south india here we come.

well, tonight marks the beginning of an interesting adventure.
with four team members and three bengali staff in tow we'll set out for south india for the next week.
painfully early tomorrow morning we'll be flying to bangalore to visit a childrens home and then jumping on a train to chennai to visit the WMF projects there. a home for kiddos with HIV/AIDS and a home for disabled kiddos.
and then, a 30 hour train ride back to good ol k town.
i know our staff are excited about the trip...none of them have flown before and travel isn't a dream they entertain either.unlike me, always planning where i'll go next.

so anyways, south india here we come.
they won't know what hit em...

in other news, its amazingly hot here. yesterday 104. w/lots of humidity. i've never loved cold water...or cold diet cokes quite as much i do here. even if it only lasts the few seconds when you pull it from the fridge.
we've also had a number of things happen in the gach with different girls. i'll try to be brief...

*our friend w/HIV continues to work the line, we are still working to get her two sons into a good boarding school. the other night on our way to small group we saw her working on the main road and stopped to talk for a few minutes, she pulled us aside and told us to get close to jesus and pray for her. incentive to pray, i sure think so...

*another girl we know has visited freeset with us (freeset is another business in the sonagachi area that employs women from the trade) however she's battling not staying because her mom won't let her leave the trade. her family lives off the money she makes working the line. the first day she went to freeset she snuck out without her mom knowing but she later told us she is so scared of her mom that she won't be able to leave. however freeset is willing to work with her and help her slowly leave the oppressive hand of her mother. please pray for this precious one, who doesn't believe she has any right to her own dreams, desires, or love.

*we have a friend who is the grandson of the owner of one of the largest brothels in sonagachi. a horribly dirty and oppressive nepali brothel. where four to five women share a room and swing a curtain across their bed when a customer comes. our friend is such a sweet compassionate boy and we're learning so much about the other side of the trade...from the owner's perspective. he studies in london on the backs of these women. but there's an element of shame that covers the red light district whether you're a girl on the line or the owner of the biggest brothel...not even our friend can tell people where he lives. and after talking with him we realize just how deep the roots of the sex trade go...and how surface level we are sitting...

well, anyways, thats enough for now. please pray for our trip to south india, and my translating skills for our bengali staff. yikes!

peace.
oh and if you want to know more about freeset i think you can see it on
www.freeset.com