School Blessings

These the children we teach four days per week.

School Blessings

The bus arrived at the Baptist Mission Guest House.  We saw that the usual bus had not arrived and instead we had a mini bus to transport us.  It was already bursting at the seams with 50 children on it.  They were hanging out the windows chanting “Aunty! Uncle!”. We were told that the regular bus is in for repairs.  We squeezed in and lifted babies and young children up onto our knees. The temperature inside the bus must have been in the fifties.  I could hardly breathe. We still stopped to pick up the next group of street children.  There was literally nowhere for them all to fit. The only available space was up above our heads. I yelled at Daniel “pick up that little one that is getting trampled”. The toddler’s tear- stained face looked so stressed. On a seat built for two I sat with seven children pressed in all around me. There were more than 70 children on the minibus plus our team of five adults.

We arrived at the concrete ‘classroom/compound’ and the little ones stripped off for their ‘shower’ of a bucket of cold water.  They like it.  They like the perfumed talc powder that each one gets dabbed on afterwards too. It’s a nice touch. Once they have had their wash, their dirty clothes (really really dirty) are put back on. Then the school uniform is put on over top of their clothes.  The uniform consists of a single blue shirt with buttons.

On our first day there I started a little ‘gentle blessing’ ritual.  It goes like this…  I draw the little one towards me, put their shirt on and do up the buttons.  Then I gently cup their precious wee faces in my hands and look into their eyes and say “God Bless You”.  They absolutely love it.  Even the big kids started lining up for their daily blessing.  Some kids come back for seconds.

Before I came here to India the word that I got from God was “Take gentleness to India”.  I thought that was a funny word at the time.  I’m a straight forward person.  I’m usually practical and efficient but probably not known for gentleness in the everyday setting. But here I can see that the word for me was spot on.  There is an aggression here in the life of the people.  It comes from the intense heat and the competition for food and survival that they face daily. Life here favours the strongest and there is no time for gentleness. Out on the street the children get yanked around roughly all the time. When they cry they usually get slapped.

So for me to give a gentle blessing is in sharp contrast to how they usually get treated.

 

Paul is feeding one of the little ones.  Every day these street children get a meal of rice and vegetables at the Good News School provided to the children for free.

To Give or not to Give?

This is another of the beggar families that live at our gate. We have helped them with food and plastic for a shelter but have not felt to go further than that. 

India is just so full of people.  They are everywhere.  You can’t escape them unless you remain in your room. The moment we step outside the gate of the Baptist Mission Guest House they come to us. I like to help people but I don’t like to be conned.  Nor do I like to be yanked at or harassed. Many speak English.  When they stand before me and ask for money I size them up. If they are standing on their own two legs, have two arms and two good eyes, and flesh on their bones then my answer is usually “no, you look healthy enough to me”.  It is the people that don’t ask, that get to me.  The ones that lay listlessly on the roadside that look exhausted.  The feverish baby floppy in the mother’s arms. The young mum laying on the roadside breast feeding her baby in the dirt, the hungry child desperately rummaging in the garbage for some overlooked or thrown away food.

I buy bunches of bananas and just rip off a couple and give them to the hungry people.  It costs so little.  When you look back and see them stuffing the banana into their mouth you know you did the right thing. When we go out and about we have extra food in our back pack.  Why should we eat three meals a day and pass by the ones that have gone to sleep with empty bellies?  Many of the people staying here (Christians and non-Christians) feel that the problems are all too big and there are simply just too many needs to even begin to help a few. But each life touched is worthwhile and I feel to do it. Do you remember the starfish story?  It is exactly like that.

Icecream for a beggar

Ice cream for a Beggar.

We walked down the roadway from Kalighat Mother Teresa Home for the Dying.  I was feeling just a touch ‘emptied out’ after my morning with the patients. So when I saw a beggar man with no legs pushing himself around on a low trolley I pretended to be absorbed in something in the other direction.  “Sister, please help me,” he called reaching his hands up to me.  But I didn’t help. I kept walking.  The heat was so intense… 40 C something. There are just so many beggars.  Then I heard a yelp and a ‘whack whack’ sound.  I looked back to see a woman hitting the beggar and yelling at him. I don’t know why she yelled but she was hurting him and humiliating him.  I walked on slowly.  Then I saw the mobile ice cream cart up ahead.  “I bet that beggar man never has ice cream” I thought.  He wouldn’t even be able to reach up to the cart for a start. I bought myself an ice cream on a stick covered in chocolate and then I bought a second one and walked back towards him. As I handed him the ice cream he threw back his head and laughed in delight. I reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “God Bless You” I said. I could have given him money and he would have bought rice but today he had ice cream.

 

The roadway that the beggar was sitting on.  I didn’t feel to take his photo.

Rickshaw income for Kolkata family

 

We went with Rocky to look at rickshaws.  Here he is sitting in the driver’s seat.

I have been praying about the family that we have met.  They are so poor.  I have never met anyone that is this poor before I really really want to help them and make a difference in their lives.  I am asking if you would help to raise money for them to buy a rickshaw.  A rickshaw is a bicycle that has a carriage at the back.  They carry people around the city. Many people use these rickshaws here in India every day.

This Kolkata family living on the broken concrete ‘footpath’ has captured my heart.  They are so positive and welcoming to us even though they have nothing!  Each morning I have seen them fast asleep under the plastic sheet.  There is a metal railing along side the footpath separating the footpath from the road.  I am pleased to see that, as it stops the baby crawling out into the chaotic traffic.  They tie the plastic sheet to the railing and it angles down like a bivouacs shelter that Paul and I make when we are sleeping out on a tramping trip. Each morning they dismantle the bivouac and fold the plastic away so that people can pass by on the footpath. The families have to go poos and wees in the gutter.  There is nowhere else to do it.  We can smell it and yesterday I stepped in human poo further along the road and got it all stuck in my sandal. Not good!

Right outside the high concrete wall that separates us from the street is a family living in a makeshift shelter.  In the family there is the dad (Rocky 26) and mum (Asha 21), four children plus an adopted 14 year old girl (Asmela) who is the sister of the mum.

We pass them to walk to the store to buy our expensive western food and then pass by them on the way back with our supermarket bag bulging with food while they have nothing. It made me feel like the temple worker in the “Good Samaritan” story as he passed by and did nothing to help. On the first morning I observed that the 2 year old twin boys in the family were lethargic and lacking in energy.  One lay back almost floppy in his mother’s arms making a whiney noise. We bought them rice, mango spicy chutney and bananas.  They made a meal out of it and by the next day the kids had really perked up and were full of beans.  The kilo of rice lasted two days. It wasn’t a big investment.

On our second night the thunder and lightning began and when the rain drops fell the father was anxious that the footpath would once again be flooded with dirty water and rubbish floating up over their concrete brick platform sleeping area. He said that in the rainy season they get very little sleep. The single mum ‘next door’ (actually 10 metres further along the footpath) clutched my arm and asked if we might be able to buy her some plastic to cover her and the children while she sleeps.  Again not a huge investment.  I asked Rocky the dad if he would help his neighbour to build a shelter if we supplied the black polythene plastic.  He said he would. So yesterday we priced the plastic in the market place.  5 metres @ 65 Rupees per metre = total cost of approx. NZ $6.00 plus a bit more for rope to tie it on.

But all this is only a temporary stop gap.  I sat with Rocky and had a long talk.  He speaks English quite well. I asked him how long he has lived here on this piece of footpath.  He said he has lived on the streets for 14 years and has been here with his wife and children for 10 years!  I was astounded.  I checked to make sure he did not mean 10 months.  “No, I have been here since I was 16. I met my wife here in Kolkata when I came to this city and we have always lived here together on this footpath”.

So my next question was “Rocky all this is not going to change if you keep on doing this.  You have been here for ten years.  What would actually make a permanent difference in your lives?”

He replied “A job”

“What kind of job would you want?”

“I could be a driver of a cycle delivery or a rickshaw.  If I had a job like that I could support my family and we would not need to beg any more”.

I looked at his body and thought to myself ‘yes he is strong enough to cycle the streets delivering these huge loads that are on the trailers of the bicycles’ (Remember the Rickshaws for India project).

“How much would one of these bicycles cost?”

“20,000 Rupees for the cycle and another 5000 for the police licence to operate it.” (approx NZ $500)

I made a vague interested comment but my mind was racing ahead.  Could we raise that amount?  Where would one go to purchase a bike like that? It isn’t a huge insurmountable problem.  How trustworthy is this man? He seems gentle and humble. We went home and prayed. “God do you want us to be the ones to make a difference in this man’s life? He has three sons that could grow up to help him in a delivery business”

So yesterday I set a little test and today I will see if he has been honest.  We bought oil and rice and took it to the families.  But one single mum was not there.  I gave her bag of stuff to Rocky and asked him to give it to her when she returned. Will he give her share to her or will he be tempted to keep the extra food for his own family? I will ask her today if Rocky gave the food to her.

I wondered if the children at Nelson Christian Academy could get involved in a fund raiser, maybe a coin trail or something simple to raise money to purchase a cycle.  Paul said “let’s wait and interact with this family for one week and get to know them a bit more before taking it any further”.  He is always wise like that.  I tend to want action.

One week later…1^st May 2013

We have been interacting with the family on the footpath every day and I am quite impressed with their love and concern for each other. On Monday I mentioned to the dad, Rocky, that we would be prepared to ask our family and friends if they would help purchase a rickshaw. Today we went with him and looked at rickshaws.

Here is his story in his words.

“I am Rocky Fernandes.  I am 26 years old. I have three small sons and a daughter. My eye is not good. I change my life so for taking work.  By bicycle working I can making every day 200 Rupees. I can take people going to New Market. My charge would 40 Rupees. I help for my family. I working and then I get money every day.  I give money my wife.  My wife will taking money and will making food if I give her.  I look to my family and I see that I don’t any problem in my family.  I am OK. My children and wife also OK.  I want to live in room not on street. Rent for a room is 600 Rupees for one month. If I working then I give 50 Rupees and give my rent house. My wife she likes a house to live. We want a relax place with not any problem. Not have a rain problem. I want very safety my family. The road so many problem.  So busy.  Some bad people come. If I have a rickshaw I keep in a garage at night. This will 15 Rupees every night. If not at night time people steal it and break the lock.

I believe God, the Christian God, Jesus.  I believe God and also Mother Mary. I am Christian Catholic.  My mother also. My father is dead eight years. When I am a small boy I not ever go to school. My mother is teach me English. I always live Kolkata. When I am small time I am clean car and begging.  So my life, Auntie, for 14 years is living on the street and now I have a big family to care for.

 

So at the end of this story narrated to me, Rocky and his family sat with me and we prayed together asking God for his help for his family. Hannah, Paul and I can’t help everyone.  There are just too many of them living like this in impossible conditions. But we can help this one family that God has brought into our lives. What do you think?

Rocky’s wife Asha and two of the five children.