it was certainly better than paying that much.

Air flight and customs import charges weren’t too bad we used a local agent (met him as we were getting lost and asking directions) he gave a few well-placed presents to various officials and our boxes flew through customs with only a cursory glance and minimal import duties.

At every stage of this journey we could see our path being cleared.

Friends at ‘Tree of life church’ Mumbai arranged an overland journey for us to Filadelphea College Udaipur 13hrs by road packed into an SUV but it was so worth it.

We saw country that we would never otherwise have seen, three major accidents and drank ‘chi’ at half a dozen different places, finally arriving at about 9pm after 15hrs on the road (NEVER drive at night here, nobody dips and many vehicles have NO lights) we had to borrow 2000Rs (£23) from Finny to pay the last costs of the driver, finally I found time to kneel and thank God for our safe arrival and for always being with us throughout.

We went to the flat we were being loaned (after hello to Janet H living at the college) and slept.

To be honest I don’t remember that night too well, but I remember the joy of the morning, waking to find it was real; we really had arrived at last.

Since then we have been out with Janet (who has been a star, helping us so much at this time) and with Mark and Elana for meals, we have also been out with Debi from PMF the NGO we will be working with who has also helped us so kindly even giving us some beautiful curtains for our new home.

We had never intended to live at Filidelfia college so house hunting began in earnest.

Before we left the UK I had been in contact with several house agents here, one in particular has been fantastic throughout, not only helping us find a home but shops and suppliers we needed. He, Sumeet has become a good friend.

He charged a flat fee for his work as an agent but has gone far beyond that in helping us.

We have met his family and were privileged to be invited to his home.

He works with his brother and runs the business his father started and has all but passed on to them, his father still takes an active interest but the brothers do the day to day work of running the company.

They are a successful family, that we would regard as middle class having a large house and several cars and scooters but they are in no way arrogant about their good fortune, just grateful. We met Sumeets Mother, Grandmother, Wife, Sisters and a few I have no idea about!  The food was wonderful, course after course of ‘starters’  ‘try this, now this’ then the main course that all in all left us so full if there had been anything else we would have burst, wonderful hospitality indeed. Just think, Sumeets grandmother remembers when Britain ruled India; she has lived through her country under British rule then as an independent country, then through the pains of separation from Pakistan. She is 83, small and alert, if only I spoke Hindi what questions I would have for her, what stories she might tell.

A new home

We found a house here in Udaipur, it is a dream, detached three double bedrooms one downstairs that we shall use as Christine’s studio all on-suite, kitchen, a large lounge / diner, three story’s all in marble with white walls and cool rooms, garden front and rear (in need of work) two terraces from the upstairs bedrooms and a roof terrace that gives us a view of the surrounding hills. It is about 15 Kilometres outside Udaipur off the main road to Mumbai in what is known here as a colony, we would call it a private estate, quiet secure and off the beaten track.

Well, that’s the story of how and why we came to India. From this time on we began our blog that follows us monthly.

We hope you enjoyed the read, normal service will be resumed next month.

Warm Aid 2017

Well it’s Christmas Warm Aid again. This year has been very successful thanks to volunteers who help us. The gratitude and happiness of people we helped that night is unbelievable. Now we will move on to villagers in need. We will keep this up until we run out of blankets and donations. The clothes collecting is an all year exercise with distribution being done by our partner organisation UR Creator. Thousands get help from it. Children in particular gain so much from the generosity of those that donate. It is no exaggeration to state that lives have been saved by these initiatives and more will be.

The plan was to go out on Christmas eve night and deliver blankets to those unfortunate to be sleeping rough in the city. Alas, I was not well enough and Chris did not want to leave me so the team went out without us they took the jeep and distributed blankets, see our Facebook page Warm Aid for more details.

The next plan was to go to the village of Pai with Debi from Pragati Marg Foundation to distribute blankets in this tribal area, so we arranged it for Sunday, New Years Eve. Three of our volunteers came along with Chris and I and we had a really successful day distributing over a hundred blankets to the villagers. It was a lovely drive out and it brought back memories for Chris and I as we used to teach in the village when we worked with Debi at Pragati Marg Foundation when we first came to India.

We had a great turnout of people and we were well received, each year we try to visit a different village to distribute blankets to the needy. 

Our Jeep with homemade sign to save money

Blankets all loaded up ready for distribution

Warm Aid Crew distributing blankets in city

Recipients of much needed blankets

Giving to those sleeping in the streets 

It was a bitterly cold night even for our volunteers

Its not uncommon for people to sleep outside
shops on cold marble steps

People will find as safe a spot to sleep as they can

The needy come in all ages and
gender 

A lone lady sleeping rough, it can be a scary
place for those in need

Getting ready for distribution 

A disabled recipient gets a blanket

Some of our volunteers at Pai village to distribute blankets

Debi of Pragati Marg Foundation who organised distribution for us in Pai village and some of
the villagers having received their blankets

The joy of giving to those less fortunate than ourselves

Debi with the village
elder helping to distribute
blankets

Some of the villagers from Pai getting ready to receive
much needed blankets.

Christmas

We were going to visit Chris’s sister and her family but changed plans as I was not fit enough to go out, so they came to us en mass. We had a lovely time and it was nice to spend some of the day with kids. They don’t normally celebrate Christmas so we decided to make it as near to our Christmas that we could with a small present each and Christmas stockings. Seeing the joy on their faces made it all worthwhile. I even had a call from my brother and family in the UK, again lovely to talk to my nieces and nephews.

Our plans for Christmas dinner went out the window, but we had it later in the week. I am still getting to grips with my new cooker, but I have to say the dinner was lovely with nice crispy turkey and all the trimmings, well those you can get here in India.

Perim Chris's nephew
excited to receive his cars

Lalita opening her present
ah great a jewellery making
kit

Chris's nephews and nieces receiving their Christmas stockings

Chris's sister Amba

Christmas / Birthday cake
from Kris's son and family.
Yes I'm like the queen I get
2 birthdays

This is yours Tulsi, what can it be

Ambas sister and the children

It's Christmas with the kids

Our Christmas tree

Christmas is not Christmas without kids

Rahul sitting in Chris bean bag

Fun with balloons

Tulsi ah great a carom board

Narayan Amba's husband

Narayan and Amba

I have no idea what Chris has bought me and although not well I had every intention of finding out

It's a new crash helmet and yes I really needed one, its lovely

Chris excitedly opening his large silver ball, yeah it's a bean bag. 

Chris has wanted one for a long time

Seems like a perfect fit

Christmas dinner, turkey and stuffing yummy

Well that went down well

Not a lot left 

the girls enjoying their turkey legs

A brief update on my health, I had started to improve but just before Christmas I got another chest infection, so several more visits to the hospital and more antibiotics. I refused to go to the hospital Christmas day but stayed home sleeping most of the day away. I have since returned to the hospital for review and commenced further antibiotics and started oral steroids. Chris and I are both concerned at the ongoing problem not being resolved so we are going to get a third opinion at another hospital with a respiratory consultant later this week.

Well so ends 2017. It’s been a good year, on the whole, some health issues for us both but balanced against the work we have been able to do it really is a minor worry.

We came to India following God’s word, assured that He would never abandon us or ask more than we could manage.

We now start a new year with that assurance from Him in joy at being His servants following the path He has laid out for us.

May God bless you all,

Chris and Kris