Have escaped Bangkok and the red shirts but have discovered the infrastructure of India instead. Finally we have found an internet connection albeit slow. In Kolkata there was an internet cafe around the corner but they work from 10 till 7 so we were always gone for the day before anything was open.
Freeset – so many beautiful young women being set free from “standing in the line”. Our driver found this down a alley way somewhere in Kolkata. The biggest impact was listening to a woman tell her story of being sold into prostitution at 13 years old.
Kolkata is big, dirty, poor, crumbling, noisy, chaotic. But we were hosted outstandingly by Jamie Stewart (Andrew’s brother) and his two co workers. The traffic has to be experienced to be believed.
Right now we are in Dimapur – find that on a map and heading for Kohima tomorrow. We went to church in Sangtumtilla this morning (you will not find that on a map) - and then spoke to some villagers who are being assisted by a programme here to boost their incomes and economic independence with a Brighthope project. They are really concerned about the education of their children and being able to meet those costs – and we are talking about $NZ 1 – 200. It really starts to put a different perspective on life and what we value.
A quote from Freeset was we often think that the poor need the rich but in reality the rich need the poor to teach us some lessons on what is important. That is one thing I will take from this trip.
Geoff
