INDIA
Left: a happy young girl in the care of The Salvation Army who says she wants to be a Salvation Army officer when she grows up
‘We can see in their eyes that these are transformed people’ and snatch a glimpse of life in a rural Indian community. This sporting ‘God-incidence’ would not be a one-off during our travels. In our next city – the sprawling metropolis of Mumbai – we are filming in a night shelter which provides accommodation and complementary services for boys whose mothers are involved in the city’s sex trade. The scene outside is dingy, depressing and demoralising. The women ply their trade in tiny, unkempt rooms which have just sufficient room for a bed. There is a sliding scale of charges, largely dependent on the age of the woman, but 20 rupees per client (£0.20/US$0.31) is not unusual. The counterpoint to the squalid, seedy nature of the neighbourhood is the optimism of residents of The Salvation Army’s Jeevan Asha centre. They have every reason to be angry, resentful young men, but their graciousness is palpable. The older boys care for the younger ones; they are intelligent, creative and talented. They are also – without exception – passionate followers of Jesus. This is not by coercion or compulsion – participation
in spiritual activities is entirely optional. The boys worship through jubilant song, energetic dance and moving testimonies of their encounter with our Saviour. This is not simply going through the motions – we can see in their eyes that these are transformed people. As the oldest boy speaks, he tells of his seven years as a resident of the shelter. The Salvation Army had enabled him to continue in his education – an essential asset in dog-eat-dog Mumbai – and he took the conscious decision to give something back. He wanted to serve God in the best way he could, so he studied social work and became a trained outreach worker for the very centre he’d grown up in. All three of us are deeply affected by our short time at Jeevan Asha and our schedule goes off-piste again. We hurriedly arrange a football (soccer) game for the following evening – but first we have to buy a ball, something else we take for granted at home! Mumbai is a microcosm of India, if that’s plausible in a city of 22 million people – equivalent to one third of the
entire UK population. Formerly known as Bombay, it’s the port at which pioneer Frederick Booth-Tucker and his fellow Salvationists landed in 1882. Just across the street from the dock is the opulent Taj Palace Hotel. There is a striking contrast between the white-gloved staff and designer-label boutiques within and the urban decay evidenced less than a block away. Having arrived here via the slums adjacent to the India Western Territory ‘sheadquarters in Byculla, it’s jarring and disorientating. We are presented with posies by street kids who attend a Salvation Army school, meet nonagenarians in the Salvation Army elderly care home, and are inspired by the variety of work undertaken by blind men in a Salvation Army hostel (one street vendor, a masseur, a railway worker and a poet who writes in English, Urdu and Hindi). Everywhere we go, we are astounded by the warmth of welcome and can-do spirit of people who could not be criticised if they had just conceded defeat. Another day, another city. Kolkata – famous for Mother Teresa, infamous for its long-gone Black Hole. We’re struck by the unimaginably hard lives of the railway children we encounter at The Salvation Army’s Veer Project. They have nowhere to call home except the railway station, train maintenance yards and nearby markets, and live in constant fear of being moved on or beaten by police. Their scars, sores and shabby clothing transcend language. It is shocking to be confronted with such extreme poverty. Yet, once again, the children give us cause for optimism. They are bright and articulate, interested in why we’re there and – defying expectations – have captivating smiles. The Salvation Army feeds them and educates them but, with 500 railway children in Kolkata, the needs are great. Darjeeling provides us with welcome respite from the heat (although it transpires that working at this altitude is similarly challenging). We share in worship with Nepali speakers in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 J UL Y – S E P TE M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |
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