Walking With the Poor - Notes From the Field

MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO INDIA

November 5 - 17, 2006

“Sponsors do a tremendous service for the children, families, the staff.”

Each fall we have the privilege of spending a few weeks with the CFCA communities in India and the Philippines. This time—November 2006—we have a traveling community of 21 sponsors for the Mission Awareness Trip to India, accompanied by four CFCA international staff. As we travel to far-reaching regions of India, we will be led by teams of CFCA co-workers. Following the Mission Awareness Trip in India, we will participate in The Fifth Regional Conference of CFCA Co-workers in Chennai (Madras). We will then continue on to the Philippines for the 8th Annual Conference of CFCA Philippine Projects.

About India

India, geographically the seventh largest country in the world, has a population second only to China—at just over 1 billion people.

Technically illegal, but still practiced, the caste system is predominant in most of rural India. Land is increasingly under the control of a handful of rich landowners while the majority of workers labor for very low pay. The average family fights a constant battle against poverty. Most sponsored members of CFCA are from the lower castes.

CFCA in India

India is one of CFCA's largest program countries. Most of our projects are located in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the southern part of the country. Because of overcrowding, lack of sanitation and lack of awareness, illness is prevalent. CFCA helps with medical care, health/hygiene classes and regular physical/dental checkups. In some projects, families are given loans to set up self-employment projects such as dairy farming, cottage industries and small shops.

Child labor is a big problem in India. In order to ensure that children go to school and have a place to study, many religious orders run boarding schools. Otherwise, impoverished parents send their children to work in the fields or factories. Sponsorship funds are used for tuition, room and board, uniforms, school supplies, shoes and lunch programs.

Kolkata—Calcutta

This day could be called Mother Theresa Day. We started with Holy Mass at her tomb. Mother’s simple room on the second floor of the convent near the chapel speaks volumes about her values.

Our group was able to visit the orphanage run by the Missionaries of Charity, the world-wide congregation founded by Mother Theresa in 1950. The smiling Sister in charge explained that at this moment they have 48 children in the orphanage. Many children are given in adoption, especially to qualifying couples in India and Europe.

From Bhalgalpur, we headed out in several vehicles to visit subprojects in places with names like Siktia, Damruhat and Phulvaria. Along the way we stopped to visit a sponsored child, Sukurmuni in Subproject KBR. Her sponsor is Linda Schummer. The girl is blind and is becoming increasingly paralyzed. She read from her Braille notebook for us and sang a beautiful Hindi song. Please remember her in prayer. I believe that musical expression will take on an ever-increasing importance in her life.

On these trips, the sponsors do a tremendous service for the children, for their families, for the local staff and for the project in general. The CFCA staff organizes things in such a way as to reach out and touch maximum number of children.

Mosquito nets welcome

In this malaria-ridden area, we welcome our mosquito nets at night. We have been true pilgrims on this trip, never sleeping in the same place twice. It’s hard to describe our beds. Most often, they have been basically wooden planks, with a mattress oh so thin…how thin…ask my bones.

The phrase “The glory of God is the human person fully alive” takes on real meaning in our gatherings for sponsored children, youth, aging, families, sponsors and CFCA co-workers.

God's blessings,

Bob Hentzen
Nov. 21, 2006