Another day in India

Yesterday droned on in the morning but developed into a positively wonderful day. I waited for hours without communication from Steve and had no way to know if anyone was coming to get me or if I was going to spend the whole afternoon in my room. My phone had no service but I dared not leave the hotel room landline. The room became a mandatory sabbath. No way to work or control things. I tried to discipline myself to settle into it patiently. I read the bible, I prayed sporadically, I zoned out, I thought of children in Kenya and the team. I thought of how grateful I am to donors. I asked God to lead me to some work for the poor here. RING RING and the women were here to pick me up at4. I dressed and ran down to the elevators. I am staying in the mostluxurious hotel, but I longed to find and greet children who are needy. We headed to St. Theresa's Tender Loving Care Center. Here Mother Theresa, named after the saint who was Theresa the little flower, supports 29 girls who all came as babies after the Tsunami. Tamina, a CA employee, suggested we get them some snack--she was right! Typical for me, I was showing up empty handed. But I did not have a well thought out plan. We sent the driver for some cookies and chocolate. Mother showed us photos from the over 1000 children she had placed. She was formerly a nurse in cardiology, maternity, and something else. She had been a nun since she was 22. Now she was surely over 70 and had trouble walking. Hunched over and with braces on her knees and a cane. She was precious all in white and chatty with arthritic knarled hands.I loved her although I only understood about 75% of what she said. We met the beautiful young girls. All dressed well and appearing quite well adjusted. What a cohort together they were! They showed us a dance they learned from watching bollywood. ADORABLE. I think they all greeted me as Aunty. Many were vying to catch my eye. You know they know that they want to go home with someone! Two were already destined for Holland and one for Germany. Many children had gone to Washington DC, New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. She had multiple books on her desk thatfamilies had created for her showing their child growing upthrough the years and sending letters to her to show her their happiness. It costs nothing really to send these girls to school in Hindi, the national language, but it costs about $25 a month for English classes (school in complete English immersion.) All together, Mother was paying 40,000 Rupees a month or $800 USD for the girls to have English. They had 2 ancient computers, which gives me the idea that surely I can come up with donations for 2 new computers or else buy them myself. I could bring them on my next trip here. Steve is supposeed to come for a whole month. Maybe July. On another note, though, it turns out the C.A.(which stands for computer associates technologies) also has its own India charity which is Hope School. I will look into it when I come back--they are out on holiday until June. It is a school to educate the poor children whose families might not otherwise be able to send them. I could really get on board with that because Steve cannnot ethically promote our work without the potential that someone feels "pressured" to give in order to remain in good favor at their job. ( sad face.)But I can really promote Hope School with the CA employees in Long Island. So that is my plan. I did find a Christian orphanage and will also visit there next time. It is 90 minutes from my hotel and I am not giventhe driver the whole day. so...God will make a way if He chooses. It was good to see the good mother and her beautiful children. They are available for adoption and I suppose their age makes them less likely candidates. I might even get them all dresses. I bet I could find them for $10 here. That would only be $290. (well, there is tax.) Several of them wear glasses---you know that is expensive! Later we had an excellent dinner at a buffet at the Novatel Hotel. I have eaten several Indian dishes that I have enjoyed plus they have versions of Asian food like vegetable fried rice. There is always steamed rice and a great flat bread that has a pancake taste from the grill (unsweet.) I had a great hushpuppy type item with cumin. I had "golden coins" at a chinese restaurant that were spicy and delicious. Breakfast yesterday had greek salad YUM!!!! and some bean sprout thing with lime and cilantro and cabbage was great. So no food suffering plus luxury hotel is an interesting way to experience India. I hate using water here because I know we US tourists like our daily showers which sucks up all the water stealing it from locals and their wells. I get that rich person guilty complex. Then I go to get an hour long massage for $30 and I just PRAISE GOD!!! The people at this hotel are very very gracious and service oriented. It is a real pleasure. The weater is hot but it feels good to me. Yesterday's rains cooled it greatly. It was perfect. Driving through the roads you see hundreds of pedestrians, auto-rickshaws, motorbikes, cars and buses. At any moment, five cars and motorbikes honking at once. A grating symphony of notes. Dust rises up here and there. Fruit stalls interspersed with electronics or clothing stores. Temples here and there to the elephant face god and buildingsnamed Krishna this or that. Beautiful sarees floating everywhere, young beautiful girls and matriarchs past their prime. Outside my window, there is a helicoptor pad for the hotel. It looks like some aztec sacrifical pinnacle laid out and ready for worship to something. I'll have to take a picture. Palm trees among flowering trees and moldy old buildings next to modern ones. So much here is familiar as my beloved Kenya. I feel at home while simultaneously knowing nothing about anything. The culture is hidden to me. People thousands of years old with shared knowlege I could only guess at from cursory readings. I enjoy our differences and drink in the flavor of a people created by God.