MONDAY

Long day today…. But so productive! In preparation for the day we doused our hair in tea tree oil to keep the lice away and Deet to keep the bugs away.  It was an interesting combination of smells for sure.

We drove about 40 minutes to a location across the river that helps street kids, but more specifically orphaned children living in a train station.  Some of these kids are runaways, others have been kidnapped and released, some abandoned…. One boy was with his family at a fair and got separated from his parents and never reconnected with them.  This happened when he was 5…. He is now about 14 years old and homeless. The children that are served here are predominately boys and between the ages of about 6 and 17.  To survive these children will either refill water bottles and sell them or pick pocket on the train, but ultimately they turn to drugs.  Most of the children suffer from some type of addiction issue, many arrive high on adhesives or other easily available drugs.  It is believed that this is their way of coping.

This home provides the children with a shower, food, some education, and encouragement to change their lives. However they don’t have capacity to keep these children overnight…. So the kids stop by during the day and head back to the train station to sleep.  In the two years they have been  in operation they have had two boys receive their help, then go onto discipleship school and are now mentors for the new boys they are trying to help in this program.  Their testimonies are incredible.   Mercy Ministries is working to develop a partnership with them, which is where we come in…. to provide feedback and suggestions.

Most of the students I am with are counselors and will provide feedback on how to improve the program from that perspective, while myself and one other are from the community development program…. So we are looking at ways to grow the program while engaging local churches and the neighborhood to grow this program.  One aspect in particular that we want explore further is a volunteer/mentorship program.  I am excited to utilize some of what I have learned at Vision House in this process.

After we left this home we went to Mother Teresa’s home for a volunteer orientation…. we will be serving in the children’s home and working with disabled and sick children later in the week…. Plus we will attend Mass at her convent…. How cool!?!?!

I wish so much to explain the amount of poverty that is everywhere…. And yet we are told this isn’t the worst of it…. Later in the week we will be going on a river tour of the slums.  I can’t imagine it being worse than what is simply outside our door…. It seems so surreal.  We learned the other day that 75% of the people in India live off of less than 50 Rupees a day…. This is about 50 cents.  Can you imagine?