What we're up to

Dec. 27 - Jan. 11: All Angels trip
We began our time here with a two-week trip led by the rector of our church, Milind Sojwal, who is from India and began his ministry in Maharashtra in the Church of North India. Our group of 14 flew into Mumbai and took an overnight train to Nagpur, city of Milind's former diocese. We worshiped with Milind's old parishes there and in nearby Chandrapur, and visited various diocesan projects, including a mission hospital, rural and women's empowerment programs in nearby the tribal villages, a boarding school for village kids, and perinatal outreach in the slums of Nagpur.

Another overnight train brought us to Pune, where we spent our time learning about the amazing work of Deep Griha Society, the organization founded and run by Milind's aunt. After earning her M.D., Dr. Neela Onawale began her medical practice as an outreach to poor patients out of her home. As deeper issues underlying her patients' medical problems became apparent -- malnutrition, lack of educational opportunities, the low status of women -- she gradually developed programs to meet the needs that she saw. Now Deep Griha works in three slums in Pune and has two rural projects; offerings include feeding programs, education, day care, HIV/AIDS outreach, and traditional medical clinical services. It is an impressive place, one which I would highly recommend for volunteering or charitable giving.

Jan. 11 - 15: Chennai
After the All Angels trip, John, Thomas and I flew from Mumbai to Chennai and stayed at the home of former All Angels parishoners Matt Scott and Sandra Seaborn and their children Sophie (3) and Stephen (7), recuperating from our Maharashtra leg's ambitious itinerary and gathering necessary supplies for the rest of our stay. January 14 was Pongal, a Hindu harvest festival and the biggest holiday of the year in Tamil Nadu. We celebrated by spending the day at a swimming pool with Sandra and her kids. Thomas loved his first pool experience!

Jan 15 - ?: Vellore
We are now in Vellore, in the southeast of the country, where Christian Medical College is located. I am working with endocrinologist Dr. Nihal Thomas on several projects, which I will describe in more detail later. Our plane tickets home are for May 1, but we only have housing reserved at CMC until March 1; we may extend our time in Vellore, or may head back up north when the temperatures go up in March-April, or may decide to go home earlier. John, meanwhile, is watching Thomas during the days and hoping to get some work done on his dissertation during naps, evenings, and weekends.