raemx@mac.com

There are now 87 children at the orphanage.  They only have the lower level of the house to use.  The children eat, sleep and play in this small space.  The lower level of the house across the road is where the children bathe, get dressed and have tuition classes in the evening.  The children and ladies at the orphanage went to visit the new building last week and were very excited to learn that they will shortly be living there.  They will have space to play and run about.

There are now 40 children going to school.  A new bus was bought as fees were being paid for the school bus but the children were being bullied and weren’t getting a seat on the bus.  So now they have their own bus where each child has a seat. The driver takes them to school and is waiting for them after school to bring them back home.

Even though the space is cramped the children are very happy and take care off each other.

The new buildings at Sangita are really coming along.  The work on the main building has stopped temporarily due to lack off funds but the pods for the children to sleep in are still developing as is the volunteers house.

This is the main building so far.  When you walk through the front door you can turn left into the dining area or right into the play area.  Off the dining room is a food preparation area which leads into a big kitchen and utility area.  The room next to this is a room to iron and prepare the children’s school uniforms.  There are 40 uniforms to get ready each day

The children’s sleeping area is to the left off the main building.  This is one building which is split into 3 or 4 pods.  In each pod is the sleeping area, toilets and washing facilities.  Each pod can house up to 20 – 25 children.

The volunteers house is where people who come to visit the orphanage can stay. There is a kitchen/dining/living area and 2 bedrooms which have their own toilet and wash facilities.

The new orphanage looks amazing. Hopefully they will be able to find the money to get the rest of the buildings finished so the children can move in.  They need about $100,000 to be able to complete the project.

The widows programme run by Sangita Charitable Trust helps 250 widows from the surrounding villages.  Each month the widows are are provided with food rations, they hear God’s word and can receive advice and prayer.  The widows travel for miles for this programme, some are able to travel by bus but many walk and some of the widows are very frail.  

One old lady can’t stand up straight.  She is bent over at the waist.  She walks for a little bit and then sits down for a rest before walking again. She has far to walk.  

Shobha who works at the orphanage is in charge of this programme.  She visits the villages each month to give the village leader the ration cards and he distributes them to the widows.  The card are then presented by the widows before they can receive the food rations.  The cards are ID cards with a photo of the widow on it. This helps to keep track of the number of widows and to see who hasn’t been able to collect the food rations.  It also prevents someone from trying to get someone else’s food rations.

The rations consist of rice, sugar, a months supply of vitamin tablets and the widows are also given a drink to prevent dehydration as they have travelled a distance in the heat.

The Leprosy Mission is in Chengalpattu which is 56 km south-southwest of Chennai.

Leprosy or Hansen’s disease, is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium Leprae and Mycobacterium Lepromatosis. Leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions are the primary external symptom. Left untreated, leprosy can be progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Contrary to popular belief, leprosy does not directly cause body parts to fall off on their own accord. instead they become disfigured or amputated as a result of disease symptoms. Leprosy isn’t infectious after treatment, as approximately 95% of people are naturally immune and sufferers are no longer infectious after as little as 2 weeks of treatment. Worldwide, two to three million people are estimated to be permanently disabled because of leprosy. India has the greatest number of cases, with Brazil second and Burma third.

Persistent obstacles to the elimination of the disease include improving detection, educating patients and the population about its cause, and fighting social taboos about a disease whose patients have historically been considered “unclean” or “cursed by God” as outcasts. Where taboos are strong, patients may be forced to hide their condition (and avoid seeking treatment) to avoid discrimination. The lack of awareness about Hansen’s disease can lead people to falsely believe that the disease is highly contagious and incurable.

Many of the leprosy patients live at the colony with their families. Their family members don’t have the disease. We were able to bring some money over that will buy 3 x 75 kgs bags of rice each month for the next 6 months. this will give this community some food.

We found out that one of the leprosy patients is the grandfather of 2 brothers at Sangita Orphanage. Shobha from Sanagita Orphanage recognised the grandfather from some photos we had. This is Nazeem and his brother and this is their grandfather.

The people at the leprosy colony are very welcoming and it’s a very humbling experience to visit this place.

Good morning everyone. We’re all thinking on you today and our prayers are with you, especially those who are taking part in the service. Thank you to all of you who were at CLAN this year I’m sure your going to have some great stories to tell the congregation. Today we have returned to Dindigul and will take part in the service at Hepzibah.

This is the church that is running the Martha Clinic as a social outreach programme. It is amazing to see what they have established using the `Branches money and a gift from a family in our congregation to pay for a health worker. At the moment they have established the clinic, by renting premise, using money we sent them, employed nurses, and secured the services of a doctor on a voluntary basis one day a week.

At the moment their big ask is for a van that can be used as an ambulance. This will allow them to begin to do more regular visits into the 50-60 villages that surround the area. The cost of the van will around £4,000. The fridge you see in the picture was also purchased by donations from our congregation.

This morning we left early to travel to Munnar.  On our way we stopped at Marayoor Tribal Mission which is run by sisters Jansi and Freeda. 

Waving goodbye

This is a mission run to teach and look after 60 children aged from 8 to 18.  These children are from the tribal areas in the surrounding mountains.

We travelled through some beautiful scenery on the way to Munnar and we even saw a few monkeys.  We had to keep the windows up in the car incase they jumped in.  We passed by a lot of children who shouted and waved saying “hello, how are you?”.

Monkey Posing

The weather was really nice and sunny but the further up the mountain we got it became more like Scotland, cold and raining.

Tomorrow we are going elephant riding and also on the speed boat to try and catch a glimpse for the wild elephants

We’ve just had some very sad news. Michael John Sunderaj who visited with us in 2006 as part of our World Without Walls programme died today.  John was an outstanding young man in his late 20s or early 30s. He got married around two years ago, in fact just after his visit to Scotland and last year his wife had a little baby.

Well we have arrived safely in India. We had a good flight with BA and had no problems with luggage.

Our Flight to Chennai

Swine Flu check

We arrived at 4 am but it took a while to get through security because of the Swine Flu checks. We stayed at the YWCA and left at 9:30 pm to travel to Dindigul by train. The train ride was good and it was Vikki’s first time on the train.

Chennai's Egmore Station

We arrived in Dindigul at 6am and we were met with Abraham and Danny. We proceeded to Parson’s Court. After a couple of hours rest we went to visit the Martha Medical Clinic, where we met Benjamin’s new wife, Gloria. She is a doctor of Natural Medicine.
The clinic is doing really well. Abraham was telling us that 5000 people have been seen at the clinic over the past year, and over 150 families are coming to the clinic on a regular basis. The clinic provides free/low cost health care to the surrounding villages and provides care for those who can’t afford to pay for health checks or treatment. Today we saw a man having an ECG done as he had been having chest pain, there was someone on a drip, someone else had blood take and another had their Blood pressure and lungs checked.

Old Lady has blood taken

Old man get's blood pressure taken.

The clinic is going from strength to strength. We gave some money to help support the work they are doing

Martha Medical Mission with Benjamin and his new wife Gloria

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Well that’s us left India and are now in Terminal 5 at Heathrow waiting for our flight up to Edinburgh.

Captain Thacker and Raj dropped us off at the airport and they send their love to everyone.  The traffic was at a complete standstill on the road back into Chennai so hopefully it didn’t take them too long to get home.

We want to say a big thanks to everyone in India for looking after us, their hospitality and kindness is always overwhelming. And thank you for reading the blog your comments have encouraged us.

Cya all soon

Love

Adam and Rae

xx

This is a fabulous story where this elderly lady was bitten by a King Cobra snake about 8 years ago at Hepzibah Mission field and she was pronounced dead by a man who is a Hindu Priest but also a tribal doctor. Then God raised her up.

“I had to face a great danger 8 years ago.  When I went into the bush in this campus to get a medical herb for my granddaughter I was bitten by a very poisonous cobra, as soon as I stamped over the tail without my knowledge, within 10 feet when I couldn’t walk any further I fainted and my son was watching all these things.  I do not know what happened after I fainted.  When I was in an unconscious state the Sunday school children who were I the camp went running crying to the pastor and said the elderly teacher, grandma is bitten by snake and she is dead. I was told that when pastor came and sister Ruth also, they prayed and put a cross upon my forehead and laid hands upon me and prayed, the breath came back, the foaming that was in my mouth was released by the priest.  And as soon as the breath returned unto me but I was still unconscious, I was hurried to the hospital.  And on the way I gained about 70 % consciousness. And in the hospital one of  my students is the superintendent so I got the best care and I was kept for 5 days and then I had a blood transfusion.  So by God’s grace I became perfectly normal and also the skin problems which I had also vanished.  By God’s grace the following Sunday I was able to come and sit in the worship.  Actually the whole thing was delayed for a few days because the wound which was created when they tried to release the poison took longer to heal and I give all glory to God for extending my life and I’m still alive and I do what I can do for the glory of God.”

Their venom is not the most potent among venomous snakes, but the amount of neurotoxin they can deliver in a single bite—up to two-tenths of a fluid ounce (seven milliliters)—is enough to kill 20 people, or even an elephant. Fortunately, king cobras are shy and will avoid humans whenever possible, but they are fiercely aggressive when cornered.