By the time you read this, I will be on my way to India along with 23 other folk from my non-work facility. We will be flying to Chennai, leaving from Miami 7/15 8:45pm and arriving 7/16 4am (about 19 hours flying time, plus layovers). We will join up with about 50 people currently working on the ground there in the tsunami-hit areas (I've never been in such a big group!) and then we will then travel a few hours south and stay a few days in Cuddalore. Then we travel 5 more hours south to Velankanni & surrounding areas. We will be leaving Chennai 7/27 8am, and I have a return flight back in Miami 7/28 6pm.

One part of my group will be working with children. Every child there lost a friend, and most lost family members too. The last team that was there had a child psychologist with them, and she had them draw out their experiences. The guilt and grief they are suffering from was incredibly apparent in their drawings. Please pray for the children's workers, that they can be the hands & feet of the Lord, and that wounds can be mended. Please pray for our team leaders Jeff and Christy, that they can hear God's voice and guide us in unity to do His will.

We will be doing medical clinics in destroyed villages at every stop, working with the poorest of the poor there. The hindu caste system places the Dalits at the bottom of society--they used to be called the "untouchables" because they could only do "unclean" work. Because they are frequently considered less than human, their deaths were not generally reported in the tsunami death tolls, and relief in their villages has been sparse, at best.
We will also be doing clinics at tent-refugee camps. Post-traumatic/ Stress-related diseases are becoming rampant among all those who lived through the tsunami. These people need to talk, and to be emotionally healed, as well as have their physical needs addressed.

Please pray for the entire team for words of wisdom and knowledge, discernment of spirits, for all of our supplies & luggage to arrive safely, for divine appointments, and for the ability to see and speak to all those who we are supposed to care for. Also please pray for the health of the team--malaria is rampant, and it is now monsoon season, which means that if there is more rain, there will be more mosquitoes.

I'm told there will be internet access part of the time while we are there--stay tuned!!

Much Love--

--Virginia
Check out http://www.usa.om.org/omindia/dec.htm

Journals  by   Virginia (continued)
 

Tuesday, August 02, 2005 8:34 AM                    (Journal continued)

Recap of the trip to India (July 16-28, 2005).....................

Twenty-three people from my non-work facility flew to Chennai, and joined up with about 50 people currently working on the ground there in the tsunami-hit areas, traveled south first for 3 hours, and then another 5 hours. We used 3 buses, one just for supplies. The supply bus and the smaller bus belong to the organization, and they use the buses weekly to do mass street-side teaching as well bring relief. They were very happy  to have the tires that our team leader Jeff arranged to buy for them-they depend on these vehicles daily, and the physical and spiritual lives of the people that they follow-up with also depend on them. This is the 5th medical and unseling program they have organized since the tsunami.

One part of my group worked with children. They did a phenomenal job bringing smiles and laughter to each person they met, even the adults who watched them play. Every child there lost a friend, and most lost family members too.  Our children's team poured out their hearts and gave their everything for these kids-spontaneous songs and dancing, sports, dressed like clowns, played games & balloons & did arts & crafts, plus whatever else  the moment inspired. The children loved them--a bit of joy does a heart GOOD!! It was pretty obvious to us as we passed from village to village, that the harder hit areas caused greater psychological stress and depression to the adults (Hmm, someone will probably do a study for a billion dollars on this), and they greater the depression on the adults, the greater the discipline and anger problems the children had.
We did medical clinics in 5 different villages (turned into relief camps) and worked with the poorest of the poor there. The hindu caste system places the Dalits at the bottom of society--they used to be called the "untouchables" because they could only do "unclean" work. They can't use the same water wells as the rest of society and are forced to walk miles carrying water for their families, and crimes go unreported or unnoticed by officials. Because they are considered less than human, their deaths were not generally reported in the tsunami death tolls, and relief in their villages has been sparse, at best. In one area, over 3000 Dalits died in the tsunami, and the only land the government would donate for their burial was land at the dump. It was very sad to see indeed-we went out to a memorial that had been built there, and there were family members still walking around blankly, their loved ones buried inches away from tons of trash.One thing that they needed, almost more than anything else, was to be touched, and treated with respect. I believe that the permanent team there as well as our team did that. One thing that struck me early was how the people I was seeing would glow when I would put my hands together (like a praying hands motion) as a sign of respect when our short visit was over, or  wave my hand to invite them in and sit down. To me, it was like calling them "sir" or "ma'am" but to them it meant they had value, and that was something they have been told their whole lives that they were in short supply of.I'm still not sure how many people I saw in the clinics. There were 2 local doctors that worked with us, and a pediatrician was in our group-that made 4 of us seeing patients. Total we saw about 2100 people, 700 of which were women and 800 were children. I saw most of the women, but don't think I saw all of them by any means. The 2 local doctors had the people line up,
military style, and asked them what's wrong, hand them a prescription and out the door they went. I wanted to see people one at a time, with a little privacy so I could hear (and speak to) their hearts and give them my full attention. That worked most of the time-the guy who was doing crowd control at my area had trouble with the concept initially but finally caught on. (I had one of the neighborhood dogs just show up and monitor my door for a while until the guy got it-God is so good!) The first full day I had a woman come in who was practically wearing a big sign over her head that said "I am being beaten at home." (The Lord does give very specific messages!) I wanted o talk to her a bit, but how was I to do that with 20 women who all knew her and lived in her village? They probably already knew, but it wasn't my place to assume that. I had to get really firm about the one person at a time thing after her-it was a lesson to me. Each person who came in to see me, I ended the session with (via my wonderful translator) "we would love to pray for/with you" and sometimes would mention specific things that the Lord had impressed on me about them. I would have liked to have prayed with all of them, but time did not permit. I kept telling myself it's ok though-we all play a part in the body dynamic. I think that was a lesson for all of  us-some of our people felt insignificant or like they didn't belong because they were "only" doing one thing, until they realized what a vital role they
had in the whole effort.

These people really needed to talk, and to be emotionally healed, as well as have their physical needs addressed. They would spontaneously tell me their tsunami stories, even when it was totally unrelated to whatever health problem they were having. One woman told me that she lost her husband and her two sons, and now she was all alone. She looked and sounded so hopeless as she spoke. Tenderly, we told her that our God says that He will never leave us alone, that He would send someone to comfort us. She cried-she had never heard that before.

I got a range of responses from the women. One woman, who I had just written an entire list of meds for (most of which are over-the-counter here, but they have no way to buy them), started to tell me that she had no money to buy the medicine. Tears started to well up in her eyes when I told her that we were going to give them to her for free, that they were a free gift from our God who loved her. (We had a great pharmacy! I would have been lost without them-I had no clue what some of the meds were because I don't use them, or they're not used here in the US.) One woman said that she would believe in Jesus if her son was healed (and I didn't even ask her if she believed-it was spontaneous.) Another woman was funny-I would always explain to them each med I was writing for and what exercises they should do, etc. As I held the prescription paper out to her and started to explain, she looked dismayed before the interpreter started to talk, and then relieved when she did-she thought I expected her to understand me. Body language is pretty universal, and it's good thing--I discovered that some body parts just don't translate well. The one that comes to mind first--I almost flipped when the first woman told me she had "uterine wounds"-turns out she meant menstrual cramps.

Most of the women had the same complaints over & over again. Neck/shoulder pain, from years of carrying water from the village well to their homes. Lower back/hip pain from years of squatting to wash laundry by hand, cook, or from carrying their children on their hips-I saw some women carrying kids that were almost as big as they were! Stress-related things were everywhere, as you would expect after such a disaster has happened. There were lots of  stomach/ intestinal complaints, part of which was stress, and part was due to the water supply. The tsunami waters have invaded the ground waters, and even in places where water is piped in (rather than just the village well), the water tastes like salt. In one hotel we stayed in, the water smelled so bad that they put mothballs in the sink to camouflage the smell.

We also had a station for wound care. Some people still had wounds that needed to be drained or cleaned, but even more needed tender loving care. I  sent lots of little old ladies with no one to rub their arthritic hands to them. We sent people with people with incredible neck or back tension to them for massages. Remember that these are the "untouchable" people-how their hearts must have opened!

And then we had the counseling team. They prayed and prayed with all kinds of people and heard every situation imaginable. The permanent people kept a journal of who they prayed for so they can follow up with them, and over 150 people made decisions to trust Christ there. (And then there were others that made decisions in other areas as well.) The harvest belongs to the permanent people there-they have long been plowing the fields and were incredible examples of servanthood to us. The love they showed us, one another, and the people they reach out to was just stellar. They held a farewell dinner for us, and Jeff, our leader, wanted to wash their feet. So we did. It was an amazing, touching scene. The leader of the ground crew (who was raised in an orphanage in similar circumstances to the people he works with) said he had never had his feet washed before. Tears were everywhere, on both teams.

Overall, it was a great trip. Our team learned a lot about each other and about how to be a servant. We bonded, learned from each other, and took care of each other while we were taking care of others. We got poured out, and the Lord filled us back up. What could be better?

Much love!

--Virginia