So today started at Raj’s home, and from there went to a dress-tailoring studio.  Kirsty, Stacey and Laura were presented with their own Indian hand-made dresses, leaving us lads out the picture… literally!

Very swish!!!

So while they were looking all prettyful, Iain, Minty and I took photos and ate some Madeira cake and some mini doughnut-like snacks – which turned out to have bits of almond on top… but I’m still alive so it’s all gravy, baby! =]

Thereafter, Raj took us to a small restaurant in town for some lunch.  I stuck with my usual rice, while everyone else got stuck into some proper Indian cuisine, however i was sort of adventurous and had some soup, but it was unbelievably sweet.  I think it was made with condensed milk or something, but after half the bowl I couldn’t finish it without worrying I was going to throw up.  so Iain quite happily demolished the rest of it.  And the entertainers (or entertainer) even played some british music into the restaurant for us…Shame it was Aqua! >_<

So we followed that up with some ice cream from Baskin Robbins. YUMMY!

… And that was followed by shopping at a nearby supermarket for even more food – for the train trip to Dundigal on Saturday.  So we’re fairly stocked up for cola, Pringles, chocolate and such junk.

So now we’re on the bus to John’s crib… the gentleman we met last night from Mount Zion church.  He’s more than delighted to have us for dinner, even though we all seem pretty full, only having lunch a few hours ago.

And finally… I still don’t have a camcorder charger.  Eek!

So comments and love greatly appreciated.

Cheers m’dears,

Owen x            

Hello everyone. Life in India today was nothing short of mad.

Visited a sewing class today. It’s where salwars are made. It’s run by a woman called Venetha and the girls there really seem to enjoy it. Kirsty, Stacey and Laura picked up beautiful salwars and paraded around with them after they had changed. They looked very elegant. Stacey said hers was the best! Kirsty has gigantic parachute trousers but John said that they will shrink in the wash so hakuna matata.

We also had the chance to top up on supplies for our 8 hour journey to Dundigal. Getting the train early a.m. on Saturday morning. Can’t wait to go up into the mountains. We went for lunch at an Indian restaurant and I decided to be more adventurous than I usually am and ordered cream of tomato soup. But I did try a vegetarian Jalfrezi curry with vegetarian noodles. They were lovely but the jalfrezi was so spicy it was as if someone had a lighter to my tongue. I’ve hated curry dishes since I was a young boy due to my auntie and cousin constantly force feeding me it with a wheelbarrow and shovel. But today it tasted really nice. I still think I do better with milder food too. Stacey also enjoyed her food and OWEN ATE NUTS! And he IS still alive. He didn’t even notice he had eaten them and he had no allergic reaction at all.

Also had a trip to a Baskin Robbins for some well deserved ice cream. Stacey had a sherbet orange flavour and I had the mango. Once again it was scrumptious. We also made a donation to the sewing class today to help them buy a new machine.

I think a few of us as starting to feel a touch homesick as our ‘Scottishness’ is becoming more prominent. We’re only really missing our loved ones (and western toilets). Surprising what you realise you don’t need. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be on this trip. I already feel myself growing as a person. The others seem to be feeling very emotional about things too and I mean that in a good way. We probably don’t realise it just now, but this trip will have a significance on us that will affect us for the remainder of our lives. Meeting people with a completely different lifestyle here has been incredibly interesting.

We did spend all day with Raj and Sharon and Vanitha and they were fantastic company. Raj’s sense of humour rubs off on his family. Tonight we were invited to share dinner with John who is the son of Sunderaj. The food was lovely and they were making us feel like royalty. Stacey loved the fish. I got to play some guitar and we sang some songs as a group. The time flew by. That’s us just back at the hotel. More tomorrow.

Minty & Stacey

Toilet in Fishermans Cove

Here are some pictures of the toilets!!! eek!

Indian Toilet.  Can you see Laura’s passport??  Its in the hole.

Kirsty is the only girlie who has not used the India toilet.  COME ON KIRSTY GO FOR IT.

Lilias and Stacey now judge where we are going for the day, based on whether it has a western toilet.  Boh are scarred for life.

Tuesday proved to be quite a challenging day for the Team.  One of Pastor Raj congregation, a 17 year old girl, committed suicide the Tuesday before we arrived.  She was a committed member of the church no one knows why she took her own life. 

 Raj shared this information yesterday (Tuesday) with our Team.  He asked if any of our young people wanted to come to a prayer meeting Raj was holding with the family in the families house.  Kirsty, Stacey and Laura immediately said they would like to attend.  Iain, Owen and Minty went into Raj church a played the instruments and entertained the children.  They did a very good job.

 On reflection this must have been a most difficult time for both Raj and Vanitha.  Having to welcome us but at the same time dealing with a most horrific circumstance.

 The girls, David and I went with Raj to the prayer meeting.  On arrival the whole family were there.  We found out the Mothers husband had passed away two years ago.  Prayers were said for the family.  An interpreter was there to help us understand what was going on.  Raj shared comforting words with the family.  David was then asked to read a passage from the bible and I was asked to pray for the family.

 We all found this an extremely challenging and difficult thing to face after all Kirsty and Stacey are the same age with the girl who took her own life.

 Keep the team in your prayers as we face these particular challenging situations.  The contrast  between our experience last night and the Kennedy School today is vast and a huge mix of emotions.

Please keep the grieving family in your prayers. The girl who died is  Velankanni.

The Mother’s name is Chandra Mary

Eldest Brother  –  Maria Das (He does not go to church)

Second Brother — Suresh          Third Brother — Thangaraj
Fourth Brother — Pawnraj     the youngest sister is  Jayanthi.

All these are actively involved in the Church.

Just to give you an idea of what it means to Pastor Raj and his ministry team here in Chennai, that our/your young people from Scotland have taken the time to come to Chennai and be interested in the work going on here.  They do need support not just financially but prayerfully too.

Here is a wee excerpt from an email he sent me just yesterday.

May God protect you all
and work in and through you and continue to keep you a blessing
to this land. The Scottish stalwarts have contributed so much for
the welfare of our land, especially Chennai. You are truly
God-sent at point of time. All that you accomplish here
will go into history and into the Book of Remembrance with
our Lord.  God bless you all.

I just can’t put into words what it means to the people here in Chennai that our young people have come.  I am extremely proud of they way Kirsty, Stacey, Laura, Owen, Iain and Minty.

 Our young people, have conducted themselves in the places we have visited.  They are being true ambassadors for not only St Andrews Church, Bo’ness but young people of Scotland.

David and I are overwhelmed daily by the way they are coping by what they see and the things they are aske to do. ie pray for people of the various churches we visit.  The begging lady at the mini bus window is just one example of how hard it is to feel hopless and unable to help.  These experiences will change their lives forever. 

Oh and if only you could see their faces when someone adds a comment to the blog!! haha.  You would think it was Christmas day!! Thank you.

David and Lilias

:o)

There’s a hole in my bucket dear Kirsty, dear Kirsty,

There’s a hole in my bucket dear Kirsty a hole.

Well fix it dear Stacey, dear Stacey

Well fix it dear Stacey fix it.

Oh help us dear Laura, dear Laura

Oh help us dear Laura help us.

My emotions are running sky high. The way some people have to live here is disgusting. Old men and women are sitting on the streets, thin as grass blades and with no food or water. We can’t help as we’re only viewing through the windows of our bus because the places we’re going to are too far away to walk too. We’d get lost anyway. We can’t give anyone money either because we’d immediately be swamped by many many more people wanting some too. We can’t even offer any food, as we don’t carry any with us. Chennai reminds me of a human body with the people being the blood that flows through the streets. It’s alive and constant. It never sleeps. It’s so vast that I’d be terrified if I got lost. But Chennai is wonderful in it’s own way. No-where else I’ve been has there been so many strange sights and sounds. Two nights ago, I was standing at the gate to the grounds of our accommodation just watching traffic pass by, even that was surreal.

We’ve just been to another church where I met a man I feel I could really relate to. He gave testimony of how he had lost his father and how his church had helped him a lot.

The people at this church were as friendly as ever although they came across to me as having very little money. We each made a donation as we realised it would help them a lot. We get fed everywhere we go and it was fantastic to get some fresh fruit again. Haven’t had any since Monday. The pomegranate here is fantastic. But nothing ever beats mango. YUM! They must have known that through my stomach is the way to my heart. They asked if I liked curry. I’m not the biggest fan but a change is always nice. Which is why I would like them to have a little change and try some pasta! =]

I spoke to a few people from home via the web today and it was nice to catch up a little bit. Didn’t have much time to chat though as I had to get ready to leave the accommodation.

I’m not missing many of my home comforts at all which is surprising but it just proves to me that I can live without. I do miss certain people such as my Mum, sister and brother along with Heather and my close friends. I will miss my music too but I can cope without it.

Oh and one note on today’s experience at the school: absolutely mental.

Minty

Hey Kirsty here!

We visited the Kennedy School today, which is a Christian school but children of all religions are accepted. The experience was amazing! When the bus pulled in to the school grounds a band started to play and when we got out of the bus they took photos of us and threw petals over us. It was such a strange feeling, it felt like we were about to walk down a red carpet!

We were led into the school and given COLA and BISCUITS, which I was quite happy about and everyone else seemed to be too.

We were then led to a stage and we sat in front of the whole school and were presented with flowers. Some of the children also danced for us, which is really interesting to watch.

We then visited each of the classes, which was, well an experience, to say the least. I was swamped with people asking me to sign their books and their hands. One boy even asked me to sign and put my number on his chest! Also on two occasions I had to be literally dragged out of a crowd. It was actually scary how badly some of them wanted to speak to us and get pictures taken with us! One boy thought I actually thought I was Kate Winslet.  In all honesty I have never had that much attention on me, at once in my life.

Love and hugs Kirsty xxx

Owen

Iain’s pretty much got it covered.  If you’re thinking about getting famous, my only advice woud be to prepare for the attention.  We, a group of young people from central Scotland, are not famous – and yet we felt more than welcome by all the children at the Kennedy School.  We did our usual – teaching some Scottish words to the kids that could speak English (most of them – but not the reeeaaally young ones!) with words like “aye”, “gid” and “mullet” *Iain grabs my hair and points* nmyeeeh!

As we moved from class to class – which weren’t entirely separate from each other, some kids from the previous classes would follow, until we were crowded with half the school, wanting to ask questions, get autographs, hugs, handshakes, etc.  I found myself enclosed against a wall with the camera above my head, guarding it with my life! 

But I’ve skipped way ahead of myself… so let’s back it up, folks!

Before we even arrived at Destination Kennedy, we once again experienced another young local tapping on our bus windows, begging for food.  Considering we had no food to give, it’s truly difficult to ignore that someone is begging in desperation for his or her life.  And at that, all we could do was ignore her.  Not fun.

Anyways… upon arriving at the school we were greeted with the school band, consisting of drummers and some kids that had horns – like trumpets that could only produce one note!  Was mighty impressive though.  As was the word “welcome” laid out in rose petals – the same ones they showered us with as we entered the school.

Before visiting the classrooms, we sat on a small stage in front of the entire school, and were entertained with dancing, kung fu and front flips (one of them fell flat on his back – and it looked sore as………..!)  

Iain

Well…where do I begin?  It’s been a rather nice day and plenty of sunshine…oh and we went to Kennedy School!! I refer you to Minty’s previous blog where he exclaims that we had been treated almost like royalty…we have now officially been treated exactly like royalty!!

We arrived at the School in pretty calm moods and all of a sudden we fell silent with amazement as we saw the school band standing in formation playing us in.  If that wasn’t good enough they tossed rose petals over us!!

But that was only the beginning.  We were presented in front of the whole school and they presented us with flowers, danced and cheered for us!  Not only did I feel awkward but I was shaking…but it still wasn’t over.   We were toured round the classes!

We started with the oldest class with girls on the left side and guys on the right- they all spoke very good English so we were invited to go speak with them…I went towards a girl on the front row and said hello and went to shake her hand- she got all embarrassed, covered her mouth and went to stand.  I urged her to sit down and we had a nice conversation- her name was Taliah (I think that’s how it is spelled) and it was the first good conversation I had with anyone outside of our circle in India.

We were led into more classrooms to see more of the kids and that was when the madness started-  photos were taken, many handshakes and high fives but then a kid came up and asked for my autograph.  I was bemused but I did it nonetheless.  For a second there were no kids around but then they came back with pens, paper, outstretched arms…all looking for an autograph. I was buzzing…it was as amazing as it was confusing and I could feel myself pinned to the wall as kids asked for autographs on their jotter, bits of paper, hands, arms and foreheads.

Confused bit——–One kid called me Orlando———-Confused Bit

After all the signing, photos and kirsty bring rescued from the rabble- we left for lunch in the school office.  All of us exchanging stories of what the kids were saying/doing to us…literally shaking at the experience we just had.

Moviestars – Royalty – Rockstars – Sports stars- Models…and the India Youth Team 

WOW!

India so far has been amazing. I feel incredibly welcome. Mosquitoes are being kept at bay too.

Yesterday we went sight seeing to a few Christian churches. The view at the top of the St.Thomas shrine was wonderful. You could see an area 11 times the size of Edinburgh. I was really impressed with what we saw. Plenty to see from the bus windows too. We are being chauffeured everywhere though so we never get lost. I couldn’t imagine trying to walk around. The funny thing is, that wherever we go, we are treated so well (almost like royalty) and everyone smiles, points and waves at us. At the tomb of St.Thomas Iain and I were asked if we were movie stars. I gave a pen to a little boy and he seemed quite chuffed. We were walking for a bit yesterday while looking for a Sony shop and the pavements here are dangerous! The kerbs are over one foot high. There are also a lot of loose slabs with miniature crevases.

In Raj’s church, I had the chance to use the instruments there and I played a bit of guitar. About 60 kids showed up and stared and listened for a bit. Sharon, Raj’s daughter who also plays guitar, paid me some nice compliments on my playing. She described it as ‘amazing’ so I just laughed. I think we’re doing a song for them next week. Better get practicing! There was another blackout yesterday evening, so while we were playing, the amps just cut out. Luckily there were acoustic guitars there too. Later on, the girls got every kid to stand up and sing with us. Iain and Owen also sang a Mighty Boosh song called ‘Jean Claude Jaquetie’.

After we left the church, we went down to Raj’s house to relax. Captain Thacker was exhausted after our strenuous day. He did let us go to the Bay of Bengal beach and we were the centre of attention all the time we were on the beach! Owen was interviewing Iain, Stacey and Myself so I think the Indian people thought we were from TV or a movie. We also went for lunch in a lovely hotel that had a private beach. The food there was supreme. I had some food I was more used to and some mango ice cream which was the best I’ve ever had! Yum. I would do almost anything to know how to make ice cream that good.

Today we went to the government museum, which was filled with many exotic animals, and it also had a section of Hindu statues too. I thought that they were very grotesque, however. Right now, I’m sitting at the back of our bus, and we’re on our way to the Kennedy School. It’s a joint primary and high school so we’ll be meeting quite a lot of people there.

There isn’t much more I have to say at the moment, but I love being here so much that I’ve already decided I’m coming back. One or two others may come back with me.

The Youth Team has already decided on our next project, bringing Sharon and her friends to Scotland. So we’ll have plenty fundraising to do for that.

Bye for now.

Minty