The Lord takes delight in his people

Just back from an amazing day at the leprosy village! We set off in convoy this morning - the ambulance, the car we travel in and the old work-horse of a jeep with hot food for lunch for 125 people on board. Julie and I had prayed specifically that the railway crossing gates would raise as we drove up to them (these gates are just by the village and last two times we had to wait between 20 and 25 minutes before they let us through).

The gates raise as we drive towards them!

On arrival in Vetapalam we were greeted with the sight of the whole village gathered in their groups, each with their group leader in a white sari, soaking their feet and chatting animatedly. There was a terrific buzz going on, faces were shining and we were very touched by the greeting we had - flower garlands and flower petals scattered on our heads - it was wonderful.

We had a time of singing and we all spoke to the people. Julie encouraged them to continue with the group soaking and oiling of feet and she thanked them all for their participation. Certificates were presented to each group leader and small gift given in recognition of the hard work and effort they had put in.

The Magnificent Seven!

The doctor set up his consulting table under the awning and was assisted by Kanna, a nursing graduate who will be working full-time with the mobile clinic and assisting the doctor, All the nasty ulcers and infected wounds were cleaned and dressed. Julie and I were thrilled to see the feet of one man who had two horrible infected sores on his feet 9 days ago - when he showed us them today the sores had dried up and shrunk significantly - due to the soaking and oiling regime. He was delighted!

The doctor and the nurse / medical assistant

The orthotist shoemaker had brought ten pairs of custom made shoes that he has made since last week. So after those people had their feet dressed and bandaged the shoe-maker fitted them with their new shoes.

Each pair is made-to-measure

There was much excitement as people received their own brand new, made-to-measure shoes.

After all this the team set up trestle tables under the awning and lunch was served to the whole community. It has been a fantastic day.

Though it linger, wait for it

Then the Lord replied:

"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; It speaks of the end and it will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and not delay."

I had a clear revelation that we would have an ambulance / mobile clinic for the leprosy work when I was in the shower one morning in India two Christmases ago. It was as clear as day that this was the vision for OEW for 2011. At the time it seemed an impossible dream for such a small ministry to undertake

However, I returned to Scotland and made up a special PowerPoint presentation and I then told my church and several other churches, individuals and groups about this vision.

One of many ambulances considered but rejected.

Gradually the funding came in, then groups of folk held fund-raising events such as a highly successful bag and scarf sale in Larkhall, a wonderful Golden Oldies night of songs and music in our church building, and most recently a superb Multi-Media Quiz night in Linlithgow. People caught the vision and wanted to help.

Jim and Cis who organised the Golden Oldies Night

But still we did not have enough. We prayed about it and continued the communication efforts to all and sundry. A little more came in but still not enough.

Mark - our fantastic Quiz Master!

For all these events many volunteers helped, selling tickets, making jars of home made marmalade to sell on the stalls, baking cakes for the refreshments, shifting furniture, setting up the sound systems and computer links etc.

Almost 100 people came to the quiz

Well,  I arrived in India three weeks ago and still no ambulance purchased. It takes time to source and negotiate for the right one. In the meantime REAP India were building a large vehicle shed / garage on land at the back of their HQ. Of course they need somewhere to keep it safe when it is not on the road. But Julie and I kept praying that it would come before we leave at the weekend.

Then yesterday evening at the end of the EARE/REAP India pastors' meeting our ambulance arrived from Bangalore. We were all so joyful to see it come around the corner with blue light flashing and the siren singing out praises to God! (Well that is what it seemed like to us!)

Everyone cheering our first sight of it!!

The eagle has landed!

Dedication of the new ambulance

                               Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and not delay.

The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea

Over the past couple of years On Eagles Wings has been supporting Reap India in some income generating and community projects. I want to give a brief update report for our supporters who helped us to finance these initiatives.

The poultry farm which was purchased last year is now well established. There are two new full-time farm workers in charge of the chicken production and the first 5,000 chickens have been raised from chick to table size in a large airy barn with open mesh sides and freedom to move about to feed, drink and 'socialise'. The second batch are almost ready to go to market. Baby chicks are being started off in another barn next door ready to move into the main unit when they have been sold.

Our new baby chicks

 There is still a little work to be finished - reflooring the main shed, new roofs for the workers' houses and, in due course, the construction of a second rearing shed. Reap India plans to do all this by re-investing the proceeds of the sale of the chickens. I noted many improvements from my first visit last December.

The main rearing shed

 The second income generating project that OEW helped to get going was a fish farming venture. We were able to grant enough money for the first year's lease on two large fish-ponds and the yield so far has been excellent. They have produced several tons of high quality fish which fetch very good prices from the wholesalers.

This one was deemed 'rather small'!

Yesterday we were hoping to witness the 'big catch'. For days now the water has been pumped out of the pond into local irrigation canals to lower the water level and make the catch easier. The weather is unsettled at the moment and if it rains heavily the fish start jumping and cannot be so easily caught. It has been a waiting game for the past few days.



Pumping out the pond water

Last evening we were taken to the pond to see fish being caught by a local fisherman using a circular net. However this is not how they finished the job - it was eventually done between midnight and 03.00 with 25 men and huge nets and mechanical lifting equipment. They caught two tons but the rain started heavily and a further ton jumped out of the nets. They will return and expect at least another two tons. Last night's catch was in the fish market in Vijayawada this morning.


It is so encouraging to see these ventures taking off so well. They are providing local employment but more importantly they are generating income to run the ministry and feed the orphans cared for by Reap India.

A final report back about the housing project in the dalit village, Inavolu, which OEW helped with in 2009/2010. At that time the village people were desperate for proper housing as part of a government sponsored scheme. The Indian government promised to pay half if the recipients would pay the other half - but of course, the dalits had nothing but their labour to offer. OEW provided the means to purchase the building materials and Reap India supervised the building work done by the villagers themselves.

Housing in Inavolu in 2009

We went on a visit to the village and the people were very excited to see us and we spent time with them in the church building. It was lovely to see all the new houses and one or two more still under construction. They are very happy with their houses.
With the help and generosity of UK donors Reap India were able to construct more than 20 houses

One of the new concrete houses in Inavolu

A very big thank you to all the friends and supporters who donated towards these worthwhile projects.

And as they went they were cleansed

On Monday we set out with the team to make the two hour (normally) drive to Vetapalam, near Chirala. The roads were very busy and we had several  hold-ups en route. Road travel in India is very dangerous, with traffic doing what it pleases - this includes going the wrong way along dual carriage ways if it will shave off a little distance, no-one looking when coming out of side turnings and people overtaking on both sides of the vehicle. Couple that with no seatbelts and drivers who insist on long conversations on their mobile phones and you will get the picture! At one point the road disappeared completely and our "short-cut" delayed us an extra 45 minutes onto the journey.

Everyone was waiting expectantly when we eventually arrived - our group leaders in their white saris and the one man in a white jacket all looked very smart and their faces were shining.

We got down to business, distributing plastic bowls to all the adults and explaining what we were going to do. Each leader gathered their group members and sat in a small circle soaking and oiling the feet and hands. We got water from the pump and each leader was given a couple of small pots of petroleum jelly - we will bring more next week so that each person will have their own pot of jelly to go with their own bowl.

It was an amazing sight to see the whole village soaking their feet and hands together. Julie told me that in all her experience in Nepal and Sudan she had never encountered such a well motivated group and had never seen so many people (around 77) willing to co-operate and go through this process. Praise the Lord!

While the feet were soaking we checked the eyes of each person for signs of nerve damage and lack of blink reflex. We gave these folk sunglasses, and an eye mask for use at night.

We then inspected everyone's feet to assess who needed custom made shoes to protect them from injury. Some of their feet were very deformed and could not use normal sandals at all. One lady only had rags tied round her toe-less feet, other people were barefoot with infected sores on their soles. 

We identified 25 urgent cases which were immediately referred to the specialist orthotist shoemaker, who was with us. He will measure up each person and make individual patterns for them. Then he will custom make each pair with English leather uppers, MCR insoles and hard-wearing soles. 

Each pair will cost around £20.00, which is a fraction of what they would cost in UK. When I worked in the orthotics field in the early 1980s such shoes would cost more than £200!

When I get home I am going to ask if people would consider sponsoring a pair of shoes for one of these folk. 

Donations can be made directly via our website which is www.oewcompassion.org.uk.

The Final Day of Training

They came again – all seven from the village

Rising at 4.00 am to make the trip

Struggling to climb into the train’s dark carriage

No strength or feeling in their hands to grip.

Each day they came to learn to care for others

To teach and problem solve for friends so dear

They could not read or write to help their learning

And yet their motivation was so clear.

At last they learned and in their new gained wisdom

They travelled home with hearts and minds aglow

Their faces shone in eager expectation

Of all the things that they could share and show

God, keep these people ever in your blessing

Help them to feel your presence ever near

Help them to know and love their village neighbours

And take away all doubt and cares and fear.

By Julie Woodford

Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees

Our final day of classroom teaching for our seven delegates was on Friday, then it is out to the village on Monday to assess them as group leaders for real. They have been fantastic! Not one of them can read or write but they have learned what we have shared with them really well. We have six women and one man and the ages range from 18 to 70. Each morning they have got up at 4am to catch the train to Tenali. Sudheer and his team collect them from the station in a vehicle and give them all breakfast as soon as they get here. Then they have a cooked lunch at 12.15 with a final teaching session from 1pm to 2pm - then it is time to get he train back to Vetapalam, their village.

Every morning the first thing they do is inspect their feet for cracks, new sores or infections. Then they soak their feet and hands in cool water to soften the skin, before rubbing in petroleum jelly. This retains the water in the skin and helps to soften it.

Topics covered in the training include care of eyes - leprosy patients lose feeling in the face and eyes can easily be infected because some cannot close their eyes or blink. Eye masks in bed and sunglasses by day help a lot to protect the cornea.

On Friday the class was held in the open air on someone's porch across the road. Our usual training room was the place for the weekly prayer and fasting meeting by the EARE Ministries prayer warriors. It was much cooler under the canopy and trees and it was a welcome break from routine for all of us.

A comic skit was performed by yours truly - to demonstrate all the wrong things in a comical way and they had to spot the deliberate mistakes - we were trying to vary our teaching style to make the learning points memorable for people who had no means of taking written notes.

Lifting a metal cooking pot off the fire with bare hands!!! Not good!

Carrying rough sticks for the fire the correct way - wrapped in a protective cloth

We finished the day with an oral test with each person answering a set of prepared questions. Everyone passed their oral test and we concluded by presenting the women with a white sari and the man with a white shirt and dhoti  (their 'badge of office' as group leaders.

Our group photo, including the specialist shoemaker (left) who joined us for the day

Tomorrow (Monday) we go out to the village to oversee the practicals - where each leader will teach their group and we will check out how they get on. We are very happy with how well they have done. Praise the Lord!