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PL833
29th March 2020
India's 1.3 billion people are under complete lockdown in a 3 week effort to slow the spread of the virus. It is serious times; prison sentences of up to 2 years are being handed out for those who do not comply, even those who are caught hoarding!
The order came in overnight for the lockdown - hundreds of thousands of people have been left stranded in states that are not their own. With no public transport, reports are flooding in of people walking hundreds of kilometers to get to their homes.
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A migrant worker carries his son as they walk almost 500km to return to their village, during a 21-day nationwide lockdown. Photo by Danish Siddiqui.
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Clifton was placed in the thick of it Wednesday when he was put in contact with a 23 year old Canadian student who was trapped in the mountains. With the lockdown in place, she was not able to stay in any hotel and was trapped in a town she did not know with people who did not speak her language. Given no other option, the young woman spent one night on the street before managing to buy a secondhand tent. After two nights in the tent, and some help from Clifton, she was able to get into a hotel.
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The empty road outside our gates, normally a bustling highway of activity.
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We are relieved to report that we are all still well here on the mission. With the knowledge of how difficult things are for so many others, we have nothing at all to complain about. Over a dozen past kids have come back to the mission to wait out this storm. Life is continuing at something that resembles normal - though perhaps a little slower than our usual pace. We can't really go outside the gates, but God has blessed us with a beautiful big compound. We have so much to be thankful for. Here are a few photos from the last fortnight - as we missed many last week.
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Job, back on the farm, had the boys out helping him break up the weedy ground in the orchard.
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Our mango trees always do better if they are given a little extra care.
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Rampal giving some water to the flowering mango tree.
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The bees were enjoying the mango tree's flowers.
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Pinky received some art supplies from friends in Australia.
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It was a chance to try her hand at new mediums and methods.
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We can't wait to see what she comes up with!
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Of course it's not all art for Pinky, she still has her daily duties. This week it was washing the dishes.
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Seeya had some coriander to wash and cut for lunch's curry.
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Anthea helped chop up the tomatoes.
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Reeva made sure there was hot chai for everyone.
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Sareena made sure the whole Dining Room was mopped and ready.
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Outside the kitchen - Sabrina, Kelly, Maya and Kushboo washed the freshly butchered meat.
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Peter, excited to have gone on his weekly ride with Uncle Benny to the butcher.
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Joey, ever vigilant in keeping our pathways swept clean.
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When the knowledge of the curfew came out, Donald jumped on his bike and rode home from Delhi, reaching us before the lockdown came into effect.
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Kamal is here too and was happy Donald brought his motorbike.
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Naresh also came back - looking as handsome as ever!
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Angel and Naresh just messing around.
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Enoch also made the long ride from Delhi to be here at home.
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Ikindar is here too!
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Reena, Jyotika, Sabithri, Sabrina and Debbie just hanging out.
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Roshni and Cynthia found a nice way to pass the time.
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A little bit of henna artwork.
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Jessica and Niyati just being cute!
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Ayushi returning from a visit to Aunty Josie's room.
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Rick installing a new project that was donated last week.
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Jessica is also back from Dehradun and has been completing her second semester exams online in the office throughout the week.
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Ajay got a new hat!
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Jeff and Aaron take Jeff's dog for a walk.
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Hello Orko.
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The Big Boys Hostel kitchen.
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Parwat and Clifford are back home too!
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After a nasty poke from some rusty barbed wire, Raymond needed a tetanus shot from Uncle Rick. He couldn't decide which poke was worse!
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Our "flame of the forest" tree is in full flower and looking beautiful!
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It is easy to understand where this tree gets it's name!
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The rules of the lockdown are pretty simple: stay at home. For most people across India, that can be really difficult. Thankfully for our children, we have been able to find quite a few ways to pass the time. We are allowing our kids to play outside and get some sun between 7 - 10am but after that, everyone is inside.
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Marbles suddenly picked up in poularity among our kids.
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Kamal lining up his shot with all the seriousness of an Olympic shooter.
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Winner takes all.
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Movies have been a good distration. Thank goodness for Netflix!
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All eyes on the TV.
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Slippers lined up outside the door.
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Before the lockdown closed it down, we had a large number of donated parcels arrive through Amazon for our children. One that took us by surprise was 50 kilograms of rocks (yes, regular river stones). While we initially laughed at this, we later came to eat our words as the stones (and the paint they came with) made for a wonderful afternoon for our youngest ones.
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Rock Art kits. Each one contains paint, a brush and some really heavy stones.
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Manisha quickly discovered how fun a bag of stones could be!
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Getting into the art.
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Niyati really loved this activity!
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Aaron wanted to make a Rock Dragon.
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Dylan carefully painted his butterfly.
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Jared painted... well... something.
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They came up with some beautiful designs!
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Don't forget to smile!
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How does that watermelon taste Malik?
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In an effort to help our kids recognize the difficulties that so many are facing during these troubled times, we have made a decision to reduce our daily meals from 3 meals a day down to just 2. We have combined breakfast and lunch into a 10am brunch and then have dinner at 6pm. We hope to be able to use some of the saved resources to help those who struggle to get even just get 1 meal each day.
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Our farm provides so much of our day to day needs, we are so blessed to have it.
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We hope that by reducing our meals from 3 to 2, we can do more to help those in need in our local area.
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Jack helping look after the younger boys.
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The Big Boys enjoying their meal, green chilis are sprawled across the table.
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There is nothing like a home-cooked meal, right Ikindar?
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And so ends our first week of lockdown. What a crazy time we are all going through. We can't say it enough: we are so grateful to God for all the incredible blessings he has given us. For our campus/compound, our farm, our playgrounds, our solar power, our orchards and gardens. We do not for a moment want to take for granted His incredible blessings - nor do we want to forget or abandon those who do not have such luxuries.
Please join with us this week in considering how we all might be able to shine a little love and care into the lives of the less fortunate. Perhaps you can donate to your local soup kitchen, give some goods to a neighbor in need, show kindness in the face of bitterness or donate online to those who are fighting coronavirus on the front lines. There is no better time to love your neighbor as yourself than right now.
Blessing on you,
Rick, Clifton, Eugene & Priscilla
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The setting sun over our wheat crop is a beautiful reminder of the blessings we have here on the mission.
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