We have now been in India for a week, it has flown by so quickly! When arriving at Bangalore airport, the heat soon hit us, but after meeting Simon, the missionary here, we had a 7 hour journey to their home. We were then welcomed at their home by Sarah his wife, one of their three children Matthew, along with another family who works at the school, 4 of the older girls and another volunteer here.
We had our first few days resting and trying to catch up on our jet lag as well as meeting new people and trying to become custom to their ways. The Indian culture is so different to English, even now I'm still learning new ways of life and I'm sure I will continue to through out my time here. On sunday we walked to church which was about 2 hours and sat on the floor. It was fortunately translated in English for most of it and some of the songs were English ones. It was such a grea experience and I look forward to going back this week, although this week it is a baptismal service, very exciting!
As it is now school holidays the timings here are alot more relaxed and the majority of our day is filled with playing games with the children. There are about 30 children who stay here permanently of all ages so it has been great fun playing card games and puzzles to crafts and badminton. In the evening they also have a devotional time which is about half an hour or so with some singing then someone does a 10 minute talk and prayers afterwards. I had to lead this 2 days ago and thought, due to having had practise in it from Grosvenor church in Barnstaple, the armour of God would be good to talk on. The children listen so well and all seem so interested to hear what you have to say, vary inspiring.
I live in a small 'cottage', not like an English cottage, an Indian equivalent, with Pippa, one of the girls who is also a volunteer here and came the same time as us although she's here a few weeks less than James and I. She is so lovely and it has been really nice to have another girl to share our first experiences with due to the difference in gender relations here in India than in England.
We also had 2 ladies to stay on Sunday night until Wednesday morning who work for a charity called Child link and have supported some of the building work that has gone on here at the school and orphange. We went with them to a coffee and pepper farm, although there was also some cinnamon growing too. It was beautiful! The coffee trees were quite small and so the pepper trees grew really tall to protect the coffee from the sun.
I have really enjoyed every part so far and look forward to the next few months of my time here. Two volunteers here are leaving in the next 2 weeks so there will only be 4 of us that have come from abroad to help which I think will be alot different but also help us grow more. One highlight would be on my secong night here I woke up at 7 with a Gecko crawling over my chin and sitting on my shoulder, not the nicest wake up call! There have been so many highlights that it's hard to try and write them all down but I will try my best to whenever I can. Tomorrow, some of the girls and ladies who work here are taking a trip to Salem, the nearest city so that Pippa and I can get a chance to buy some of our Saris as we have been wearing passed down ones from the volunteers here so I am really looking forward to choosing some of my own and seeing the city sights of Salem, what a mouthful!
I hope everyone in England is ok, it has been such a weird transition coming here as it is so different to everything I am used to and so any contact from home I love! If you dont have my eamil, do let me know or if you'd like the address here also please let me know! I will try to contact back as soon as I can! Nundre (thankyou in Tamil) for reading!
Much Love,
Hannah
We had our first few days resting and trying to catch up on our jet lag as well as meeting new people and trying to become custom to their ways. The Indian culture is so different to English, even now I'm still learning new ways of life and I'm sure I will continue to through out my time here. On sunday we walked to church which was about 2 hours and sat on the floor. It was fortunately translated in English for most of it and some of the songs were English ones. It was such a grea experience and I look forward to going back this week, although this week it is a baptismal service, very exciting!
As it is now school holidays the timings here are alot more relaxed and the majority of our day is filled with playing games with the children. There are about 30 children who stay here permanently of all ages so it has been great fun playing card games and puzzles to crafts and badminton. In the evening they also have a devotional time which is about half an hour or so with some singing then someone does a 10 minute talk and prayers afterwards. I had to lead this 2 days ago and thought, due to having had practise in it from Grosvenor church in Barnstaple, the armour of God would be good to talk on. The children listen so well and all seem so interested to hear what you have to say, vary inspiring.
I live in a small 'cottage', not like an English cottage, an Indian equivalent, with Pippa, one of the girls who is also a volunteer here and came the same time as us although she's here a few weeks less than James and I. She is so lovely and it has been really nice to have another girl to share our first experiences with due to the difference in gender relations here in India than in England.
We also had 2 ladies to stay on Sunday night until Wednesday morning who work for a charity called Child link and have supported some of the building work that has gone on here at the school and orphange. We went with them to a coffee and pepper farm, although there was also some cinnamon growing too. It was beautiful! The coffee trees were quite small and so the pepper trees grew really tall to protect the coffee from the sun.
I have really enjoyed every part so far and look forward to the next few months of my time here. Two volunteers here are leaving in the next 2 weeks so there will only be 4 of us that have come from abroad to help which I think will be alot different but also help us grow more. One highlight would be on my secong night here I woke up at 7 with a Gecko crawling over my chin and sitting on my shoulder, not the nicest wake up call! There have been so many highlights that it's hard to try and write them all down but I will try my best to whenever I can. Tomorrow, some of the girls and ladies who work here are taking a trip to Salem, the nearest city so that Pippa and I can get a chance to buy some of our Saris as we have been wearing passed down ones from the volunteers here so I am really looking forward to choosing some of my own and seeing the city sights of Salem, what a mouthful!
I hope everyone in England is ok, it has been such a weird transition coming here as it is so different to everything I am used to and so any contact from home I love! If you dont have my eamil, do let me know or if you'd like the address here also please let me know! I will try to contact back as soon as I can! Nundre (thankyou in Tamil) for reading!
Much Love,
Hannah
