Thurs 17th October

Good day to you Hospice fans :)

So then, my last day in another world and my final post- albeit a bit earlier than I was expecting. 

Now last week I told you I had found a way to free up some money and now is the time to tell you how I did that. 

As you know I've spent my time here always with an eye open to find ways to help and a few weeks ago I came to the realisation that there were no other ways I could physically help around the Hospice or any more things I could buy for the children or for the Hospice. So after a lot of thought I came to the realisation that the only way left to help was that if I went home in November instead of January- to extend my visa by only one month instead of three. This would mean that I could leave them with a larger lump sum as I would not be spending any of it on my day to day needs. 

Now this was a very, very hard choice to make, it was actually quite a painful choice for me to make but it was the most logical one (also it made sense as it will be much easier to find work in November than in January) and after some time I decided that this was the best remaining way to help. 

What I wasn't expecting though was that my visa extension would fail and I would be coming home even earlier. This past week has been very hard for me. I really wasn't ready to come home yet & I was desperate to stay with the kids & the friends I've made for one more month (also avoiding the cold back home was an attractive reason to stay here that little bit longer).

Still though when it was confirmed that the visa extension had failed I was sad for a short while but then I had a peace about it. In the end the Hospice will get even more money, and trust me they are quite desperate for it, and due to my previous plan to leave in November & the line of thinking that brought me to that decision it has made it easier to except the way things have turned out. Although I am really not looking forward to experiencing what it's like to go from being acclimatised to 35c to the forecasted snow I have heard is on the way back home. 

Anyway enough of my whinging!

This trip to another world has been a fascinating experience and it does actually feel like I've been here 6 months, time seems to slow down out here. 

I have seen how people live in these parts of the world before on TV, but to experience it first hand really has given me perspective & understanding & a real appreciation of how much we have back home. Easy access to water, a permanent reliable power supply, comfortable beds to sleep in, no mosquitos constantly trying to eat you alive, a health care system that even the poorest can access, homes that aren't made out of bamboo & dried palm tree leaves, a rubbish collection system to keep our cities clean, care for the elderly, good (mostly) clean public toilets that aren't just holes in the ground & an underground sewage system. Trust me in this heat they could REALLY do with this.

I hope one day the standard of living here will be the same as ours back home but it does feel like I've traveled back in time more than a hundred years and it seems to me it could take that long for this part of the world to catch up. And to be honest with the way things are here & with the ways of the world I wonder if ever at all, but I hope they do.

Now to my children. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them later today. Unlike leaving my friends & family back home to come here I know I will not be coming back & will likely not see them again. When they all found out I was leaving & that I was upset about it they all came running surrounding me and saying "No feeling Uncle! No feeling!" In other words don't feel bad. They were all clinging on to me and offering me their biscuits (usually they guard these like a dog protecting his dinner hehe) and they all took me to play games & draw pictures for me to make me feel better. Which ironically made me a bit emotional but is a memory of this place that will always stay with me. 

My little friend Diana has warmed back up to me again now she knows I will be leaving, not sure what took her so long but as a 35 year old man there is no possible way I could ever understand what is going on in the mind of a 12 year old South Indian girl but I am just glad she is being friendly to me again, if she hadn't that is something that would always have bothered me. 

My friends here & myself all want to thank you all who have supported this project through your gifts of money & your prayers. There is a heck of a lot that has been done here that would not have been possible if I had to fund this completely by myself so thank you again for these gifts. 

And thanks most of all to God who gave me the honour of choosing me to come out here to do these things & experience all that & I have. Without Him none of this would have been possible & I will always be grateful to Him for this experience & for giving me the honour to be the vessel He chose to do these good works through. Thank you. 

So, that's it then. Finale. I look forward to seeing everyone soon it really does feel like I've been gone much longer than I have been.

This is Stuart Wicks, Arulagam Hospice, Bangurapuram, BBC news, signing off. 

See you soon :) x x x

Weds 16th October

Hello friends. 

So then to get straight to the point my visa request has been rejected so I will be coming home this weekend. I did think that was going to happen so I've had a chance over the past week to come to terms with it and get most of my  work here done, I'm sorry I won't have time to get the school report done. 

My last post will be tomorrow I have to think about what I'm going to writeI wasn't   expecting to come home this early! Bye for now Hospice fans.

Stuart :) x x x

Tues 15th October

Hello there friends. :)

So the trip to the school in Melayakudi did go ahead although we ended up getting there a little late & it was dark by the time we got there so apologies for the pictures not being as good as they could have been. These are a couple of pics inside & out of the tiny little school;

My first impression of the school was how small it is! It really is tiny as well here's a video I've uploaded of it for you, you'll notice there's no tables or chairs for the children here;

http://youtu.be/ihI8jRcYGqY

On arrival though before seeing the school I was led into the small chapel where the children were sitting waiting to greet us with the boys sitting on the left and the girls on the right. Gender separation like this is a cultural norm here it's just the way they roll. 

Now to be honest with you there's not much I can write about my experience there as we were only there a short time but the videos I made will basically cover what happened during my visit there. 

Sorry I didn't start recording right from the beginning I didn't think it would be good manners to be video recording while I was being welcomed so it starts quite suddenly, and was filmed inside little church right next to the school;

http://youtu.be/ZKIyNqTxQSs

This ones especially for Ruth, Andy & Jane;

http://youtu.be/SmmfnEDtYWU

It was explained to me that most of the children were Hindu so Gnana suggested I tell them the story of how I cam to Christ so thats what I did- although it was not easy to cram a lifetimes experience into a few short sentences that would be translated into Tamil so they could understand! So basically after the greetings, the sing songs, a few things to eat we took a few photos and we were off! Short but sweet & I know this post is a bit rubbish & I'm sorry I've kind of lost my zing this week worrying about my visa it's been a struggle for me this past week. 

Anyways I hope this post is at least partially satisfying for you! Bye for now friends I shall return......

Stuart :) x x x

Outside the church with the school just to the left;

The church from the inside;

And just for fun an Ice cream Tuc-Tuc I came across the other day;

And also the snake that was waiting for me in my room a couple of weeks ago;

Sun 13th October

Good day Hospice fans!

[This post was meant to be up yesterday but we got back to the Hospice late & I didn't get time to post it]

So then tomorrow I will be travelling again to Madurai City to see Gnana & Kirubai & will be going to visit the school a Melayakudi. Well that's the plan anyway it should go ahead as I could be coming home next weekend but we shall have to wait & see if it actually happens or not. 

The plan is to stay overnight which will be nice & travel back to the Hospice on Tuesday.

I will do my best to get the Melayakudi report up on this blog as soon as possible as I really want to get that done before coming home. 

I'm not sure if I'm going to get time now to do the school report about an average school day for the kids at the Hospice but I will try my best next week will be all over the place if my extension is rejected. If I don't get time to do it I am sorry, I wouldn't have procrastinated on this if I had known this problem would arise. I thought I had plenty of time left. But you never know the extension might well come through. 

So then to continue with the stories of the children & today I will tell you about Carthick. 

Carthick is 8 years old and has been at the Hospice for 5 years now. Again he contracted HIV from his mother at birth but uniquely among the children his mother lives here at the Hospice as well. 

Things started to go bad for Carthick & his mother when his father left to marry another woman. 

Palleniamal (Carthicks mother) had no means now of supporting herself & her son. Her family had rejected her because of being HIV positive & she had nowhere to turn. With all these things & what she must have felt was the only option left she decided to commit a joint suicide with Carthick. 

Now fortunately before she went through with this she found out about Arulagam Hospice where she & her son would be accepted & cared for & now Palleniamal is one of the workers at the Hospice so this place has truly been a blessing to them. 

Now Carthick is a funny child & is always eager to please and show of his skills. For fun I've been showing the kids how to do handstands & Carthick is really quite good at it. He bounces around the place in a way that you can tell he would be very good at gymnastics, and infact in a couple of years when he is old enough they are going to get him some gymnastic schooling & I think he will be brilliant at it. Ok that's it for now I will let you know about the visa as soon as I know. Stuart :) x x x

Sat 12th October

Hello everybody just to let you know the hurricane is passing hundreds of miles north of here. It's 35c and a bright sunny day so no need to worry!

Stuart :) x x x

Friday 11th October

From good news about goats to bad news about my visa. I'm going to be succinct about this as I'm not happy and very tired. 

Things are not looking good for my visa extension, apparently the application has been made too late to be processes in time which is next Friday when my visa runs out. Now I did want to go get this sorted out 2 weeks ago but things don't happen here when I would like them to. 

Now to be fair my friends here have tried their hardest to see what they van do & we will get an answer by Tuesday to wether or not I will get my extension. 

So please pray for this!!!

I have a gut feeling that I won't get the extension so I will be doing all I can to complete my work here in the next week. 

Ok by for now guys I will keep you informed. Stuart x x x

Weds 9th October

Today has been a very good day!

As you know I've always got my eye open for new ways to help, two things were to get the children who don't have them shoes & mosquito repellant cream for all the children. When I suggested these ideas initially they thought they were good ideas but then they came back to me after thinking about it and told me shoes were not such a good idea as the kids will quickly loose them taking them off wherever they may be & forgetting where they left them. The  Mosquito cream is poisonous if ingested and some of the children will try to eat it rather than rubbing it into their skin (yes, some if them are that mental) so instead they suggested that I get them some goats!

Now I thought this was a brilliant idea especially as I have always wanted to buy some poor people from a third world country some goats! (Actually not kidding on this one) So that's one more thing to tick off my bucket list! :)

So this morning we went to the market and came home with some goats! Whoopee!!! Here is a short video of the goats we bought;

http://youtu.be/Nsw6DweI8kM

Now there are four females and one male, (lucky boy, makes me wish I was a goat) in time the herd will grow and they will be able to sell some of them and get a continuous income from them. Which is what makes this really something worth while investing in for them. And it means whatever happens we will have left them with some real long term assets.  

Now in total the goats cost 14000 rupees which is about £157. This is a lot of money but I have managed to free up some funds, and I'll be explaining to you how that has happened next week. 

But until then I bid you farewell and-

WE GOT SOME GOATS!!!! Oh yeah!!! Woohoo!!!!! :)

Stuart :) x x x

By the by, we are going to Madurai City tomorrow to extend my visa as it runs out next Friday. Please pray for it to be successful or I will have to leave much earlier than I intend to! :)