When you feel called .....

This is it!!! I am about to set off on a trip of a lifetime!!!! Time to stop procrastinating, put aside the fears and doubts, and take a step of faith. I have just come back from a group missions trip to Bangladesh and India, and in early March am off on a ten month global trip flying solo. Volunteering in Asia, exploring Europe, helping out in Africa, visiting family in USA, and volunteering in Guatamala. It's going to be a full on year, but will be one to remember forever!!!! Definately one for the memory book, and what better way to keep a record, stay connected with family and friends, and share those experiences, than to have a travel blog. So all those interested in my comings and goings, check out my travel blog from time to time. I can't promise to update it all the time; some places I am going to are remote, but I will endeavour to add to it when I am able. So look out for my encounters, share my thoughts, view my photos and stay connected as I journey overseas in the next chapter of my life.......

Farewell Imphal

It's time to say goodbye to all the new friends we have made in Imphal.  It has been a good thing coming to India, and meeting people we partner with to make a difference in their part of the world.  To experience their way of life, be a part of the work they are doing, and to encourage them in their faith has been incredibly meaningful and enlightening.  The gratefulness they expressed at the simple words we spoke and the testimonies we shared brought home the need we have,  to be people who are prepared to step out of our comfort zones and be a generation of givers - whether it be time, money or prayer.  A little to us, means a whole lot more to them, and what a difference it can really make.  Yet the little they have, they share so willingly.  A people humble and reserved in character, yet proud of their heritage and commited to winning their tribe to Christ.  We can learn so much!!

Farewell Imphal .. see you again sometime...

Just plumb tuckered out...I mean it is 4.00am gotta get some sleep sometime!!

So, come join me on my next adventure in March, when I begin a fresh new chapter .....

The sights of Imphal and surrounding district

With the opportunity to travel to neighbouring villages to meet and share with the local people, we were humbled by their hospitality, gifts and welcoming smiles.  Our hosts picked us up each day, drove us around and accommodated us in every way possible. 

In the outskirts of the city of Imphal, suddenly you come across an........oxen and cart???

Street out of the city centre

Outside the markets



In a village home - the art of making a Meitei skirt, done on a hand loom, a common form of income for women



One of the village homes we visited and shared in, with all their neighbours



Mustard fields



Selling fish at the market



The Meitei children in North East India




In the hills overlooking the plains

 

Welcome to Imphal, North East India

Back to the airport, through all the multiple security checks before finally boarding our Air India flight for Imphal, Manipur, North East India.  With the noise the plane made for the first 5 minutes of the flight, we were thankful it was only an hour away!! The flight attendants didn't look worried, so we guessed it was ....normal???? 
Got through the airport checkpoint okay, and walked out to see our Imphal friends' big smiles.  They were happy to see us, and looked after us well!!

Tomba and the team

Sightseeing in Imphal



View from the hotel  balcony window



New Friends





Me speaking in my meitei outfit

Farewell Kolkata

Well, three days has passed, and it's time to pack our stuff up again and head off for our next destination.  Kolkata has certainly been an eye opener, and made me incredibly thankful for infrastructure our country has in place; providing us with fresh running water, safe and secure electricity, clean, rubbish free streets, rules for traffic on the road, pest and animal control, not to mention sanitation and hygiene regulations.  Things we believe are "normal" and our "rights", but really, what a privilege and a blessing they are.

Here in Kolkata, you get a new perspective on humanity, and what life is like for so many people.  To see the maimed begging in the streets, the homeless squatting on the sides of the road many with their children in tow, and the endless stalls manned by people who have so little who are just trying to make afew dollars to feed their families.... I guess it makes you question your own value system........what is really important????

Welcome to Kolkata, India

It's touch down again, another country but familiar smells, sounds, people and traffic!!! But hello, we have yellow taxis, dogs lying around everywhere, and crows galore!!

Spent a couple of days visiting various tourist spots like Victoria Memorial Hall, the Indian Museum and Mother Teresas House, as well as catching up with Alannah at Freeset.  What a fantastic ministry, providing women with employment to get them out of prostitution and able to provide for themselves and their families.  So if you see a jute bag or teeshirt labelled Freeset, buy it and support a fantastic initiative helping and supporting women to help themselves!!!  The Baptist Missionary Society was a great guesthouse to stay and meet people from all over the world who were doing volunteer work amongst the poor of Kolkata.  And cheap too!!

Victoria Memorial Hall - history of British influence



Can you believe it?  We found a Pizza Hut... and it was YUM!!

Cows in the street?  In the City?  Yep., that's right!



The automobile shop area

Rooftop view over Kolkata residential

The streets of Kolkata

Farewell Bangladesh

And so we experienced Bangladesh; with all it's poverty, lack of public amenities that we so take for granted at home and crazy traffic conditions where millions of people battle to get to their destinations as quick as they can!!  We were awakened each morning at 5.30am with the Muslim call to prayer, reminding us of a nation immersed in a religion so foreign to us, yet a people so hungry to learn and humble to receive.  We were thankful for the fantastic hospitality of our hosts and the care they took of us, for the vision they shared with us, and the passion they so obviously have for the work of the Kingdom.  Bangladesh; a country poor in living standards and possessions, but rich in colour and dignity, devout in faith and generous in hospitality.