Part 2.
Andhra Pradesh with Dorothy Watts
Jeff and I decided to go and return on the same airline and
meet on the way in Frankfurt, Germany. I
left at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, November 19, and Jeff left later in the day.
We met the next morning at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, both very
happy to see that we had finally made it that far.
Dorothy
Watts with Pastor Jeff Jordan at airport Nov. 20/02 in Chennai, India
Very late that night,
we arrived on Lufthansa Airlines in Chennai.
We were met there by Sister Dorothy Watts, and a local pastor who had
come to make sure she was OK in this large city at that time of night.
We were taken to a nice hotel. Elder
Watts had urged his wife to get a nicer hotel for our first night in India
(about a 3 star). The next morning
we enjoyed a lovely Indian style breakfast.
Soon we were out for a walk on the noisy streets of Chennai.
It was quite an orientation. We
began to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of a large Indian city.
Pastor Jordan with Dorothy Watts on train - back of seat goes down to make a
bed
That night we got on the train for Kakinada. We had an air
conditioned sleeper coach. There
were two built in births, and the lower two bench seats each made into a bed
when the backrest was lowered. We
were supplied with two sheets and a blanket, and did the best we could at
sleeping.
The next morning we arrived at Kakinada, there to be met by a number of workers, including Elder
Rao, our special pastor for the Deaf. We
went to our hotel and got acquainted with John and Muriel Reddy.
John had been ordained as a pastor with another denomination before being
baptized as an SDA in the summer of 2002. We
also very much enjoyed getting to know his devoted sister, Muriel (hard of
hearing), who is also single and has devoted herself to ministry with Deaf, and
helping her brother in his ministry.
The Reddy home in Kakinada with their home chapel up on the third floor
behind the cross
Friday night we joined with the Reddy family and had a vespers in the little chapel on the third
floor of their home. Mr. and Mrs.
Reddy also believe in the 7th day Sabbath, though at time of writing
are not SDA members. Sabbath we had
meetings there, and got to meet a number of deaf young people, plus a little
deaf orphan girl.
Little
orphan deaf girl in Kakinada - money was left for books and a uniform so she
could go to school
That night Jeff and I had a bicycle rickshaw ride through the streets of the city en route back to our
hotel - a very memorable experience. I
gave the driver (a poor Christian helper of the Reddy family’s ministry) 100
rupees - a large amount for one ride, but I wanted to do something special for
him!
The next morning we got up
early and headed on a five hour trip to Vizianagaram. “We” included Jeff and I, Dorothy Watts, John and Muriel
Reddy and Elder Rao. It was not a
comfortable trip for Dorothy Watts. Though
the road was paved, the ride was rough in this older van, and her twisted
kneecap made things uncomfortable for her.
Really, Dorothy should not have tackled this expedition at all, but she
had felt that she had promised to escort us, and in these special circumstances,
could not be replaced by anyone else. (She
since has had a successful operation on her knee).
We so appreciated Dorothy’s motherly care of us, her
bargaining with the coolies and taxi drivers, and all she did to make our
adjustment to India as easy as possible – even to providing us with a large
food bag with crackers, cookies, nuts, dried fruit, etc.
This became the base of quite a few breakfasts and suppers.
Our first assignment
was to rush on over to Razam for a baptism.
But, we got there too late, and the baptism had been cancelled.
The next day, Monday, we met with Deaf in one of our churches in Vizianagaram.
It was a surprise to all of a sudden have two classes of deaf children
arrive from the local deaf school in the middle of our meeting.
We tried to adjust things for them, as what was being presented needed
adapting for school children. One
teacher was Hindu, but the other was a dear Lutheran lady. This teacher was
anxious for Christian materials to use as she wanted to teach her children about
Jesus.
The local Region President, Elder J. G. Paulson, took time
from his busy schedule and spent quite a bit of time with us, helping organize
things, etc. We enjoyed a lovely
meal at his home, located just above the conference office in their office/home
building in a residential area.
Tuesday, we headed
off in the rented van to a more tribal area, Korupam, near the mountains or the
state of Orissa. We were given a
royal welcome - even walking on special fabric provided for us from the road
down into the local SDA church entrance. There
was a lively Indian style song service going on, for the local hearing church
also joined in the first events of the day.
After a time of welcome, etc., the hearing left, and Jeff began his talks
with the Deaf. John or Muriel Reddy
interpreted for him into the Indian Sign Language, as they both knew ASL and
English as well as the local sign language and the spoken Telegu language.
However, we found it a real challenge. The
large deaf audience, made up mostly of local Hindu deaf, had a struggle to fully
understand the presentations. It
seemed as if few had much education, and many [most?] of them did not know sign
language. Jeff, John and Muriel
used pantomine with picture rolls to get the messages across visually.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a local farm
sugar factory where they were boiling
sugar cane juice in two huge vats. They
were using the dried cane, etc., as the fuel for the fire under the vats.
We got a taste of the finished product, a sort of maple sugar candy like
substance. We were not sure exactly
how it was to be used, but it surely tasted good!
Later, Mr. Reddy gave Jeff & I some samples of sugar cane to take
home.
Boiling
the squeezed sugar cane juice to make sugar - man is using dried sugar cane
stalks for fuel
On Wednesday,
we headed off to Razam, where two groups of Deaf joined together.
Here among the more than 100 Deaf, were some Deaf who had already been
baptized. The group was again fed
at noon, but even though they fed 250 people, some who had brought the Deaf
claimed they were unfed. A bit of a
problem arose when a local community leader made a fuss.
However, the situation got solved when some money was provided for food.
I also got to visit in the homes of some families nearby who were
teachers in the nearby government school. The
homes were all concrete (or concrete and brick), had electricity, and were
nicely furnished for that part of the world.
I learned that our local SDA pastors would only receive a fraction of
what these teachers might get. A
fully paid ordained minister in India receives only about 5,000 rupees per
month, or about $185 in Canadian funds ($105
US), plus some extra help for medical, etc.
A government teacher might get up to 15,000 or 25,000 rupees per month.
Pastor
Jeff Jordan signing for deaf group (about 100) at Razam, Andhra Pradesh
Thursday morning
we left early in our van, stopping for breakfast in a restaurant in a little
town en route. We had a late noon
meal with the Reddy family and said our reluctant ‘Good-byes’.
But, not before leaving some funds for a uniform and school books so the
little orphan girl could go to school, plus some funds so John Reddy could have
regular contact with us by email through the internet.
Thursday afternoon we
got on the train for Narsapur. Here
we were met with a delegation from Flaiz College, the Conference and Lilly
Kaligithi’s orphanage located by the Flaiz Memorial school.
We journeyed to the orphanage in their lovely bus, and we three (Dorothy,
Jeff and I) were all given an individual guest room.
Friday, I had the privilege of meeting two pastors and a school
principal whom my father had sponsored years ago at our SDA Spicer College, and
who are now strong denominational workers.
I also had the privilege of going to some of their family homes, and
seeing where they came from in the nearby rice paddy area near the ocean.
Friday night Jeff and
I took the vespers service to the hearing congregation.
Jeff did some pantomime Bible quizzes, and the audience guessed the
story. He also taught them some
signs, and they learned to sign “With Jesus in the Family”
in sign language. Next morning, I
heard a children’s division singing, looked in, and they were singing and
signing the song they had just learned the night before.
After the church service I took the Sabbath morning for the
College Assembly, their President and pastor, Elder CMJ Suvarna Raj, called me
aside. He told me how he and his
wife had for one year kept a little deaf orphan girl in their home.
At times she would even sleep between he and his wife.
He said that he had been strongly impressed that they must begin some
work for deaf children at Flaiz Memorial College.
We will see how God leads out in guiding Elder Raj in his dream!
Sabbath evening found
us headed overnight on the train to Chennai.
Next day, since we had a number of hours to wait, Dorothy arranged for us
to visit the mountain where tradition says that St.Thomas (the disciple, Thomas)
was speared to death. There is a
church and memorial there. Later in
the day, we visited a Hindu temple. The
Hindu people have an amazing religion that even includes worship of the Devil-
thinking through this that he will not hurt them.
Very late on Sunday night
we arrived at the train station in Bangalore. Dorothy
was so delighted to be met by her husband - she had contracted a very bad cold
to complicate her health situation even worse, so her husband’s coming meant
so much to her!
Jeff and I stayed in two of the lovely, yet simple guest
rooms at the headquarters of the Southern Asia Division, about one hours drive
from Bangalore at Hosur. The
climate there was not so hot, and was now very nice for winter - comfortable in
the day while one needed a jacket or sweater at night.
Monday we bought
some books and supplies to give to our deaf workers, and got a chance to relax a
bit.
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To Part 3