Slumdogs

We spent the day visiting three local slums, meeting people in their homes and praying with them. The sheer number of people we saw today and the conditions they live in are difficult to describe.

It was truly a visual and emotional overload. Tonight at our team meeting we tried to process what we saw, but it is hard to wrap our heads and hearts around what we witnessed.

At one point a family invited us into their home and five of us stood in a room only a few feet wide and no more than eight feet long. It was so cramped that we could not stand without touching each other. The room was filled with smoke from cooking dinner on an open fire in the room. There was no ventilation and it was very difficult to breathe. It was hot, cramped, and uncomfortable, even for a few minutes. Then the father told us that five people LIVE in this home.

None of us knew what to say (other than "thank you for inviting us into your home"). The five of us could barely stand in a space that five people live in? In America we'd say this room was too small for one person. College dorm rooms are much larger. But here in India a whole family crams themselves into this space every day.

And this was not just one family. We saw row after row after row of homes like this. Home after home, as if the groups of homes would never stop.

One family asked for prayers for their health because many in their home were sick. With such a small living space and everyone in such close proximity disease spreads quickly. Add to that no clean water or sanitation, and no access to medicine or a clinic, and it is easy to see why everyone gets sick so easily. Here disease kills so many from illnesses that we would consider minor in the US, sicknesses that could easily be prevented or treated. But for the Dalits of India even a cold can be life threatening.

The sheer numbers were overwhelming today. There were SO many hurting, sick, broken people. I've never seen anything like this in my life. We want to do something. We want to help and make a difference. But with so many and such need, it's hard to imagine a solution to this problem. The poverty is simply mindblowing.

Our team is doing well, but we are all exhausted physically and emotionally. I'm now sitting in the dark on battery power because the power just went out where we are staying, which seems like a fitting end to a day that has been so draining.

I'm not quite sure what to do with today. It was overwhelming to say the least. There certainly are no easy answers. But then again, I sure didn't come to India for easy answers.

-MB