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.
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| Our Jeep with homemade sign to save money |
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| Blankets all loaded up ready for distribution |
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| Warm Aid Crew distributing blankets in city |
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| Recipients of much needed blankets |
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| Giving to those sleeping in the streets |
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| It was a bitterly cold night even for our volunteers |
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| Its not uncommon for people to sleep outside shops on cold marble steps |
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| People will find as safe a spot to sleep as they can |
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| The needy come in all ages and gender |
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| A lone lady sleeping rough, it can be a scary place for those in need |
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| Getting ready for distribution |
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| A disabled recipient gets a blanket |
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| Some of our volunteers at Pai village to distribute blankets |
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| Debi of Pragati Marg Foundation who organised distribution for us in Pai village and some of the villagers having received their blankets |
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| The joy of giving to those less fortunate than ourselves |
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| Debi with the village elder helping to distribute blankets |
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| 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.
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| Perim Chris's nephew excited to receive his cars |
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| Lalita opening her present ah great a jewellery making kit |
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| Chris's nephews and nieces receiving their Christmas stockings |
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| Chris's sister Amba |
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| Christmas / Birthday cake from Kris's son and family. Yes I'm like the queen I get 2 birthdays |
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| This is yours Tulsi, what can it be |
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| Ambas sister and the children |
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| It's Christmas with the kids |
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| Our Christmas tree |
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| Christmas is not Christmas without kids |
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| Rahul sitting in Chris bean bag |
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| Fun with balloons |
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| Tulsi ah great a carom board |
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| Narayan Amba's husband |
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| 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
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| Seems like a perfect fit |
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| Not a lot left |
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| 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
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