Arrived in India safe on Tuesday evening, we were met at the airport by Pastor Raj and Captain Thacker. As we were leaving the airport Raj asked, ‘when are you leaving?’... I’m trying not to take that too personally ;) Shortly later we arrived at YWCA, where Sharon and Becky were waiting to greet us. We checked in and were shown to our bedroom, room 208, same room as I’d slept in when I was here in 2008 with the youth team from St Andrews Church. The happy memories came flooding back!
Jenn and I were left to relax that evening and were going to be picked up at 10am the following morning to spend the day with Raj. We had a phone call from Raj about 5 to 10, ‘you’re in India, so 10 o’clock means 11 o’clock’... ah yes India Stretchy Time!
We arrived with Raj around 12 and headed to the Tailoring Class, out came the measuring tape and Jenn and I were fitted for Salwars. The class introduced themselves and Raj asked us to speak a bit about Soul Touch. After that the girls took it in turns to tell us their favourite verses from the bible, and sang to us in Tamil. A couple of the girls shared a bit about their experiences of the tailoring classes, how they enjoyed the fellowship, learning about the bible and of course learning a new skill. Most of the girls come from Muslim and Hindu families. Anyone is allowed on the course free of charge, taking part in bible study is optional but Vanitha serves as a pastor to the girls. All spoke about the peace they felt when coming to the class. We prayed that after the 3 month course the girls would continue to feel at peace and that they would find work using their new skill.
On Friday we were collected in the morning by Maria who works at Shanti’s Clinic, working with the young girls, training them in computer skills in the hope that they will find work in this area. Jenn and I had prepared a session for them on love, using the passage in 1 Corinthians 13, however in the auto (this is an Indian taxi, a motorbike with a trailer type thing on the back for passengers) on the way to the project we felt this was perhaps not the right message for the girls we were going to be working with. We sat in silence for a bit, thinking about how we could change it when Jenn came out with an excellent idea. We had planned a session on self worth for a group of vulnerable young girls while we had been in Sri Lanka, but unfortunately when we arrived at SU to take the programme it had been cancelled. We didn’t have all the resources we had prepared with us but had some of the notes we needed.
We arrived at the project and Maria introduced us to the group, ‘we’re so happy you are here to see us!’ one of the girls said, I already felt quite overwhelmed! We headed upstairs to a bigger hall to play an ice breaker game, and run the session. The game was a huge hit with the girls and we were soon all laughing and feeling very much at ease. We began the session by telling the girls some interesting facts about women, they blink twice as much as men, talk 3 times as much (we’ll have no cheeky comments!)etc... after this we all sat in a circle and discussed the things we liked about being a woman. This was so interesting and quickly turned into a lesson in Indian culture for Jenn and I. The things we enjoyed about being female would not apply in an Indian setting. We talked about the relationships between men and women in India, and also about the relationships between women. We were sad to hear that when an Indian woman is married she leaves her friends and family to be at home. Jenn and I were both aware that the duties of a married woman in India were very different from the UK, but when we thought of the loneliness that these women must experience it touched a nerve... we’ve been away from friends and family for 3 months now, and have missed everyone loads, but we know we are able to send an e-mail or text, and also that we’ll be together again soon.
We talked more with the girls about the value that they put on themselves and each other, and we played another game where each of the girls wrote there name on the top of a sheet of paper, they each passed it to the person on their left and had to write something they liked about the person whose name was at the top of the sheet, the sheet was passed around the circle, repeating the process till it was eventually back at the owner. The girls opened the sheets and huge smiles appeared on their faces, we asked them to share something they were surprised with, and the compliment they liked best. After this the girls turned over the sheet of paper and individually wrote on it what they valued about themselves, I was impressed to witness the screeds they were writing! 
After this we played another game, the girls sat with their eyes closed, Jenn selected a couple of the girls and instructed them to touch someone on the shoulder who had shown them kindness, someone who had made them laugh, and so the game went on each of the girls taking turns to touch another’s shoulders.
At the end of the game we returned to the circle, faces beaming! And I read to them from Matthew 10:20-31, and encouraged them that even more than they valued themselves and one another, God valued them, he even knows how many hairs are on their heads! As we looked around the group some of the girls were becoming quite emotional... we felt certain that this programme, although planned weeks in advance, was meant to be used today!
In the afternoon we enjoyed some Domino’s Pizza with the girls and they performed a mock Indian wedding for us. Some of them nipped home to collect some photo albums to show us, one was of a puberty celebration. Jenn and I felt quite mortified of the thought of our parents inviting friends and relatives to our homes at such a sensitive time. But this is very normal to girls in India, and I’m sure they quite look forward to the dressing up and huge party they receive!
We visited Shanti, who was hosting a prayer meeting at home with staff members, sang a little, enjoyed some delicious grape juice, and I took some photo’s while Jenn performed a highland fling! 
The following morning we were collected by David Samuel for a tour round Chennai. David is the son of Adolfus, a good friend of Captain Thacker. He took us to the mall, we spent a fair bit of time in a bookshop, which seemed to be torment for Jenn, as she is already struggling to close her rucksack, and is completely in love with most books! We did pick up some postcards before looking in a couple of clothes and jewellery shops and heading for a coffee and a chat.
After lunch David took us to St Thomas’s Church for a look around the church, museum and gift shop. We met Adolfus there and headed back to his house for a drink and a snack while we waited for the sun to set so his daughter, Anita, could take Jenn and I (with our delicate skin) to the beach! Adolfus’s wife, Manilla returned home and made us fresh chapatti’s with Kurma (I think it was Korma) and offered, literally to give us the clothes off her back when I commented on how beautiful her Sari was!
Indian hospitality never ceases to amaze me, it’s good to be back!!!!!
Laura x
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