We have just spent five days in a tribal village Peddammapparam; we were dreading it! But it turned out wonderfully. We stayed in the living room of the superintendant of a Child Development Centre. A little congested with two extra beds in there. I got the "table" bed, PR the webbing one. No pillows or bedding. We had such a good time though.
Most of the people worked in the fields, others spinning cotton or hand weaving. (PR had a go, but much trickier than it looks, luckily he only did a couple of rows so didn't spoil a long length of cloth.) We spent time in their homes, all faiths asked us to visit. We walked crocodile style with the children to school, but it caused uproar when we got there, so spent time watching from a window. We were able to go on three walks to the nearby lakes (tanks where their water comes from) watch the sunset & saw water snakes swimming . We walked back with the field workers & the buffaloes. We were given many gifts of groundnuts. A games afternoon was declared & we got to organise the games- just like being back at Moat school back in Gloucester. PR played badminton, but the one shuttlecock didn't last long.
The last morning we had to leave at 6.00am for a two hour auto ride back to Dornakal for the delayed re-dedication of the Epiphany Cathedral. It took 3.5 hours with a massive breakfast stop and we arrived as the two drum bands & dancers were warming up – I still had to struggle into my sari! I get lots of help with it, but it takes longer the more people are involved. PR had to give "Greetings from Gloucester", the first of many tributes made to the work, and to the people who had done it.
We spent a long day at a tribal hostel yesterday after preaching at the 7.00am service, I was then asked to preach in the afternoon, would have been easier if I had kept notes or a Bible with me. The days are getting hotter, 36 degrees C in the church yesterday. The plan is, at the end of next week to spend a few days in Hyderabad, leave one bag there and then go on to Bangalore for a month, staying at the same place I was at before; then travel. Plans here get altered almost without notice, and we are not quite used to it yet!
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