Road map

The next 3 months see us involved in 5 major events which intersect with the daily work of caring for people with HIV. Buckle up and lets hit the road!

1. The EMFI National Conference (2-5 Oct). The Evangelical Medical Fellowship of India holds a big conference every 2 years. This time it will be in Gurgaon. We are sharing about our experiences here in Thane and challenging young (and hopefully old too) medicos to serve people with HIV. Would be great to have a couple join us too! What a joy! Thanks to the generosity of Bethany Trust we will be able to participate in the conference - and be back in time for Asha's first day of her final exams of the term on the 6th of October!

2. A regional training for churches in HIV care (9-12th of October D.v.). Our first venture out of the city - to Bhusaval in rural Maharashtra. I will be going with 4 others from the JSK team to do this 4 day training for church leaders which is being hosted by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. We are hoping to share our experience with quite a wide range of folk in that area and from beyond. So many churches have people with HIV and end up just sending them away because they do not know what to do with them.

3. Philip Yancey meeting in Mumbai (Nov. 27th). Philip will be speaking on injustice and reconcilliation - something very, very timely with the Orissa pogrom still going on. We are arranging for a one-night meeting at St. Andrews Hall in Bandra.

4. Mumbai AIDS Sunday. We have been involved with CORINTH (the network of Jesus focussed NGOs and churches working on AIDS in greater Mumbai) and want to see more and more churches focus action/prayer in ministering with people with HIV as part of their obedience to God. Mumbai AIDS Sunday - held on the Sunday closest to World AIDS Day (this time it is the 30th of November) - is one such avenue.

5. The Youth Against AIDS festival: YAA Fest 08. Working with the slogan of Say YAA to Truth! we have the daunting task of putting together a full-fledged festival on Dec. 6th in Central Mumbai. We have less than 3 months to go before the throngs of young people start pouring in!

Needless to say - we feel tired just thinking of all of this - but we know that we serve a Lord who helps us in our weaknesses and limitations. TGBTG (To God be the glory)!