Sanjay

Yesterday we had the great privilege of meeting Sanjay the 10 year old boy we have been sponsoring through Compassion. He lives in a fairly grim slum in North Delhi which looks like the trash and transport capital of Delhi with a massive mountain of waste 100 times the size of the one at Crittals Corner, smoking away and casting a pall of smoke and dust over the surrounding area. It was teeming with rag pickers, goats and vultures - and no doubt rats. Across the road was a large shanty town of temporary shacks - homes made of tarpaulin roped together which must be dire in the rainy season.

Sanjay and his family are struggling with the serious illness of his father who is in a coma in the local government hospital following surgery for brain tumour. His mum has rarely been allowed out of the slum and is unable to work to support the family. So the future for the family is very uncertain as they may lose the main wage earner and there is no welfare state to fall back on. Sanjay has 3 younger brothers, the oldest being Rahul aged 8 who is a bright spark. He recently took his mum on a 1.5 hour double bus journey to see his dad in hospital and remembered the two buses numbers and where to change buses, and which floor his dad was on.

Sanjay is relatively shy but has a lovely nature and engaging smile. This is a selfie taken by him!

We started off meeting the Compassion team then Sanjays schoolmates. Sarah was once again a star leading them in action songs and we rehashed acting out the Good Samaritan story again. Next time we come we'll be a bit better prepared with a activities (Jerry Nelson we need you!).

From there we went to Sanjays house to meet his family - again all gorgeous kids with a large extended family of cousins. Once again we were touched by the hospitality and generosity of people who have very little. The day ended with ice cream and praying for Sanjay and the work of the Compassion team who have been faithfully working in this community for 15 years. 

The state school operate a shift system with girls in the morning and boys in the afternoons. Compassion supplement this with extra lessons and a square meal at lunchtime to ensure adequate nutrition for the children who have been selected for support as they are vulnerable to malnutrition.

So reflections on India... It is a rapidly developing country, the whole of which seems a massive building site. The two things most widely advertised are cement and mobile phones. Standards of sanitation and the transport infrastructure have improved hugely since we were last here. The Delhi metro is a pleasure to use and far better than London Underground. You can now eat ice cream and not fear Delhi belly nearly as much - although I would still avoid street food unless it was freshly cooked in front of me.?

A consequence of all this development is a rapidly growing middle class. There's a shopping mall near us with almost identical shops - and prices, as Bluewater. The gap between rich and poor is huge and getting wider and much more obvious in Delhi as rich gated communities exist right next to slums rather than the poor living in ghettos miles away. The caste system and the position of women in society is very slowly changing. Community health volunteers we met talk with pride of no longer having to cover their faces and being listened to with respect. However in the villages the pace of change is very slow and will probably take more than a generation. People in Delhi talk quite openly about the bus rape tragedy and people we've spoken to welcome discussion as necessary for a change in attitude - although we have probably spoken to the more enlightened. We met a delightful young women called Usha who translated for me in a couple of clinics who grew up in a slum, did well at school and through Asha who had great struggles persuading her dad to allow her to have an education. With the covert support of her mum she succeeded and has now graduated at university and is one of the stars of Asha's student ambassador program.

 It is still a country of great spirituality, generosity and hospitality. Many times we have been humbled by open hearts and homes from people of all walks of life. Sanjeev and Anita who run the Grace Home guest house deserve particular mention for going way beyond the call of duty keeping the fridge stocked with beer, taking us out to concerts, inviting us for meals. So too do Paul and Maliki parents of Anurag who organised our program at Asha brilliantly; they had never entertained westerners before and were so anxious to please and make sure we enjoyed our time with them. So too do numerous slum dwellers and community health volunteers who opened their homes to us.

Definitely major lessons for us to take home with us. In fact so many experiences, friendships, and lessons that will take time to digest. the great thing about having a sabbatical is that we will have time to do this. So with some sadness and fantastic memories we are leaving Delhi- on to Bangkok for the next leg of our adventure.