Not "Where Next" but "Where Now"?

join the fan club...

2009-11-19T13:52:00.000Z

I've just created a fan page on Facebook for breathe. It's really basic at the moment - minimal info with a few photos.

The idea is that eventually it'll become part of a resource for teenagers who have experienced breathe at their school or college, somewhere they can go to continue to think through the questions and issues raised.

It's early days, but what I really need at the moment is 100 fans so that I can register a simple Facebook url for the page. That's where you come in. Could you donate a few mouse-clicks and become one of the first 100 fans?

You'll find the page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/breathe/180193384129?v=wall
(catchy eh?)

don't buy me a birthday present...

2009-11-01T00:23:00.000Z

...buy a Christmas present for these children instead.

Here's why (and if you can't be bothered to read it all, details of how to give are at the end of the post)

These kids live in the slum in Chennai, where I visited in January. The people who live in the slum are Dalits, lovely people who, because of the Hindu caste system, are considered to be at the "bottom of the pile." They have very little, struggle to find good jobs and are living in 2mx2m huts with families of up to 10 people along the banks of a river which acts as the city's main sewer. Every year, monsoon season causes the river to flood, filling the houses with filthy water and waste. Alcoholism is extremely common, and it's not difficult to understand why. Life is hard.

Grassroots is working with SKM - the church in the community, who are supporting the people there in many ways, including an after-school club which is attended by 100+ children every day, for homework support, teaching, games and sometimes food.

Because the caste system is a Hindu construct, families who convert to Christianity are seen by the government as not being Dalits any more. This means that they lose their government funded rice subsidies. Unfortunately, other systems do not see things this way and it doesn't necessarily become any easier to find work or move out of the slum. The families are left with no rice subsidy but no extra income.

In the Indian culture, important festivals are celebrated by everyone wearing bright new clothes. Children's clothing in India is extremely expensive, costing approximately 3 times the average salary of a person living in the slum. Having special new clothes really is a treat for these children. Financially, buying festival clothing for the children of Christian families is often impossible, which in turn means that the rest of the community are led to believe that Christmas isn't so important, because if it was, the children would be wearing celebration clothes.

Every year, SKM buys a Christmas present for each of the 100 children in the after school club. The children love their new outfits and take extra care of them, whilst also grabbing hold of any opportunity to wear them. It's part of the community enjoying celebrating Christmas together, giving Christians an opportunity to demonstrate their faith, and inviting others to come and find out.

Last year we raised over £300 for HIV testing in Tanzania for my birthday. It was great fun, and actually quite liberating not getting any presents (not that I'm not grateful for anything you might have given me in the past, obviously!) so I'm going to do it again. Who knows, maybe it'll become an annual thing. This year, the toddler group at our church have raised £400 for the children in India. Are we going to be beaten by a bunch of 2 year olds...?

To give you some idea, it costs around £10 for an outfit for one child. Any money left over will be used to support other ministries in the slum.

So, if you want to join me in celebrating my birthday, here's how. Click on this link. It'll take you to a page on the Grassroots website where you can either donate by credit card or find information on how to send money by post. Make sure you include a note with my name so that they know where to put it.

Donate to Grassroots

orison feedback

2009-10-26T11:24:00.000Z

The kit is all back in its boxes, the team are tired but happy (well, I am - and I hope the rest are too!) and the pupils have left school in the distant past and are concentrating on half term.

We spent last week running an Orison prayer space at Salesian High School in Chertsey. Here are just some of the comments and stories from the week.

Thanks miss, it's really helped me. I was struggling with my faith but you've shown me that I don't have to be in a church to pray

When asked what had made her smile so much, a girl said "I've just been forgiven. By God. And I forgave someone else too.

One of our newer resources invited pupils to write words which others use to describe them in a sand tray. They could then choose not to believe those words by wiping them away with their hand and writing more positive alternatives instead. Conversations over this resource included -
- an 11 year old girl who said people called her ugly. She was genuinely one of the most beautiful girls in her class. Even when encouraged by the team member to choose "beautiful" as her alternative word, she could only bring herself to accept that other people might think she was OK
- a 12 year old boy wiping away tears as he tried to think of alternatives to the word he originally wrote - "misunderstood"
- a girl who wrote "unloved" in the sand turning to the next resource in the zone and writing her name on a large hand to represent being known and loved by God

The bubble tube was covered daily with heartfelt and deep prayers from students worried about exams, getting into trouble, making right decisions, ill parents, family struggles, friends in need...

Positive feedback from parents at an (unrelated) open evening the school had organised to hear parents' views on various aspects of the school. The prayer space was discussed and praised in the "Spirituality of the School" section with parents of pupils who hadn't yet visited demanding to know why their children hadn't been!

Paper on the floor filled daily with all manner of questions for God.
"Are you real?"
"Why does religion cause so much hate and argument?"
"Do you love me?"
"When will my parents stop arguing?"
"Why do people we love have to die?"
"Why is there suffering?"

"People in this world need to stop worrying about money and realise that we are all family. Our family needs help"
Prayer written for slum children in Chennai in response to information and images displayed about their situation.

This is just a small sample. There'd be no way to communicate all of what happened in the prayer room in one blog. Even those of us who were there have only the smallest of idea of what was actually going on. We presented a resource to around 800 children in 25 classes over 5 days, managing deep conversations with a few of them, general explanation and facilitation for many of them, and minimal crowd control for the few who still struggled to take it seriously. God is faithful, loving and merciful and met in ways that only He can know with so many of the pupils who experienced the space.

catching up

2009-10-03T22:46:00.001+01:00

I'm well aware that I haven't blogged for months. And that it's almost certainly true that nobody reads this so that doesn't matter much anyway. In fact, there's been loads I could have blogged about in that time. I've written so many posts (or part-posts) and then deleted them. Somehow they just didn't feel right. Hence the silence.

I should blog that I left my job at St James Clerkenwell and now work 4 days a week running breathe (a spirituality resource for 16-19 year olds) and 1 day a week on Orison (creative prayer spaces in schools) and that it's great.

I should blog that Orison spent 3 weeks at Soul Survivor hosting a prayer space in the Toolshed and having conversations with hundreds of people just bursting with potential for where prayer spaces could happen across the UK (and beyond) in the next year or so.

I should blog that we've moved house twice since May. And that our new flat is lovely, albeit full of boxes of stuff all piled in the wrong places at the moment. Or that my new job (the breathe one) involves working in an office back at LCET which is a fab schoolswork organisation in Luton where I did my year out, and that that means I work with an amazing team of awesome people who never cease to amaze, inspire and encourage me.

I should blog about how leaving St James Clerkenwell was really quite hard, but all part of God's plan for me and for them so the right thing to do (and how that was confirmed by God speaking to me through some amazing people and, among other things, a Mike & the Mechanics song!).

I even missed blogging our 7th wedding anniversary, and another chance to blog about how I'm married to the most fantastic husband ever. I think we've laughed together more this year than ever before. And whilst we're on the subject of husband, I could have blogged that he had his dreads cut off and has returned to his short hair which was a surprise... but a good one!

I could blog about 2 weekends away with some lovely lovely friends. Or numerous times spent with our super-cute goddaughter and her parents.

I could blog about how we've rejoined a church we used to be part of a few years ago and how lovely it is to be back in the family again. And also about how we're exploring other ways of being church and what all that means.

See? So much I could have blogged about. Maybe it would have been boring? Maybe it's good that I didn't? I don't know. It's certainly been an unbelievably amazing few months round here. I just couldn't find the words to blog it. Sorry.

orison online

2009-07-24T09:44:00.002+01:00

I've blogged a bit about Orison already but the exciting news this week is that the website and video are now online.

You can watch the video (and show it to your teacher, headteacher, youth worker, church leader, gran etc) here:

Orison from Stuart Boreham on Vimeo.

and then head on over to the website at:
www.orisonschools.org.uk
to find out more about what we do, why we do it and how you could do it in your school, college, church, back garden etc...

freedom

2009-06-19T10:24:00.002+01:00

Aung San Suu Kyi:
- democratically elected leader of Burma
- held under house arrest for over 13 years by the military dictatorship, for campaigning for human rights and democracy in her country
- currently on trial charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest, after an American man swam across the lake and refused to leave. She is being held in Insein prison, which is well known for it's abuse of prisoners, bad conditions and use of torture

Aung San Suu Kyi is 64 today. In her words: "Please use your liberty to promote ours"

The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations.
Aung San Suu Kyi

here's why...

2009-05-30T14:49:00.004+01:00

Just as young people need relationships, they need prayer. Young people are ripe for prayer because the core human struggles are so apparent in adolescence. Teenagers stand at the threshold of adult desires, with hearts that are soft and awake. Questions of identity and feelings of longing and suffering are breaking open in young people for the first time. They cry more often. They fall in love easily. They crave and seek friendships. They're inclined towards the ecstatic. We teach young people to pray so they'll know they're not alone; so they might find the source and endpoint of their restless desires; so they might find comfort and healing within an increasingly heartless and destructive world. To invite youth into prayer is to invite them to discover God within the heart of human experience.

Mark Yaconelli
Helping Teenagers to Pray

orison

2009-05-26T13:04:00.004+01:00

Last week I was working at Jubilee International High School in Addlestone, Surrey, running an Orison Prayer Space in their theatre.

Orison is a creative, interactive experience during which pupils are invited to stop and think about various issues, using activities, video material and installations to inspire and encourage them to pray.

This week we ran 4 zones:

Image Zone
Mirror cubicles in this zone gave pupils a chance to stop and look at themselves, thinking about what they do and don't like about themselves. The mirrors were surrounded by positive quotes about image for pupils to read to themselves.

Using Isaiah 49:16 "see I have written your names on the palm of my hands" there were two large images of hands on which pupils could write their names, giving them a sense of belonging and a reminder that they are known personally by God.

A table nearby was covered in tiny paper people. Pupils used these to represent where they fitted within their crowd of friends or class at school, and then to think about how they would like it to look and how they might pray and act to bring about these changes.

A looping video played constantly in this zone, showing lots of human faces, interspersed with quotes about seeing God's face. Pupils were asked to consider how they judged people on first look.

World Zone
This area was full of activities and information to encourage pupils to pray for the world around them, linking in with the citizenship curriculum and also a reminder that prayer goes beyond the personal and emotional.

A large map of the school catchment area soon became covered in prayer flags as pupils found their home, wrote a prayer and stuck a flag there. Around this, pupils used post-it notes to attach prayers to newspaper articles, world maps and photographs of children from child sponsorship programmes in Kenya, Tanzania and India.

Google Earth was also available in this zone, on a touch-screen computer. Pupils were able to search for any area of the world and look at satellite images as they prayed for it. One of my favourite moments in this zone was seeing 3 year 5 boys kneeling in front of the table, praying for safety at Thorpe Park as they looked at satellite images of it!

Sorry Zone
This zone used 2 activities to tackle the issues of forgiving and being forgiven.

Using magnadoodle children's toys, pupils wrote, drew or represented things that they were sorry for before wiping them away as they said sorry - an action symbolic of the way in which God forgives our sins when we say sorry to him.

Tables in this zone had large glass vases of water on them. Pupils sat at the table and held a vitamin tablet in their hand as they thought about situations in which people had hurt or upset them. They then dropped the tablet into the water and as they watched it fizz, thought about the feelings and emotions related to these situations and imagined them fizzing away too as they forgave.

Bubble Zone
The bubble zone (pictured above) was a relaxed area, with cushions and bean bags scattered around a papered floor. The centrepiece of the area was a tall bubble tube. Pupils were invited to sit and relax here, watching the bubbles rise as a symbol of our prayers going 'up' to God.

Pupils wrote prayers directly onto the floor or on post-it notes which were stuck onto the bubble tube.

View this article in full on the Grassroots website

oldest fish finger ever?

2009-05-01T00:51:00.001+01:00

01052009422
Originally uploaded by rachwarwick

This is Rotty - the fishy fish finger from frinton.

He was a prop at FAB Summer Camp 1995 - preserved for 14 years by a large amount of varnish. He doesn't smell, except of varnish and, as you can see, his high quality cape, safety goggles and crash helmet have protected him well.

blog silence?

2009-03-28T11:56:00.003Z

... can only mean I'm making noise elsewhere!

The lack of postings here is directly related to the undeniable fact that I've been sucked into the phenomenon that is Twitter.

It's been a while but the reason I'm posting this here today is that, as well as personal banal twitterings, we've been using Twitter as a communication vehicle for the pray for London network.

And this week, as I'm sure you've noticed, is a BIG week for London, with the G20 summit taking place right here on our doorstep. Huge issues are being discussed - the current economic situation, climate change... mind blowingly massive decisions need to be made, on a scale that makes me glad I'm not one of the 20. BUT... we need to remember that those at the G20 summit are there as representatives of all of us and, as such, we have a responsibility to stand with them in prayer, asking God to give them wisdom, perspective and courage as they make decisions with global impact.

Micah Challenge are running a 7-day prayer guide for this week, with short simple things to think about and pray as the summit takes place. It's well worth a read - why not download it and stick it in your toilet for daily reading?

If that's not your way, we'll be tweeting the prayer guide through @PrayForLondon on Twitter so sign up, follow us and get praying!

chennai - all in one place and in order

2009-02-18T12:37:00.002Z

Chennai day 1
Chennai day 2
Chennai day 3
Chennai day 4
Chennai day 5
Chennai day 6
Chennai day 7
Chennai day 8

Chennai photographs

Chenna slideshow - photos with information about the situation

chennai 09 - stuart's slideshow

2009-02-06T11:05:00.000Z

The Dalit People of Chennai from Stuart Boreham on Vimeo.

chennai 09 - the photographs

2009-02-03T22:10:00.002Z

Click on the picture to see all the photos (well, those uploaded so far...) from the trip

chennai 09 - the homecoming

2009-02-03T12:59:00.002Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog.

Well, the musician has got out his bugle once more and the last post is being played again.

We got to the airport on good time and bacuase of Phils magnificent good looks and fabulous Amercian Airways Premium Flyer card we were all upgraded to business class - yippee! Thats worth £22K just in case you are wondering.

So, while we thought that our Father was just blessing us, that fact was that when Buffy started being repeatedly sick during the flight and when the plane was diverted to first Copenhagen, then Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Birmingham and finally touching down at the East Midland Airport Adventure Land of Deep Joy with long looong waits, we realised that he had gone ahead of us to prepare the way. He knew we needed the sleep and the space.

Personally, i did not need the spiced Tiger Prawns with boiled potatoes that are still stinging me as I sit here, but the rest was fabulous.

So, to cut a long story short here we are in a rather lovely hotel in Hinckley (a town of 43,246 in the county of Leicestershire administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council) hoping that the snow stays away tonight and BA can persuade some gallant coach drivers to get us down to Heathrow before lunch tomorrow - failing that sometime before Chjristmas might be nice

Buffy is better, God is goods and we are learning a great deal from our discussions and I am learning that the free wireless is pants.

Thank you all so much for you concern. A couple of families involved in this trip have been going through very difficult times back in Blighty this week but today it all seems to have lifted. Now, if only the weather would do the same so we can get home and be re-united.

Stuart

chennai 09 - day 7

2009-02-03T12:54:00.001Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog,

Probably the last blog from this trip, typed in the hotel whilst waiting for food. In 2 hours we are off to the airport with, as always on these kind of trips, mixed emotions.

today was Sunday - church day. We gently excused ourselves from the first service of the day, commencing as it does at 5am. (Where is our committment I wonder!?)

Arriving at 9am to avoid a red card for lateness we were soon joined by 250 or so passionate beleivers. Their joy and enthusiasm for worship was matched by its prodigious volume. Deborah is a great worship leader and seems to know all 6 volumes of the Tamil Songs of Praise entirely by heart - no mean acheievement. I spent one entire song trying to work out how to write 'Praise the Lord' in Tamil by counting the words to the over head projector slides and was excited to be told I had clearly written 'ord'. Zut alors.

the congregation consisted of 220 women and maybe 20 men, a perfect illustration of what for some of us represents the key issue of this ministry. How to address the imbalance is far from simple but Hugo, Catherine and Stuart all spoke again on breaking chains, coming to find the true God of Israel in the slum and the long walk of faith towards freedom.

Everyone on the team was involved in praying for the people afterwards, hungry for as they were for blessing.

After lunch, we did a 1.5 hour kids church Brity style to the apparent delight of 100kids. The seeions varied from pretty spot on concentrsation and participation to near riot. The greatest chaos errupted as we gave out pencils to a feeding frenzy (closely followed by a sharpening frenzy) but distributing sweets was carried out in relativly somber quiet. Which is of course the exact opposite of what would happen in the UK.

We talked to them about prayer. Keep talking to God, prayer is water to yuor souls, Jeremiah 3v33 and thre five fingered prayer chart. We pray that young lives will be strengthened and changed as a result.

Finaly, more church as Sam preached up a storm at the evenijng service talking about God's good words over us. Stuart managed to record one worship song that went on for 12 minutes 17seconds - Deep Purple better watch out.

And so.... please remember this wornderful mission in your prayers and pockets. Kevin and deborah have given up everything to serve these deprived people. They have spent their inheritence buying the church building, they have had Typhoid as has their daughter, thery get hardly any sleep as people come to them with needs at all times of the night and are never turned away - and they are loved in the community because of it and Jesus is seen there.

They are the only protestant church in, as far as we can ascertain, any of the 10 slums in Chennai.

Stuart

Day 7 photos

chennai 09 - day 6

2009-01-31T18:02:00.002Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog

Probably a shorter update today as is late and tomorrow is a full on day of church (Hugo preaching), kids club (everyone teaching) and church again (Sam preaching) followed by checking out of the hotel at midnight, airport at 2am and onto the plane home at 4am ( and at the same time)

Sam and Stuart out shooting early on, hacking around the city with David our host in a 3 wheeler clearly meant for 2. Many adventures including The Great Music Shop Banghra Gamble and the "You Can't Use a Camera That Big Here Without a Liscence, Squire" Jobsworth Swarm whilst visitng the supposed burial place of St Thomas the Doubting who, for the un-educated amongst you (and those like me whose church history is a bit ropey and had to ask Sam) brought Christianity to the tamils in the 1st century.

On the way back we passed a Don Bosco catholic school like one the ones Stuart has connections with in the UK and Kenya and managed to blag our way in, had 20 minutes with the principal and recieved a gold leaf invitation to their 50th anniversary dinner and gig later that night in the presence of the American ambassador. More on that story later...

Meanwhile the ladies had minced off to the local sari and shirt emporium where they delighted in buying Deborah, apparently the worlds most decisive shopper, a new sari and something similar for themselves. So look out for tomorrows photos...

Back to hotel and then to Kevin's church when Hugo and Phil joined us back from Hydrabad I am guessing they may tell their own story but it is both wonderful and complex and remarkable they are still in one piece in some ways. I am assured that next time they will take the train. And thank God for road traffic angels.

Stuart and Rachel went with Kevin in the the darker slums to film some of the residents talking about their lives. Filmed a 18 month semi clothed baby squatting alone by the side of the poo bridge next to a huge mess of adult waste. Unspeakable.

After extensive planning for tomorrow's church contributions Sam and Stuart had a slightly more comfortable ride back to the Don Bosco school to be greeted by 4000 boys and presumably 8000 parents pretty much talking animatedly whilst a bunch of robed dignitries sat enthroned on a distant huge stage talking about things into a monster PA. So chaotic but so Indian. Its a great school with the best results in the state and, to give them their due, the kids had been sitting there for 3 hours when we arrived.

Dinner for all afterwards with Kevin and Deborah at the hotel and a surfit of curries powerful enough to seriously impair an asian Henry VIII. (Apologies if that is one obscure reference too many...)

Pleaase pray that tomorrow the things we have seen and felt here and feel passionate about will be communicated to the people in God's way and that we might set some spiritual and physical balls rolling on the way to bringing more Kingdom rule to the Dalits

Stuart

day 6 photos

chennai 09 - day 5

2009-01-31T17:58:00.001Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog.

Today we literally broke some chains. (And for once that is, literally, a correct use of the word literally)

Sam left early to go and visit the magisterial Bishop of Madras in his palatial cathedral residence.

For the rest of us the morning was spent in the hotel typing up the details of the hundred or so children interviewed yesterday and sorting out the pictures to the correct spec.

At midday we went to the church to join the Friday prayer and fasting meeting. Initially 6 and eventually 60 people, mostly women turned up at Kevins church to pray with an extraordinary passion and to testify about previous answers.

Squatting cross legged on the concrete floor individuals would pray at 100mph for 8 minutes at a time until an amen was heard - just about the only word we understood in the whole session other than 'stodrum' which means 'praisethelord' - then Kevin would start a song, accompanied by talented ladys on the bongos and tamboruine.

After an hour or so or enthusiastic prayer and, in my case, 20 shifts of position and numb buttocks, it was our turn. Catherine spoke about how when Paul adn Silas prayed in prison everyoe's chains, not just their own, were broken. Queue Rachel with the 30foot long paper chain we had all (but mostly Buffy) helped to tape toghther. As the women put their hands onto the long chain everyone cried to God for their own presonal nrelease fron bondages that we can only imagine and as at nod from Kevin the symbol ws duly torn apart and finely shredded by the 20 or so kids who were also there.

15 minutes of indivdual blessing and prayers followed at which Sam arrived back and announced that the Bishop had taken him off ot a wedding and despite Sam being the only un-robed official present (or should that be non-robed? Certainly not de-frocked, mind...) got him to bless and preach to the 5 couples being wed. In 20 years time as children are looking at their parents wedding pictures they will ask with awed voice 'umma, who is that white man in the stipped shirt and combat trousers standing next to those men in dresses?'. Church, eh?

In the afternoon we finished off interviewing the remaining 10 children, filmed some of them with the team, interrogated the combat trousered one on camera and had some special time with Kevin and Deborah.

The more we hear about life as a Dalit the more shocking and ridiculous the whole situation is to western ears. It seems almost impossible to beleiev that such predjudice can exist in a Nation that possits itself as a democracy.

Stuart

day 5 photos

Suryapet Day 2 - Friday

Hugo remarked that our day started with "The Full Indian" (as opposed to the Full English) breakfast - wonderful food, but with that tinge of "I really shouldn't have eaten that much!" We met with Samson & Grace and discussed some key questions; during this we proposed an "orphan program" vs. the current "orphanage" -- it seems to us that this could be scaleable over time into a program that could support 1000's of children (compared to the current 100), and a suitable transition plan could be developed based on fostering. Please pray for Samson and Grace as they consider this, and it's impact -- it will be a very big change, a "paradigm shift", and one where they will definitely move between inspiration and fear (many times).

The afternoon was a visit to a 2nd village church and the dedication of a new building. It was a powerful time of expressing that the people are the living church, and we coined a new phrase: "the pastorhood of all believers". Please pray for this new church of 50+ members... that they could step into serving their community as a much more powerful voice that simply trying to gather everyone on a Sunday.

As is cutomary on a Friday evening, we went for a curry... but I bet it won't taste as good again for a long time, and the atmosphere sitting outside on a warm evening was electric (snow this weekend in the UK eh?)

So, to Saturday... up at 4am; maybe being drowsy was necessary for the "spicy road", renamed "vindaloo"... WOW -- saw more close shaves in one drive than I want to again, and two *horrible* accidents.

So the team are back together again in Chennai, planning for 3 services tomorrow in the Dalit church with Kevin and Deborah. Pray for discernment and inspiration to bring the right word that can be used by the Spirit in a powerful way, one that's simple enough to be captured across a different culture (and through Kevin's translation).

Phil

chennai 09 - day 4

2009-01-31T17:53:00.002Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog

Greetings from Suryapet. On dial-up - remember that? Visited an interesting foundation in Hyderabad; Hugo loved the MBA speak - the 6 P's and 5 R's! Drive to Suryapet was spicey, and we have guards at our hotel from the local police. Today we have spent with Samson. Visited his project, which was wonderful. Lots of fantatsic smiling faces and opportunities to tell them "Jesus loves you". We also visited the "field of dreams", and travelled to a village church where God showed up big time, and several people were prayed for -- please pray for one lady in particular who seemed to experience deliverance, and made so much noise she grabed a large teenage group on bikes... enter a fantastic youth event, sharing about how Jesus can deliver us... BRILLIANT!

Please pray tomorrow as we meet as a team and propose some new ideas... we need to discern where God's next step is.

Hugo

Our turn. Back in the hotel after a long drive out to the dalit villages 70km or so down the coast. A bit of tourism on the way at a big rocky lump called 'krishna's butterball' but more resembling one of king kongs droppings.

We arrived at the village to see a large croud of 50 or so people by the side of the road on the plot next to the church. Seemingly just for us, the local witch doctor spirt dude had turned up and was about to slaughter a goat and summon spritis and demons and goodness knows what else. Kevin was not peturbed as he said the presecne of praying christians means their side show would not work. The atmospehere was dark and unplesasant, detectable, even by someone like me not much given to feelings, as lump in the throat, a bad taste in the chest.

We sat in the small church and prayed with the wife of the pastor and her young child. On the 27th of December, one month before, her fit healthy husband of 38 years of age had dropped dead, apparently from a heart attack. The un-welcome presence of the christian church in the mostly hindu village and the beating of the spiritists drums were a reminder that perhaps physical symptoms can have spiritual causes. It was very sobering.

Soon the leaf clad wild man and his accomplice stomped off minus goat and we begun to visit the local homes, praying with the people. The houses were small, mostly of wood and straw with tiny low doors that allowed entry only to toddlers or bent triple adults.

The atmosphere lifted as the 40 or so children of the vilage came home fofrom school and joined our caravan, shouting and laughing behind us wherever we went. It was like a march for Jesus lead by giants. We also managed a woirld record in the 'how many children can you fit into a very small hut' competition. (27 if you are interested, plus 8 adults and a baby.)

We prayed for health and support. the people work long hours in the fields planting rice or tending cattle. They get up at 4am, go to the field at first light, come home when it is dark and go to sleep on the mud floors.

At least 2 families who had converted from Hinduism to Christianity and were leaders in the church had receieved remarkable provision in their work which had enabled them to build much better brick houses, still little more than tenements by our standards but remarkable in such a village.

We drank the hot sweet tea they call chai with milk that I had filmed coming out of the cow 5 minutes before. Sam and Stuart, much to the other's slight disappointment , have discovered they are both closet Twitchers and every so often there would be a shout of 'look at that!' and 'what on earth is that bird?'. Birds became a theme as we saw the village ducks being herded back to the huts for the night.

The stuggles of the Dalit in a society that rejects them and tries to simply ignore their existance were highlighted again as was the shadow of alcohol destroying the heads of the houshold.

Tomorrow, pleaae pray for Sam as he goes to see the Bishop of Madras ( a very important man ) to look at their Dalit education program , for Hugo and Phil as they travel the spicey road once more and for the rest as we attend the church prayer meeting, interview the rest of the children and return to the slums to do a bit more filming.

Stuart

Day 3 photos

chennai 09 - day 3

2009-01-31T17:52:00.001Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India Blog

Hi all,

Sitting in the hotel after a loooong but fulfilling day working with Kevin in and around the church in the slum.

This morning Hugo and Phil left for meetings in Hydrabad that they will no doubt update the blog on later. Kevin, rachel and Stuart went out early-ish to film in the slum area called 'Riverside'. Its on the inside of a bend in the river and consequently surrounded by sewage on 3 sides. Several thousand people live in that area and the slum additionally extends 1000m along the river in each direction. Kevin spoke to rachel about life in the slums and some of the issues and he was filmed doing so.

Later the teams joined together again at the church and accompanied Kevin for a trip over the river (crossing very much in the centre of the famous 'poo bridge' for a prayer walk around the snake, demon and alcohol infused slum on the other bank. Many issues were prayed for with some evidence of spiritual activity as a result.

The whole team were much alarmed by the amount of alcohol related issues we uncovered. So mnay of the wives receiev regular, apparently daily beatings from their husbands who come home late from working in the fish market having spent their free time and most of the families income on spirits from either the government owned off-licences or the gansgter managed illegal stills in the slums.

Of all the peoiple we prayed for we met only 3 sober husbands. It seemed the slums would be such a different place if the men were fulfilling their role as Dads and spouses but lack of hope, poor ediucation and strong peer pressure seems to often to result in desperate addcitons. The life expectancy of men is much less than that of the women due to the fact so many of them drink virtually from late teenages until... well, death.

We all felt moved and disturbed by this and a bit helpless so will probably be hearing more about how Kevin feels on the issue.

After lunch (this time on plates) we spent the next 4 hours interviewing, weighing, measuring, eyetesting, photographing and praying for the 100 children in Kevin's club. Hard work that gradually accelarated to a fevered (but still extremely accurate) pace as the light began to fail. We have 6 more to finish and as I type this at one end of the table Rachel and Catherine are copying up the interview forms into a PC at the other end.

Stuart

(Rachel wishes to point out that her fingers are on a PC but her heart in a the Mac)

chennai 09 - day 2

2009-01-31T17:45:00.004Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog

Children we met while out visiting families and praying for them in the Chennai slum. The morning was taken up with 3 hours of walking from one family to the next and being invited in to hear from those there and pray for them.
Hugo

After we got back to the centre we had a wonderful meal off banana leaves and then sat down to arrange the rest of the week's programme. Then at 5pm we joined the children who are sponsored through Grassroots at their after school club. They were very boisterous and fantastic. We sat with them and looked through the work they were doing. In the schools in the morning there are over 100 to a class. Here 2 teachers to every 30 children.
Hugo

chennai 09 - day 1

2009-01-31T17:41:00.002Z

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog

The team managed to have an adventure even before leaving the ground. Just on the approach road to depatures at terminal 5, Hugos car decided to become terminal and broke down. The AA man (very nice man) told me it had broken down in one of the most dangerous places possible!! The team were packed off to book in not knowing if Hugo would be able to follow them or not as the car could not just be left without causing a major bomb scare. Well lots of frantic phone calls later Hugo did get the flight, the car limped home towed by the AA man, probably a right off and is now looking like a hypocrit on my drive ( it looks the same as always). So all that and still they had not taken off... i did not mention that one of the team was also selected for special security checks so was not allowed to check in ahead of time. He is a big man who needed big leg room... no idea what happened. Well they are still in the air.. I wonder what is happening there? I will let you know if and when I get any information.
God Bless
Sharon

Greetings from Chennai - we all arrived safely, boredom on the flight being the principle problem post "the breakdown". We've checked into the Blue Daimond, and at 3:30am (it's 5.5 hours ahead of the UK) are preparing to get some shut-eye... Kevin and David met us at the airport with garlands of flowers - beautiful, they're creating a heavenly scent in an otherwise manly room - male job #1 was to undo all the cables and recharge eveything
Phil

chennai photos

2009-01-28T16:28:00.001Z

interviewing children who are part of the sponsorship scheme

india-bound...

2009-01-25T19:26:00.002Z

I'll be off early in the morning to meet Catherine, Buffy, Stuart, Hugo, Sam and Phil at Heathrow before we fly off to Chennai for the week. I don't know much detail about what we'll be doing just yet but it'll be something to do with this:

...and news will be posted regularly at the indiablog on the Grassroots website which may or may not automatically be transferred to here - time will tell!

2008-12-16T08:24:00.002Z

To relieve the recent lack of postings here, I've 'borrowed' this from Lyn's blog (well worth a read...) Maybe next year I'll return to it and see how much has changed?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (not yet...)

5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (no, but I stood on one in Thailand once)
10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped (never... ever!)
12. Visited Paris (yes, but only a random art exhibition in a Hotel Ibis in the back streets. Want to go back and do it properly...)
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (no but I sponsored one)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight (with Dan and Stu which resulted in a broken window!)
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (not yet...)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (Is that really a 'spectator sport'?)
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. (Is satisfaction about money?)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (I think this is a "not yet" too...)

81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. (No, but I have eaten a pig that I had listened to it squealing as it was killed)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life. (No, not directly)
90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a mobile phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

big big thank you!

2008-11-27T22:34:00.003Z

This is a little late but even so, it's a huge thank you to all of you who were part of the fundraising I did for my birthday this year.

With your help, we raised a massive £300 which will be used on the Grassroots child sponsorship programme in Mbeya, Tanzania - probably to help fund HIV testing for each child so that those affected can be given extra nutrition and medical support.

So, thank you! You've helped make a difference.

If you weren't involved but would like to be, it's not to late to sponsor a child or donate towards the work in Tanzania.

P.S. Dan and I had a great weekend in Dublin seeing the sights, celebrating my old age and taking lots of photos