Choose your own Adventure Day...

Today was Adventure Day. Instead of going to the hospital like we normally do every Friday we met in the morning and prayed together seeking ways of how we can bless the city of Hyderabad. We had a couple different ideas so some people stayed back and made no-bake cookies and then delivered them to the staff at the hospital, a few people went and had lunch with some beggars on the street, two people stayed and cleaned up around the compound where we live cleaning up the mound of trash at the end of our hall, and the rest of us went to Charminar which is the most famous mosque in Hyderabad that was built sometime in the 1500s. I was one of the four people that went to Charminar. We arrived in the early afternoon, Beth and I, in one bajaj and Rachel and Louise in another. A woman immediately approached us with a child strapped to her hip who was asking for money. After fighting for the 10 Rs change the driver tried to short me I handed it to the woman and child and we were on our way. We met up with Rach and Louise and decided to start by just walking around the mosque and praying out prayers individually as they came to us. We then went into the mosque paying 100 Rs each and started the climb up one of the pillars. It was pretty amazing. We got to the top and walked around to each side of the mosque and prayed out over the city in each direction. It is crazy how a city can look so different from all four sides, four distinct views. From every view you were faced with the harsh realization that there is a vast amount of poverty in this city and in this nation; poverty that you couldn’t escape even if you tried. So how do we fix it? You can’t give money to every beggar who approaches you, it’s impossible, would leave you broke and wouldn’t solve the greater problem. At some point people have to take it upon themselves and rise up out of the poverty in which they sit. Yes, I do believe that here in India the caste system plays a role into it all, but the will of man is greater than any caste that you are born into. Isn’t it? The sad part is that I think the issue of poverty won’t ever go away. So long as the “woe is me” spirit hangs over these people, it wont ever go away no matter how much money we throw at it.
Anyways, we decided to go back after looking through to the other side of the mosque and seeing that the sky was painted black and rolls of thunder were heard in the distance. Rach and Louise went back to the Catholic guest house we are staying at and Beth and I went to buy fruit for the team at the local fruit market that we viewed from atop the mosque. We hurried our way through the stands and got what we needed, all throughout being asked for money by women in rags of clothing with the occasional child on her hip. One of the last women who asked us was the same woman who we gave the 10 Rs to when getting out of the bajaj. Beth turned to her and said something along the lines of, “this is no way for you to raise your child! Give her a better future than the one you are making for her now and send her to school. This isn’t the kind of life she deserves.” I couldn’t have agreed more and I added a few comments of my own. Another woman had come up to us asking for money and food. After purchasing some grapes I handed the child in her arms a handful. The woman grabbed two of the grapes and handed them back to me and walked away. The men at the fruit stand started laughing and saying, “she only wants your money.” What can you do other than feel grieved for the woman and more so for the innocent child that is trapped in a world with a hopeless future?
We left Charminar and headed to the hospital to see a girl Beth had cared for during the week in admissions. She is a 15-year-old girl who was seeking an abortion. No doubt in my mind she was raped and most likely by a family member, perhaps her father. Anyways, we walked into the hospital and went to admissions to check the records to see if she had been transferred to another ward and on our way down the hall Beth spotted her lying on a bed at the end of the hall. We went to her and I saw her frail and fragile body, so skinny I couldn’t believe it. Her cheeks were sunken in, but when you looked into her eyes you saw the beauty of her heart shine outwards. I grabbed some fruit out of the bags we were carrying and asked her to eat a banana because she needs it and is too skinny, of course with a smile on my face showing her that I was being facetious. Her mother quickly was at her side and we exchanged smiles and quick greetings with one another. I could instantly see where the child got her beauty. We made small conversation with the girl after introducing ourselves and she told us that the operation was finished and she would be going home the next day. I asked her if it was painful and she said, “no it was only two months.” She did complain of pain in her back and later we prayed for her and asked for healing not just physically but emotionally as well. I asked her a few questions about her desires and dreams for the future and she told us that she wants to become an engineer. I can’t help but wonder though if she will ever be given the opportunity. Are there too many odds against her? I don’t know, but I hope and pray that someone sees the potential in her that I see and she is given the chance to run after her dreams and make a bright future for herself. We got her number so that maybe before leaving we can take her out and get ice cream and have her teach us how to play cricket (her favorite sport) with her friends.
After walking away from the hospital, I had to ask myself where is the justice in that? Where is God’s justice for what has been done to this little girl? The greatest grievance is in the fact that hundreds of thousands of young girls have been, are in, or will be in the same situation she is presently in. What is that?
That’s what I like to call bullshit.