They're Off!

It's 5 am. Ten minutes ago the team loaded up in the van for one last ride to the airport. There were a few half closed eyes, but still everyone was smiling! This was one terrific time together in India. Last night we took some time to talk about the impact that this trip has had on each of us. Honestly, our hearts have been challenged as we've been giving & serving others in need. We've laughed and cried together, and we will never be the same.

My hope is that this trip will impact the way each one of us lives our lives daily!

I head back to Texas later this afternoon, a tad bit tired, but very content. What a worthwhile way to spend 2 weeks!

Thanks for joining us here in Pune & Chennai. Check back again soon to see what Streams of Mercy is up to as we work to connect people & resources with those in desperate need.


Patty

Last Day in Chennai - PACT Aids home

What a perfect way to finish our time here in India by visiting the PACT Aids home here in Chennai today. PACT has been in operation for the last 12 years, reaching families & individuals who are touched by AIDS. They are helping 250 AIDS families all across Chennai.

The 15 kids at the PACT home have a safe place to live, they go to school, and they receive the love & support they need.

Recently a young woman landed on their doorstep with a small baby of her own. A few months before she was weak during her pregnancy, and her doctor gave her a blood transfusion. Sadly, the blood she received was tainted, and she is now HIV+. She has nowhere else to go, so she and her baby are now living at the PACT home.

Our team did a craft project with the kids, and spent some time holding them and playing with them. They loved the glitter in the art project. It's amazing how much fun they can have with paper glue & glitter.

Join us tomorrow as we send Team Norway back home to chilly Norway! This group of 9 ladies have been a terrific group to work with. Thanks to everyone who helped make this trip possible!!

Rescue & Restore - Day 3 Part 2

In the afternoon we loaded up in the bus to head to Rescue & Restore...a home that breaks the cycle of kids growing up on the streets. What an amazing work Freddy & Daisy & their staff do to bring the kids in, offer them a good education, and help them work through the trauma from their lives on the streets. There is a family atmosphere in the home, with the kids calling out "mommy,mommy" and "daddy, daddy" to Freddy & Daisy. The affection they have toward each other creates a wonderful dynamic in the home.

Tonight we had a party for the R&R kids, complete with a delicious meal, singing by Team Norway, and dancing by the kids. Kristina also taught some of the girls how to make bracelets with beads.

We heard some of the children's stories. The stories of how they were living on the streets, being abused and neglected, and how their lives are being transformed at R&R. You can't help but celebrate this place of hope. What an amazing home, and a great group of kids.

Join us tomorrow for our visit to PACT Aids home!

Preschool in the slum - Day 3 part 1

The slum that our friends Freddy & Daisy work in is home to 4000 people. It's a rough place for a child to grow up. Most kids roam freely, are left to fend for themselves, and are abused & victimized. We heard stories of children being left all day locked in a hut with no food, so they began to eat mud and leaves from the hut floor to survive.

Thanks to the tremendous efforts of Freddy & Daisy the little ones now have a safe place to come each day. The preschool is a safe haven, a place to learn, get clean and fed. For these kids this may be the only meal they get for the day. Their parents don't bathe them, so the teacher at the preschool washes them and gives them fresh clothes.

We had a great morning with the kids, singing songs, doing an art project and spending time with them. Team Norway donated some funds to the preschool project for uniforms for the kids and to the medical clinic that Freddy & Daisy run. The clinic is the only health care most of the slum residents receive.

Check back for Day 3 part 2...Rescue & Restore!

Chennai - Day 2 Part 2 - Little Lights, children of lepers

Leprosy seems a disease of the past, but to our surprise we found out there are 54 leper colonies just in the state (Tamil Nadu) that Chennai is in alone.

The Little Lights home sits on the outskirts of Chennai and is home to 34 kids whose family members live in leper colonies. The vision of the Little Lights staff is to take in children who are often neglected or at high risk and give them a loving home, a good education, and hope for the future. Their dream is by 2020 to see these kids become doctors, lawyers, and skilled professionals. Then they can break the cycle of generations of lepers in their families. We heard the story of Joe, who was the inspiration for the start of Little Lights. When he was 2 years old he was found tied to a mango tree by the staff. Each day his parents would go out to beg and leave Joe alone to fend for himself tied to the tree. Today Joe is a thriving 5 year old, going to school, and safe at Little Lights (see picture of the boy in the orange shirt).

Our team did some art projects with the kids, made bead necklaces and did face painting. Just seeing their happy faces made the 3 hour drive worthwhile!

Check back tomorrow for Day 3 in Chennai...preschool in the slum & Rescue & Restore Childrens' home!

Chennai - Day 2 Part 1- new set of clothes for Rescue & Restore Kids

Remember how excited you were when you were little and you got a new set of clothes? Well today our team took 20 kids from Rescue & Restore home to pick out a set of new clothes at the store. The R&R kids have all been rescued from a life on the streets, and placed in a loving home where they have a family that loves them, a good school to attend and the support they need to overcome the difficulties from their past.

Thanks to the donations collected by our Norwegian friends we purchased each one a new outfit. I don't think some of these kids have ever gone shopping for themselves. It was a little chaotic, but there was joy on their faces as they thanked us for the gift of clothes. We'll be going to the Rescue & Restore home tomorrow night, where the kids are going to dress up in their new duds. Look for the pictures on Friday's blog!

America's Giving Challenge: Please Participate on Behalf Of Streams Of Mercy

Our Facebook cause for Streams of Mercy has just entered in America's Giving Challenge, which gives us a chance to win $50,000! To win, between now and November 7th we have to get the most donations to our cause (every person can donate once per day and have it count as a unique donation). We can also win daily awards of $1,000 and $500 if we can get the most people to donate in any 24-hour period. The great thing about this Challenge is that it doesn't matter how much you give, but instead how much you do to encourage friends and family to get involved in our cause. We all need to come together and start promoting the cause if we want to win.

If you are on Facebook, please consider who out of your friends might be interested in donating to our cause.

Here's a few ideas of how you can help spread the word:

1. Put a link to our cause in your email signature (www.causes.com/streamsofmercy), 
2. Throw a party and get people to donate through the cause when they enter
3. Organize other people to go out and fundraise from all of their friends 

As you reach out to your friends be sure to tell them why this cause matters to you. The possibilities are endless so let's talk about what we can do to win on the Wall of the cause or by replying in the comments.
I think we can do it! But it's going to take all of us. Check out the Giving Challenge (www.causes.com), then visit our cause (www.causes.com/streamsofmercy)to see how we're doing so far and get involved.

If we win this, the possibilities of impacting the lives of orphans around the world will be huge!

Let's win $50,000 for our cause!

Chennai - Day 1

Yesterday we flew from Pune to Chennai. Stepping off the plane, we realized right away that Chennai is MUCH hotter than Pune. We got settled in the place we're staying, and this morning had half a day to relax, shop & have a special lunch at "sparky's diner".

This afternoon we loaded up in the van and made our way to a service at a tiny church in the slums. What makes this church so unique is that it was started by a man named Joshua, a boy who grew up on the streets of Chennai.

When Joshua was a boy he was rescued by some wonderful people, Freddy & Daisy, and taken to their childrens' home called Rescue & Restore. Through the years his life began to change. Today, after attending Bible college, Joshua is the pastor of this thriving church of 60 in the slum. He has a heart to reach out and help the people of the slum and offer them hope.

This evening as we sat in a narrow tin hut with a thatched roof, we were amazed at the joy in each persons' face. The team asked each person to write down a prayer or a praise, and then hang them together to create a chain of prayer & praise. It wasn't just the children who enjoyed the art project. The adults got right into it.

For each person living in the slum, life has been hard and painful. One by one people just came up to the team and asked, almost begged, them to pray for them and bless them. Many tears flowed tonight. I think many hearts were encouraged.

What a worthwhile time!

Pune Day 3

There wasn't a dry eye among us today as we spent several hours with the amazing kids from Good Shepherd Homes here in Pune. They sang songs (one very funny one about scratching like a monkey - see the picture), shared their Bible memory verses with us and just simply basked in the fact that there were guests to spend time with.

Thanks to Art for the Nations, a non-profit organization that provides the supplies for people like us to carry art projects to places all over the world, we brought along a fantastic bag filled with art projects.

We had a blast cutting out and decorating a paper chain of people to represent the fact that we are all connected to each other because we're all part of the family of God. We let them know that we care about them and we will be keeping in touch because they are our family!

While we worked we asked them to share the dreams they have of what they would like to do when they grow up. They aren't shy to share. They smile confidently and say "I'm going to be a teacher to poor children" or "I'm going to be a nurse". What a reflection of the time, love and training the staff of GSH have invested in these kids. I find it hard to believe that just a short time ago, each one of them were living on the streets, going without food, begging, suffering abuse and neglect.

The team was so impacted during their time at GSH that they donated $2000 to provide bunk beds for 43 children in the new home that GSH just opened in a neighboring city. The director's wife shed a few tears too as she let them know that just last week the staff had been praying that God would supply all they needed to furnish the new home with beds. Now just one week later our team arrived and gave what they needed. Thanks to everyone who gave in Norway to make this gift possible! 43 kids are going to have beds because you joined in giving. You are making a difference in the lives of many orphans here in India.

Tomorrow we fly to Chennai, so join us for more adventures this week from the other side of India.....

Pune Day 2 - Part 2

After the Red light district we had the privilege of spending a few hours at the Comforter Childrens' home on the outskirts of town. Comforter is home to 28 kids, about half of which are HIV+. It isn't a sad or depressing place, but a home full of love, smiles & peace. The kids sang some heartfelt songs for us, but the best part of the afternoon was the art project we did together thanks to Art for the Nations, a non-profit organization that sends art kits for kids all over the world.

Last March when I visited the Comforter home, there were only 2 staff for 28 kids, due to lack of funds. Today they have been able to add several more staff, but even still the kids don't get tons of one on one time. The kids loved it.

They sat so still as they worked on cutting out the row of "people" that represented the family of God that they belong to. Amazing how much fun can be had with some scissors, construction paper, glitter & glue. Over and over again the words echoed in the room "deedee...deedee (big sister) here". That was when they wanted to glue a piece of glitter on their cut out. We would dab a spot of glue and they would glue the glitter sparkle on. We weren't impatient, though. We savored being there. What a beautiful afternoon enjoying the simplicity of creativity.

The stories of the kids are enough to squeeze tears out of the hardest hearts. Some of their parents have died of AIDS. Others have been abandoned after their parents discovered they were HIV+. They have found a home full of love at Comforter, though. Dr. L loves each one of them like a mother. The kids call her Nahnee, and you can see the mutual affection they have for her, and she for them.

You've got to make a trip to Comforter sometime! You'll never be the same.