Finding Joy in the Slums of India (March 2009)

On our last night of ministry, we had the opportunity to go back to a slum area that we had visited the week before.  There is a row of small brick homes, with panels of tin as makeshifts roofs.  The women crotch outside their home with their small cookfire that makes up their kitchen.  The children are scattered among the homes playing or helping with the meal.  Many of these children are from our school, and this is a chance to see a glance of what life means to them.  They grin from ear to ear in excitement when we pile out of our rickshaws.  Running to greet us and grab our hands, they call for their friends so that they can show us off!  Knowing the visitors is taken as such a privilege to these kids.  We are invited into their midst and begin the evening singing songs from school.

We perform a skit and share a testimony, your typical outreach routine.  It was after the planned segment, that I encountered one of my most memorable moments since arriving in India.  We decided to sing, “Hallelujah, Praise(ing) ye the Lord.” The song that requires two groups, one singing the Hallelujah part and the other singing the “Praising the Lord” part as well as much jumping up and down!  Somehow we were able to persuade many of the men to join us in this song.  I stumbled upon pure joy in watching and joining these men and children jumping and singing, especially when everyone would be mixed up and jumping at the wrong times!  Although the idea of the song performance was ruined, these men had huge smiles on their faces. Joy and laughter radiated from their face.  I couldn’t help but laugh along with them and that joy I experienced continues to overflow within me.  Just another reminder that true happiness and fulfillment in life doesn’t come from how much money we have, or how we look, or anything of this world, but only from the one who sacrificed everything so that we could have freedom and eternal life, Jesus Christ!