India

India is an amazing country. One in six humans on earth today lives in India. Literacy is about 35%.  That means that approximately 600 million people do not know how to read and write. In rural areas daily wages are about $2 per day—the price of a large coffee. Many families eat only one meal a day. Rice is the main food. Rice and curry. Curry is more a food group than a spice or combination. There are several levels of spicy food—hot—I can eat this, hotter—oh my - hotter still —I am sweating now. Up to this point it is “baby food” for the foreigners. Indians like their food hot, really hot. They serve yogurt to cut the fire except that it often has raw onions stirred in it.

I have been to India 9 times now and must have 10,000 pictures but, I spent most of the afternoon trying to find a picture of the completed school my husband Ken and I donated to Harvest India to provide an education for hundreds of orphaned and Dalit children in South East India. Ken and I were there together only once in the fall of 2008. It was his second trip and my fourth.

School building under construction

So, how did two middle-aged Canadian farm kids end up in India being used by God to minister to orphans, widows, former prostitutes, lepers, and student pastors to name a few? Well, Ken was quite unexpectedly invited to go to India with a pastor friend just days after he told God that he was glad he was too old to go on missions because that kind of scared him. Well God has a great sense of humor and Ken ended up handing out clothing and cooking utensils just 3 weeks after the tsunami of Dec 26, 2004 swept across the south east coast of India.

Handing out clothing and cooking utensils

God also has a great sense of timing. This children's home was near completion, built in faith in 2004. Some 200 children, orphaned by the tsunami, moved in a few weeks later. After Ken came home and shared some of the visions of Harvest India, together we decided that we could give the money to build a school for these children and others. Not that we had that kind of money, but we had taken over the family farm and believed that it would honour God to give a tithe, 10%, of the full value of the farm business. Gulp. So, we cashed in some quota and the school is now complete and some 500 children are now receiving an education from Grade 1 through junior college. Yeah God!

Children's home

There are countless stories that I could write about, and I am. One of the highlights of any ministry trip to India is participating in a village outreach meeting. Its party time and the whole village comes together to hear what the white people have to share. In all the times I have been there, the only white people I see are the ones I am with.  

Village outreach meeting

Tarps are laid out on the ground for the people to sit on. Women on one side. Men on the other. Children everywhere. Loud, very loud, speakers are set up and everyone in the whole village can hear whether they want to or not. These are farm workers who labour long hours everyday. Most of the farms in this area produce rice and sugar cane and hot red peppers and cotton. We share a message of love and hope as we try to encourage the people that they are loved by a God who cares about each one us.
You can read more about Harvest India here .
Blessings,
Chris