Friday, January 27, 2012

My Last Day in Goa



My last day in Goa. As I sit here trying to reflect over my time here, and (of course) avoid packing, there are a few thoughts that continuously run through my mind. 

More than anything, I am encouraged by the focus on prevention that Rahab's Rope places in their work with the women and children of Goa. During my time here, I was blessed to be able to read the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, that discusses empowering women to fight against poverty, oppression and gender-based violence. Throughout the novel, emphasis is placed on the education of women to facilitate empowerment. To be able to see the living proof of this in our work through Rahabs Rope was an experience like none other, comforting me through the most difficult times. 

As many of us on the team discussed, the difficulty of prevention is that one may not see a visceral outcome right away, or ever. It is very different from going into a brothel and literally rescuing someone from a life of forced prostitution. However, why should women have to go through such pain and suffering in the first place? By focusing on prevention the potential for impact is huge, although we may never know the direct effects. Every day during my time in Goa, I saw the reality of this. From the women's pride at the stitching center when they showed me their latest creations, the beam on a child's face when correctly solving a math problem,  in the hope I saw when we shared with the girls that their true Father in Heaven loves them and cares for them.

I came to India in order to  help the women and children at risk for oppression and violence. However, I have received so much more from them than I could have ever hoped to give. I am encouraged by the strong women I have met, and know what it means to be truly brave and courageous. I feel blessed by the trust these women have shown us by letting down their guards and sharing openly about their life. More than anything, I am so thankful for the children I have been able to meet and the love they have so openly given to us. When I saw the excitement on their faces as they ran towards our team, I would always feel my exhaustion and worries fly away. 

I may start packing now, but I won't be saying goodbye. I know God has amazing things planned for this ministry and I hope that I will be back here soon. 

Ramya
Goa Volunteer

Monday, January 9, 2012

Life Changing

All I can remember is explaining to people about what I was going to do in India, “work with women rescued from prostitution or in prevention care and work in a medical clinic”. However, nothing could have prepared me for the things I have experienced here. I have grown in my strength like I couldn’t have imagined. This trip for me was a step of faith and following where  I felt called. I had a good relationship with the Lord before I left, but in the situations I have experienced and the people that have changed my life, my love for the Lord has tripled if not more.  Between the faces of the wonderful children in the slums to the beauty of the beach I have seen the Lord in everything here. Never once have I been afraid for my safety and every single day I feel an increasing desire and pursuit of the Lord inside of me. 

The people here crave the Lord on a different level than I ever thought possible compared to the typical Christians in America. The believers of India are a rare but beautiful breed. I have come into contact with a man in constant pursuit of a better life for his slum and country--a man who is constantly and passionately pursuing the Lord.  I have come into contact with women who turn to the Lord when their husbands fail them, and families that ban together under the love of the Lord unlike I have ever seen. On this trip I have experienced things that are life changing to say the least and I will never ever doubt why God called me to go on this trip. I didn’t have the money, and was not sure I would be of any help, but the Lord blessed me in more ways than I could have imagined and as I look back on this time in India I realize how the Lord surrounded me with his love and passion more than any human thing of this world could have done. I will never forget the women on the beach, the children in the classes, and the people begging for help that sometimes only God can provide, and he has never come up short.

Kristina
Goa Christmas Volunteer

Friday, January 6, 2012

HIV Orphanage


The horror of the screaming truth fills the silent room
Why? Why them?
Why so young? There is no hope
No future
No chance
Will my heart ever recover? I hope not

I won’t forget you, aunty.
I won’t forget your face
I won’t forget your laugh
The way you smiled
The way you showed me true joy
The way you cried as it crippled me to walk away

Will I come back?
I will come back, Aunty
A piece of me will never leave
A piece of my heart is yours forever 

Chelsea
Bangalore Volunteer Christmas '11

Beauty For Ashes


There are so many things I could say and countless experiences I could share, but this is just one of many that has changed my life forever.
         The Sunday started just like any other- breakfast. I was making a traditional Indian breakfast (grilled cheese sandwich) when I so awesomely touched my finger to the pan and paused and it singed and burned my flesh. I knew it would fester and hurt the rest of the trip but it wasn’t that bad, so I forgot about it.
         That evening after church a few Girls headed to a local coffee shop. As we sat and chatted about the trip, I looked down and touched my fingers searching for a tinge of pain. It was then I realized, God had healed me ! God had healed my finger. Could this happen? I hadn’t even asked him for this, yet he had so graciously taken away my pain. I know it sounds silly; it was just a small burn, but the Lord had so easily taken this small annoyance. I couldn’t even find the burn anymore; all of the evidence had vanished.
         I sat there wondering if I should tell someone, and finally couldn’t keep it in any longer as I sat at the table I began to whisper with a friend what the Lord had done; He had been so good.
         A few hours later I brushed something with my pinky and I felt a small pain. I realized that in my earlier excitement I had forgotten to check that finger. God didn’t heal me. All of a sudden I felt so stupid! I had even claimed healing. God I already told someone you healed me, I thought to myself. How can I go back now, and say I was wrong and you didn’t heal me. I remember thinking to myself, God what is the point in all of this?
          In that moment I felt the Lord so clearly say that he was going to heal a woman of her scars that week, and she wouldn’t even ask him to. I started remembering the stories I had been told only a few days earlier when I arrived in India of how the men in some places were known for burning women by pouring acid on them or pouring kerosene on them and lighting them on fire. This was a form of punishment for their women.  My stomach cringed as I recalled the stories. These burns would become a sign of shame and ugliness to them.


         I thought back about that sweet woman, Lishnee, I had meet only a few days before at the CSW (commercial sex worker) Christmas party we held. I remembered the other women flaunting their best clothes and feeling so beautiful in our fashion show. I thought of how she saw herself as nothing more than an ugly woman. She had been burned; A sign of punishment no doubt- and she considered herself unworthy. Finally after much pleading and begging on my part, Lishnee walked through the crowd of people, this time, beaming. Everyone screamed and cheered as she strutted her stuff down the isle. People were calling HER beautiful!
         I don’t know what God meant that day when he told me he would heal someone’s burn, but I know that that day Lishnee was healed and her, once ashes, were turned into beauty. Now when I glance back at my small scar, I am reminded of a beautiful woman, once bound by the scars of her past, now elegantly dancing through a room, KNOWING her beauty had been restored.


Chelsea
Bangalore Volunteer Christmas  '11

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

My Visit to the Brothel




To put this experience into words thus far would be an impossibility! I have seen so many things that so many have never seen before. What an honor! I feel overwhelmed that God chose me to be a part of this team. The women in the brothels are the most beautiful women and they have no idea of their worth in the Father and how He sees them. One has a blackeye and one with bruises, with sadness in their eyes they still mustered up a beautiful smile and made me feel so welcome in their world. A world of sin and death, God I don't understand...I know I don't have to, it is not for me to understand. 


The children are a completely new topic. Babies running around in a urine and feces soaked ground so dirty yet they are so beautiful. Some are hungry and sick yet so happy just to play with a balloon animal, a very poorly made one at that. However, they did not care they were having so much fun! I will conclude with this... picture walking what seems like hours to finally get to a large hill, more like a small mountain and there living in what they call the slums are hundreds maybe thousands of make shift houses. Among them is a home at the top where they gather to praise the Lord with one candle and a flash light in the middle of the room. Probably my favorite moment, in the middle of muffled prayers and singing, I see a cross on the wall of this home. No matter how insignificant this home might appear physically it was more spirit-filled than anything I have ever felt before. Thank you Lord for choosing me for such a time as this! As everyday gets better and better I can't wait for what today holds!!!


Alicia
Christmas Celebration Volunteer