September 5, 2017: The students celebrated their teachers and staff on Teacher's Day at Padhar Mission Higher Secondary School.
Today, uniforms were distributed to the new students at Padhar Mission Primary School! Thanks to our donors for making this possible -hundreds of happy children and grateful parents and teachers for your assistance and support.
We are beginning our 2017 Student Sponsorship Program with 24 students in need of funding. 19 of the students are studying at the School and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind in Padhar. This is a facility that houses, cares for and educates (in collaboration with the Padhar Mission Higher Secondary School) children with physical and developmental disabilities. 5 of the students are studying at the Panchsheel School in Paratwada and want to continue their schooling to become nurses. $100 provides school fees, tuition and supplies for an entire school year. Sponsor a student and change the world!
We are pleased to announce that the Padhar Mission Secondary School has received our support. Yesterday, they hosted a wonderful ceremony to distribute 30 packages of school supplies and uniforms to needy students, and to display the new fans they've purchased for their classrooms. They've installed several fans and intend to install them all before the Summer begins (March-April). Many thanks to our partners, donors and all the Friends of Padhar Schools.
When I was called into ministry in the summer of 1999, I felt my call to be a missionary, and in some ways, that’s what I am. My call was to help children who live in poverty, children who need help, children who need support and resources and love to help them thrive in a world that seems to be working against them.
I didn’t understand my call at first - during seminary I considered being a professor, writing books, being a local church pastor - but deep down, I was being pulled by God toward ministry with children in poverty. My heart was “burdened” with a call and I didn’t recognize that call until after 7 years into my ministry, almost 10 years after my call.
As I reflect on my trip, representing my non-profit organization called Friends of Padhar Schools, as I try to remember all the stories and activities, all the sights, sounds and smells, I also reflect on this passage from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 11: verses 28-20:
28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
We all have “burdens” - things that weigh us down. Challenges and struggles, illness, pain, past trauma, bad relationships, guilts and worries….
The word used for "burden" comes from the word for a ship's cargo and indicates theat these burdens - are indeed heavy and serious - Later in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees by saying: "They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)
In rural India they still use oxen to plow the fields. The plow is heavy and so a yoke is placed on each ox and the farmer guides them up and down the rows of corn or eggplant or pumpkins. This image is helpful as we try to understand what Jesus is saying:
28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Many times, the “yoke” of Christ does not seem easy. The call of God, the work we do for the kingdom is not easy - it challenges us to our very core! It challenges our sense of self-care; it is risky; it requires late-nights and heartbreak when plans don’t turn out like we thought they would; it is hard to follow the call of God. And not just for me, but for you too. Because God does not just call people to be pastors, but God calls you to be teachers, doctors, nurses… God calls us to take care of children and parents, God calls us to help others however we can - with their finances, with their emotional lives, with their relationships. And this work is difficult, when you follow God’s call. It tests us. That yoke is not easy. Let me give you an example.
This is Shital. She has just started the 11th grade and she wants to be a nurse. She is one of 5 students our non-profit will be sponsoring from Panchsheel School. Her favorite subjects are history and she loves to play an Indian sport called Kho-Kho. She was identified by the teachers at Panchsheel School as one of the students who has a bright future and is in need of funding to finish her secondary school education and will need help with funding for nursing school.
As I was visiting Panchsheel School, near the city of Paratwada, I had the opportunity to sit and talk with these students. And Shital was a special one.
“Tell us about yourself.” We began. And out came a story of her family: a father she never knew because he left when she was young, a mother who works multiple jobs to support the family, an uncle who drinks and is not able to be a steady presence for them, and older brother who also drinks and gets in trouble, and she and her little sister… trying to get an education.
“We have nobody.” she said as she started to cry. “We have nobody.”
Immediately, my heart says, “Okay, I will adopt this child and her sister, move to India and raise them myself!”
But my head says, “What can I do? I cannot do everything but I can do something. I can provide her a scholarship to get an education and in this way let her know that she does have somebody. Me.”
This yoke is not easy.
But maybe this is a misunderstanding of the biblical text: Maybe Jesus didn’t mean that following God would be a breeze!
In this scripture, Jesus’ yoke is described as “easy," and the Greek word used is chrestos -- only one letter different from christos = “Christ".
According to author Brian Stoffregen, this word -“EASY”- does not mean "not strenuous," but
1. "being superior for a particular purpose or use” so Jesus may be saying that his yoke is better than any other yoke.
2. "being useful and benevolent, being good” so Jesus may be saying that his yoke is more beneficial than others.
3. "being kind” so Jesus may be saying that his yoke is kinder than any other yoke.
4. "being pleasant or easy, with the implication of suitability" - Jesus may be saying that his yoke fits us well -- it is suitable for our human condition and abilities. Perhaps like a couple "who are made for each other" -- being good and kind to each other is not a chore, but a natural and gracious response to the other. (1)
Maybe this saying abut yokes and burdens is more like an If/then statement.
If you follow my call, then the heaviness you feel will be alleviated. If you take my yoke- the better yoke, the kinder yoke, the more suitable yoke - if you take my yoke upon you, and let me guide you, then we can shoulder those burdens together.
One of the ways the LOAD is lightened, as we take up the yoke of Christ, is that we become aware that we are not alone in our work. That beside us is another ox! Another worker in the field, helping us carry the burdens.
One of the schools we work with in the small village of Padhar is called the School and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind. Established in 1973, it now is the home to about 200 children who are blind, deaf, physically impaired, and developmentally delayed.
It is run by one family: the Andrews family. This is Mr. Andrews, who left a very good, high-paying government job in the 80’s, when he visited the school and was called by God to be a part of it. The school houses the children and provides them classes in life skills, vocational training, sign language and braille and helps with teacher’s assistants that accompany them to school and help them translate materials so they can participate. This year, Friends of Padhar Schools will be sponsoring 26 students from the Blind School.
Mr. Andrews is the principal of the school and the director of the live-in facility that houses both girls and boys, and the love he has for these children in apparent upon meeting him. Many of the children have parents and homes in nearby villages and during the summer, the children travel home and then return when the school year begins. But some do not. And those children live year-round at the school, cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Andrews and the staff.
One night, Mr. Andrews got a phone call from one of the night staff saying one of the girls had gotten out of the gate and was wandering around near the front gate. Mr. Andrews directed the staff to open the gate and retrieve the girl and put her to bed. The staff person said, “I will, but I don’t think she’s one of ours.”
Apparently, the girls’ family had dropped her off in the middle of the night, outside the gate, hoping the school would take her in.
This is Millie. She has a severe intellectual disability - or as they describe it - she is retarded. When she arrived, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews took her in and tried to help her. She was very disturbed, she harmed herself and others, she didn’t communicate with words or signs or sounds, she was difficult. After a time, the staff came to him and said, “Look, we are not helping this girl. She needs more attention than we are able to give. This is not fair to us. She needs specialized help.”
Mr. Andrews agreed and began to look for a facility to take Millie to, an institution that could help her. If she moved, the burden on the staff and on him would be eased. SO, he found an institution in Mumbai that would take Millie and the staff and the family was relieved.
They worked for a month to prepare for Millie’s departure and the night before she was to leave, Mr. Andrews couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned all night thinking this was not the right decision.
When he woke up, he notified the teachers and staff that Millie would not be leaving. The relocation was cancelled and Millie would be staying with them. “This girl,” Mr. Andrews told them, “has been sent to us to teach us how to love. It will not always be easy, but we will all grown and learn from Millie.”
After this decision was made, the staff began to approach Millie in a different way - they followed her lead and they did not expect her to behave like the other children. They listened and looked for the cues she gave them and realized she was communicating - just not like anyone else. And now, Millie is safe and loved and has a home at the School. And because they have not heard from her family, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews have started adoption procedures to officially add Millie to their family. And she is also one of the students we are sponsoring this year.
If we take on the yoke of Christ, the guiding hand of Jesus, the powerful call of God….. THEN we recognize that the burdens we carry- we are not carrying alone. Not only do we have Jesus guiding us, but we have partners in our work to help us accomplish our work for the kingdom.
28“Come to me,” Jesus said. “all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Amen.
1. Brian Stoffregen, found on http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt11x16.htm
It’s hard to believe my trip is over. I have been home now for a week, I am back to work, Po is home with me, my sleep patterns have almost returned to normal…. and still, it is hard to believe.
Each time I return from India, my response to being back in the “real” world is different. Each reentry shares some commonalities: I am shocked by the quiet, overwhelmed by the choices available, and I go a little crazy for the things I’ve missed (ie: there has been a lot of cheese and ice cream consumed in the last week.)
The difference in SOUND is not as stark as it was when I lived in Germany. In India, it is LOUD - cars honking in the daylight hours, music played from various venues, loud speaker prayers that waft through the village. It is loud. And Germany is quiet. People do not speak on the street or on the train; no music blaring from open windows. Everyone stays inside and minds their business.
The differences in OPTIONS is still a shock. When I returned home and went to my local grocery store to fill up my refrigerator after a month away, I remembered this feeling. Overwhelmed, I spent almost two hours in the store, walking up and down each aisle, making sure I saw all the options available and chose the right jam, the right pasta, the right apples. When you’ve lived in a situation in which your choices are limited (“Can you go down to the stall on the road and get me some laundry detergent?”) the CHOICES present in our culture are overwhelming. In a rural village, there are limited supplies of everything. Do you want shampoo? You go to the stall and ask for shampoo. (no specific brands or specialities) Did you run out of toothpaste? You go to the stall and ask for toothpaste. It’s very simple.
With these elements of my culture shock, I add the fact that I do not want to forget my experience. When you’ve experienced profound joy, demonstrations of why you’re called to ministry. experiences that teach you about yourself and the love of God… I don’t want to lose any of that in my memory.
This weekend I am tasked with “reflecting” on my trip in a sermon and for a Question and Answer time after church. I am hoping I can do it justice and give voice to those I met on the journey.
The conclusion of my trip featured a wonderful celebration as we distributed books to the students at Panchsheel Asram School. I captured some of the performances and you can watch them here.
We walked up staircase after staircase in our bare feet, out of respect for the Jain people. No shoes are allowed on the sacred stairs of the Muktagiri Temple. When described to me, I thought there was no way I could manage this adventure: not only barefooted, but my almost-50-year-old body has done fine things, but nothing like this lately. And my 17-year-old hip replacement would get quite a workout. But I told myself I would do all that I could, and stop when I could not continue.
So we began and the paths were all covered with smooth tiles, allaying my fear of stepping on jagged rocks. We walked slowly and I took photographs and the only time it was too difficult was climbing the staircases - fairly steep and one after another. But I pushed through and stopped to catch my breath a few times. My hip was straining, but there was no pain. And when I reached the top, I was so happy I’d done it.
Each level we walked had a temple, there are 52 in all, each labeled for the visitor to pray inside to each specific god. Usually in the rainy season, there are waterfalls and rivers and streams, but the rains have not come, which has everyone here on edge. Everyone must change their patterns to accommodate for the lack of rains.
We saw a man with two buckets of water. He had fashioned a piece of wood across his shoulders and tied the buckets to hang off each shoulder. Up the stairs he climbed, and periodically he would stop, set the buckets down, draw a cup full of water and water the plants lining the staircase. The rains have not come, he explained, and the plants are thirsty.
I arrived at Panchsheel Ashram School yesterday to great fanfare and joy, a celebration of homecoming. I have only been here once before - in 2015 - but somehow it feels like home. For the 2016-2017 school year, Friends of Padhar Schools funded books and writing supplies for all 600 of their students.
Panchsheel School serves a large tribal area on the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, in the Maharashtra state located near the town of Bahiram. It serves the Gond and Korku tribes, poor children from 1st grade to 12th.
It is a 5+ acre live-in facility that houses and teaches almost 600 students. 50 staff including teachers, attendants, wardens, kitchen staff and other specialized trainers and tutors. The children wash their own clothes, have jobs around the site, have regimented times to study and to eat. They have high standards for their students and 100% of their 10th and 12th grade students passed board exams this year.
They offer:
• Vocational training in computers, carpentry, fabrication (welding), electrical work, and tailoring
• Homegrown vegetables and fruit from large on-site gardens
• Off-site chicken farm which produces eggs for use and sale.
• Animal care-taking of goats and cows.
• Sports facilities and teams
• Water filtration for clean drinking and washing water
This is my final full day in Padhar and I have been busy visiting our partner schools and meeting with staff and administrators to discover what each school needs and to discern how Friends of Padhar Schools may address those needs. I have also visited several new schools and communities in neighboring villages. As I experience each new school and each new situation, my analytical hat comes on: What are the funding sources? Do you receive government funding? How many students do you have? How many teachers? What are your immediate needs?
There is always a need for funding. Wherever I go, whomever I meet with, there is one universal truth: Everyone needs funding.
So my job becomes to communicate the needs to our Board of Directors and then to begin to decide how our small amount of funding can make the most impact.
In my touring, I see teachers working hard and sacrificing for the good of their students. I see students desperate for an education. I see administrators who want the best for their communities. I see people who are doing all they can to ensure each child in rural India has an opportunity to get a good education. I am glad that we are in partnership with such dedicated and loving people.
“Ma’m, Ma’m! How do spell ‘noodles’?” “Ma’m, read mine.” “Ma’m, is this right?”
In a classroom packed with over 60 students, we started our Kid 2 Kid penal project. Actually, we started the evening before, but I get ahead of myself.
Packed in my suitcase were 7 letters from the children of friends and family members, those who volunteered to be our first pen pals. The idea was touring the letters and find corresponding pen pals here in Padhar and begin a conversation to bridge the distance. Although the idea was initially met with enthusiasm, as I discussed it with the ‘higher-ups’ in the school, I felt like it was going be too much trouble. So I began to panic. What will I tell the children who’ve written letters and drawn pictures?
I was asked on Saturday night, to help lead a Sunday School class of sorts, for the English Speaking children of the Padhar Lutheran Church. “This is my perfect chance!” I thought. So, I brought my letters, gave a short bible lesson and we wrote 4 letters that evening. But that evening I got word that the principal of the Happy Valley School was expecting me on Monday, to take the 6th, 7th and 8th grade students and write letters with them!
Yes! We will certainly get enough letters in this venture.
SO, on Monday I met with over 60 students in a small classroom and I gave a little lesson on letter-writing: what to say, what questions to ask, how to begin and end a letter. In this process I discovered that many of the children did not write English well. Only a few understood what I was explaining. But all did the exercise with joy. Especially when they got a chance to add an Emoji sticker to their letter! (Thanks to Rubie for sending those along!)
So, packed in my bag are 60 letters, some written to particular children, others waiting for a mate. We will discover what the future holds for the penal program, but this part was a success!
First, my apologies. Our internet service has been off for several days. This is what happens in rural India during monsoon season. Periodically you lose service. It is interesting to note the panic that comes when service is absent, even for a few days. My, how addicted I am. It is good preparation though, for me, as the service in Panchsheel is non-existent and unless I get a working SIM Card, I will not be online until I reach the airport in Munich on my way home.
So, a good exercise in patience.
This is my last week in Padhar and I’ve been working hard to accomplish all the tasks I need to before I leave. This part of my work is really exciting: determining how we can address the needs of our schools. Dreams and plans begin to come into focus. Dollar amounts are proposed for each project. And the prospect of helping more children get an education starts to become a reality.
If the proposed budget is approved we will increase the number of schools we help from 3 to 5. We will increase the number of students we sponsor from 38 to 51 and the amount we give to equipment and supplies from $4800 to $6200. Overall it would be a 23% increase in our giving budget, but that is a figure I believe we can accomplish!
I went to the market today. When you live in a village, market day is the day to buy all your goods - fruits and vegetables, meats, kitchen wares and spices. Today I went to buy my nephew some shoes. I found some that are nice for only 100 rupees. That's about $1.50! HEY! Good bargain!
"There are many problems, but I think there is a solution to all these problems; it's just one, and it's education." ~ Malala Yousafzai
This week, I have been busy getting to work. The goal of this trip - besides my obvious glee in returning to my second home - is to discern how Friends of Padhar Schools can be of assistance to those in rural India working to provide a good education to our next generation. I have had meetings with the principal and several Board members of Happy Valley English School to determine how we can best serve them; I had a joint meeting with the principals of the Mission Higher Secondary School and the School and Rehabilitation Center for the Blind to review past practices and discuss future plans; I took a trip to Sarni to meet the teachers and staff of the St. Mark English School and entertain the possibility of adding them to the schools we are helping; I've visited communities and met folks, talked about what we are doing and why we are doing it.
This is part of what I say, "I am a part of a small NGO that raises money in the United States to help the children of India get an education." In that phrase I claim my part of this work and I also proudly acknowledge the community of support that I represent. As I speak with teachers and thank them for their work, your faces pop into my head, people who are doing the same work in the states: Joel, a great teacher and role model for a generation of kids; my sister Karin and her teaching partner Julie, whose love for their Kindergarten students gives them a foundation from which to work; Nicole, who is teaching while bravely battling cancer. To all the teachers who support FoPS, I am here representing you.
As I speak about relieving the burden of school fees placed on families, I think of the parents who are a part of our support system; parents who are trying to raise thoughtful, caring children all while caring and supporting children in India: all those who helped their own children write letters to an unknown student in Padhar; all you parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, who see YOUR child in the faces of these children; all of your caring souls who sponsor a child so that they can have a great future. To all the parents, grandparents, compassionate adults who support FoPS, I am here representing you.
As I speak about what we've done and what we are hoping to do, the faces of our Board members, past and present, come into my mind. As I interact and make plans with administrators and teachers, I keep you in my thoughts and think, "What do I need to bring back to the Board to paint the picture of life here in Padhar?" To all the Board members, past and present, I am here representing you.
In this way, I know I am not alone. Thank you for your support.
Yesterday I did my laundry. Now normally, I would have 3-4 loads of laundry, towels and sheets, all kinds of odds and ends. Today I did one load and felt accomplished afterwards! Because the task is a multi-step process and it involves actual work, it made me feel like I was actually involved. We are blessed with a washing machine here in the guest house, but like none I’ve seen before.
Washing goes like this:
Step 1: Fill the machine with water
Step 2: Put the clothes and powder in
Step 3: Turn the knob to agitate and wait for 12 minutes
Step 4: Switch the knob to drain and let the water drain from the machine
Step 5: Fill the machine again with water (this is the rinse cycle)
Step 6: Turn the knob to agitate and wait for 12 minutes
Step 7: Switch the knob again to drain and let the water drain from the machine
Now….. if you want to spin the clothes so they’re not as wet when you put them on the line, take half the load and place in the spinner, set the timer for 5 minutes and wait. Repeat as desired.
Then you hang them on the line and wait for the load to dry. Check by every once and a while. It only takes a few hours in the hot weather to dry most of my clothes.In the Monsoon season, it takes a bit longer and you must hang them under covered roofs….
Of course, India has plenty of options for machines - ones that are fully automated, but this is the one at the Guest House and it works. And afterwards, I felt like I accomplished a major task.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my fabric softener and fresh laundry smells. I love my dryer and the fact that I can multi-task while “doing the laundry.” Perhaps in making our daily tasks fast and easy, we’ve taken away the joy of work.
These past two days have been a blessing. After the busyness of airports, checking in, standing in queues, flying, changing flights, taking taxi rides, touristing in Mumbai, flying again, driving on a bumpy road, adjusting to life in Padhar, late-night dinners with friends AND preaching last Sunday… these past two days have been a meaningful time of reflection and breathing, a time of thinking and pondering, a time to to come up with new ideas and a time of just being.
It is the beginning of the monsoon season, so the rain is coming, but slowly. Too slow for the farmers in the area, as they try to wait patiently, but each week the bulk of the rain is delayed, the more it affects this years’ crops. As one friend told me, “The planting season is done and if the rains do not come soon, the seeds will perish. Then there is no crop.”
At church on Sunday we prayed multiple times for the monsoons to arrive and bless the lands with lots of rain. These two days I've spent hours on the lanai of the Guest House watching the rain, listening the various bird calls, greeting the people as they come and go, all while working on my computer.
My primary reason for being here - besides just BEING - is to connect with the village schools, their administrators and staff, to assess their needs for the coming year. It is the beginning of the school year, so they are admitting new children and assessing the coming year. I have had several meetings thus far, and will continue those meetings into next week. With each meeting, the focus becomes more and more clear on what WE can do to help. Because we are a small non-profit, our resources are limited, so every request or need must be weighed by the possibility of actually raising the funds and the affect it would have to the schools and the education they can provide the students. More will come later, but right now, it is a "listening tour" of sorts and a lot of prayer and discernment on my part: that I can reflect their needs back to our Board of Directors and then make decisions that will help the children of Padhar.
For now, I will just BE for a little while longer.
I woke up with this feeling. I remember this feeling from previous trips. I woke up worried.
To explain: this is my 10th year of fundraising for Padhar Schools. I began after my trip in 2008, to raise money to support students at the Padhar Mission School. Over these nine (going on ten) years we have supported an average of 30 students per year. I would not be surprised to find if upon completion of this 2017-2018 school year, we have reached over 300 students.
But as I sat and chatted with school administrators yesterday about general “how is it going” subjects, I began to realize that life is harder here in the village than it was ten years ago. Climate change has affected the life of the village farmers, and therefore the ability to send their children to school. Instead they leave school to help with farming, around the house, or other labor jobs. Demonetization in India has created a sense of financial instability and that makes paying to educate their children difficult for families. Jobs are scarce, contractors unreliable, plans and dreams are postponed until the resources show up. Life is hard in the village.
Nevertheless, I will persist. Furthermore Friends of Padhar Schools will persist. It is during these tough times, when hope is dim, that non-profit work is vital to fill in the gaps left in the name of ’progress.’ I will try to help as much as our small non-profit can, but whatever we do, whatever help we offer…there will be needs unmet.
This is the hardest part about non-profit work: we address needs, but we cannot solve all the problems we find. But we can provide hope to our partners in the field and assurance that they are not alone in this important work they are doing to educate our next generation.
For more information about demonetization in India, here is a great article.