Teaching and shopping

I didn’t get a chance to write yesterday because it was so packed. We started with our normal breakfast of idli, samosas, coconut balls and green sauce. I don’t know the names of most of the food we’ve eaten here.

Kris and I left with Alvina to do the health care seminar here in Vyara. We had 35 women come. First we worshipped, then Kris talked for about 20 minutes about how God created us and why we should take care of ourselves. Next I talked for about an hour about water and handwashing. We showed them how germs can make their children sick by making chapatti – first without washing hands, with glitter on the hands, then with no glitter after washing hands. They seemed to understand.

Kris talked for awhile after that about teeth and dental hygiene. Then we asked if anyone needed prayer and about half the women came forward. I didn’t expect the response. These women were weeping and broken. When we would pray with them they would cry out in their suffering. Alvina says their lives are very hard. Many of their husbands drink and neglect them or treat them badly. I’m sure I cannot even begin to imagine what these people go through.

It was interesting driving through downtown Vyara to get to the conference. The whole town is like a giant strip mall. It reminds me of Liberia a little. There’s nothing really to compare it to at home. Maybe a thriving market like Pike Place. The storefronts are about 10 feet wide and go straight back for around 30-40 feet. There are tailors, sari shops, children’s shops, second-hand shops, food, ice cream, hotels (which are actually restaurants here. If they have rooms to stay in it’s called a guest house), shoe shops, lots of mechanics, and on and on. Not much parking, LOTS of traffic. Mostly motorbikes. Thousands of them. Hardly any with just one person. And lots of people, too. All the women here dress in saris or Punjabi suits in brilliant colors and designs. All of them. Other than kids in their school uniforms I haven’t seen a woman wear anything else.

When we got back to Ice Spice – our guest house – we had curry and nan at the veg (vegetarian) restaurant downstairs. Then Alvina’s niece did a mehendi (henna) design on my hand. They use little tubes of henna paste, kind of like the paper cones used to hold icing for decorating a cake. You have to let it dry until it’s hard, around 2 hours. Then you scrape off the paste and it leaves the design on your skin. It gets gradually darker over the next 24 hours. Mine is a nice chocolate brown now.

Once that was dry, Alvina took me shopping for a Punjabi suit. A Punjabi suit is made up of large drawstring pants called salwaar, a long shirt called a kameez, and a shawl/scarf called a dupatta. It took awhile to find a place that sold them in any size but tiny. I think part of the problem was not only my size but discrimination against Alvina. Either way, that wasn’t the most pleasant. We went to two malls. A mall here is like a U shaped 2-3 level building with little shops all the way around. A lot like malls at home, only smaller and without the roof. Did I mention there are cows/pigs/goats/donkeys/water buffalo/oxen everywhere here? Just like people say. In the parking area at City Mall I watched a cow chow down on a poster from a trash pile. At first it looked like she was just going to chew on it, but then she chomped it down just like grass. Not something you see everyday – at least not back home.

We finally found a beautiful suit for me. Then we went to a tailor to have the sleeves sewn on. We got back just in time for me to get all dressed up for our big night at the pastor’s conference the men have been speaking at. It’s past our school, about 45 minutes from our hotel. Very bumpy, terrifying drive as always. We drove to the middle of nowhere to this hotel where they had set up an outdoor canopy and seating for the conference. There were around 1,000 men and women there. They roll out these huge blanket mats for the women and young men to sit on. The women are on one side and men on the other. In the back, some of the men were on chairs. They had a sound system, electric keyboard, drums, guitars, and a hundred microphones.

We took our seats on the stage and sang with the band for a few songs. Then some girls came up and did a beautiful dance. Then we sang a few songs as a group. It was pretty exhilarating to be praising God with so many people! Then Jack did his sermon and Deepak translated. he did a fantastic job. It was kind of funny because occasionally he would end a statement with “Amen?” No one would respond. here they do the same thing with “Hallelujah” or “Praise the Lord.” But they didn’t know what to do with Amen. He didn’t let it phase him, though. By the time we got home it was 10:30 and I was exhausted. All I could think about was sleeping! I crashed.