Pilgrimage

Its 11.15 PM. The walls of our house are empty. There are cardboard boxes in every room. Some empty. Some full and taped shut and marked with black sketch pen.

We want to know what is where - and will soon be trying to figure out how to fit everything in at a new place.

The Eichers are moving again. It seems barely possible that we would do so. To leave our own home and take up a rented flat. With the hope that we will find people to rent ours.


The reason for our shifting?

Ever since we started work at the Jeevan Sahara Kendra Community Care Center at the Lok Hospital building - we have found our closely choreographed days slowly unraveling.

Asha now starts school at 7.15 AM in the morning - which means she needs to be down at the bus stop at 6.30 AM. Enoch still has afternoon school - so he goes at 12.40 PM. Asha returns at 1.30 PM and Enoch comes back at 6.40 PM. One of us has to be home when our kids are. And so the dance has become stretched and wonky.

Plus this - with the new phase of our work, we are going to be dealing with new HIV positive people who will present to us in a very sick condition - since they are coming to the JSK CCC for admission for complex (and usually grossly untreated) conditions. Sheba already had a night call last week - where she arrived at 8 PM only to find that the poor man had expired already.
With no other doctor in sight - we expect a lot more of this in the time to come.

And so the rather sudden decision to pull up and move. We are shifting from our Happy Valley flat over to an apartment at Lok Upvan Phase 1. We will be a 1 minute walk away from the Lok Hospital building. The children will be 5 mins walk from their school (though I think their Daddy will be dropping them off alot on the scooter).

And so every night over this week we have been packing. Putting things away. Decided on what to keep - what to give - and what to bin. It is good to do this. We sequester so much stuff away. Time to carve out the fat (though most seems to be disappearing into the boxes to be hauled off to the new place...).

In the mean time our new place is getting a painting and cleaning up. The process is (as usual) painfully slow. We go over everyday to see to the workman (yes it is one guy with the occasional side-kick) is doing.

Today we said the classic lines: "You want to move in by Saturday?" As if he had never heard of such an idea. As if we had not been telling him this since he told us 'one weeks time' 10 days ago.

Its only been 2 weeks since we made the decision to shift. And it looks like in 2 days we will (at least we hope to).

There is still more packing and paper work awaiting me before the midnight hour strikes.

Our latest leg of this raggedly grand pilgrimage that we are on together as a family unfolds.

Onwards ever. Backwards never. Or at least not most of the time.

Prayers always accepted on behalf of the Eichers. Strong backs and willing arms welcome on Saturday afternoon too (D.v.).