Can You believe it? !

This is the 'new home' for some of the people who lived in the Raj Nagar Slum. This Pipe!

Yes, it is true; this pipe has become a place of 'refuge'..

- a cover from the rain...heat...a place to keep the few things that they have,

a place to sleep.

A new home.

We know this man. Often when we came to visit with the people in the Raj Nagar slum, this man whom you see on the picture, used to call us to his home (the one he had in Raj Nagar...before the bulldozers came and ploughed down all the homes...that has now become part of the 'new soil' in the area)to pray for him. I was in a bit of a 'shock' to see these pictures. - Because it is him! Not just a person among many thousands of people, who suffer and is without a proper place to live...but it is him! I knew the situation now for many of the people who used to live in the slum is horrible, but a pipe(!)for a home. Yes, one good thing; it will not be able to blow away by the monsoon-wind, when it sets in, but... Oh Lord, please help these people. Help us to help them! How blessed we are! How blessed I am!!! Here I am sitting, in our small brickhouse in a colony a bit outside of the city of Nagpur, on the bed in our 2bedroomhouse...with cupboards filled with clean, dry clothes, cupboards and dhabbas(boxes) in the kitchen with food, a roof over my head, doors that can close the wind and rain outside, our child has admission in school...where he is right now. I am sitting here writing on the computer and my thought go to the people living in the pipe(!), knowing there are so many other people from the slum having had to find a new home - somewhere... We have gotten hold of many of the people with whom we were so connected with. Some who still live close enough that they are able to come by walk (the fact that they walk, doesn't mean it is very close...) or by bycycle to church on Sunday. Luckily, many of the children (and their family) who use to come to the Day Care Centre we had in Raj Nagar slum (which has also become 'one with the soil') have been 'found', and we are able to continue to follow them up. Except from two children from two families who has moved away. And a school-girl whose situation is very sad...last year her father died. Mother has two children; this girl and her younger sister. The oldest girl got chance to start going to school - for real! But this joy of a girl who might be able to have a brighter future didn't last for long. This year the girl will take no admission to school - on her mothers request. Her mother is pregnant, and wants her girl to stay at home to take care of the newborn baby (yes, after it is born) so that she (the mother) can go to work and earn money to survive the family with food and other nesessities. Such is the situation. It breaks my heart. This girl...she was without hope, received a rays of hope, but the light was dimmed... what now? A future in 'her mothers-shoes'? ... like many others...who without help will still be entangled in this poverty-circle... BUT, there is hope! We believe! God is a Great God; He can do marvelous things; things that we as people cannot even dare to dream of, things we cannot imagine - all for the good of those who choose to put their lives in His care. Let Him live His life through us. It doesn't matter who we are; rich or poor, because He is rich in us. The richness of heart, of Life. He created the whole earth. The earth and all that is in it is His. He made the birds, the mountains, the roary mighty oceans and everything in it, the sky, the universe, everything. He, will lead, guide and direct. He who loves us all so much. He will help. He will help us help eachother. His way. Yes, definitly there is HOPE :) !