I’ve taken an unlicensed drug. Cost me 40 notes and I went back again for another jab one week later. It was an immunisation for Japanese B Encephalitis, to add to those I’ve had for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Cholera. Feel like Captain Scarlet.
All part of the preparation for a month in Kolkata.
I’ll be going with nine ladies to meet, learn from and hopefully help an organisation called Emmanuel Ministries Calcutta. They have a range of ministries in the city: providing a home for 50 children otherwise living on the railway platforms of Howrah Station, a pavement club offering food; hygiene and non-formal education to destitute children and their parents living in shelters on the streets; a Community Development Project serving the inhabitants of a slum area giving particular attention to the children of commercial sex workers; the Calcutta Emmanuel School providing formal education for 250 underprivileged children and a fellowship for the cities Rickshaw Pullers, extending God’s love to 200 members of this neglected community.
I’m going as a member of one of the many Transform teams sent by Tearfund into the developing world each year. The Transform Programme enables Christians to spend from two weeks to four months working hand in hand with Tearfund’s local partners in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. Transform Teams turn their hands to a wide range of work, from building houses for widows and orphans from Rwanda’s genocide, to working with children orphaned by AIDS in Thailand and working with street children in Brazil.
Tearfund is one of the UK's leading relief and development agencies, working with Christian agencies around the world to tackle the causes and effects of poverty, and last year dispatched 35 Transform Teams – over 400 people - to development projects in 27 developing countries throughout Africa, Asia and Central and South America. Tearfund is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. www.tearfund.org
Tearfund is one of the UK's leading relief and development agencies, working with Christian agencies around the world to tackle the causes and effects of poverty, and last year dispatched 35 Transform Teams – over 400 people - to development projects in 27 developing countries throughout Africa, Asia and Central and South America. Tearfund is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. www.tearfund.org
So at the moment I'm wondering what on earth I should be expecting. I've got some idea in relation to the list of immunisations I've needed. Tearfund have provided a fantastic orientation and preparation. But still you never really know until you're there.
I am, however, excited. Excited when I read the summaries of the work of EMC. Excited when I think of how earth shattering and compassionate and life changing the gospel of Jesus Christ is, for those in Kolkata, and for us who have the privilege of meeting them. And I'm excited as I approach the exit to my comfort zone.
A couple of links that have given me an inkling:
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