Education.
We were told that half of India’s population is under 18 years old. This is
because the average life span is much shorter due to disease, standard of
living and a polluted environment. With so many young people, education should
be a huge concern; however, we encountered many children who had very little
schooling. Most kids need to stay and help their families bring in more income.
We visited a lot of schools in the Chennai area during the month. Part of
our purpose was to share our testimonies and encourage these kids to continue
pursuing knowledge. We taught them some English and study tips. At the school
pictured below we explained the importance of going to college to a room of
hundreds of kids. Our leader spoke to their hearts with one of the most inspiring
lectures. “You are the hope for your families. You are the hope for your
generation. You are the hope for India.” This school was one of the best in the
state, it had 1300 students studying math, science and language, but there were
only 35 teachers total.
Another part of our purpose for visiting the schools was to simply love
these kids who had endured so much. They walk to school barefoot and often do
not eat during the day. We played with them, taught them silly songs, handed
out toys and danced together. I kept telling them how beautiful, how precious,
how valuable they are. Some of the little girls love to pick us beautiful
flowers to decorate our hair. I already miss these kids so much! I made a group
of them write down their names for me so I could remember and pray for them: V.
Deepika, AbiShek, B. Shalom Princy, S. Janani and K. Harini.
I loved teaching the kids but I quickly learned that education was not
only an issue among youth, but among adults. We spent one day at a brick layers
village and it was probably the most eye- opening day of the whole trip. To me,
it looked the same as all the other villages except that there were piles of
brown and red bricks everywhere. The women piled them on their heads in tall
stacks and the men all worked near a huge furnace. The pastors explained that
these people are considered to be slaves. They have inherited the debts of the
their fathers and they are not educated enough to know that their earnings will
never be enough to pay off their debts. We got to love on these people and the
pastors are providing a free program to educate the kids and install in them an
idea of self worth.
As we drove through the streets of Chennai we saw many “teachers wanted”
signs. Although the living conditions are horrible, if anyone wants to serve
India, teaching would be a great help! I
wish I had more pictures from the trip, but we were not allowed to bring our
cameras to the service sites except on the last day because this sends a
message that we are tourists and are making spectacles of the people. Our
mission was to blend in (as much as a bunch of white teenagers can) and tear
down as many cultural barriers as possible. Also, the kids already have enough
trouble paying attention to us without shiny cameras being another distraction.
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