A Day at the Beach
Today was another great day. It was our second day in Goa visiting Jaison Job's orphanage. Goa is absolutely beautiful - a tropical paradise. The roads here even have lines on them (not that the drivers pay any attention). :)
This morning we met Jaison and his family, the orphans and about 65 pastors (who are in town for an annual training session) for some quick sightseeing at an historic prison ground. Between squalls of monsoon rain we paused for group photos...In light of recent events, I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of photographing dozens of smiling pastors standing atop the walls of this crumbling fortress. Our God will certainly continue to have His way in this country.
Getting to speak with these pastors was pretty amazing. All of the ones that I spoke with have, or hope to have their own orphan ministries. Many are orphans themselves, and have never had a second thought that the way they are to use their lives is to rescue children as they have themselves been rescued. Each pastor that I spoke with, though, wished he could do more, support more children, if only he had more funding. The children are waiting to be taken in. If they had the money, they would do it in a heartbeat.
This is why i58 contributions are so important.
After visiting the prison and stopping for lunch, our entourage made its way to one of the most picturesque beaches in the world for some playtime. From the moment we got out of the car, we were swarmed by young women selling jewelry, saris and other odds and ends. These "ladies" do not take "no" for an answer. :) They followed us down to the water and, strangely enough, I found myself walking down the beach not with the orphans or bible students, but a clique of these stubborn, sassy professional beach vendors. There were about four that I just could not escape. Half a mile later, when they realized I really, REALLY did not want to see their portable displays, we actually got to talking.
Rosa, age 16, has been selling jewelry at the beach since she was 6. She never attended school because her family was too poor to send her. She has excellent English, though, which she picked up entirely from conversations with tourists at the beach. She even has a fake British accent. She was the clown of the group, and picked on the other girls as we talked.
Natasha, age 21, sells ankle bracelets and saris to support her two daughters, ages 2 and 9 months. She hopes to afford to send them to school one day. Her husband works as a "builder", which I think is her fancy term for day laborer. She also never attended school.
Stephanie, age 19, got married 3 weeks ago. The ceremony was three days and two nights long - she and her husband had to sit in silence for most of it. He is not very happy about her job, but they need the money.
The further down the beach we walked, the more these girls turned into real people to me. People that, at first, I was trying to ignore and outrun. I asked them about their dreams, their culture and their faith, and tried to share mine back. I told them I'd rather talk to them than look at their jewelry. So they talked. They sang songs, and they goofed around like girls do whenever they are alone together. And an hour later, when I did leave, I did give each of them money, so maybe in the end I was a sucker after all. But, as someone wiser than myself pointed out, this is why i58 is so important. i58 saves children from this kind of hopeless life. i58 "rescues" kids in every sense of the word. It is impossible to come here to India, see the poverty, desperation and hopelessness in these people's eyes, and not want more for them. At least we have the vehicle of i58 to provide just that.