The next adventure

I should remember to put the pictures on in reverse order but once I start I just keep going. So in from the bottom up I will explain the pictures. The picture from the air is Chennai. Large parts of Chennai are under construction and they are building a sky train to handle their immense transportation problem. Roy Knight picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel which we will be leaving tomorrow on Wednesday. (He will also drive us to the airport.) On Friday we visited one of the orphanages that they run and saw the place and a few of the orphans. The half orphans were not there as they had gone home for visits. The picture of the couple were the parents who looked after the orphans. During the day most of the orphans go to school, so they just need to have a place to be fed and clothed and a place to sleep at night. Laura and Shelby wanted to take this group of girls home, I think! Roy's grandmother is sitting beside twin girls. The last picture is of the twin girls when they were abandoned near Roy's mom's home. They were wrapped in newspaper and when Janet (Roy's mom) took them to the hospital to have them checked, the hospital staff called them Janet one and Janet two. The doctor pronounced that they would not live but Janet adopted them and they are alert and happy three olds today. Their names are Keisha and Jasmine.

Visit with the Benjamins

You may not recognize the people in the picture of a family at the top, but it is actually a picture of an old photo of the Benjamin family: Samuel, Miriam, Pon, Paul, Mano, Ebenezer.

The picture from the air is Madurai, the small city where the Benjamins live.
The chapel is at the old folks' home. The man with the parrot is Kumar, their driver. Daisy is the one doing Ebenezer's hair and Grace is their housekeeper. The coconut palm is part of the view from the rooftop of the house. The eastern style facility is accessible by a stairway to the roof and was handy in an emergency when their regular bathroom was in use. Laura is standing in there living-room. They have a well-equipped kitchen and a large upstairs with for bedrooms plus a bathroom off a meeting room. Ray took the last picture but he had on a fancy chain necklace too.

Samuel and Ebenezer Benjamin gave the Heartwarming team a royal welcome with shawls for Laura and Shelby and decorative chains for Ray and myself. Their driver Kumar was one of the more careful drivers that we have had so far. To the un-initiated a ride on India's roads is difficult to describe. All the stories that I heard from Bob and Sharon pale in comparison to the actual experience. So I won't bother to even try; if you want to find out you'll just have to come to India! Laura was sitting near the door on one trip, and she flinched three times, so I had to comment on her lack of faith. The very next trip I flinched a couple of times because I was sure that there would be a collision. I have since witnessed dozens of near misses with cars, bikes, motorbikes, taxis, trucks, buses, "Tuk-Tuks" coming within an inch of each other and no accident has resulted. One time though when our driver was pulling off the road to the left and a cyclist who was going toward us the wrong way, didn't notice that we were pulling off the road and hit the mirror with his elbow and bent it inward on its swivel. He also banged into the side of the van a bit, but he kept on cycling so he probably wasn't hurt too badly. By the way, a "Tuk-tuk" is a slang term for a three-wheeled taxi that will comfortably seat two people but often will have six passengers!

The Benjamin's fed us and gave us rooms and Samuel gave us a tour of the old folks' home for the poor that Ebenezer has been looking after. She was not able to come with us due to the fact that a first cousin of hers died and she was obligated to go. She did make it home that evening and we were able to visit a bit with her then. It was a great blessing to be able to visit with them and see their medical clinic and their home for the elderly. The Benjamins are a great inspiration and their dedication and hard work was an encouragement to us. Mano, you were correct...we were treated to some great southern Indian hospitality!

Trip to Agra

There were many interesting things to see on the four hour drive to Agra. Part of the road was very rough with pot holes, narrow passage and broken pavement. But other places the driver got up to a speed of 100 km/hr for short distances. Some of it was four lane divided highway. There were many ways that people traveled and the first picture shows a family and goods on a cart pulled by a bicycle.
We first went to the Taj Mahal which is breathtaking in its magnificence. Originally some of the inlay in the marble contained jewels like diamonds and rubies, and other precious stones by over time with many invasions these were removed. The holes left have been restored with plainer stone which still gives one an idea of the opulence of the place.
We next went the the Agra Red Fort and inside was a temple area where the emperor would hold court with all the nobles standing politely around. We were only able to walk around 25% of the fort since the rest of it is an active military base for the Indian army.

Message from Delhi

We met with a Paite nationality congregation at 2:00 pm. The service lasted about 3 hours and later we were invited to visit in the home of Khatchin and his family. We had tea which consisted of a glass of water, almonds, cashews, bananas, boiled eggs, papaya, digestive cookies and, of course, tea. We finally got back to our hotel about 7:30. And we plan on being up early to leave by 5:30 for a four hour drive to Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. We watched a video that Paul Benjamin had produced to promote his parents care home in Southern India where we will shortly visit.






The parrot was a bird that the Khatchin family found in their yard and it couldn't fly so they took it in. The next picture is of the Khatchin family with the four team members. Someone throws buckets of wheat on a boulevard for the pigeons to congregate in this way. The next picture shows the ubiquitous yellow and green taxi. A major gas filling station chain is called Indian Oil. Brick-workers carry the bricks on their heads. Seven rows of traffic can be squeezed out of four marked lanes. Women often ride side-saddle on the back of motorcycles. And the last picture of Ray busy in his office...the hotel room.