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India and Nepal

Active ImageAs I write, I sit in a South African prison, not as a prisoner, but as a therapist. . I have only been here an hour-and-a-half but have already spent an hour with my first offender client in the sweltering heat of the group therapy room. It is hard to believe that only three weeks ago I experienced the worst winter the UK has seen in 20 years. 

I decided to come to this prison as the result of a trip a friend and I took to India and Nepal in August 2008. We didn’t plan much of the trip, preferring to “take it as it came.” However we contacted those involved with community projects, such as one of Mother Teresa’s homes in Calcutta.

We initiated the trip out of a desire to discover God’s plans for the next phase of our lives. We both had comfortable lives as teachers in London, but knew God wanted to take us to new places — not knowing where that might be.

Active ImageIt took me one day in India to realize that I love being in a third world county. I love the chaotic passion of the immense humanity, although, admittedly it took some adjusting to. I’d never come across a country that attacks all your senses on so many levels at one time! Nepal was definitely a more peaceful experience combining everything I loved about India but with mountains (I like mountains). It felt like coming home from the first moment I walked out of the airport building.

Both countries opened my eyes to extreme poverty. Growing up in South Africa I saw poverty, but learned to look past it. In India and Nepal, I awoke to see the vast majority of people living in poverty It was quite a wake up call to see once again that the vast majority of people in this world live in state of poverty that we don’t even care to imagine and then find too easy to deny that we have a responsibility towards these people who Jesus called our neighbors.

As a Christian I have something to offer, and not just because it’s what I should say, but what I should do. But to be honesActive Imaget we act as if we have to defend our beliefs, almost as if it is as offensive and ‘intolerant’ as some non-Christians would like to label us to be.  In India there are millions of living, breathing, suffering, loving, living and hating people. These are my neighbors needing to hear and know the Absolute Truth about a living God, who died in their place for their sins so they might have an eternal relationship with Him.

As I listen to the prisoners sing “Hallelujah!” I’m reminded of my Indian and Nepal holiday that changed my life. In six months, when I have hopefully finished my Trauma Counselling Internship I should be back in Nepal volunteering with a YWAM project working with women with HIV/AIDS where these counselling experiences should hopefully come in handy. And so I found that my ‘holiday’ certainly helped me to be able to see my road more clearly!