Jesu Vin Namum

Oops, haven't blogged in ages, been very very busy lately, I can't believe they call this a holiday! Anyway, in a nutshell, my India trip was eye-opening even from the very beginning. As I stepped on board the plane, I saw the whole plane was crowded with Indians, when normally I see ang mohs, or Singaporeans. The smell was distinctive, and Malaysia Airlines sucked big time. The earphones didnt work, and everything was fuzzy. We stayed at a Catholic hostel on the first night, and as there wasn't enough beds, I slept on the couch with no blanket, and the air con was FREEZING. That would be the last time I slept in an air con room in days, but I didn't mind. Next day we went to Vellore where the Shalom(means peace) Home for orphans was located. Had a wonderful breakfast and we nearly lost the $6000 cheque but I found it. Anyway, stopped halfway at a Ghandi memorial to take photos, and saw many temples, shrines, churches-one with a red cross and was slightly inverted, before reaching the Home. It was extrememly clean and was a nice place to stay in, except that we had to bathe by using buckets of water. The food was great, and the next day we headed for our first camp, in some ulu village, where houses were made of mud, and the main mode of transport was bullock-cart. There was one guy with elephantitis, it was damn sick, and my cousin, another kid who was in primary 5 ACS(P), by the name of Joshua, and I went to explore as we couldn't do much in there. So we took shots of the place and wandered around, before going off early. By then I was discovering life without my ipod was tough, and my cousin, Shaun, likened it to a drug and this 10 day mission trip without my ipod was like cold turkey treatment. The next few days were spent teaching the little kids in the home how to play games, do action songs I used to hate in primary school, and visit important landmarks in Vellore. I was so in need of music I even called home and told my sister to play don't look back in anger by oasis from her speakers and place her phone near enough so i could record it with Shaun's PDA, lol, it didn't turn out well. Anyway, a few days later we departed for the Shalom home in the Yeligiri Hills, where there was no reception at all, so it was no impossible to call home as well. However, I managed to play football and badminton with the people there and went to the school to preach as well as help dispense medicine to hordes of people waving prescriptions at me. I also attended a youth camp in the Shalom Home in Yeligiri, and witnessed alot of crying, and had to teach the action songs to these 18 yr old "A" Level kids, how crazy is that? I felt touched there, but not to my maximum potential as I couldn't understand the Tamil worship before the sermon which was given in English and translated so the ppl could understand. However, I did learn that Jesu Vin Namum meant "In the name of Jesus". Went back to Vellore a few days later and visited a rural hospital on the way there. The gloves and syringes were reused, the machines 35 years outdated, dogs with rabies were walking freely, and new mothers had to be checked out immediately as there was no space. Oh, and spiders, flies and lizards formed mini eco-systems in the hospital wards. In Vellore, we visited a night school were we saw children of all ages studying, and they loved my adidas hat, constantly pointing at it. In the end, mobs of kids were clambering for my autograph, and I don't even have a fixed one! Oh well, I guess it made them happy. So India was a real eye-opening experience with so many stories to tell, I wrote things in my bio journal and told people stories I haven't written here as it would be too long a blog. One last experience was going to a Catholic-owned hill where Saint Thomas died, you know, the Thomas in the Bible? He went to India and was lanced there, and I saw his bone and the cross he had carved just before he died. I was asked to go again next year, I think I will, but as Jesus said," Yet not what I will, but what You will", so I put it in the hands of God, Shalom to you all.