This morning I woke up thrilled to have gotten a solid four hours of sleep but completely unaware that the day before me would prove to be one of the most momentous days of my life. Today we visited the slums that have arguably made Calcutta so famous. Just when I thought I had seen poverty in its purest form, we took a giant leap into a whole different echelon. I should warn you in advance that I am a sloppy mess today. My hard heart finally broke today and it spilled itself all over the streets of Calcutta.
First, we headed to the program site where several hundred bright-eyed children greeted us, fifty of whom do not have sponsors yet. Almost all of the children at this site are from the slums. This group of children brought me unspeakable joy. My heart hurt when we had to leave them. Check some of them out.
After playing with the kids, our team then set out for our home-visits in the slums. During the home-visits we go along with several of the Compassion children and we survey their living conditions and listen to their stories. Most of all, we get to inquire to our heart’s content about how Compassion’s child sponsorship program has changed their lives. So, we parked our van and huddled around Spence, as he warned us with unusual sobriety that we needed to be extremely careful taking pictures in the slums. We were informed that had the Compassion India field staff not accompanied us, we could have been in danger walking in the slums. So, with this slightly unsettling piece of information, we made our way through and we saw unimaginable things right before our eyes.
People half naked bathing with filthy water on the uneven and trash-infested streets. Pre-teen prostitutes with painted faces hanging out of a door in the red-light district just to make as little as 50 cents per “job”. A six-month old infant lying alone on a bed in a shack without any supervision *for the entire day* since both his parents are out working daily labor jobs and living desperately from hand to mouth. These are the kinds of things people try to keep themselves from admitting actually exist. But they do.
Seven out of ten of us climbed and packed ourselves into the home of Kiran Mallik, a precious twelve-year old girl who melted all our hearts like butter. The other three couldn’t fit. It was the tiniest little shack I have ever seen, if you could even call it a shack. It was considerably smaller than a twin bed. A family of five lives in it. Here is
Pete bending over to look inside:
One more time in case you’re skimming this post, a family of five lives in this shack. It certainly isn’t the filthiest of the shacks we saw in the slums but we were hard-pressed to understand how five people could even fit it in at one time since we were all kneeled down very uncomfortably. And then we found out that some of the family actually sleeps on the streets at night because there simply is not enough room. Here is a picture of Kiran standing outside her house. Look at her smile. Talking about stealing the heart of you.
We kneeled around and listened to Kiran tell her story through a translator. Her beaming smile and joyous spirit were enough to distract from the oppressive heat. She told us about how she loves to study, how much she loves Jesus, and how she wants to be a teacher someday.
And then she asked us, her guests, with a genuine smile on her face as though she was taking us on a tour of her mansion:
“How do you like my house?”
Can you remember what it felt like to break up with your first love? Okay, now multiply that by about a million. It was like a dagger in my heart. I didn’t just want to cry. I wanted to completely lose it. But I joined in with the rest of the team, who were likely feeling the same way, and we all said, “We love it. It is beautiful.”
And I thought of the times that I’ve told my husband I don’t want to have a certain couple over to our apartment because our dining room table isn’t big enough. I thought of the times that I’ve been “ashamed” to invite friends into our home because it isn’t fancy enough or we don’t have enough chairs or our sofa isn’t comfortable enough. The countless times I’ve complained about the paint color on the walls.
There I was. A Compassion sponsor. Being mentored by a Compassion child on what is really important in life. I realized that we often assume people are completely hopeless just because they don’t have the material wealth that we deem necessary for a quality life. But sometimes those who are in the most difficult circumstances know best of all where to find hope. Kiran sure did. She had hope because through God’s grace via Compassion International she has a safe place to learn, to get a hot meal, and to hear more about Jesus.
Two seconds away from completely losing it:
I’ve often wondered how an average middle class American becomes a social activist. I think I’m beginning to understand. I’m not saying that I am one. I’ve already admitted, I’m just not that brave. What I am saying is something similar to what N.T. Wright said in Simply Christian, “The world in its present state is out of tune with God’s ultimate intention.” Today as I walked through the slums in Calcutta something rose up with protest in my soul with a resounding “NO!” This is not the way it is supposed to be.
“The cry for justice in the world, then, must be taken up and amplified by the Christian church, as the proper response to the voice of the living God. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit indicate that there are ways forward…Christians should be energetic in advocating and pursuing that justice for which all human beings long and which burst upon the world, in a fresh and unexpected way, through Jesus.” (N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, 228)
When I was asked to go along on this trip to Calcutta, the honest truth is that I wasn’t jumping out of my skin with excitement. I really was too busy at work to be taking a week and a half off and I knew it would put more stress on me when I got back. But here was the rub: I was studying James 1:27 at the time. You know that really inconvenient verse that defines true religion before God our Father as looking after orphans and widows in their distress. The way I would apply this verse is that we are to look and care for the most vulnerable people groups in our local communities and of our world at large. There was no denying that the children in the slums of Calcutta qualified as some of the most oppressed and vulnerable people in our world. I’ve learned a whole lot about James 1:27 from reading commentaries, periodicals, and whathaveyou; but I will tell you that I have learned just as much if not more about the scope of the verse from actually entering into conversation with the real flesh and blood reality of poverty and social oppression. From actually touching the children from the slums and being touched by them.
Today one of the children grabbed my hand and when she let go, I didn’t want her to. In that moment I felt I needed her as much as she needed me. The Scriptures are too profound just to read in isolation of the real world. They must be read and lived. To be interpreted correctly, they must be performed. The gospel of Jesus Christ is too big, too cataclysmic, to be left on the page. They should burst forth from our reality.
Tomorrow is the big day when we get to meet our sponsor children! Please do check out the posts from my fellow bloggers. Actually, they are no longer just my fellow bloggers, they’re my friends. A special bond has been forged. They are people who have dared a selfish coward to stare into the face of poverty. People who are willing to face the reality of a broken world, to have their hearts torn apart, and then to use whatever is left of it to usher in the kingdom of God here on this earth.
With Love,
Melissa
WOW!!!! Melissa, I don’t even know how you composed yourself long enough to put this post together! I’m humbled to walk this journey with you!
Melissa,
I love reading what you have to say. I haven’t commented yet on any of your posts because mostly I feel like I need to “chew” on your words a little more before I can even think about what to say back. I love the way you make me think deep. Thanks so much for sharing your heart here and this journey with us. It has opened my eyes to how hard and sad life can really be, yet that true joy is found in Jesus and how one person really can make a difference.
Melissa,
Thank you so much for your powerful posts! The pictures and the words have been inspiring, motivating and moving. You will be changed forever because of this experience and I can’t wait to see how God will impact many through you and all of those with you. Between yours and Angie’s posts I’ve been in tears more than once. Thanks for adding the link to the other bloggers as well. What an amazing trip! And what an even more amazing organization!!!
A friend of mine here in College Station put on a 5K/10K run 2 weeks ago to raise $$$ for Compassion.
Will be praying for your visit with your kiddo!!! =) Look forward to hearing about it!
melissa…
thank you
praying for you…
thank you for letting God use you in such an amazing way…
my heart is broken just reading your words…
“for the sins in our lives, break our hearts…we cry out….”
Tears in my eyes and guilt in my heart. God is telling me to ACT on these feelings that your writings have stirred.
I am in awe of all you have posted since you have been in India. It has impacted me and thankfully I am now impacting a compassion child. Thank you for encouraging me to support my first child with Compassion. I have been on many mission trip and have seen dispair but none quite like the poictures you have shared with us. I can only say thank you. I truly have been reminded of what I am here to do and even more importantly what I am NOT to do.
this just breaks me to pieces. I am trying to think of more things I can give up to help another kid. I know I am canceling my unlimited text messages that I thought were so important. How deceived.
praying.
Oh Melissa,
I tried, I really and truely tried to find a child to sponsor. I looked in all the countries, and all the different types, but did not hear God saying here choose this one.
But then yesterday, you, Keely, and the rest of the Compassion Bloggers took me on a Rickshaw ride to a Child Survival Program, and that was it.
My family, we love babies all shapes and sizes. If you will hand it to me I will hold it, kiss it, and snuggle it.
So I ask Keely how this program was funded and she provided the links, and I am sponsor of the Ebenezer Child Survival Program.
I am believing that through these programs, dying infants without names will become a thing of the past.
Thank you for taking us on this ride and changing all of our lives.
Sallye
I see Jesus in Kiran’s face…it is amazing how you just know by looking someone in the face that they have accepted Jesus! Praise the Lord for her!
I pray that Kiran would be a light in the darkness of the slums!
I praise Him for opening the eyes of those on the trip to things that will remain unseen to many of us so that when we read your blogs and hear you speak, we would get a little taste and be able to understand more about what we need to do in the name of Christ in this world.
GOD BLESS YOU!
Amber
Oh Melissa. I just don’t even have the words to express my joy, my tears, my sadness, and my excitement to do more. I can’t wait to hear about you meeting your Compassion child tomorrow. How does a middle-class American become a social activist? One step at a time maybe? I don’t know. . . just pondering along with you. Many, many blessings to you!
Thanks, Melissa. You brought the trip to life for us with your words and your pictures….tears are coming down my eyes! I’m going to have a conversation with the Lord about how he wants me to process all this.
That little girl is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!
I hate myself.- Just today I was all undone and in tears because I couldn’t stand our carpet!
Lord have mercy on me.
Siestas , we don’t HAVE to keep being the self – indulgent spoiled brats that we are here in the U.S. .( I’m talkin’ to myself here too )But it’s as if we just flat out give each other permission and encourage each other to be that way if I may be so bold to say what I’m really thinking. It’s shameful. And I’ve known it for a long time and have done nothing about it. What about you all ? I mean , we keep talking like our outfits and our hair and , yes our imperfect homes ARE what is most important. And it makes me sick. I’ve not been to India. But I have been to Egypt and a few other places and saw horrible poverty and people without HOPE , that WE have in Christ. WHEN are we going to STOP this insanity – of hiding behind our creature comforts , and attending church every Sunday or for crying out loud – can I say this – being in every Beth Moore study and attending her Live Events ?? We go to get fed fed fed and then what do we do with it ? Does it REALLY CHANGE us ???? Are we simply hearers of the Word ?!? We have an ” India ” of sorts if I can say that , here in the United States too. Maybe we ARE the India I’m thinking about. The ones who need compassion because we are SO PATHETICALLY apathetic to get out of our perfect – appearing lives and make a dadgum difference !! It makes me mad and has for a long time. Really. And I’m one of the worst offenders. I’m going through something devastating myself right now – but , I have a roof over my head right now , and probably always will. I overeat probably every day. We’re pathetic. ( Not EVERY Christian is like this and I’m not saying that . ) But we can do sooo much better. I think we can quit ” egging ” each other on by all the pretense . Why do we do that ?
Sorry if I have offended . I feel strongly about what I just typed.
Your post today made me bring out my pictures from my trips to Nicaragua. We encountered much of the same as you have in the slums of Calcutta. We also got the warning about taking pictures on my last trip in a gang area. What got me in my heart is what got you: they have so very little, yet are so content..and happy. And, like you, I worry about people coming over to my house because I don’t think it is perfect enough. Yes…I KNOW how you feel, Melissa.
Thank you so much for allowing us to become a part of your trip through the blog. And thanks for being an obedient servant and going for Jesus!
Boy Melissa the posts and pictures are amazing at work today I pulled up the lpm blog to see if you had sent anything and then the post.I cannot begin to tell the tears and my heart breaking and Thanking the Lord for all I have. I cannot fathom how you feel seeing it first hand. My heart goes out to those women and men and children. I am still trying to figure out how to sponsor a child into my budget it will happen. Thanks again my dear sweet seista for all you do for us seista’s you are an amazing woman I love you and May The Lord Bless You .Thanks for being our eyes and ears and feet and going to India I appreciate what you are doing. Love to you your seista in Albuquerque NM CAROL
Thanks for sharing this trip with us.
I don’t know what else to say.
I know you understand.
Melissa-I am following your journey in India, and have cried more times, from the moving descriptions you post, than I can tell you. You have a gift of words to convey deep things. I keep an art journal and am always looking for significant quotes or phrases to include. Thought you might like to know that this touched my heart, and I will be using it (with credit to you!) on my pages tomorrow. “The Scriptures are too profound just to read in isolation of the real world. They must be read and lived”
Thank you so much, Melissa for being Jesus to so many children in Calcutta. Your words are so dear to me…I thank you for all your encouragement…to us who are reading, to those to whom you are ministering. Praise You, Father!
Julie G
Jackson, MS
I could feel your heart as I read.
My husband has seen poverty in Africa and it permeated my heart through him. Again now – through you. You are so right. We are spoiled, prideful, materialistic, selfish people – and we don’t know any better. We SHOULD know better.
God is using you, Melissa – to help others know better.
Anyone with compassion could not possibly leave your post without tears in their eyes, heart, and throat.
I know I didn’t.
Thank you Melissa! For going and for showing me how selfish and materialistic I can be. I have no words just tears..
Melissa,
You have written a profound message for me. How can I keep forgetting what is really important?
I continue to pray for your health and safety.
Your description of Kiran’s home speaks to me. Also when you spoke of the little girl who held your hand and when she let go you were not ready for you needed her just as much as she needed you.
Thank you to bringing the truth back in focus to realize what truly is important in this world is what I do in serving Jesus Christ. He truly does supply my every need.
Because of Grace,
Sylvia
Jersey Village TX
Thank you for this post. I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes and my heart tender. Thank you.
Melissa,
I just stared at the picture of you and Kiran for awhile, trying to get a feel for it all.
All I can say is thank you for sharing. Your posts are impactful.
Thank you. Bless you.
I am speechless too… I cannot begin to tell you all the impact these posts have had on me… I wish I was eloquent and could share what is on my heart… totally not my gift area… I had just bought a Southern Accents magazine at the grocery store… and after I read your post today I walked in and saw it on my kitchen counter I wanted to throw up… Jesus forgive my hard heart… I am clueless… goodness… thank you… change me Lord… can’t wait to read more… am praying for you all! Thank you for giving us this gift… I wish I was there too… oh the beauty of those smiles!
Melissa,
Thank you for your raw honesty and for being on the front lines and reporting what you have seen and heard! I have not been to India – but have walked the barrio’s of the Dominican republic and it jars you – but I know for me – the key is NOT TO FORGET! Thank you again for reminding me of what is far to easy to forget. For those who experience it first hand – we can not forget and turn away – we are accountable for what we know.
Tomorrow I intend to write my Compassion kids in the DR and Ethopia.
The joy and peace on Kiran’s face – despite her austere and impoverished circumstances – truly she shines! Makes me ask myself – who truly is poor? Taking to heart Christ’s words that the last shall be first…I look forward to standing far, far, far behind the redeemed children of Calcutta at the wedding feast of the lamb!!
Thank you, thank you for this post. I’ve been lamenting our 832 square feet for our family of 8 going on 9. This puts my home into better perspective and reminds me to stop listening to criticism, real or imaginary. It was time to screw my head back on the right way–it’s been disjointed long enough.
Blessings ~
Brandy of The Building Brows
This is the first time I’ve seen your blog. I found it through Angie and Pete’s. Thank you for sharing this post-you can feel your emotion through the words. Praying for your team as you guys do God’s work there.
with tears in my eyes, can i just say that i am so grateful that you didn’t take the easy way out and stay home! i have felt the Lord stir up something deep within me, a hunger, a desire, a conviction to do something…to stop feeling sorry for people and actually do something. i talked to my husband tonight about sponsoring another child and i can’t wait to do just that! i live in one of the poorest towns in America and i’m praying that the Lord will reveal what i can do here, right here…literally a couple blocks over to show the poor and vulnerable His Love for them!
Thank you for sharing your heart, for taking the time to go on this trip, and challenge so many of your siestas to live out this thing called Christianity!
may our sweet Jesus strengthen you and i hope tomorrow is a great day!!
Melissa,
I’m with Amanda and all the others…girl, there just aren’t words.
Susan in OKC
This was hard.
I sat with my pre-teen daughter praying our night prayers and it felt so wrong to be there with all that “stuff” in a room 3 times the size of Kiran’s home. And I can’t hardly stand who I’ve become. I love Jesus with every fiber of my being, and yet I’m so consumed with me and my stuff…. and what have I done for His people.
Lord forgive me and give me Your eyes.
Melana
What a beautiful beautiful young lady. Currently I am reading a book about India called The Hijras of India, Neither Man nor Woman, it is a book I have to read for a college class, but it has really taken me back, as far as opening my eyes to what goes on in the world, while I am sheltered in my bubble. I wonder if while you are there and happen to stumble upon a Hijra, please let he/she, which is what they are confused of being, how special they are to God. In Matthew he speaks of the eunuchs, and these particular eunuchs are made this way because of man. May our Lord just bless them deeply for what they go through in this country.
Blessings and take care.
Teresa
Wow Melissa.
” A Poor Man Shames Us All” is a movie I saw in Anthropology that really touched my heart and looking at your pictures…it brought me back to how I felt watching the movie. If you haven’t seen it, look it up, its amazing!
I can only imagine the emotions you are feeling that you can’t find enough words to put it on the blog…I am sure you are speechless.
Thank you for doing this. We all need a reality check:)
You are moving at a rate beyond our understanding- it is a “God” rate and I am WOWed- dear child of God. Keep it Up dear Sister in Christ- I pray for your energy and Love, OH my Goodness, as one would say in Texas- You are in my heart!
Dear Melissa,
Thank you for your daily posts. I am awe-struck at our God! I homeschool my daughters (ages 11, 9 and well, 22 months;)) and we are reading about missionary Amy Carmichael right now. We recently read about George Muller and our hearts are stirred to pray as though we believe our God is listening and will answer. When I read what you’ve written and see these pictures, I can’t help but smile. I know that God hears your prayers and your cries for HIS children. I am blessed by everything you are sharing. Thank you. Know that you are covered in prayer!!
Kelly, Marina, CA
one more thought, I was convicted a few years back, not to judge anyone’s abundance or happiness- therefore, I humbly share, that these precious lives may be more receptive and appreciative of the “Word” than those of us living in more comfortable circumstances- joy and happiness does not seem to rely on financial bounty- Dear Melissa, you are bringing the love of God to those more receptive than many of of us right here in your back yard- Loads of love
Melissa-
I have been pouring over each of your posts, convicted and ashamed, but also reminded anew of our Lord’s mercy and graciousness.
My husband and I were so “proud” of the “unextravagant” and “sacrificial” lives we think we live. And yet we both sat here weeping as we read your latest post, realizing that we don’t even understand what that really is.
So, we just got off Compassion’s website and now are sponsoring a boy and girl, each about 6 years old, from India. THank you for going and sharing. We’re so very excited!!!
Can’t even type. Thank you so much for going and for sharing. God Bless you and those PRECIOUS children. I can only imagine how it must break God’s heart to see his children suffer so.
I just found this blog and cannot wait to read more. I have sponsored a compassion child for 4 years and I definitely want to be able to go visit her someday!
Every time I have read these stories over the past few days, I have dissolved in to tears. My heart breaks for the poverty. Yet, my heart SOARS with hope.
It’s been on my to-do list to sponsor a child for the past several months. But tonight, I did it. We decided to sponsor four children from various impoverished locations around the world. One child for each of our four children.
There is Eti in Bangladesh, Charity in Uganda, Elvis in Peru and Ankit in India. It is my goal that our children will grow up knowing the children that we are sponsoring. It is my hope that they will form a lifelong relationship with these children (who are the same age as them!) and that their lives will be transformed because of each other.
Thank you for the work that you are doing. Thank you for the hope and healing that you are bringing to these children. Thank you for sharing your stories with all of us. Thank you for inspiring us to do God’s work, here on earth.
Wow! Speechless.
The least shall be the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. That honor is theirs and your experience has caused you to step down to humbly grant that honor to them.
May your knees come back bruised and beaten as much as your heart is.
In Him
Dear Melissa,
I really don’t know what to say, I feel struck dumb and mute this week as I have prayed and followed your journey through the streets of Calcuttas poorest of the poor. I really could not respond this week, I just felt I didn’t have the words and my heart is breaking even more with each post I read. I see the deep sorrow in your eyes in that picture with Kiran. I tonight have fallen on my face before the Lord in my great shame and selfishness. We as a family have struggled so much financially this past year, literally living hand to mouth and trusting on God for our daily bread. Yet I have felt so angry, frustrated, betrayed, disappointed (the list could go on) over our lack, I really see I have lacked NOTHING in comparison and in this moment I feel humbled and ashamed and my heart is crying out for forgiveness. My eyes have been so on me and my family, and in survival mode, that I have completely taken them off of others who are hurting FAR worse than I could ever imagine! To see the joy in the faces of those pictures, unspeakable joy spilling forth…..I really am wondering who the “rich” are and who the poor really is?”
Thank you Melissa for caring enough to share your heart with us this week, I have been made all the richer for it. You have effectively stepped on my toes, while managing to give me a huge hug all at the same time~! That’s a GIFT!!
God’s doing something deeper in me right now because of all you have been willing to share. You have been a bright light, not just in Calcutta, but I am quite sure all around this blog community of siestas, so with all my heart I thank you for choosing to do life with us. I am truly “richer” for it. I can’t wait to see who I get the honor and privledge of sponsoring!
My love and prayers,
Angela in Redmond, WA
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Warm in Alaska.
Melissa,
It’s me again. I have read your India posts through so many times, I have lost count. It’s like something I just can’t get over. I am more I want to say awed but that is not the word that accurately describes what I am thinking. Awed seems like it should be something of great glory and not applied to the depth of poverty your posts and pictures reveal.
So, While I try to figure out the word is that I want to use, I want you to know, it is 11:30 p.m. Pacific Standard time and I am in prayer for you and the rest of the team right now. Although I am really bad with the time zone thing, I am thinking that your day has begun and you are out and about meeting the children you have sponsered.
Kels
Dear Melissa,
Can’t thank you enough for sharing your experiences with us. Through your gift of sharing we can all be changed.
What sticks with me on today’s posting is Kiran in front of the bright blue door to her home. Jesus is our door – the beauty of blue paint in a world of darkness.
I will never forget her smiling face, so proud to have “us” visit her home.
I know that Kiran goes through her days seeing what she has and not what she doesn’t. The world does all it can to keep us from thinking that way. A lesson for all of us. Always see the blue door in your circumstances.
Praying for you.
Love, Elaine
Thanks for this chronicalling of the trip. God never wastes anything…I think He is the ultimate “RECYCLER”! He is using your lessons and multiplying them many times over by letting us a bit of the picture through your eyes. Thank you, and God bless you and your team with His heart, His eyes, His protection.
I remember when the last time I went to Romania, very soon after their cruel Dictator had just been overthrown. It was life-changing. So dark, so sad and without hope. The children and their parents just broke my heart (a good thing!)…God used that trip mightily, and still does: not jus in my life but in the others, and so it will be with you and your team!
(hint: i just quit wearing make up after a few days, I think I cried every day!)
i am speechless, i am convicted….
thank you for all that you are doing to bring light to what is really out there.
and we americans think our current economic crisis is living in hard times. we've seen nothing yet, until we have seen the poverty of india.
thank you for being the eyes & ears and shedding light on it.
praying for you and the team.
katy
So beautiful. Thank you! Praying for your group this morning.
Thank you for sharing your experience through the blog. I feel more touched by your stories and pictures now – I understand how much more I should be giving to the child we sponsor – how important it it. Actually as I type these words, they do nothing for the feeling in my heart! How you opened it today!! For those of us who may never get the chance to actually travel to these places, thank you for making it so real. I will be spending extra time on my knees today in prayer for all them – hopefully every day! Blessings and safe travel to you and your group for the rest of your stay.
I love that you brought up James 1:27…that is the verse He used to get me involved with the Guardian Ad-Litem/CASA program…it is a volunteer program that helps abused and neglected children. The volunteers meet with the children at least once every two weeks and then anyone (mom, dad, foster parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, doctors, dentists, teachers, counselors…anyone who has contact with the child) and then that volunteer is the voice for the child/children in the court. I knew I would love the children but what I have found is God has tendered my heart and provided abundant ministry opportunities toward the parents…
I love how God is using you in India…and how He is using you and the other bloggers to tender hearts here for the widows and orphans in distress. Let us remember we have orphans and widows in distress in our own back yards…
I can not tell you the desperate NEED there is for foster parents whose only desire is to be God’s hand and feet for a child who needs a safe, loving environment for a time…with no other motive than to love him/her and pray for him/her and their parents who desperately need Jesus. Just as we all do…We all NEED Jesus! Oh Lord, tender our hearts and as I have heard Beth pray…give us hearts that love what You love and hate what You hate