Goodbye Lydia

One of the blessings of the last 12 years of our work with Jeevan Sahara Kendra is that we have some amazing people coming along to help out.  Lydia Ganta was one of them.

Lydia's parents are Christ-followers who lived in Papua New Guinea and in exotic Chennai - and Lydia attended boarding school at Hebron school before going to the UK to study nursing.  After her studies she got a job with the NHS.  At the same time, her friendship with her school mate Sam Ganta blossomed into marriage.

So Lydia put her NHS job on hold and came back out to India.  After many years in the Gulf, Sam made a foothold in Mumbai - and so after their marriage Sam and Lydia set up their first home in Vasai - a hefty 1 hour bus drive away from Thane.

Eight months ago Lydia joined JSK as a volunteer nurse.

For eight months she has come 4 days a week.  By bus. Arriving before the 9 AM prayer time we have.  Leaving at 6 for the long bus ride back.  Taking night duty when needed.

Eight months have passed in a flash.

Last week we said good-bye to Lydia and Sam.  Sam's visa is through and they are off the UK.

In the morning Lydia shared in our prayer time.

As a team we meet each morning from 9 - 9.30 to ground ourselves for the day by a short time of worship, followed by a time of sharing God's word and then prayer for our Positive Friends and for each other as we plunge into the day.

Being Lydia's last day it was appropriate that she shared.

Then at noon we gathered as a team for lunch and a send-off time.   Priorities (and Sam being still on the bus) demanded one thing.  Lunch first!

It's been a while since we had a proper JSK staff pot-luck.  Well there was no luck here - and lots of pots - of superb food.  This had nothing to do with chance - completely pre-ordained - even a cheese cake for crying out loud!

But more than food - this time was about thanking.  Thanking God for Lydia.  Thanking Lydia and Sam for their time with us.  Being glad to see one chapter of their lives over and a new one beginning.  Expressing our sadness at their going - and gladness at who they have been with us.


And so this chapter ends.

We will remember Lydia for her gentleness and grace.  Her willingness to serve.  Her hard work at learning Hindi - which she ended up speaking pretty decently.  Her never-complain-about-the-long-bus-ride-to-JSK attitude.

We wish we could have seen more of Sam - but that's the way the cookie crumbles.  We were blessed to have him along on the JSK staff retreat this year and he won everyone's heart with his fresh candour and love of life.

As our friends take wing on the 19th of this month and head over to 'Blighty'  we wish them all God's blessings and joy.

We would love to see you back Sam and Lydia! 

A rest day

With the kids getting the bus to Bombay Scottish at 6.50 AM each day - we parents have to get up by 5 AM latest.  Read Bible - make tea - get uniforms ironed and ready - pack tiffins - wake up kids - feed not-so-hungry mouths - fill water - tiffins into bags - are the shoes polished - pray - kids out the door - wait for bus - off they whoosh towards their 8.20 school start!

So the alternate Saturday when this doesn't happen - and we don't need to be at work at 8 AM is a sheer joy.

Today was such a day.  Only woke up when the lady who takes the garbage down rang the bell since our bag was not outside.

And so with sleeping kids well after 8 AM - there was the leisure of the morning cuppa while reading the Good Book.  And then a plan to make waffles bubbles up.

Idea was good - but sadly the iron decides to eat the waffles - two attempts and two scraping offs later... the waffles turn into pan-cakes!

In the mean-time Sheba gets a call from the centre.  A patient has come.  She says she hopes to be back in an hour.

She is back at 3 PM.  So much for a rest day.

A woman with a low haemoglobin came for admission.  We had given her a blood transfusion earlier and asked her to get a bone-marrow sample done at our parent hospital.  She was given an appointment but did not tell us about it. And didn't go for the appointment.

Instead - when she got ill again she admitted herself at a pokey hospital at a huge cost.  Amazingly, the church that Drs. Emmanuel and Mokshaa worship at meets in this building.  They somehow found out that she was there - and told her to come to JSK.

She shows up on Saturday morning - our off day - but Sheba's on-day.  Since everyday is her on day when it comes to sick people.

When she came back I was reading Freedom at Midnight to the kids.  We then switched with Sheba spending some time with Asha and Enoch's homework - and I went shopping for supper.

Mum's spagetti sauce recipe was put to good use by me since we had company tonight - our dear Agnes and Annie Haokip and our JSK intern Elizabeth.

The power went out during dinner, allowing us to bring out the candles!






As Eichers we can't have guests without at least a game.  So we dug out the pictionary and had a whirl.   Then Bible and prayers...

And then Sheba went out with the ladies - over to Jeevan Sahara to see the patients on her night call.

The kids and I got our costumes ready for tomorrow night's match.  We will be wearing Black, Red and Yellow - so you can be sure we are not supporting Argentina to get a 3rd star on their football jerseys!

Sheba came back at 10.30 PM.

Dishes done.  A load in the washing machine.  Hamsters fed.  Kids in bed.

A rest day ends.

Flying visit

We are a global family.  And even in India we all live in different places.  So our heart aches for each other.

So when we heard that Daisy and Ramesh were coming back to India for a month we were so glad.  Not happy for the reason that they came - Ramesh's mother is very ill and on dialisis now because of her failing kidney - but happy-hopeful-sure that we would see them all - especially our littlest cousin/nephew Shofar who none of us Thane Eichers have met yet.

And then came the news that Shofar was not well and that Ramesh's mother continued to be very sick.  And on top of it airfares within the country have returned to the land of the ridiculous. And so the hopes of meeting started to evaporate.

But meet we did.

This was the proverbial 'flying visit.'

The family touched down in Mumbai just before 9 PM on Thursday night.  We were still stuck in traffic on a soggy monsoonal evening.  But by the time we reached the airport it was our turn to wait as Daisy and Ramesh were waiting for a stroller that the airline had said they would get on arrival in Mumbai - but which had been sent off to the International airport.

The long-awaited family emerged from the Arrivals gate at 9.30 PM.   That gave us just over an hour.  A precious hour.  To be together.   The bitter-sweet experiences of transience.


We had earlier hoped to take them to our dear friends John and Nalini's home.  But the impending reporting time of 11 PM was now too close to us.

So we ducked into a temporary living room - local Starbucks cafe - which was blessedly empty.

And so sister caught up with sister.  And cousin met cousin.   Last time Frankie was the oldest cousin and an only child.  This time she still is the oldest one - and a very graceful loving one at that - but has been joined by young Shofar!

Enoch got some Auntie-time with Daisy Auntie!

He certainly has grown since the last time we met as families.

How do you cram catching up on years of separation into just a few minutes?

Well, you start with the basics.  How is school?  What are you studying now?  What is work like?  How are your parents.

It seems unreal to be with your loved ones - and knowing that in just a few minutes they will be whisked away.

But how much better to meet and talk and pray and enjoy each other - than not to do so at all!

And so fortified by coffee and cake and various sandwiches we plunged in and enjoyed each other.

  

For us Thane Eichers, seeing Shofar for the first time was such a treat!

This young man certainly charmed us.

We have not seen him as a baby - only got emailed pictures of his growing up so far - and now here he is - all of four years old.

Shofar is quite an active boy - but here we are meeting for the first time.  He is quiet and a bit withdrawn.

He looks at us carefully, sizing us up.  We also keep darting glances over to him.  Who does he resemble more?  We see sparks of Daisy in him.  We detect parts of Ramesh too.

We have a gift with us.

Shofar shyly takes it.  Being a boy it is opened pretty quickly.  And being a boy it is deployed almost immediately.

In the old days photo-albums would be carted along and opened up.

Today mobile phones do the trick.  I think we must be the last folks on the planet not to have smart phones - but that doesn't stop us from looking into the pictures on those of others!  And so we were taken to Pondicherry to see Ramesh's parents who had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary during Daisy and Ramesh's visit this time.

 And so as the minutes ticked away the conversation swirled.

And then the witching hour came.  It was time for Ramesh family to get into a taxi and head over to the International Airport.

Photo time.

A waiter was pressed into service to get all of us in the frame.

And then there were the two sets of cousins.  How much we wished Shofar and Enoch could have had more time together.  They were just starting to play catch in the Starbucks when we corralled them for this shot. 

And the very same held for Frankie and Asha.

How achingly sad to meet this amazing young woman - and just have the barest glimpse of her personality before we have to say the goodbyes.

Photos done we gathered around for prayer.

And then the short walk out to the taxi.

Enoch and Shofar maximized their time together.

Our joint families walked over to our latest parting of ways.

A last round of hugs.

A request for us to visit the US.

A last look at each other.

When will we meet next.

It's God-be-with-you then.

Adios!

I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.

                   - Tennyson (In Memoriam A.H.H.)

Hospital

We have been running a hospital for the last 2 months now.  Yes. That is right.  A hospital.  A place where sick people are cared for 24 hours a day.  A place that does not shut down.  Ever.

Three years ago we shifted the Jeevan Sahara Kendra from our small clinic to a wonderful facility in the Lok Hospital building when our parent hospital shifted to the greenfield Bethany Hospital.  It took 2 years to refurbish the Lok Hospital building (big thanks to EMMS) and then another number of months to get the team together.

And now it is.

For the first few months of the year, we would admit a person.  And then look after them.  And then they would get better.  And the care centre would be empty again. 

10 new beds.  Gleaming floors.  No patients.

In early April we were joined by a wonderful doctor couple - Emmanuel and Mokshaa and a new nurse - and we thought that we would take off.

But we did not.  The same drip, dribble, drab of the odd person being cared for. And then being discharged.

Now, it must be said that those who were cared for during all this time have been deeply loved by our nurses and doctors.  Though the numbers were low, the care was not deficient by any way.  In fact, we are experiencing something that we have prayed about for a long time - that people get better.  That the Jeevan Sahara Kendra be a place of healing.  That just being admitted at our centre, and receiving love and prayer along with the appropriate medical care - our folks will improve.

We are seeing small signs that this has taken place.  Folks with long-term diahrrea which stops when they are here.  People who have not eaten properly for months, now digging into their food after a day or so of being looked after.

But the question has been, how long can we keep rooms empty?

And so we prayed.  Prayed for folks to come who need help.  Prayed for people who we know to need admission to soften their proud hearts and receive care.  Prayed that we would be bold and admit people who are hard to take care of.

Well, the prayers are being answered.

In May we admitted 9 people and had 48 bed-days of care  (up from 12 or so the previous number of months).

In June we admitted 12 people and our medical team gave 72 bed days of care.  Since may we have not had a single day with no patients.  And what patients.  The majority are suspected or confirmed TB sufferers - with two last month who had multi-drug resistant TB.

Tonight there are 4 people admitted and being cared for.  Sheba went at 9 PM to meet them for her night rounds.  One man had his diarrhea stop today.  A woman keeps vomitting, probably due to her body finding the ART medications hard to take.  Another woman has regained an appetite - but is full of complaints.  The other man - skin and bones and a deep alcoholic - is cheerful.  His fever is gone and he is eating well.  But the cough continues.  Each one is very precious.  Each one has a story and a future.  May we be able to keep caring and rebuilding these precious and complicated lives.

Sheba is the lynch-pin in all of this.  Her calm demeanour and compassionate heart, her medical skills and experience and desire for touching a person from within all work together to help our folks who are admitted take steps forward into wellness.  As her husband, I am in awe of this remarkable woman I have the privilege of having my life twined together with.

We are also so grateful for our nursing team.

Agnes has been our main stay.  Her devotion and hard, unthanked work, have made all the difference.  We are so grateful for her listening to God and serving here with us.

Yerusha has just joined.  Newly married to Daniel we are so glad she is on board.

Lydia, our German volunteer nurse, is doing her last week of care with us before she and her husband Sam move to the UK where she will continue her NHS job there.

Dipali and Sunita, our nurse aides, fill in the gaps. 

Do pray for each one of the JSK Care Centre Team.   Who would have ever thought we would be running a hospital - but here we are!

Two small steps forward

Tonight our volunteer nurse Lydia is on duty - looking after three very sick folks at the JSK centre.

Two of them are married - to each other.

We had talked 2 months ago about Mr. and Mrs. Tamam.

At that point she was admitted at JSK and he was wandering around in a drunken stupor.  Things looked grim.  Very grim.

But it all became even grimmer.  She got fed up of our hospital and demanded to go home.  We tried to counsel, coax, cajole.  Nothing doing.  She was going home.

In our mind it was a death sentence.   A slow suicide.

Over the last 4 weeks our staff have been visiting this family in their hovel.  Both have TB.  Both are lying next to each other weak and emaciated.  But at each visit they refused help.

Their oldest girl had dropped out of school and started working as a maid.  She seems to have taken up with a local young man who does not have a good reputation.  Given the shambles of her home it is unsurprising that she wants someone who says he loves her.

The middle boy stopped school and started going out with his grand mother to collect garbage.

The youngest boy - HIV positive and without sight in one eye because of an accident with an ice-cream stick some years ago - continues in school somehow.

Our JSK staff would come in and report the horrible condition.  All we could do was to continue visiting.  And pray.  And visit and pray.  And visit. And pray.  And pray.

Last week we had Dr. Henry Sunpath from Durban, S. Africa spend a morning with us.  He talked about how he and his colleagues at the McCord hospital had built up a programme for people with HIV where 5000 were being given the free Anti-Retroviral Medications through the US Pepfar programme.  And how 60% of their patients in their hospital were HIV positive.  And how they have also developed a 'step-down' care centre where people too sick to go home are cared for.

He reminded us again of our mission.  To look after the very sick that others don't want to look after.

We have in Mr. and Mrs. Tamam a couple who fit this bill.  And on top of it - they are so tired of life and everything - that they don't want us either.

We did some more praying.  And then tried again.  We told them that we would like them both admitted at JSK for a month.  And that their daughter should be with them to help care for them. 

Mr. Tamam was on it in a flash.  He was desperate to get out of his condition and get better.  She did not want to come.  So we admitted him.  A few days later Mrs. Tamam changed her mind and joined him at our centre.

They are sick.  Deathly sick.  But they are still alive.  As long as they have breath we will try to help them rebuild themselves.

So it goes.  Last month I was sure they would not see July 2014.   We are 4 days into that month and both are still alive. 

Despite their adamant refusal to be helped... we now have both of them admitted at the Jeevan Sahara Kendra.  Our prayers are being answered.  One small step at a time.

Mr. and Mrs. Tamam still have many things seriously wrong with them, and in the squalid conditions they live in.  But they are still alive - and we hope that by getting live-saving and life-restoring treatment at the JSK Centre - they will take 'two small steps' and will develop real lasting change in their lives.

Thanks for walking along with us on this journey.

A very special girl

Every girl is special.

And here is the on-going happy story of one who is very special to us as a family.

Introducing Ruth Netanya!

Last week Ruth came to our home with her new parents - Nagesh and Vasundhara.  We know Nagesh and Vasundhara from Vishakapatnam where they worship together with Amma and Appa.   Nagesh works for the steel plant and they are active in the local Hebron fellowship in Gajuaka - where Nagesh has translated for me into Telegu whenever I have been asked to speak.

Nagesh and Vasundhara have wanted to adopt a child for many years.  Last week it all worked out.  After much prayer we approached the Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission and they agreed to have little Ruth join their family.  The process of applications and the home study by a social worker took some time - and finally the great day approached.

The family drove up from Hyderabad to Kedgaon and the next day, after prayer, this precious little girl was handed over to them.  In keeping with the historic place that Mukti Mission is, the new parents visited Pandita Ramabai's room - which has been turned into a small museum - complete with a life-size picture of Pandita Ramabai.  She may have been small in stature - but was used in remarkable ways and has left a legacy that still continues to resonate.

As new parents - Nagesh and Vasundara did not come alone - with them came Nagesh's father (83 years old!), his elder sister and her husband and their teenaged daughter!  Here they meet Mrs. Saroj who is the main social worker at Mukti, and Mrs. Lorraine who is the Mission Director.

The next day was the court date in Pune where the legal hand-over took place.  And then they decided to come and see us in Thane.  We were thrilled!  And a bit surprised since we had counted on Nagesh and Vasundhara - and suddenly had a happy house full!

What a joy to know that this beautiful girl has a wonderful family to look after her.  That these lovely folks are now parents.  That our prayers are being answered in such amazing ways.

We were thrilled to have Ruth Netanya with us and to be able to pray for this wonderful family.  Hats off to the folks at Mukti and everyone else who has worked to see that Ruth has a home!

During the evening that the family spent with us Ruth just enjoyed playing with Asha and Enoch.  And did they ever enjoy being with her!

Farewell sweet princess.  May Father's love carry you forward to blossom into the woman God wants you to be.  We are so grateful for your parents and know that the Lord will blessing you as you grow up speaking Telegu and receiving love and prayers from near and far!  Hooray!

Among the Angels

"We have a young woman in our church who is sick" said the voice on the phone "can you help?"

That's how we met Nandita (name changed of course).

Nandita's parents are dead.  Both died of HIV.  She is now 24.

The voice was brother George - an elder in a group of house churches that meet in central Mumbai.  Nandita has been part of his fellowship for some time.  She was sick.  Very sick.  The church just did not know what to do.  That day some church members had taken Nandita for admission to the Sewri Hospital.

Nandita has TB.  She is painfully thin.  A private doctor had been treating her and said that Sewri hosptial was the only place for her to go.  And so the church folks took her there.

In many ways, Sewri is a kind of hell.  The only TB hospital in Mumbai that actively admits people with TB, it is overflowing with the very sick.  One hospital for 18 million people.  Needless to say many who come to Sewri leave as corpses.  Painfully lightweight corpses.  Most of the folks who we know who have gone there speak of seeing people die next to them.

Images of Sewri crossed my mind.  Juxtaposed with the beautiful place we are working out of here at Jeevan Sahara Kendra.

"Please bring her to JSK tomorrow" I told the church member "Let's see what we can do."

The next morning Nandita was here.  A slim lady, wearing a green salwar kameez, she was immediately given a mask to wear - which is our normal protocol now for everyone who is a known TB case or is coughing.   Nandita was accompanied by a Nepali lady from her church - and her aging grandfather.  Sheba and the other medical staff examined Nandita and admitted her for care in what is our TB ward - a 4 bedded room with big windows to keep maximum ventilation.

On Sunday evening I shared in the gospel meeting we hold from 6-7 every week.   As I was speaking, I could see a young man wearing our JSK hospital gown and sporting a mask sitting in the back row.

After the meeting I met this young man in the hospital corridor.  It wasn't a young man after all - it was our Nandita.  When I asked her how she was doing, she said:  "I am among angels."

We are glad that Nandita is HIV negative.  A recent test has ruled that out.  But even though she did not get the disease that killed her parents - she is still very much at risk from dying of TB.  We want Nandita to pull through - and to live a life of worth.

We are thankful for Nandita We are very proud of our medical and nursing team who are working hard to care for people who are sick with HIV and TB.  They are putting themselves on the line every single day.   Last night 6 patients were being cared for at JSK.  Our angels are putting themselves on the line - and we are seeing the results!

Soli Deo gloria!