Part 5, Posted March 25, 2001
| Dr. Stephanie Gilbertson, Ed.D.
a disciple from the Cincinnati Church of Christ, was in New Delhi, India
for a month working with other disciples and representatives of HOPE worldwide
providing a brief teacher education course to HOPE staff who teach in the
Village of HOPE, a leper colony, and in the Asharan Orphanage. Ten days after
her arrival, India was struck with one of the most severe earthquakes in
decades. This series of articles chronicle her thoughts and activities from
her life changing experience.
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 09:08 AM My brother, Ken, has been compiling the messages and photos from India and I realized I hadn't told you about the going away parties: On Wednesday, February 7th I was scheduled to leave New Delhi at 9PM one Air France. There were no training sessions planned for that day. I wanted to pick up a few souvenirs for friends and family (I still have most of those in a bag at my house) so Santosh drove me and Jolly (I still wasn’t allowed to go anywhere by myself) to the Departmental Shoppe, first thing in the morning. We had a lunch meeting scheduled for 11:00 with Helen Nanjundan to discuss future plans for parent/teacher training in India. Helen and her husband Mohan are the vice presidents of HOPE worldwide in charge of the British Commonwealth World Sector. The luncheon turned out to be a mutual admiration party. I gave a gift and a card to Helen and the other guests gave cards and gifts to me. Helen had prepared her, now world famous, spaghetti and meat sauce and some wonderful vegetables and we enjoyed a great meal complete with lots of laughter. Usha Franklin was there and for some reason she kept saying nice things about my mother. Finally after a couple of hours we had all laughed and cried quite enough and we departed for the orphanage. Usha let slip that there would be a "thing" at the orphanage. I said, "What thing?" and she tried very unskillfully to lead me off the path by saying, "You know, that thing we all do at the orphanage. We all work at the orphanage and today is a work day for us. Not everyone is travelling out of the country as you are." Well, the secret was out, but I would have known as soon as we got back, anyway, because the children were all dressed nicely and they were all blowing up balloons and dancing around with such excitement! Soon the place was packed. They asked me to sit in front of the group and even though I had been training in front of them every day, I suddenly felt very uncomfortable and wanted to squirm away. But the kids piled in around me and helped me to sit still. (I am truly beginning to cry as I try to write about the events of that day.) Not all of the people I had trained were able to be there to say goodbye. Some had left as soon as the training was over to assist in earthquake relief efforts. Some had to be at their jobs or had family obligations. But there were many people there, each one with a gift, a card and something wonderful to say to me. One woman, Sujatha, sang me a song. Right there in front of everyone. I have never been so honored and I’m sure I could never deserve the praise I received that day. The children choreographed steps and hand motions to a love song to say goodbye to me. (I’m crying again.) Little Vic, who three weeks earlier was full of bitterness, anger and hate kept his eyes locked on mine as he danced and mouthed the words. Mandula and Ajay were back in my lap as soon as the dance was over. I told the group that some of my friends in Cincinnati had written me weeks worth of cards so that I could open them at various times during my trip, if I ever needed encouragement. I also told them that I would need to save all of their cards to re read back in the States, if ever I needed to feel valuable. (I have pulled those cards out several times in the weeks since my return.) Rajini, the cook, and Meera, the floor scrubber, were in tears as they presented their gifts, and then hurried to serve coffee for everyone. As we were about to finish Usha spoke loudly to get everyone’s attention. She said, "Now you have heard what you did for the adults. I’m not going to tell you what your friendship has meant to me. I’m going to tell about what you have done for the children. Everyone has spoken for themselves but I want to speak for the children." I don’t remember her exact words after that because all I could think about was how like Usha it was for her to speak for the children. That is who Usha is. She is every child’s advocate. She mentioned the change in Vic and expressed gratitude for the training that would affect the lives of so many children in New Delhi. I am so grateful to have had the chance to be truly needed and valued and to know that God used me to make a difference in someone’s life. Gotta go, thanks for letting me share this one last memory with you.
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