For God and Country

When I was a little boy, my sister, Betty, taught me more than any teacher ever did. Why was this? I had no inhibitions telling her I didn't understand. Children are reluctant to   tell teachers that. Besides children who have just learned something --say fractions -- remember how that knowledge made a painful, 'bloody entrance' into their minds! So they are more patient than teachers who have forgotten that!
So at SASAC older sisters and brothers teach the younger. It works like a charm. Robin is delighted to share his knowledge with Sweta and Minu. Sharing is what love is all about and we like to think SASAC is 'A school of Love'.

Few tragedies are sadder than abandoned children. Just after birth Pravin and Pravina  came to us with their mother. This photo was taken on their 3rd birthday. When I saw it,  it filled me with delight. Later it filled me with anguish. Their mother left them. No one can make up for mother, but our SASAC family comes close. Our twins can never doubt they are loved. Our SASAC family from the youngest to the oldest heaps affection on them -- 'pressed down, shaken together, flowing over'. What do the poor get at SASAC? Food, clothing, yes. But above all they get love. Don't be hard on their mother. Pray for her. When she was a baby her mother abandoned her.

Of all Hindu feasts the most beautiful is 'Divali'! That night it's as if stars had fallen down on our mountainsides. Little 'Deeps' (oiled wick lights in tiny clay saucers) twinkle all around. Since we Christians believe Jesus is 'The light of the world' we join our Hindu     brothers and sisters in celebrating this feast of joy. For me 'Divali' is symbolic. Most of India's people are plunged in the darkness of poverty. I pray that the little poor children we are helping develop all their talents, and their capacity to love will return to their villages as 'Little Deeps' dispelling the gloom of poverty and want and bringing the light of joy and self-sufficiency.