India Trip

Finally, I have time to say a few words about my mission trip to India (March 2011). When  I look at the picture below of the Taj Mahal I still can't believe I was there.

Daughter Shannon, my good friend Tina, and me.

The trip was exciting from the moment we stepped off the airplane.  Driving around New Delhi reminded me of the driving we encountered in the Philippine Islands.  It was crazy, but interesting at the same time. The driver of our van knew exactly what he was doing.  There were small cars, cabs, motorcycles, bicycles and lots of other interesting vehicles on the road, going every which way.  They made four lanes out of two and they did this quite well.  And of course there were cows everywhere, wandering around the streets going wherever they wanted to go.  

This trip was a Cross Cultural Opportunity (CCO) trip, which was sponsored by the Covenant Church, Headquartered out of Chicago.  The Covenant church as a whole is working with the "Break the Chains" initiative (human trafficking).  We were taken to areas where we witnessed the deplorable “booming business” of human trafficking.  We met women that had escaped this unthinkable way of existence and heard their stories.  Approximately 1.2 million children are caught up in human trafficking, an unbelievable travesty.

We also visited the rag pickers of Mumbai (Bombay).  The children and their families live in or near the dumps.  The children sift through the trash for anything of value that can be sold to help provide for their families. Due to security issues occurring while we were there we were quickly taken away from the dumps. Many of the children were very young and many had no shoes to wear. This was very hard for me to witness.

In the village of Chopada we visited a clan that was freed from indebtedness by one of our Covenant Churches.  They had been in bondage for three generations to a moneylender.  I belong to an organization called “Dress a Girl Around the World.” We make dresses out of pillowcases.  Volunteers have literally taken these dresses around the world.  We were able to take 200 dresses, and even shorts for the boys, to India. We gave them to the children of Chopada.  It was a joy to see their happy little faces.

Seeing if the dress fit

We visited a village where we had to be taken by an ox and wagon to get there. It was an interesting ride for sure and so was the village.  At the next village we visited several young women greeted us. They divided us up and took us to a room with very low lighting. The women then began to dress us in their traditional saree’s.  We could not understand each other yet we were all laughing and talking as they dressed us.  You will see more pictures of us in the saree’s in the video attached to this blog.  After we were taken outside, the older women handed each of us a rose.  Look for the mother holding a little boy in the video.  She was handing me a rose and her baby took it out of my hand. It brought a good laugh to everyone.

My daughter Shannon and me

On our last Sunday we attended the Hindustani Covenant Church in Pune.  We were asked to sing which was an honor for us. It was a very large church of about 1000 members. We decided to wear saree's for the service.  So, on Saturday we went shopping.  We drove the store owner crazy trying to find the perfect saree.  This was a very special time for all of us. Every where we went we were given beautiful flower leis, as you can see in the picture below.

It would take a novel for me to really tell everything we experienced in India.  Click on the following link to see a five minute movie about the trip: http://gallery.me.com/caeklund/100079
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Password: india

Sometimes pictures tell the best story.

This trip will forever be imprinted on my mind.  We saw poverty beyond one’s comprehension, yet we saw a people that are full of life and joy and very proud of their country.