One Girl

Last week, I had the privilege of going on an operation as an observer. We only rescued one girl this time (as planned), but she was very young. I am thankful that we were able to rescue her before she was transferred to a brothel. She is an orphan and was sold to the traffickers by her own sister and brother-in-law. It gave me joy to see the hope she expressed when she was told about going to an aftercare home where she could study. The problems of poverty and trafficking are huge, but there are some differences we can make...

Beggars

I watched Slumdog Millionaire shortly before leaving the U.S., and it certainly rings true in many ways. For one, organized begging is a problem here. Women walk the streets begging with babies over their shoulders, but it's impossible to tell whether the babies are their own. One friend of mine watched a woman making her rounds with a crying baby; when the baby finally stopped crying and seemed to fall asleep, the woman hit the baby until it started crying again.

And so, with this information, I harden my heart to the suffering around me. Even passing observation tells me that it is all theater. The girl who comes up to beg, scrunching up her face as if dying of hunger, I see the next day running and laughing as she plays on the street.

But what if even the laughing and playing are deceiving--just momentary bits of happiness in a world of suffering. The divide between rich and poor is real here. The caste system, although legally abolished, still holds thousands in poverty. What will become of the girl on the street in another ten or twenty years? And if I don't like that answer, is there anything that can stop it? I wish I could write an answer, but on this front I have only questions.

Brothels

I haven't been able to blog much since I don't have internet where I live anymore, but I thought it worthwhile to put something on here for my last week of work.

I have been thinking about what I have learned over the last twelve weeks. But I don't know if "learning" is the right word. Learning conjures up books and lectures. I think this summer has been more about experiences. This last week, I'll try to share a few of those experiences:

Earlier in the summer, I had the opportunity to visit a brothel, thanks to a connection with a local NGO called Oasis.  Oasis works with both pimps and prostitutes, providing education, health care, recreational activities, counseling, and God's hope. In my work, I'm used to seeing pimps and madames as evil men and women who deserve to be jailed.  But Oasis sees the same people as victims of an evil system.  And I understand.  Some of the madames were forced prostitutes themselves.  Many of the pimps start at a very young age as cleaning and errand boys.  They are thrown into a vicious system where good and evil, normal and tragic, are turned upside down, and there is no one to point out truth.  

That's not to say that I don't believe the pimps and madames should not be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.  But I think I do have a better picture of reality now and the need for the structures of oppression to change.

Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is my favorite city so far! The city is in and around a fort, which rises up from the desert like a magical sandcastle. The city seems to have become wealthy from the caravans that would come across the desert. The detail work in the sandstone is beautiful even in normal people's homes (which were probably owned by statesmen hundreds of years ago). Jaisalmer is said to have the only living fort in the world--the fort itself is filled with private residences, hotels, and tiny shops. The largest landmark within the fort is the Maharaja's Palace, below.

As I mentioned, the sandstone carving is amazing. The photo below is a detail shot of the Maharaja's Palace, and the shot below is from outside one of the five Jain temples within the fort.

We are privileged to be staying in a hotel right on the fort walls. Below is a picture of it--Hotel Khilla Bhawan. With only nine rooms, it is small and intimate.

We have a beautiful room, balcony, and private bath, but common terraces and lounging rooms abound where guests can enjoy the evening breeze and a fresh-brewed cup of masala chai.

Jaipur Photos

Every city we visit is better than the last! We are in Jaisalmer now, but I'm a little behind on photos, so I'm posting some pics from Jaipur.

The next several pictures are inside Amber Fort, about a 20 minute drive from Jaipur's old city. We hired a tour guide to take us through, and it was worth it just so he could take pictures of us (we usually don't have that many pictures of ourselves). The fort was beautiful, with hand-painted surfaces, carvings, and inset mirrors to reflect the light of candles.

The next three shots are just random pictures I got in Jaipur--a pottery shop, snake charmers, and an elephant. Supposedly, Rajasthan represents the "real" India. Every region of India is different, but it is neat to be thrown back to a desert world of camels, elephants, turbans, and saris.

Agra and Jaipur

Doug and I are taking a week off of work to travel around India. Our first stop, of course, had to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, which we visited yesterday. It is an amazing work of architecture--it is all carved out of white marble, and the parts around the main mausoleum have inlaid stones, as many as sixty-six stones making up a single four-inch flower.

We spent less than one day in Agra and then headed to Jaipur, the former capital of the state of Rajasthan. We're nearing the end of our 24 hours here, but we stayed at a beautiful estate house (Samode haveli), which has been converted into a hotel, in the old city. While we were not fighting traffic or trying to confirm our tickets for our next train leg, we enjoyed touring the City Palace and Amber Fort.

More pictures to come...

Enemies

In Psalm 3, David cries, "How many are my foes! How many rise up against me!" But I've never really felt like I had many enemies, and this Psalm has not been particularly meaningful to me as a result. In a way, I still don't feel like I have many enemies, but in the work that we do, we have many. Those people in power who abuse that power certainly are our enemies. By rescuing victims and working for better enforcement of laws, we weaken their power.

The problems here are so widespread that we can't even count our enemies, but I am sure many of them know us and hate us. We must be wise in what we can take on with our resources; yet, as David says: "I will not fear the tens of drawn up against me on every side.... From the LORD comes deliverance."