friday was 'adventure day.' instead of going to the hospital, we got together and prayed for strategies on how to bless the city of hyderabad. i'll be honest. i was kind of pissed about it when i woke up. but.. i decided that it was actually quite nice to have the option of choosing what to do for the day. i went with a group of 3 other people to a place called charminar - a historic monument and the most famous mosque in hyderabad. it's in the old city - a place packed with ancient buildings and incredible architecture. we went for the purpose of praying, but it was difficult not to be a tourist because of how amazing the views were. The whole time I was wishing I had a good camera to take pictures with.
we walked around the outside of the structure for a bit and then paid the tourist fee of 100 rupees to climb to the top. as you walk from tower to tower you get to see a completely different side/view of the city. it's even possible to see across hyderabad through some of the intense smog and pollution.. we had a really good time of praying and asking God to transform this nation. through every single sector of society, that there would be radical change and that wealth would be distributed more equally between the few rich and majority poor. In the meantime, we had people surrounding us taking pictures and videos as though they had never seen white people before.. worst.
Anyways.. as i've said before, the poverty and overcrowding that i've experienced here is like nothing else.. as soon as we arrived at charminar in our rickshaw, rach and i were immediately 'harassed' by a young mother with a small child asking for money. talk about heart-wrenching... we looked at each other and agreed to give her 10 rupees before walking away. after our prayer time, we walked over to a fruit market area and were once again approached by a number of beggars. another woman, with a newborn baby this time... she was relentless and followed us the entire time. and then, the woman who we had already given money to, came up to ask for money a SECOND time. at that point, i got a little frustrated and angry.. not necessarily because she was asking again… more because she was using and exploiting her young and vulnerable child to get money from people. she spoke perfect, clear English. She wouldn’t listen to our refusals, so instead of giving her money, Rachel gave her a handful of grapes that we had just purchased.. she cringed and refused the offer as if she had been insulted by it… when she came to ask me for money again, I looked at her and said “no” very sternly, followed by something like “you need to go and make a better life for yourself and your child. This is no way for you to live.” Insensitive? Maybe a little. But I hate seeing children being exploited and used as a way to earn money… But I’m still tormented whenever I see it and am never quite sure how to respond. I hate to ignore it, but I also don’t want to encourage it. it’s the worst when you are driving somewhere and as soon as traffic comes to a stop you have a few beggars who come straight for your rickshaw because your white, and you would, of course, have plenty of money to give them..
Thinking about monika a lot today… I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so connected to someone that I hardly know. So young. And so broken. She is on my heart and mind constantly. I thought about her all through church this morning and prayed for her again and again. I really hope that Rachel and I will be able to visit her. And I really hope that we can share Jesus with her.
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