February 2007: On the Road of Becoming

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

I awake to the racket of crows cawing in the trees outside my window. It’s 5:45; the sun is not yet up, but I can feel the day’s heat imminent in the air. I rouse myself and go through my morning routine. These mundane tasks give form to the days that make up my “adventure in India.” How far they seem from “saving orphans,” what I have come to India to do, according to one of my friends back in California. At breakfast I long for any close friend to talk and laugh with as I quietly eat my idli, a sticky saucer-shaped patty made of rice flour, and chutney. After two weeks of being here at the Family Village Farm in Pannai, I continue to feel out of place, and pangs of loneliness and discouragement sometimes hit me as I struggle to establish myself.

I hop on my bicycle and ride the half kilometer to the combined middle and high school. There I meet briefly with the principal, Ms Vatsula, who asks me to take the ninth grade for two periods this morning instead of one. “Don’t worry, Thandiwe, just talk with them and get them to practice their English. We are struggling to improve our students’ abilities in English, and I think God has sent you to help us with this.” Her words stay with me as I talk with the thirty students sitting by twos at wooden desks, neatly dressed in their uniforms (sky blue shirts with dark blue shorts for boys and skirts for girls). Ms. Vatsula’s words resonate with me even after I leave the school for the day. “I think God has sent you….”

I am in India because I believe God called me to be here, I believe that God calls me to choose this less comfortable, sometimes lonely, sometimes discouraging, certainly challenging and rewarding life. In so doing, I pray that I will find fulfillment and freedom by taking steps on the road of becoming most fully who I am.

We pray for the children: Priya, Abhirami, Harry, Pavithra, Robert, Arjun and others; for the mothers and grandmothers, and for Thandiwe.

Thandiwe Gobledale is a Global Mission Intern with the Family Village Farm located in Katpadi, Vellore, India where she assists the staff and teaches English and music.