We've arrived!

Firstly, let me apologise for my awful spelling - it seems some people need to travel to a place to learn how to spell it!

Well we've had an amazing first day here...after a long flight (uncomfortable for all except perhaps Michael, who scored an awesome seat in business class!) None of us got too much sleep so we had a bit of a lie in and the headed straight off to the ASHA polyclinic to be introduced to the staff and be told a little more about what we'd be doing over the coming week.
We met Dr Kiran Martin and her husband Freddie, who shared with us a very emotional and challenging story of how they begun the work of ASHA. Starting from just going into the slums and treating the people with Cholera during the epidemic in 1988, she has made a tremendous difference in thousands of lives and become a voice that can influence policy in government. She had asked herself, 'if Jesus lived in Delhi, where would he go?' and then she followed Him into the slums and joined in with His work there.

After lunch we piled into the minibus and headed over to the slum that we will be working in. We were greeted with the most beautiful smiles, garlands of flowers, petals and applause. I think i speak for us all when i admit that i did not feel worthy of such a welcome! We all sat in a small room as some of the female members of the community and children introduced themselves to us and told us a little more about the role they play in their community. It was touching to hear the story of how Dr Kiran Martin had helped in their slum from their perspective and how it has progressed since. This slum was the first of fifty that she has reached out to in the last 20 years - she feels that she still has a long way to go given that there are a total of 1,200 in India.
Listening to the stories from the community it occured to me that the work Dr. Martin has been doing has started a ripple affect; she has taught others how to take responsibility and care for those around them, and each person has a different role to play in the community.
It's always humbling to enter into a place where materially they have so little and live in extreme poverty. Yet watching the love they have for each other and the way they take care of each others' needs i couldn't help but feel that it is us in the West who are some what lacking.

From there we set off to the market place (local not tourist) so that us ladies could buy Salwar Khameez (the formal Indian ladies' trousers and long top). I'm sure you can imagine that it is quite a challenge to get 8 ladies to buy three full outfits in the short space of an hour. Add to that the fact that we had more choice than we knew what to do with, a very small shop and very pushy sales people on our hands - it was a miracle we got out of there before midnight and with any money left!

After that it was back to our YWCA lodgings for an authentic curry - though I, (Sarah) did have a Chinese!

All in all it's been a great day, everyone is well and feeling good...despite interesting road rules (i.e there are none, other than 'he who pushes hardest wins').

We're looking forward to getting stuck in to the work tomorrow - we'll have a full day in the slum painting, praying and fellowshipping!

Every blessing to you all at home, we miss you dearly!