Hi all,
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Our NGO, aims and ambitions.
A look back at our UK visit
Comments from Kris
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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.
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.
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| INDIA..........................this way! |
Memories
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
