Sanctuary Home Blog

Today I started working on a spreadsheet to project what it’s going to cost to send all the SH kids to school. I didn’t figure in the biannual amounts we spend on their uniforms and school books – under $50 for each child total – because we have let the sponsors know up front that we need that extra money twice a year. Most of them are able and willing to make those donations, thank goodness. But higher education is another matter. It currently costs $100 per year for us to send the 9th and 10th graders. Actually, their schooling is free, and the money actually goes to special tutoring sessions…which they call ‘tuition’. Makes sense, but it took me awhile to figure that out. They need tutoring in order to pass the classes and exams and get their high school diplomas, because so many of them are behind in school because of where they came from. Also, since they attend government (free) schools, the instruction just isn’t as good as at private Indian schools. So they need extra help. Then there are the college kids, or those in 11th and 12th classes, which in some cases mean a polytechnic school. They have a variety of options after 10th class, but it amounts to $400 per year for two or three years. We have one student at university, and his education costs $800 per year.

So I made a big spreadsheet projecting our costs out per year, all the way until our first grade kids graduate. There is no way to predict how much tuition costs will go up between now and then, or how many kids will join SH as older kids finish, or which kids will have a burning desire (and the ability) to pursue a higher education, or which kids will be perfectly happy to do an apprenticeship in carpentry or tailoring instead. I figured we might have one kid per class who goes on to university.

We’re looking at an expense of $9700 for 2012, $12000 for 2013, and $15500 for 2014. Yikes. Then I color coded my spreadsheet to show which kids have sponsors who have indicated they would like to fund everything possible for their child’s education – bless their hearts! – and those who are fairly likely to fund it all or at least part of it based on past donations.

Our total expense for the next three years for tuition, according to all of my guesses, will be $37200, and I’m expecting a shortfall over the next three years of $13700.

This means I need to start asking the sponsors sooner about what their plans are for their child’s education. Some of our sponsors are eager and able to do whatever we ask in this regard, while for others it’s a strain on their own budget to contribute the very base sponsorship amount. I’m hoping if I can collect the information from the sponsors well in advance, it will save everyone a lot of heartache and stress, because we will have a good idea of how many kids we can actually provide funding for. That’s my plan. And no, I never thought this far ahead or expected to be thinking about stuff like this when I first decided to take this on. It’s pretty rewarding, though, to know what I’m doing – what I’m facilitating between all the kids and all the sponsors – is making such a difference in their futures.

We have finished posting our trip photos on flickr.com. You can view these now; they are organized into sets and many of them are tagged with the names of SH children. All of the photo sets from the recent trip include the year 2011 in the set name. We are currently working to add all of the videos, and we are simply including them in the same place as the photos. To see the Sanctuary Home flickr photos and videos, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanctuaryhome/sets/

Tom, who went to India and is a board member, has taken on the job of website administrator, and he’s been making some much needed changes and updating our site. We’re still working on it, so check back often. You can find the site here: www.sanctuaryhome.org.

Ellen, who also went to India, has agreed to join our board of directors. Her years of experience in Africa will be a great resource!

I also have some sad news: we learned that Gopi’s father passed away four days after our visit. Unfortunately, Gopi is also HIV positive, but we’re already helping him. He is living with his grandmother and isn’t going to school anymore; a Sanctuary Home supporter has volunteered to sponsor him, so the $35 per month in his case will go to feed him and his grandmother and he will remain with her. Please pray for them both.

We have several new projects through Sanctuary Home that we hope to fund this year. One of the slum areas near Sanctuary Home could really use a water well ($1200 total) and a teacher for the children there ($1200 for one year). If you would like to donate to either of these funds, please send a check to Sanctuary Home, P.O. Box 2238, Abilene TX 79604, or donate on our website: http://www.sanctuaryhome.org/support.php. Indicate on your donation which fund you want to support.

Finally, we still have two children who need sponsorship, both 13 year old boys: Tarun and Yugandhar. Want to help?

We were up around 4am on Saturday, and we caught the train to Chennai before dawn. It was about 7 hours to Chennai, and this time we were in regular seats instead of a sleeper. It was a pleasant trip; my favorite part of Indian trains is how often the coffee and chai sellers come through. I think the coffee was five rupees per cup and the tea was four…so that’s about ten cents! And it’s delicious.

In Chennai we wound our way through the railway station and headed to the hotel to check in. Our bags arrived with no problem, and we had reserved a vehicle like a mini tour bus that we could all fit into: the seven team members, Isaac and Mary Margaret and their daughters, their son-in-law, our driver (of the SH vehicle, not the mini tour bus), and Naga Prasad, an older SH boy who came along to help. We had a whirlwind couple of days, which were tiring but wonderful, visiting a tourist mall on Saturday evening and four sites on Sunday.

The tourist mall, Spencers, is a multi-story shopping extravaganza, much like a Western-style mall but with Indian goods. We recognized a few stores, but many of them were not chains, just independent shops with lots of locally made things. I saw Crocs (shoes) and was disappointed that they were no cheaper than in the US, but there were other shoes (Converse) that were about a third of the US price. Still, I didn’t buy any; I went for the really cheap stuff, the amazing bargains that make shopping in India so fun. I even bargained! Ellen, who is a bargaining expert, said I did really well. Then at some shops, I just paid full price and only remembered when I walked out that I was supposed to bargain. This mall was like a Western mall because it had a food court and lots of shops in one building, but it was a pretty confusing set-up, very maze-like. And the farther you got from the center, the more desperate the shop sellers were to rope you in. It was like the mall had back alleys, narrower passages with sellers waiting outside to pounce on you, get your attention, lure you in. It was so much fun, but I can see how it would be overwhelming to someone experiencing it for the first time.

St. Thomas Basilica, Chennai

Sunday, we started with worship and communion in the hotel room, then headed down to breakfast and then out on our whirlwind tour. First, we went to Saint Thomas Basilica, one of the only three churches in the world which houses the remains of an apostle. (The other two are in Rome, St. Peter; and Spain, St. James.) We went inside the church building, but they were having mass as it was a Sunday morning, In a part of the building, you can go down to a small chapel and see the tomb of St. Thomas. Then there was a little museum full of religious artifacts from the area; unlike a Western museum, most of them weren’t marked – interesting old stones with both Latin and Tamil writing on them, crosses, statues, but not much in the way of informative plaques. And most of the stuff wasn’t behind glass, we could just reach out and touch it all.

Crocodile Park

Next, we went to the Crocodile Park. It was like a small zoo with hundreds of crocodiles, of all types, from different places. And a few snakes and turtles. My favorite part was actually in the snake house: there was one cage labeled Indian Cobra, but the back door was open and there was no snake inside. I kept wondering where it was! Outside the Crocodile Park, like at all the tourist places, there were people – including children – selling things. Several dirty looking little girls peddling necklaces and anklets accosted us, begging us to buy. We did, and the little anklets really were cute. I never know exactly how to cope with the fact that the working children aren’t in school, don’t have good lives. It’s something I file away to cry and pray over when I’m by myself. Child labor is illegal in India, and despite the billboard campaign we saw against child labor, it’s still everywhere.

After the Crocodile Park, we headed on down the coast south, the areas on our east with lots of new development. It’s one of the areas that was devastated by the big tsunami. Like on our first trip four years ago, we visited Mahabalipuram and the shore temple, which were carved in the 600s and 700s. They are UNESCO sites, and fabulous. One is a monolith, carved from a single stone; the other is an amazing temple right on the coast.

At Mahalabalipuram, from back left:Tom, Toni, Mary, Isaac, Esther, Mike, Ray, Ashok, Ellen. From front left: Chy Anne, Amanda, Jony, Ellen

Finally, we went to St. Thomas’ Mount, where the actual doubting Thomas from the Bible was martyred. Did you know he brought the gospel to India way back then? I was kind of disappointed with both of the Saint Thomas sites we went to, because they have changed so much in the past four years – now both the Basilica and the Mount seem very touristy compared to the first time I saw them. Still, I would recommend going if you’re in Chennai and have never done it before. Thomas is one of my favorite stories from the Bible, and it was meaningful to visit the place where he lived and worked before his death. I was thinking about martyrs, but we weren’t quite ready to go yet, so I went over to read the inscription on a newer looking statue, just killing time. I was amazed to read that it had been erected in honor of a Mr. Jacobs, who was martyred on that spot…in 2006. It happened just a month before I first visited the site, and I had no idea until now. He was killed by a fanatic in a dispute about Christian ownership of the site.

Chy Anne at Shore Temple

Ellen exploring the Shore Temple

Jony and Naga Prasad at Mahabalipuram

After our sightseeing was over, we went back to the hotel to clean up and wait, taking turns using the one still-rented hotel room while the others dozed in the dark, hot, mosquito-infested lobby. And then it was finally 1am, and we loaded up and went to the airport in Chennai. At 4am our plane left for London Heathrow. Mike left us in London to catch his flight back to Boston, and the rest of us went on to DFW. The flights were easy, and most of us slept. I think we were sleeping off the whole two weeks, not just the busy day of touring Chennai. Our friend and SH supporter, Kurt, met us at the airport and got us all safely back to Abilene, so I’m finishing this story up from the comfort of my own living room.

I’m sure over the next days we will all remember things, look at photos, consider what all happened in India. It’s something that changes you, makes you see so many things in a different light. I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to travel with such a wonderful group of people, and prepared to continue doing what needs to be done for Sanctuary Home. Thanks for your prayers, and thanks for reading.

-Amanda

Thank You! (Prasanna)

On Friday night, we were honored to have a last meeting with the children, Isaac and his family, and the SH staff. We were all lined up in chairs at the front, as usual. One by one, Isaac called us up to the chair of honor, said a few words about us to the kids, and then we were honored – as per Indian tradition – by being wrapped in a beautiful shawl (we each received one of these gifts), garlanded by several people (including the SH kids), applauded, photographed, and having marigold petals showered over us. Then we stood and talked to the children, and Isaac translated. We told them encouraging things, and how much their sponsors cared about them, and asked them to study well in school and grow in their faith. At the end, we had a sort of reception line where everyone came by and shook our hands, in some cases hugged us, and said a formal goodbye. There were many smiles and many tears, both from the IATW team and from the SH children.

Ray is garlanded by little Ravi Teja

I am garlanded by Jony and Esther

Bird Sanctuary near Tenali

Friday was our last day in Tenali, so we tried to fit in everything we hadn’t done yet. We had the opportunity to visit a bird sanctuary about 45 minutes away from Tenali, which Isaac suggested because Tom and Toni are avid bird watchers. Any of us could have stayed behind at the house to get extra rest, but the bird sanctuary sounded so interesting that we all decided to go. And it was amazing! Storks, pelicans, and tons of other birds (you’ll have to ask Toni) were all crowded together in this huge nesting area that consisted of some small islands and a sort of lake. There was a viewing platform and a path, and we all took turns looking through Tom and Toni’s binoculars. Apparently many of the bird species found there in the winter have come from Siberia to nest. We saw baby pelicans, all fuzzy, cormorants, darters, kingfishers, and plenty of others.

On the way back from the bird sanctuary, we pulled over at my request to photograph an old Hindu temple and this huge colorful cart thing in a concrete and stone garage.

Cart for a Hindu god statue, used on festival days

I was told it is used for festival days: whichever of their gods they worship at that temple, a statue of that god is placed on the cart and taken through town for the festival. We had to hop out and take the photos quickly, before too many village people realized that foreigners were to be seen and made it difficult for us to leave.

After we got back to Isaac’s house, we had breakfast and then headed back out for a church dedication. A couple of the guys on the team shared some encouraging words and we were all garlanded. Ray cut the ribbon and prayed for the church and their new little building. Afterward, they served us lunch, which we ate Indian-style: right hand only, no utensils.

Church dedication ribbon cutting

Later that afternoon, Ellen took several of us out for a few final errands. We visited an Indian beauty shop (ask Chy Anne about that…), a CD shop to buy some of the music we had been enjoying in the car, and some interesting little shops full of things that are mundane to Indians but pretty cool to us, just because they’re different. I got some strange looks when I said I wanted to buy a broom to take back with me, and when Isaac kept trying to say I should buy a higher quality broom, I had to explain that I didn’t intend to use it; I just want to display it in my house – it’s short and brown and made of some long grass or something. I also bought an Indian lunchbox, which is a metal cylinder and several compartments – like no lunch boxes I’ve ever seen in the US. And why did I want to buy TWO of them, a small and a large? And why didn’t I want my name engraved on them like normal? Again, the explanation that I only bought them because they are interesting and not because I plan to use them.

The SH kids lined up to use Toni's binoculars, and she taught them birdwatching

Some of the things we enjoy or ask to do must seem very odd to our hosts. I try to imagine what the equivalent would be: my buying a broom and lunchbox as souvenirs might be the like them coming to our country and buying a toilet bowl brush and a piece of tupperware for a souvenir. Or my love of samosas might be like them coming to the US and saying their favorite thing to eat is a corndog. And maybe when we want the vehicle to stop so we can photograph women washing clothes in a canal, it’s like driving them around Abilene to take pictures of laundromats.



Now things start to get a little fuzzy…I am not sure what order everything happened near the end of our trip. We were so busy that there wasn’t any downtime that I didn’t feel too exhausted to write about the day. All of the last events and experiences kind of blur together into one big India adventure. I’ll do my best.

Thursday, we went shopping in Vijayawada. We had been several times already to the bigger city about 45 minutes away, so it was nothing new to make the drive again. But that didn’t stop several of us from getting carsick. You know those amusement rides where you sit in a miniature movie theater that rock back and forth and show a video that makes you feel like you’re zipping in and out of traffic? That’s like the real deal of driving in India. Imagine a crowded street, except it’s more like a paved but unmarked country road. Then imagine that you’re sharing the road with huge trucks, SUVs, compact cars, three-wheeled autorickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, cows, people herding a few water buffalo, motorcycles, and plenty of pedestrian traffic. There are no lanes, but you think people are generally trying to drive on the left. Occasionally. The motorcycles and autorickshaws are weaving in and out of the bigger or slower traffic, and everyone is honking at once – but in a friendly way. Navigating this traffic as a passenger on the back of a motorcycle is thrilling. Riding in the back of an autorickshaw (my personal favorite) feels like a roller coaster on the ground. Riding in comfort in an air conditioned SUV can be really nice, but it’s easy to get carsick. And walking is just plain madness. When we walked down a street, or more alarming, crossed a street, I could never look at the traffic. I just stuck close to whichever of our Indian friends (expert street crossers) was leading us to the other side.

So anyway, Vijayawada. Let me just say that when we left Le Pakshi, a government owned co-op for a variety of Indian artisans, Ray said they would probably erect a statue in my honor. I was complimented several times on my shopping prowess, and was never sure whether I was truly a shopping expert or if I was being made fun of. At Le Pakshi, a place Isaac has taken us on each trip to India, we spent several hours looking at everything. Imagine finding a beautiful Indian-style shirt, looking for the price tag, converting it to dollars, and realizing that it costs $5. And yet, it’s a government owned co-op, where the artisans get a fair price. I can’t say too much more, because we are bringing back some gifts, and I would want to spoil anything for any of the team members.

Thursday night, we were back in Tenali, where we ate supper and spent some time with the kids. We met the sewing teacher, Pavani, who supervised the set up of the sewing machines so her best sewing students could pose for some pictures. It’s really a great thing that SH employs a sewing teacher: the girls who learn to sew will always, always have a skill they can use to earn some money, no matter what situation they find themselves in. Thank you to the two supporters who pay her salary each month!

One of the cool things about India is that if you want to buy something specific, you can often just call a salesperson to come to your house. On previous trips, we have enjoyed shopping on Mary and Isaac’s front porch, all crowded around a seller of lace, or pajamas, or scarves. This time, some of the team members wanted to buy silver anklets like the Indian girls and women always wear, so Mary called a silver seller, who showed up with his bundle of anklets, his calculator, and his scale (gold and silver here are sold based on weight). Fun! (But I didn’t purchase any this time, having several sets of anklets already from previous trips.)

Wednesday morning, we left for the beach. Our team and Isaac’s family were in two SUVs, and the SH children and staff members were in two full sized buses. The beach at Surya Lanka is on the Bay of Bengal. I love this beach because it is so exotic and is nothing like a tourist beach in the US. There are some cottages for rent and some pavilions, but mostly it’s sand and palm trees. There are also white cows on the beach and many fishermen out in boats, and people picking shrimp and crabs out of nets they’ve pulled to the shore. The Sanctuary Home kids had a great time playing and splashing in the water. Staff members and some team members had a long rope so an area was marked off for the kids not to go past, and the little kids were kept in the very shallow area. After being in the water for awhile, they came in and changed clothes, and then played games on the beach: sand castles, kabbadi, racing, catch. Kishore B. kept telling me “happy!”. We all had a wonderful time.

Reetu and Divya

Fishing boats at Surya Lanka Beach on the Bay of Bengal

SH child (Ajay?) running to the water

SH Children at the beach

Sunset over a rice field, AP, India

We finished up the child interviews on Tuesday afternoon as they came home from school. All of the photos were completed the day before, but the interviews took longer. We worked in two teams with our list of interview questions, translated by Ellen and Jony, and brought the children up in groups of three or four. We had some very interesting answers! Some of the questions were: What do you want to be when you grow up? What makes you happy/sad? What is your favorite food? Samson, a 10th class student who wants to become a math teacher, said that someday when he has a job, he wants to sponsor a child in need.

After the interviews (managed chaos, like most things here), we gathered our cast for the final night of VBS: Daniel in the Lions’ Den. Naga Prasad was an excellent Daniel, and Ramya was the angel. The lions were just about as ferocious as our mighty Philistine army from the first night – four of the smallest boys.

Being entertained by the four small lions

They are smaller than Edward, my own five year old son, but they are ages six, seven, and eight. Our lions were Jeevanbabu, Prasanna, Ravi Teja (whose nickname is Samuel), and Kishore. I had the privilege of sitting in the lions’ den with the little boys, and while the rest of the cast rehearsed, under the direction of Dr. Ellen, the lions sang songs for me and recited…something…and talked to me very earnestly in Telugu. I so wish I could understand them!

The VBS was another success. Ray and Tom made great satraps, and the kids loved it when they hoisted Daniel (Naga Prasad) into the den of ferocious lions. This is another video we will post when we get back to Abilene. (If you’re following this blog but don’t get the monthly SH e-newsletter, send us an email to be added to the list; the links to the trip videos will be in the newsletters. If you’re a new sponsor, we will automatically add you.)

Lions: Prasanna, Kishore, Jeevanbabu, and Ravi Teja

After the VBS, we had more performances by the children – very entertaining. And the older kids keep coming up to me, catching me in a quiet moment, to ask about their sponsors. They want to know how your kids are, if you are OK, and they always ask me to convey to you that the pray for you in their regular prayers and they are very grateful and happy here. I wish all of you could come and meet them. We feel extremely blessed to be the fortunate ones who communicate between the sponsors and the children. Thanks for sending us.

Now it is Wednesday morning, and we are all preparing to go to the beach. The children are making more noise than usual this morning, and I know they are very excited. Some of the new ones have never been in a vehicle or to see the ocean, so they are very happy, and those who have been before are excited to go again. Yesterday I had several little girls keep telling me, “Beach tomorrow!” I think the hardest parts of the trip are over, except perhaps when we have to say goodbye. We are all looking forward to a day of fun with the children. Although we won’t be able to really forget the HIV kids, the destitute widows, the hungry people in the slums, we will at least set those tragedies aside for a few hours and focus on the blessings of time with the children at the Bay of Bengal.

Children with HIV lined up to receive rice and clothing

I struggle with what to say about our event this morning.  Over one hundred children with HIV – or at least who are presumed to have HIV – came to the building to receive rice, clothing, money, and a meal. Isaac employs three female social workers to manage this part of the Sanctuary Home ministry. Back in February, the Empty Bowls event in Abilene raised enough money for us to give them food once a month for a whole year, and for the first time we have now seen these children in person. Some of them brought their mothers, who are also AIDS patients, and we gave them bags of rice that were left over.

Children with HIV

Isaac asked us each to speak for five minutes – something encouraging. Don’t act sad, he said.

At breakfast, we asked for some advice from Dr. Ellen, as she is the only one of us who has worked among people with HIV in a setting like this. She said that it helps to remind ourselves that God is in control, that He loves these children much more than we do, and that we don’t really know anyone else’s story but our own (referencing The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis).

So we went over, we spoke encouraging words, we shook hands and smiled and took photos. Many of the children looked perfectly healthy, but a few of them looked like they were wasting away. There was a special needs girl who reminded me of my brother. After the gifts and photos, we all went to a big tent where a meal was prepared for them, just like for the widows yesterday.

Muslim HIV+ mother with her children

Everyone got a big plate of rice, sambar, and curd. The team members were privileged to be servers of this meal. In fact, our hosts have accepted that we want to serve food in situations like this, even though it is considered lowering ourselves and at first they didn’t like it. But now it’s OK, and Isaac said everyone who comes is commenting on what well-behaved white people he has! I know what they mean, but sure did enjoy how it was worded. That’s how we want to be – sharing Jesus with our actions and not only our words. You should also know that this is true social work: today, the people who came were Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. All simply people in need.

I don’t know what else to say. It seems like we are dealing with it OK at the moment, but I think it’s just a matter of time before it hits us how tragic are the lives of these people. I’m glad we did our jobs today.

HIV+ child receiving a meal at SH