Welcome to the Hider Blog......

We are home...!!

2008-08-14T20:32:00.002+01:00

Yes we are home, arriving at Heathrow at 12.30pm UK time yesterday. We then picked up our car and drove the 4 hours to home arriving home at 7pm ish...

All (especially Sarah and I) feeling very weird... Kind of feeling as if we have only been away for a weekend but on the other hand all feeling a little shot - mentally, physically, emotionally. Don't expect a lot out of us yet!!

I think this will the last blog entry now for some time as this chapter in our lives has ended....

Who knows when the next will begin......??

What's your next chapter??

See you (very) soon

2008-08-12T23:00:00.002+01:00

We are off in 5 mins to the airport - It's 3.30am! Last word goes to Raj on the cake her had made for us last night

For those reading this from the UK, we will see you very soon.....

Thank you for your interest in our little lives in this big, big world. That's it! Over and out...

Last day and counting

2008-08-12T01:31:00.004+01:00

Last day and counting in this amazing city and what a stunning time we have had out here......

We have spent time laughing, crying, getting massively frustrated, building better friendships, understanding more about 'culture', helping people, encouraging people, supporting people, challenging people, seeing sights we never would have dreamt of, experiencing smells and sounds we have never experienced before and seeing all our lives change.

We have watched our kids grow and develop in ways we could never have expected, our family has gone through things that would make your eyes water. At the same time we have had more coffee and ice cream than in the last 10 years in the UK (when we have felt a bit 'western sick') and yet, at the same time, survived for a week on bread and rice and water (at Avalanche).

What an unreal time! Very little sickness - home or stomach, one minor accident, buget worked well (we have ended giving too much away but if that is a crime - we are gulty!). Our home has been a sanctuary for us in a way that has made it all (just that bit more) bearable at times.

There is much, much, much more we could tell you about. Maybe will if you give us the chance when we get home??

Thank you all for all your support, love, comments on the blog, e mails and phone calls etc We could not have got through it without them. You are wonderful people and we have felt well loved and supported....

Thanks to all those who gave so generously to people out here. We were given a total of £1145 to give away and gave £1230. I can give you the details if you want but some examples are you have built a house, saved a family from having their house repossessed, helped to setting a business up, helped to build a sports hall for HIV orphans & bought sports equipment for them, bought a (much needed) laptop for the Fishermen Trust and totally furnished the office they work from now and generally given to dozens (yes dozens) of people out here who have next to nothing. Yep, a little goes a hell of a long way out here...

Massive thanks to my 'big brown bear' - that's what the kids call Raj. We made a massive commitment/covenant to each other a number of years back and various things have tested out this friendship to the max but nothing has dented it yet. I have never experienced friendship like it....

Raj has put up with all sorts from me and had me push him, challenege him, encourage him and generally chase his tail to get into the potential that God has for him and the Trust here.

Those of you that know me know that I can be a bit of a bully at times so for Raj to have put up with that for 3.5 months deserves a huge tribute.

And finally, and I know not all of you who read our blog believe in God, but we do (as hard as that is at times!) and we just want to pay a kind of tribute to Him.

From the first days, when we had the initial dream to come, until now, we can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that God has provided for us in ways we could never have imagined. Many of you will never know some of the miracles (and I don't use that word lightly) we have seen before we came and since we have been out here. Unreal!! So big 'Ta's' to the big 'G'!

Doing this blog has been fun and hard work. It has been a good discipline and a great permanent reminder of our time here. The comments that I have had back from you guys too has made doing the blog worthwhile.

I can't work out how I feel. I know I haven't thought of work more than twice in the whole time here. Very weird for me! I feel very numb when I think of home - can't quite process my thoughts to get to the stage of knowing how I feel really. I have no doubt we will enjoy every moment when we return but at the same time, just going to 2/3 slums again yesterday, I still live with the frustration (it feels more like pain at times) of on the one hand living how I live and where I live and yet having the eyes and images of the people I have spent time again with out here (from the streets, slums and villages), haunt me.

I do not understand why? Just becasue of where I was born, I have ended up a bloke with a lovely family with a good income, house, job and 2 cars and a good lifestyle. So please tell me why that is fair when kids I have been over the last 3 1/2 mon ths with have ended up in the gutter (literally), getting sick by the day due to infected water and bad food, with a Dad that (3/4 of whom) have drinking/violence issues and (many) parents who would rather the kiddie help at home than get an education. Please tell me why that is? And if you or I really don't have an answer (and please don't give me any cheesy ones!), then please let me/us continue to serve these beautiful people as long as the gap between the 'have's' and 'have nots' just gets a little shorter??

Must go now. Plane in a few hours!! I really don't think I will keep this blogging lark up when I go home as I won't have time or the amazing array of things to tell you. In many (most?) ways, life is just not as interesting at home I guess BUT it is home, and it's where we belong. Of that we know.....

Love Dave, Sarah, Es and Josh xx

1 day to go....

2008-08-11T14:21:00.001+01:00

Just today and tomorrow to go and there's still no let up in the pace of final people to see/things to do before we go!!

Spent this morning doing something I had been promising Raj all the time - some IT training - some time learning about the web and PowerPoint and stuff. Then lunchtime I met with a friend called Benson who I had wanted to spend some time with since I had been out here but had never got round to.

Benson works on his own 3 days a week and 2 days with Bible Centred Ministries in Bangalore. He spends 90% of his time in the slums and in slum schools and has such a massive heart for people (mainly kids) who have nothing - I just love spending time with him!!!

Benson took me to a school him and another guy had set up for about 30 slum kids - amazing place...Then we went to a bookshop (run by Child Evangelism Felowship) to buy him some kids work resources (despite the posh website Benson doesn't get an salary or resources from BCM??) and then off to a slum school run by the Methodist Church where I had to speak to 170 kids!! Great time.

After this Benson took me to me a number of the families he supports in the slums. Yet again I am found desperately confused as to how I can live how I do - with all I that I will be going back to on Wednesday - and how these communities live. It just kills me to live with this tension at times....

Benson is an amazing guy that lives on next to nothing financially and yet gives his life to those that have less. So impressed.

Off to a Fishermen Trustees meeting tonight - 1st since I have been here. Lots to tell them about all the work we have done since we have been here....

2 days to go..

2008-08-10T17:41:00.013+01:00

It's Sunday and there's nearly 2 days to go!

Please forgive us with this over indulgence of the last few days but it's been a long time coming and we are all rather looking forward to getting home. That's no reflection on how much we have enjoyed our time here. It really has been 'the time of our lives' for sure.

Today was the last Sunday at Church. Many of the friends we have got to know out here are from the Church. Had to say a few words up the front.

I shot over to the Bits club with Raj this afternoon. We took out a 3 years membership deal with them as it costs less than it would have been to go swimming a dozen times in the UK! I have managed to bargain the boss down to transferring the membership over to a family who are good friends here.

Rosalind and Renu (2 of Raj's cousin's) came over this afternoon and did some more henna on Esme and Josh:

In the evening we invited all our (closer) friends (about 18 of them!) round for a Biryani meal (and kebabs and Indian sweets) cooked by a lady who runs a catering business from her house just down the road to where we live. We had a great evening. This will be the last time we see many of these friends although we hear on the grapevine that quite a few are coming to the airport with us (on bikes) - even though we leave at 3.30am.

A lovely evening. 2 to go.....!!

Me and my girl....

2008-08-09T14:39:00.000+01:00

Sarah and I have had a great couple of days....

As I mentioned some good friends of ours (who have 2 kids) said they would have Es and josh for 2 nights so we have been kiddie free!!!

We have had a great time chilling out and looking to going back to the UK - plans etc

Why we are here....

2008-08-09T12:12:00.002+01:00

I was spending some time today finishing off the refresh of the TFT business plan and Raj had given me some updated stats on Bangalore to insert. I thought I would let you see them as they blew my mind!!

The Indian population is now over 1.2 billion out of which 54 percent of Indians are below 25 years of age. Indians below 15 years of age are 336 million and 121 million are between the ages of 15 and 19. The age group of 20-34 are 271 million, adding up 728 million under 34 years of age making almost 70 present of the population. Thus making ‘India world’s youngest nation' having 555 million young people.

Bangalore (now called Bengaluru) has an estimated population of 7.2 million (2008). It is a City of great wealth and yet great poverty:

- It has the highest rate of suicide; as many as 1800 people commit suicide each year in the city, a majority of attempted suicides are between the age group of 20 to 24.

- A survey conducted by abortion centres across the city of Mumbai states that a minimum of 120 teenagers undergo abortions every month.

-According to WHO (World Health Organization) 10 percent of all abortions in India every year, are about five million a year among girls between 15 and 19.’

- There are 5.1 million HIV positive patients and 1,11,608 people with Aids in India , it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 20-25 million HIV positive people in India

-India also has the largest population of street children, ‘it is estimated that in urban areas there are 11 million children on the streets. Of them 420,000 street children live in six metropolitan cities of India, in Delhi alone there are at least 100,000 street children’

-The government estimates ‘that there are 400,000 child prostitutes in India. Unofficial estimates say India has as many as two million prostitutes, of which 20 percent are below 15 years of age. UINICEF claims that almost 15 percent of them enter the profession before the age of 15, and 25 percent enter between 15 and 18

Does that give you some idea of why we are here??

Oggling the Olympics

2008-08-08T19:39:00.010+01:00

Our family seem to be well up for the Olympics this year - especially Esme... Thought it was a stunning opening ceremony I have to say. Especially impressed with the guy that round round the top (towards lighting the torch) of the stadium and the photo's lit up as he went - see pic below.

Looking forward to watching it when we have time at home. There was a big furore out here with the India team (ladies) as they weren't wearing saris etc!! Dominated the news.

My best opening ceremony pic is:

As for me/us, our marathon is coming to an end. I spent a chunk of today with Raj reviewing different aspects of the 3 1/2 months and celebrating the good and discussing the not so good. All in all we both agreed the time had gone far far better that any of us ever dreamt of.. A time that will change us all forever of that we are all convinced.

2 meetings tomorrow (Saturday) a full day Sunday, a totally full day and evening Monday, busy Tuesday am and then that is it!!!! Chill Tuesday pm and leave the house 3.30am Wednesday and fly at 6.45am!!!

Whoopee!!!Ready for home now! And just as we are about to hit 3000 page hits to the blog since coming out!! (see left side bar).

"He's gone"

2008-08-08T05:57:00.007+01:00

Those of us that have known Paul (my bro) for a while will be used to saying this phrase about him as 'he's gone' is often used to describe our disappointment at the fact that Paul is now 99% mad and needing to be admitting to the local psychiatric unit....!!

However, on this occasion this phrase describes that fact that at 11pm we dropped Paul off at Bengaluru Airport on his 4 hour flight to Bangkok and then back to Kunming, China where he lives.

He e mailed us later on tonight to say:

"Arrived safely in Bangkok (4.30am your time) despite one of the bumpiest journeys I've ever had (and he has travelled to 86 countries!!) . Non-stop turbulence for 4 hours! No chance of sleep, and many passengers couldn't get any food/drink served as the air hostesses spent most of the time in their seats! I was on the last row - most bumpy place but at least they got food to me!"

Paul continues to blog here so do have a peak every now and again at the amazing things that happen to him in China.

Paul's final perusal....

2008-08-07T11:17:00.009+01:00

It's Paul's last day today so we have taken it a little easy. We went off to show him the other side of Bangalore by going, once again, to the Leela Palace. Remember we went for a meal there for our anniversary, courtesy of Raj??

The picture is of us in their back garden!!

When we got there we had a look round but I don't think any of us could stomach the thought of buying a coffee especially as we had just walked past a large slum and beggars outside. Bonkers place but worth seeing...

Paul flies at 12.30am tonight/tomorrow morning. Our last trip to the airport before we go next Wednesday!

We have had a great time with Paul: chilling out together and catching up how we are doing. Great for the kids to spend time with him too..

Breakthrough and dance

2008-08-06T17:36:00.013+01:00

No, this not some kind of new dance routine that Sarah and I have learnt in Bangalore......!!

This afternoon Raj and I took a (very painful) hour and a bit long bike ride through the rush hour to go to visit the Breakthrough Centre in Bangalore. This is probably the best adventure centre around - certainly in Bangalore and is used mainly by corporate clients these days. It's well designed and used although it does not have a huge plot of land.

It was a great opportunity to meet with Robin Paul (the CEO and founder) who is a bit of a big wig in Bangalore in adventure stuff. It was good to see what Breakthrough offered in terms of facilities and how that compared with other places I showed Raj in the UK (such as BODS and Taste for Adventure in Hereford) and what kind of centre Raj has in mind.

At the centre of 'Breakthrough', and the reason it is called what it is called, is a massive rock - I guess 60foot high and as wide which has a tree that has broken right through the rock, splitting it into all sorts of shapes. The bottom pic is the tree coming up through this huge rock and splitting it wide open! Can't really convey how amazing a site it is but here's the pics to try.

Raj and I climbed up the rock and spent some time talking more of the detail of what Raj has in his vision/heart/mind on the adventure centre type thing. All very exciting and good to be doing all this standing on a rock that has been broken open by 'just' some roots...A picture of what we need to happen for Raj getting his land. What appears like a brick wall/humanly impossible situation humanly being broken down with ease by something simple....

Then, this evening we went to NBCLC (see May 26th post) just up the road from us as they had an Indian Cultural dance evening on with some of the India dancers that they have at this catholic retreat centre. Went to my 1st Indian mass 1st (very different to normal as their focus is to do everything in Indian style) and then onto the dance which was highly professional and really quite entertaining. Really good night.

Back home at 9ish to have a curry (cooked by our home help lady Sheila) in pitch black as lights were out again. Almost every night at the moment as Bangalore is on hydro electricity apparently.

Vegging out with the veg!

2008-08-05T12:47:00.014+01:00

Went out early with just Paul this morning to see the City Market where I have been a number of times. It's the place where there are huge amounts of flowers, veg, spices etc for sale as well as chillies and the like.

Very quiet this morning but I enjoyed showing my bro around - feeling like I was a local!!

Then, off to Koshi's Indian restaurant for as near to an English brekkie as we could get and some time to debrief on our time here (from a work perspective) - something I had asked Paul to do. Then onto a few shops.

Nice time with just my bro and I. We spent some time talking about his experiences in China and ours in India - pretty similar but obviously he has been doing it far longer, and in a more permenant way.

A very poor Mysore

2008-08-05T02:56:00.014+01:00

We all went to Mysore (again) today - mainly to show Paul things there. It was a good day and I think Paul enjoyed it but there was a string of catastrophe's that happened:

Bird sanctuary: You remember the one with the crocs and all? Well it was closed because of 'monsoon rain' - one of the main reasons we went to Mysore!

Dinner: Decided to go for a mid range hotel for dinner. Arrived at about 3.30pm (!) and were tole the dining room closed for restaurant but snacks etc still open. Went upstairs and....

First blow: (for Raj and John the driver) was 'no rice'. No rice I India I cried!!

Second blow: Ordering french fries and when they said they had none they said they had a replacement of 'round deep fried chips' and, surprise, surprise, when they came out, they were 'crisps'!! Arghh!!

Third blow: Es opened her cheese sandwich to find a fly in it!

Fourth blow: Loads of paper in the milkshakes (from the ice cream)!

Fifth blow: Sarah Egg pakora. All the egg was black!

Needless to say we complained at leaving time!

Brindevan Gardens: Remember the lovely place to finish our day with pretty coloured lights and dancing water fountains?? Well we arrived, 5 minutes in and, there was a power cut and the generator didn't work. We walked round in pitch black!!

Crash: Putting diesel in the car and Jon (driver) reversed into a car in the garage

A good day all round eh?? Still, we have all learnt to expect these kind of days - us in India and Paul in China, so we all thought the day was a reasonable success!!

How low our expectations are eh??

Having said all of this we had a few highlights. Es and Josh had an exceptional Elephant ride at Mysore Palace where the mahout let Es sit on the elephants head and ride!!

See the video too:

Cool eh??

A little better....?

2008-08-04T02:15:00.001+01:00

Feel a little (fair bit?) better today following starting the anti biotics - just to let you know....

What we did in India..

2008-08-04T01:34:00.014+01:00

I know many of you will have had the following by e mail and if you have, please ignore this post, but a couple of you have not had it (i.e have seen a copy that others had got) so I thought I would stick it on the blog.

It's a summary of all that we have done whilst in India. These are only the tangible things. On top of this, it is crucial to recognise, as I say at the bottom of this summary:

"All of these things are the tangible things that we can clearly evidence we did. On top of all this there are hundreds of other conversations, meetings with people, blog comments which have impacted people, phone calls, e mails, chats in the streets, time spent with people in slums and on the streets that will have made an impact on our or others lives. We will probably never be able to show you tangibly what impact these things have had on ours and other people’s lives. For us a lot of what has changed our lives about India 2008 is not tangible. They are simply the quietly held thoughts, challenges, encouragements, images and stories that will stay with us forever…. "

Some of the entries are just one line but represent a huge amount of work. The summary is split into sections: The Fishermen Trust, Personal, Raj and I and Others

THE FISHERMEN TRUST/WORK:
* Proposals written and all relevant paperwork in place for outdoor pursuits, advice centre, hostel/nightstop.
General proposals for each of these areas written to give clarity to funders and supporters as to what these elements of the vision are.
Written so that the Trust to get a document from the Government called ‘prior permission which allows them to receive funding from outside India. Crucial for future funding.

* Furnish TFT office
£250 raised from the Uk to turn this empty ground floor of a large house into a fully functioning office. Now equipped with desks, chairs, 2 laptops, bookshelves full of resources, cabinets, climbing gear, tents etc etc

* TFT laptop & associated items purchased
One laptop purchased with gifts from UK the Hiders brought over. One other laptop given free too!

* Completely refresh TFT Business Plan and mail out again
The Business Plan was 2 years old and needed to be refreshed. This is now done with a new SWOT analysis and other areas updated

* Set new KPI’s/targets for TFT Business Plan for coming year
We reviewed how the Trust is doing against the previous plans set and then set new milestones (for the next few years) and specific targets for this year which were agreed by the Trustees

* Trustees in new way of working (if possible) and reporting
Through the training on 5.7 (see below).Real sense that people see the need to move to a new way of working. Model Trustees meeting agenda developed

* Establish new system of reporting from Raj to trustees

Nandu has started to do a report from every camp the Trust run. He also does a weekly log of all that he is doing. Raj now doing monthly reports which will go to trustees. Staff meetings now in place. Stock inventory now in place. Stock (tents loan sheet in place).

* Clarify finance issues to split TFT and Raj’s finances
Now happening. Trust budget being developed and template budget established. 1st year accounts approved by Chartered accountants

* Money in CLC (TFT) account use
Agreed to use this as a safety net for the Trust if funding suddenly stops and also for a resources for when Raj needs to come to the UK for PR etc

* Establish a TFT Trust budget and write a ‘finance proposals’ paper to Board
Paper written. To be submitted to next Board meeting

* Paper to Board on proposals during my time here and what has been achieved in my time here
Done. Proposals developed during my time here going to Trustees at their meeting early August and the doc on what has been done during our time here is this doc!

* Speak at 3 camps
Took sessions at Church camp at Kodai, Avalanche camp & Efficor conference

* Speak at minimum 3 Church’s
Spoke at Revival Church twice and Church camp

* Establish 3 day residential leadership training weekend for Christian leaders including PR and programmes
This happened on the 11th – 13th July at FMC in Bangalore. Very successful with 22 people there. Many more opportunities for the future Great handouts and resources CD (of all Rob’s resources) given to each participant

* Establish 1 day corporates training event with Mindview including PR and programmes
Cancelled.

* Establish a day retreat with TFT trustees including programmes Trustees training day happened on 5.7 with Rob and I. Very positive. A number of actions followed from this day to be discussed at the next Trustees meeting.

* Update TFT blog weekly
Some updating of the TFT blog has happened whilst in India but I also have loads of content to do more on this when I return to the UK. My blog has been the focus.

* Agree a design for the TFT website and commission
Website content and design developed and currently with a designer to improve

* Produce 100 club leaflet
Established to try and get a base of Indian funders to secure the ongoing revenue costs of the Trust. Trustees ready to promote this. Leaflet developed

* Design and publish TFT PR leaflet
Website content and design developed and currently with a designer to improve

* Discuss partnership agreement with CLC and Space2think and e mail out/discuss with Trustees
Discussion with Tim from CLC ansd Rob from Space2think whilst in India. Draft Partnership agreements developed to be agreed by both CLC/Space2think and TFT trustees

* Climbing kit from the UK
Ruck sack full of requested climbing and abseiling materials sent with Tim

* New TFT video
To do at home

* Induction pack for when visitors come to India
To do at home

* Development of resources website idea
To do at home

* Induction pack for when visitors come to India
To do at home

* Development of resources website idea
To do at home

PERSONAL:
* Keep journal on a daily basis
Done! Completed every day!

* Speak when asked to – massive thing!
Yes. Very, very hard at times but I did it!

* Keep blog up to date daily
Done! Completed every day!

* Communicate regularly through e mail and calls
Yes. Sarah did great on this too

* Live within budget
Yes

* Establish itinerary for Tim, Rob, Husbands & Paul, have visitors stay and ensure they are happy!
Done and all the trips seemed to go really well with a balance of work, time with people and tourist stuff

* Ensure Sarah feels Dave is balancing ‘work’ and ‘home’
Lost the balance at the start but been good from there. Dave spent at least 3 days clear each week with family. Went to Bits every week and Accept together each week too.

* School work for kids 4 times a week for 2 hours until Husbands come
Done. Brilliant job by Sarah.

* Josh’s reading to improve
Josh has developed so much in his reading etc and Es in so many other ways

* Stay healthy – especially Sarah
Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Josh had problems for a month which never was really a big problem for him and Es and I have had icky guts for 2 half days in the whole 3.5 months! Amazing!

RAJ AND I:
* Feedback given to Raj and Trust on my perspective on what I see in the way he/the trust works or not
Done on virtually a daily basis. Not been easy to do that as it’s hard to say and hear at times. Lots I have learnt about how I need to change too!

* Provide external supervision for Raj
Done – almost on a daily basis

* Support for Raj’s personal development
Done – almost on a daily basis

* Give to Raj where necessary
Done – confidential

* Video and thank you letter from Trust to Eve for the £500 they have raised
Done. The school had raised £500 for the Trust.

'OTHERS':
* Support (name is confidential) house build
Done with a gift of £500 from friends at home. House build underway

* Support (name is confidential) family – money, toys and baby carriers
Done. Given to him and others. Money given to him to get him through on his house rent for 2 months as business went bust (pretty much) and he is newly married with a child. Job is on way so this gift was to tide them over.

* Support Sreeni in development of his Church
Done. Met most Tuesdays and had good focused chats.

* Buy climbing shoes for (name is confidential)
Done. Great new pair of quality shoes for him

* Distribute the £1000 we have been given wisely
In the end we were given a total of £1145 including money given to us that we gave away as we wanted to live simply. Money given as follows. Names have been removed for confidentiality but happy to give more detail to people who gave.
£50 given to S – money given specifically for this person from someone at home
£50.00 to the wonderful cooks at Avalanche. Paid next to nothing and given to help their families
£40.00 G who lives in a local slum and ended up critically ill in hospital and she didn’t have the money to pay for her treatment
£500.00 given to D for the house he needs to see built for his family back in his village – see blog story
£200 for S – see why above
£60 for printer at TFT office
£60.00 for climbing shoes for N who has nothing and is instructing in abseiling with TFT
£100.00 Given to Accept orphanage for new sports room for kids with HIV that need to keep muscles going
£50 of small gifts given to various people as we have seen need
£60.00 given to A, a wonderful friend of ours who simply has nothing. Worked with him on what he will use it on
TOTAL GIVEN AWAY £1170.

* Distribute toys/baby stuff given from Tim
Done. Given to Benson who works in the slums daily. All other toys were given to:
Kids at Accept
Kids in 2 slums
Kids on streets

* Purchase and distribute the £100 from St James via skipping ropes etc
£50 spent on skipping ropes given to kids at Accept (see blog story) and £50 given to kick start their sports room (see blog story)
And then just to say again:
"All the above are the things that we can clearly evidence we did. They are tangible. On top of all this there are hundreds of other conversations, meetings with people, blog comments which have impacted people, phone calls, e mails, chats in the streets, time spent with people in slums and on the streets that will have made an impact on our or others lives. We will probably never be able to show you tangibly what impact these things have had on ours and other people’s lives. For us a lot of what has changed our lives about India 2008 is not tangible. They are simply the quietly held thoughts, challenges, encouragements, images and stories that will stay with us forever…."

A groggy bloggy.....

2008-08-03T07:48:00.008+01:00

I have had to stay at home this morning as I feel dead rough. I've had a cold (along with a number of others out here) for the last 4/5 days and it seems like there is a pattern where for some, it just goes away, and for others it develops into a flu type virus. Guess what I've got? No it's not just the blokes who it develops into flu for!!!! Really feel washed out and sick etc...

Off to Mysore tomorrow so will need to try and get myself sorted by then. Can't blog any more - I'm back to bed!!

Update at 4pm today: Just been to docs and been told I have a 'viral infection'. Not sure what that means but I have anti biotics etc.

Some pics I nicked....

2008-08-02T16:02:00.005+01:00

As you know, Paul (my brother) is here at the moment so I am enjoying not lugging our camera around and letting him take some pics.

Here's some he took today when we went out to a place called Cubbon Park (and surrounding areas):

Wandering in Wonderla

2008-08-01T16:50:00.017+01:00

Went to Wonderla today with the kids and Paul. Got there in time for lunch. Apparently some schools were on holidays today but no sign of any kids!! The place was like a ghost town. very odd. The biggest problem we had all day was not the queues - they were non existent - but the fact that many of the rides needed 5 or more popele on them for stability etc and there was only 4 of us!

We have a great time though. It's a great park. I have been twice and we went as a family 2 years ago when it had been opened 2 weeks. I said to Sarah at that stage 'I bet they don't keep it this nice', but to my shame, they have and the place is as good as ever.

2 of our highlights were:

"Friendly fish" (see pic below left): Koi Carp that come right up and gobble the food off you hand (see pic below)

Feris wheel (see pic below right): Which stands on top of a concrete tower about 300 feet off the ground. You get some stunning views from the park. See below.

Had a great time - weather - cool, staff - friendly, food - good, kids - happy. Job done! Good day..

What can I say??

2008-07-31T17:12:00.008+01:00

I think for the first time in India I am a bit lost for what to blog. Hurrah" they cry!!

3 reasons as far as I can work out:

1. Paul is here and the first few days with him have been quite chilled out. Things get a little busier tomorrow with a days visit to Wonderla with me and Paul and the kids. Sarah is having a day off!

We went to 'Bits' and 'Accept' for the last times today with Paul and had a good time and then out for a meal tonight. The kids (and us) are loving being with 'Uncle Paul'.

2. Our minds are most definitely starting to get focused on coming home and less on India and what is going on here. Part of that is because people have been e mailing a lot to say 'how are you feeling about coming home' and that starts to get you thinking about things that (for me at least) I have not thought about at all for 3 months - home, work, money situation at home etc etc

Both Sarah and I (and the kids I think although they don't express it the way we do) are feeling quite weird right now. Kind of wanting to be home now but still needing to be revved up for Paul being here.

3. I kind of feel I have now done all that I came to do. This morning I finished my last piece of work for the trust which was a very weird feeling. I do still have a few (tying up the loose ends type) meetings to have with before we come home I kind of feel all is done that I need to do. A great feeling but I now feel a bit of the twiddling thumbs coming on. I am OK with that for now though...

So that's as much as I have to tell you I'm afraid!! I guess there will be more tomorrow (Wonderla) and then we go back again to Mysore on Monday.

Sorry to be boring! Do hang in there with us as we spend the last few days out here now.....

Hold on to your hats. We're coming!!

2008-07-30T04:37:00.007+01:00

Yes, batton down the hatches, shut your curtains, grab your kids, check you life insurance....the Hiders come home in 2 weeks today!!!! Arghhhh!!! " 2 weeks today and we will be back doing the old 'pope kiss on the ground' thing at the airport and back to annoy you all as we always do.

Your break from us will soon be over!!

Not much to blog other than that really. We had a great day with Paul yesterday - not doing much really. It's seems like it's just 5 minutes (not 3 years) since we have seen him. He is such a nutter the kids just love him. Josh just listens to the things he says and is lost in a world of confusion, laughter, trying to work him out and fondness - it's so funny to see it!

Oh by the way, all the pics of me on the blog so far have been old/false ones. Actually the pic above is...the new me!! I have carefully crafted this new look whilst I have been out here and am ready for the UK once more. Watch out people....here I come!!!

The other way of looking at it is: why would a bloke like this wear a t shirt with '2 weeks' on it????? Good looking blokes are so weird....!!

The eagle has landed!!

2008-07-29T03:41:00.010+01:00

Paul finally arrived at 12.15am our time after a flight from China to Bangkok and the a stop for a few hours and then to us. It is so good to see him and 'welcome him to our Country' (??!) He's so much fun - the kids have been really excited and, within 2 minutes of getting out of the airport Josh was relaying story after story to him!! Ahh.... Es hobbled there on her smashed toes!

Got home about 1am and Paul sleeping now. I have taken the risk (well it is a risk if you are a Hider!) of not doing an itinerary and seeing how we go as the week unfolds. Very different strategy to normal but then Paul is a seasoned traveller and knows what he wants to see/do so I want him to hold the reigns.

The kids had designed and made a banner saying 'welcome to India crazy Uncle Paul' and Raj had given him a massive plastic garland type thing! Paul looked light some sort of ganster rapper ready with his 'bling' It was hilarious watching the line of Indian drivers queuing up to get their business people at the arrivals gate watching us loony westerners doing all this mad stuff!

Seen this??

2008-07-28T20:53:00.005+01:00

Saw this on the BBC news website and followed the link to the you tube page. It's worth the wait to load and then take a look. Remember, best way I find is to hit pause, let it load and then play.

Relax! It looks worse than it is....

2008-07-28T13:21:00.009+01:00

Oh dear!! Just after Dad was blogging/joking (below) about the changing of Esme's earrings, she goes and knocks a solid teak dining room chair over onto her foot with the corner of the chair crashing on 2 of her toes. Ouch!!! Real bad pain and tears and all. Don't often get them from Es.

We feared she had broken the toes as they went numb etc and the pain was so bad so we took her to a local hospital and got her seen to. Paid a few rupees to see a doctor immediately (not like the UK!) who checked her out. No breaks and thbey bandaged the toes up and sent us home.

The picture makes it look more grand than it was!! That's India for you - if they can serve you in some way- they will!!

Going to and from the hospital in ricks with a daughter in excruciating agony was fun I can tell you (!) but she's a brave old thing and is now chilling on the sofa ready to go to the airport to get Paul (my brother) who is now here at 11.30pm tonight.

1st accident in 3 months though - not bad eh??!

More bombs..

2008-07-28T04:38:00.005+01:00

It's getting a bit scary out here!! Although we are well away from the latest bomb blasts, the atmoshpere in the Country is fairly hyped at the moment.

The latest news this morning is that Indian authorities have arrested around 30 people as the death-toll from a spate of bombings in the city Ahmedabad has risen to 45.

Vehicles burned where an device went off in Ahmadabad, leaving over 100 injured. At least 16 small bombs exploded in the Indian city of Ahmedabad yesterday, killing at least 39 people and wounding 110.

On Friday, as we mentioned on our blog, another set of blasts in Bangalore killed a woman.

A little known group called the "Indian Mujahideen" says it carried out the Ahmedabad attack.
The same group said it carried out bombs attacks that killed 63 people in the western city of Jaipur in May. It is unusual for any group to claim responsibility, but Police say it suspects militant groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh are behind a wave of bombings in recent years.

"The entire nation, including major metro cities in India have been put on high alert and they have been asked to step up security in vital installations," a home ministry spokesman said.
In New Delhi, police have been using loudspeakers and distributing leaflets in crowded market places, warning people to watch out for unclaimed baggage and suspicious objects.

Nothing major for us in terms of impact other that every shop, restaurant or other major place you go to you have to open your bag and have it checked. Bit frustrating really but nothing else.

And our final visitor is on his way....

2008-07-27T15:58:00.011+01:00

I have spent a load of time over the last 2/3 days (since the Husband family have gone) summing up what we have done and getting ready for the last few sessions with Raj. Some of the things that I have been working on have been:

A 4 page summary of what we have done and how we have done it: I have mailed this out to most people on our e mail list. This has been useful for me (if no one else) to see and 'capture' what we (mainly I I guess) have done in the 3 months we have been out here. If I am honest I have no idea of the amount of stuff that was getting done as I went along. Hey, get me...I'm talking in past tense already!!!!

Questionnaire to help Raj and I capture how things have gone in our time here: One of the ways that I am hoping will help Raj and I capture how we feel things have gone during our time here is by doing a simple questionnaire. I know it sounds all a bit grand and formal but I have come to the conclusion giving Raj (and me I guess) a bit of a structure to explain and voice how he has felt about a whole host of different things will help in structuring the feedback we discuss.

Partnership agreements: One of the things I have tried to do with Tim (from our Church) and Rob (from Space2think) is capture what they/the church have said they may be prepared to help with when they get home. I have done the unashamedly to get more support for the trust for the coming year. My experience is that people can often commit to stuff whilst out here and then life 'back there' grabs them when the plane hits the runway and it all goes. My aim is to ensure this does not happen therefore!!

I have turned the chats we have had into 'potential areas of partnership' docs to suggest where both relationships might go over coming years. This will give me, Raj and the Trustees areas for discussion and development in the future.

'Tools I have given' doc: I have tried to minimise the amount of tools/paperwork that I have suggested that Raj and co use in the trust. I do feel strongly that they need a small, focused base of structure to the paperwork/reporting systems they need to use.

I have suggested over the 3 months about 6 bits of paperwork that I think are essential (reports etc) and we have agreed that it is essential that these get used from now. To try and 'seal' this I have written a short document that makes clear what documents to use for what and, if they use them well, the impact that using these docs will have.

TFT leaflet: I designed a TFT leaflet and website (just the design) for the trust and we gave then to a designer to make them pretty. We have now had the first draft of the leaflet back and I have spent time tweaking this so it should be printed by the time we go home - I hope to bring some back with me..!

A 'prior permission' document to get western funding for the Trust: Out here you have to prove that you are good enough to handle funds from other countries so you apply for a thing called 'prior permission' from the government for a specific project. You have to describe it and the benefit it will bring to India and then say how much you think you will need over what period of time.

We are submitting an application for permission to raise large sums of cash for the outdoor centre that is looming large for Raj and the trust.

This document has taken quite some time to do as I am starting from scratch doing this in a Country that is not mine. That said there is no format or structure to what you are meant to do so I decided, at Raj's request to just 'go for it'!!

So, as you can see, I've been a busy boy!! A huge part of this flurry of activity is because I have had 3 days in between when the Husbands go home and when my big brother comes to see us tomorrow night at 9.30pm. He will be flying in from China where he lives and works. If you have not seen his blog, please have a look here. He's a pro at it! Especially as we got a mention tonight here....!!!!

We've not seen Paul for 3 years plus now so we are all really excited about seeing him again. He's great with our kids especially so they are so looking forward to seeing him.

Here he is teaching a lesson in China:

Once Paul leaves we have about 5 more days here and then...home!!!

Massive change happening in Bangalore

2008-07-26T14:18:00.004+01:00

I may have mentioned the massive changes that are happening in this great City but non surpasses the change that we witnessed today. Esme's earrings that she had put in when they were pierced were finally taken out and she could choose which new ones she wanted to put in.

This massive change has been looming large in the house for some weeks now with daily requests for this change to happen.

Ahhhh...Peace at last now...

The pic of of Sheila (who does our ironing) changing them for her and the final result on the right.

She's growing up this kid. You want to see here speaking to Indian people out her. She has the accent, mannerisms, and all the little body language bits that make Indians who they are. It's hilarious to watch!!

It's a record!!

2008-07-26T11:37:00.011+01:00

Just checked our blog hits data thingy on Google which tells us how many people have been on the blog and when......

It showed us that we have had 1279 hits since we came here (!!!) and that yesterday we had our record day. You hit the roof with 70 hits in just one day(see pic)!!!

Thank you all one and all....;-). I feel needed at long last!!

We have also had an increase of people visiting the site from abroad and the latest stats on that (and this is a bit bizarre I can tell you) are we have 367 visits came from 31 countries including Mexico, America, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Canada, Italy, Romania and New Zealand.

If I am honest I can't quite believe this but the statistics say it and I have e mailed Google and they confirm that this is right!!

We'll be back to haunt you soon......!!

2008-07-26T03:38:00.003+01:00

We are back in under 2 weeks and wanted to ensure you remeber who we are so here is the latest picture of us all by the lake at Avalanche last week.......

Here comes the rain again

2008-07-26T03:06:00.009+01:00

Monsoon is finally here. We have had loads of rain over the last few weeks and it's not looking at getting any better.

The people here (especially farmers and rural people in villages) have been desperate for the rain to come and come it has!

Yesterday it rained all day which was a first. Normally it is sunny all day and then the rain comes in the evening for a couple of hours.

When it does rain it is hard and thick (a meteorological known technical term!).

The rain really cools the whole place down and has been a bit of treat if we are honest - never thought I would say that!!

And the treat was...

2008-07-25T18:30:00.013+01:00

I mentioned that we were being set up for a treat tonight by Raj and crew.....??

Sarah and I had a babysitter come at 7pm and then got picked up by a driver and taken to The Leela Palace. Just check out their website here. It was really the most extraordinary place Sarah or I have ever been to. 7 star hotel and Raj had given the driver a voucher for a meal at the restaurant for us both -and then had a cake brought to us by the waiters with 'Happy Anniversary' on. How incredibly kind of Raj to do this for us......

Pics of the palace below. It is an actual palace of old - owned by the Government but run by a private company. I have never seen a hotel like it in my life.

We had a great meal - Mexican - and some great deserts and then chilled with a coffee in the room bottom left in the pics!! By the way the middle right picture is a bedroom!!!

Whilst there is no taking away from how utterly incredible this place was and what a great anniversary treat it was for us to go to the Leela Palace, as we got in our car and drove down the drive and out of the golden gates I looked out the windows of the car and there they still were: the slums, the beggars and real life India.

I am left feeling full up and happy from a great evening but wondering how that can be a world that we lived in tonight and yet one that others I see here will never ever see....? How can these two worlds can co-exist as they do.....?? This country baffles me at times....

Bangalore blasts

2008-07-25T11:12:00.007+01:00

You may have heard/read that there have been a series of bomb blasts in Bangalore (no not for our anniversary!!). I guess our anniversary treat tonight is off!!

The news is as follows:

There have been 5 blasts about 20 minutes from where we are in Bangalore. They started at about 1.20pm and killed one woman and injured several people. There has been no damage to the property and all the injured have been taken to Mallya Hospital.

We are fine by the way! The blasts might as well be somewhere else in the world as far as we know. Sarah was out with the kids about 20 mins from where the blasts happened but we heard via a friend here.

It just shows you how volatile things can be at times here....

Full story here

Finally 'Accepted'

2008-07-25T10:00:00.004+01:00

We went to the Accept orphanage today for our last visit. We took the Husbands too. The kids at this orphanage have had a massive impact on us and for me, going there each week, for last 12 weeks, has been one of the highlights of this trip.

We asked permission today if we could take some cake and have a little party - which we did.

Our kids brought with them some money from their school and all of this has now been given to the kids for skipping ropes (half of the money) and a donation towards a new sports room they are building (see pics).

Joe, our contact at Accept is seen here receiving the remainder of the money the kids brought for the sports room.

We reallt connected these kids and will miss each and every one of them....

You may remember the 3 boys I mentioned on the last blog post on Accept. We got an update on them today. They had to move from Accept as there was not enough room for them there BUT they are down the road at another care centre and are doing well.

Here's a reminder of just a few of these precious kids who we have got to know...I have put the pics individually as we have got to know there personalities and that's when you can't ignore their plight.

We are staying in touch with Joe and Accept and will continue to support their work. Join us??

Happy Anniversary!!

2008-07-25T06:43:00.010+01:00

It's Sarah and my anniversary today - 16 years!! I would like to pay public tribute to my wife for putting up with the grumpy old git for that long!! We salute you Sarah!!

We have been 'told' that we are having the kids looked after tonight (by 2 Indian friends) and we have a 'treat'. Interesting.....we'll tell you tomorrow what it is......

It was a bizarre start to our anniversary as we had to wake at 3.15am to take the Husbands to the airport. Lots of tears as we have had a good time with them and going to the airport always stirs up thoughts for us all of going home. Only 2 ½ weeks to go now!!

We had a nice meal out last night and all reminisced on highs and lows of the trip. They all really enjoyed it. Even on our last night with them we had another random event. Still happening daily... We were sitting at the restaurant and Rob was chatting to me. I looked just behind Rob's head to see 'random man in random helmet' (see right) sitting at the restaurant table behind him.

We have learnt to stop asking 'why?'.... and just continued our chat......

Day Three: Home but not what we expected!!

2008-07-23T17:41:00.005+01:00

Our final day in Ooty today. We left the hotel at about 10am and got a rick down to the bus station. Jumped on a local bus and headed off to Mysore. This is about a 3 hour ride down the hills of Ooty. Once again, scenery to die for......

The ride was hot and sticky as you can feel the temperature increasing the further you go down the mountains.

On the Bandipur National Park. This is the place where 2 years ago we all spent a day at a temporary Elephant Sanctuary which is set up once a year to give about 60 elephants a rest from their time at the Hindu temples. We have some amazing footage. This trip though the forest was meant to different as we were just intending on flying through the forest (and man do you fly on the coaches here!) to get to Mysore where we were due to get a train home.

Much to our surprise and delight we picked a good day to go through the forest.....

We saw 3 sets of wild elephants (this is totally wild forest) plus monkeys and bison and dear. One of the elephants we saw had a baby with her and was also pregnant with another - see the pic to see the baby sticking out the side of it's stomach.

The kids went wild!!

After this treat we ended up in Mysore with about half an hour to spare for lunch. Raj and I grabbed snacks for all 11 of us (!) and then caught ricks to the train station. It's weird, just saying 'we caught ricks to the train station' just doesn't convey anything like what happened. We were in boiling hot, tourist mad, manic Mysore with 6 adults and 5 kids, 3 large rucksacks and half a dozen smaller ruck sacks. 'Jumping in ricks' is therefore a major military manoeuvre!!!

The train ride home was tough for us all - kids especially. It was so hot and busy and the train was delayed time and time again. We ended up travelling from 10am - 7pm! Fortunately the train was less busy towards the end of the journey so the kids used the 3 staged bed set up as a climbing frame!!

Day Three: Steaming mad!

2008-07-22T17:07:00.012+01:00

Day three started with a swim at the Hotels pool. We have so enjoyed the hotel. The views and quality of the hotel was unreal and the staff are just so nice and have really looked after the kids and us. We really needed this break and this place was just what the doctor ordered!!

At lunchtime to the Nilgiri Mountain Railway with the younger kids. Sarah and Tina and the 2 older ones went to the Botanical Gardens. The railway was similar to that which you would get run by (rather strange!) enthusiasts in the UK but the scenery was incredible going over viaducts and seeing hills such as I have not seen for a while:

The kids have got on so well together all through the holiday. Josh and (Rob and Tina's youngest) Libby have especially clicked.....

Home late evening and a nice meal at the hotel with Raj, Nandu and a guy called Ajoo who manages Avalanche. Great time with them all.

The kids tend to hit a wall at about 6pm here and just drop to sleep - normally in the middle of dinner. I think we have carried them off to bed more than ever out here!

Nice day. Slightly more chilled but none the less great.

Day Two: Into the Jungle...

2008-07-21T17:23:00.027+01:00

On day two we decided to go back to Avalanche. The kids and I had had such an amazing time there last time and we wanted Sarah and the Husbands to visit too - even though we knew it would be a challenge getting us all there in one piece!

Through Raj, we booked the monster truck that the centre uses so that we could get Sarah in there (walking the hour or so in just wouldn't have worked and in hindsight it's a good job the truck came in with us - see later). We met with 4 of the cooks from Avalanche who were coming in with us for the day and had said they wanted to cook for us. It was great to see them again especially as they had looked after us so well when we had stayed at Avalanche the first time.

The truck took about 2 hours from the hotel to Avalanche. We went through the most beautiful countryside surrounded by tea plantations and hills to die for.

It's so hard to describe what this journey is like. I'm not sure anyone believed Es, Josh and I when we tried to explain....

We took some video this time which, if you are patient, will give you an example of what the journey is like:

Fortunately there hadn't been a lot of rain over the past few weeks which is really unusual for this time of year (monsoon) so the roads were fairly dry. Well at least they were on the trip in......!

On the way in the driver suddenly said to us (me and Sarah were in the front seat) "pug mark". He pointed down to the ground and there, as clear as anything was a tiger foot print (they call them pug marks). The cooks know about these things and reckoned it was a couple of hours old!!.

Seriously, we were in an opened back truck with a tiger having been on the same road 2 hours before. This was not some wildlife sanctuary with guides with shotguns 'just in case. No, this was just the Hiders & Husbands and a few Indian friends alone in the (real) jungle with tigers not far off!!!

Once in Avalanche, (a major feat in itself), we set off to a waterfall nearby the camp (the one where Esme did the abseil?). Sarah did incredibly well and managed (with some help) to get to this waterfall. Sarah said she felt 'normal' (physically) for the first time for ages today!!

Wow! Considering she had a hip operation 6 months ago she didn't do bad eh.....?

Some pics of us all (well not Sarah and I) climbing up and then sliding down the waterfalls:

Once our kids and the Husbands had spent some time climbing up (an shimmering down) the waterfall we all walked back to the camp where the cooks had cooked us a gorgeous meal of roast beef and roast potatoes (!!!) and some rice and curry. Fantastic!

We were wet through as the rain had come by now and then, as we eat our lunch the rain really came down. Cannot describe how hard the rain comes down in the jungle here. It rain solidly for a couple of hours and so, when we were ready to go home on the truck you can imagine how totally flooded the roads were.

Unbelievable!

It took a good 2 hours to get out of the jungle with us needing to stop often to dig us out of holes and floods - such fun but what a challenging ride on the but!!

We finally got back to our (posh) hotel and rolled up in the monster truck at the front door!!! The concierge guy nearly had heart failure. Out we jumped and walked through reception: soaked, muddy and generally in a state - what a laugh!!!

A sensational day......Kids were absolutely shattered and so were the parents!!

Day One: Ofty to Ooty......

2008-07-20T17:53:00.008+01:00

It is so simple to say we are 'home safe an sound' but if you had been with us the last 4 days, you would realise what a major achievement that is!!! The last 4 days have been just awesome - and I use that overused word lightly....This may be another ones of those slightly longer blogs as we have lots to tell you so hang on to your hats, grab a strong coffee and read on.....

Our adventure started on the way to Ooty. It takes about 8 hours to get there (by coach) and we had a night bus. The trip was reasonably uneventful until we got to the hills of Ooty and had a puncture - something that is quite normal out here) and the driver spent half an hour fixing it! No AA out here!!

The man who collects the money on the coach shimmies under the coach and balances a tiny jack on the frame and up the coach goes - with all the people still in and with the coach starting to wobble!

We arrived at our Hotel: "The Gem" - a really nice Holiday Inn hotel with THE most stunning views you (well we anyway) have ever seen. To give you a taster, the picture on the right is of the view that we woke up to from our beds!!! The head is Esme lying on her bed in the morning looking at the view. Amazing place! This was so what we needed to just chill for a few days.

The climate at Ooty is much like an English summer too. So cooler in the evenings and not so hot in the daytime - a welcome break from Bangalore's soaring temperatures....

Ooty is called the "Queen of hill stations" and the capital of Nilgiris district. It is one of the most popular tourist resorts in India. It is 2,240 meters above sea level so the air is thin and really clean - another welcome break from Bangalore.

This was our first day on the way to Ooty. I'll do the posts as per the day they happened so you don't get stuck on a day!

See ya....!!

2008-07-19T12:35:00.007+01:00

So we are off in a couple of hours to Ooty for a 3 day break with the Husbands. REALLY looking forward to it.

We are back on Wednesday evening so will be back to blogging then.....

"What's all that got to do with the picture?" I hear you cry. Well, we are off to Ooty on an 'Indian coach!!!!'

The boys take the reigns!

2008-07-18T15:15:00.009+01:00

Sarah has done an amazing job keeping the home schooling up until the Husbands come and, to be fair, the kids have coped fairly well with Mum teaching them too, so Rob and I offered to have the kids this afternoon whilst the ladies went to spent the cash!!

We took the kids to Lalbagh Botanical Gardens which we have been to a number of times but the Husbands had yet to experience. I blogged about this place a little while back - remember the little golf caddy thing we went round in??

They have some amazing trees there, many of them hundreds of years old. My favourite is this 200 year old cotton tree on who's roots the kids enjoyed climbing.

Two other quick blog type items we have forgotten to mention....:

1. The corporate training is off! We had a call late yesterday to say that for various reasons it was not going to work. Bit gutted really but I felt we did all we could. If I am honest, things fell down in other areas - not for the blog though.....

2. We are off !! We are so in need of a break and have plumped for a hotel in Ooty called 'The Gem'. We (well mainly I) have really struggled with the concept of spending money on a hotel for ourselves as every penny is so precious out here but we just feel our need to switch off for 5 minutes overrides other factors at the moment. I hope so anyway.....We have had some wise counsel from friends who have said 'do it!!'. We have got 3 nights for the price of 2 for far less than we would have paid back home.

It's a nice hotel in the hill stations near Avalanche (where the jungle camp was) and we hope to be able to get into Avalanche again for some fun with the kids if the rain holds off. Check the views out the swimming pool and bedroom windows in the pics.

More news on that another time but we do go Saturday night (9.30pm) for a night coach to Ooty so don't expect to hear too much from us for a few days.

Going to the zoo...

2008-07-17T18:08:00.030+01:00

Today we went to the Bannerghatta National Park. We have been there before but wanted to take Husbands today for the obligatory Indian Elephant ride.

The park is about 22 km (half an hour) south of Bangalore but it took us 3 hours to get there with the traffic etc!!

The park is big (25,000 acres) with a large nature reserve which has safaris. We booked up on one! Most of the animals you see here in the pics. you/we will of course have seen before but there is something about seeing these animals up close in the (semi) wild that is awesome. It is great to hear the the kids (especially the boys) say things like 'this is the best two weeks I will ever have in my life'! Ahhhh...

We saw Bison, Tigers (white and 'standard'), dear, wild boar, lions, loads of monkeys (human and furry!), zebra, bears - all wild (ish).

Do forgive us for boring you with a few of our best pics which we thought captured how close the jeep got to them!! Just a metal mesh sheet in between us really - and this had only been added in the last 6 months after a young boy had his arm ripped off by a tiger when he stuck it through the window!!! Seriously!!

Unfortunately by the time we had got round the park in the jeep and then had a look round the zoo, the stars of the show - the elephants - had all been put away!!! No rides for the kids today - hey ho! They did have a camel ride yesterday.

It was another hot day today. Not as hot as when we first arrived but hot enough for us to need to keep an eye on the kids wilting every 2 minutes (!) an ensure we stuff them full of water! After the zoo, we were so hot we went to a local stall for a sugar cane juice drink. The guy gets a load of sugar cane sticks and puts them through a huge motorised mangle (4 or 5 times) and get loads of the bamboo juice out. Then, with a squeeze of lemon and some ice, we indulged. Very, very nice and good for the guts apparently....?

And then home, through the Bangalore traffic again and out for a big Chinese meal tonight: 10 of us, starters and main courses for £27!!! I had a great dish but half way through eat a chilly the like of which I have never ever had. My throat just ceased up, my tongue felt like someone was stabbing needles through it. It was unreal. I was 'out' for about 5 minutes solid ! Just gulping large chinks of water until they brought me some sugar which helped a lot....

A nice day - other than the chilly!

Those random days keep on coming....

2008-07-16T19:09:00.013+01:00

This country is truly amazing you know!! let me give you another example of one of those 'random' days the kids go on about...!! Stick with this as I think you might enjoy the read and, if nothing else, it will give you a sense of a 'typical' day.....

Up at 6am as we were going to Mysore, the second largest city in the state of Karnataka. It's about a 3 hour drive but, again, with the traffic probably more like 4/5 hours. We were off in a friends people carrier that they had loaned us for the day! 10 of us squashed in. Sarah had been up in the night with the squits and trying to be sick (but didn't quite get there) so she decided not to come.

We travelled out of Bangalore on the Mysore road for about 2 hours and stopped at a Cafe Day (coffee shop) type place which was random enough!! On the edges of Bangalore with rural Indian villages all around and there is this massive (Starbucks type) coffee shop on the side of the road! Anyway we go in and grab a coffee and Raj and the driver go for an Indian breakfast (gives him a bit of space but also an Indian breakfast is a must for India out here - whilst we survive with toast and jam!).

Sitting in Cafe day, one of the kids shouts' look' and on the window of cafe day is a huge praying mantis. The kids peer through the glass and then we hear 'you wanna have a look at it?' from behind us. We turned to see an older India guy, light skinned (normally wealthy here) with an Indian, English, American accent. The kids said yes and the guy went outside and caught the mantis and brought it in (no health and safety regs here!!).

He gave it to one of the kids to hold and then introduced himself. Turns out he is a very wealthy businessman/entrepreneur out here having returned from 10 years in UK and US. Owns huge chunks of land in Karnataka (region Bangalore is in). His son is famous out here on the National Geographic channel) for catching Crocs and snakes (like that bloke from Australia that die recently). This was all a little bizarre. We sat with him and talked at length and he asked what we were doing here....

I explained that I was working with Raj and the Trust and he asked about what the trust did. I said one of the pillars of the trust is to establish outdoor adventure centres and he latched onto this. "This is what my son is into" he said " tell me more" so I did. After 20 mins or so he said " why can't I help. I own huge acres of land in and just outside the City. I stressed the fact that the Charity has little money so this couldn't be about business and he got that. He has established many micro businesses with poor rural families out here and told me about them.

I called Raj over (from his brekkie) and introduced him and we chatted. This guys huge thing was land - something he has pots of and at the moment the big thing Raj needs for the first adventure centre was ....you guessed it....LAND!! We agreed to send him a business plan and meet again soon. A fascinating guy...

We said goodbye at his car (a gorgeous Merc!) and he said "you never know who you will meet out here". I finished by saying 'I hope you are one of the miracles this Trust needs" and he responded "yea, I kind of hope I am too" and off he went......

Bizarre...random.

2 mins later we are back in the car and Libby (Rob and Tina's youngest) says she feels sick and soon after throws up all over the back seat of our friends car!!. We stop by the motorway whilst we clean up and an ox cart goes by. Raj shouts something to the guy, the guy stops and all the kids get lifted up onto the back of the (empty) ox cart and head off down the motorway on an ox cart.

Bizarre...random.

Then we stopped off at a Hindu Bull temple. An amazing (working/functioning) I have been to before. As we arrived there were loads of posh cars there and some very muscly blokes!. We got a guide to interpret about the temple and the find out first off that there is a guy visiting the temple today who is very important. This guy (can't recall his name (!) is and Ex National MP (big thing out here) and is a direct descendant of Tippu Sultan the big Mogul guy who built the Mysore Palace (see pic) that we were on the way to see. He still lives at the back of the Palace!!

We went into the temple and saw him there surrounded by Brahman priests galore and body guards. Only 2 minutes ago we had just been clearing sick off the back seat of the car....??

Bizarre...random.

We looked round the temple and then off to a lovely lake to just sit and chill for 5 minutes.

At the lake I sat and had a roll and an old beggar guy sat next to me. Quite normal out here. I split my role to share it with him and gave me a lovely smile and started to chat to me about 'the British' and how he knew this person and that person back when the British ruled. Amazing stories. "I miss English people he said" I said I was sorry for the bad things my Country had done to Indians when they were here. He said' not all bad' with a twinkle in his eye......

Bizarre...random.

The we went onto the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. I wasn't looking forward to this as I hadn't been there before and am not really a 'bird watcher'.

When we got there it turned out to be an amazing place. It's got a hundred odd birds (see here) which you can see most of by going out on a boat on this huge lake. The views and the birds there were unreal. Huge birds I have never seen before (see how ignorant I am about birds!!?)

Best of all were the crocs!! Yep, 30-40 of them in the water with us in this flimsy little boat with this Indian guy rowing. Argggghh!

We saw real crocs, up close, feet away from our boat. The kids went wild (various responses).

At one point the rower went quietly right up to a croc on one of the banks and we got so close and the croc spotted us and shot straight into the water - the opposite way to us fortunately!!

Really amazing but thinking back to the other days incidents....

Bizzare, random

The off to Mysore Palace which is an amazing place. Quick tour round there and a camel ride for the kids and then, as the day came to an end we went to my favourite Brindavan Gardens which is a nice big park full of waterfalls that light up and dance at nights. I just have some good memories of this place as we have been there before at the end of full days and it's a great place just to chill at the end of a busy day.

The Gardens lie adjoining the Krishnarajasagara dam which is built

across the river Kaveri. The work on laying out this garden was started in the year 1927 and completed in 1932.Visited by close to 2 million tourists per year!

We had a slow walk round the fountains, getting the little boat that goes across the large lake there, and sat and just reflected on ONE DAY in India.

Just think of the way this places stimulates our eyes, ears, noses, taste buds every single day. Times that by 11 weeks and you are getting a picture of how exciting and yet challenging it is to be out here.

We hadn't taken our maera this day and so Megan (eldest of Rob and Tina's) said she would take pics all day of all that we had seen. Took dozens of pics and then managed to leave her camera at the Gardens and didn't realise til we got home. So, sorry no real pics of us all this day - have had to nick some of these off the web!!

We are having a lovely time with the Husbands and have really enjoyed sharing our experiences with them.

Back home at 11.30pm in the cramped car but who cares when you have had a day like this and the kids are all asleep in the back....

p.s Sarah was fine when we got home. Caught up well on sleep....

Time for tourism!

2008-07-15T17:17:00.017+01:00

We have spent the last few days being 'tourists' here. Well I guess we are still tourists in theory but it doesn't feel like it really. When friends have come out we switch into tourist mode as generally people do want to see a little of what we have been doing but also want to see some of the sights of Bangalore. I have to say I don't really enjoy doing all this as I haven't come here to be a toursit if that makes sense.....Just don't like being where other Western tourists are!! Grumpy old thing!!

Anyway, the next few days we plan to spend a bit of time with the Husbands going round a few hotspots in Bangalore. It makes it easier when you feel like you are showing people some of what you know.

As ever just as we had set (and agreed with people) some plans for the rest of this week and had shared them with the kids we get the standard call the night before to say: 'Dave, things have changed with the week and we need to adjust a little' . This final phrase is beginning to wind me up a little as, much of the time, in my humble view, it is used to cover up bad decisions or bad organisation. Sorry if that sounds harsh but if you saw it/experienced it, I think you may feel the same.

That said, we did 'adjust a little' and went off to the Government offices (above) which is the grand building with the inscription 'Government Work Is God's Work' over the top.

Then off to a place that, for me, one of my favourite spots 'City Market' - the place where many people from Bangalore (shops especially) go to get spices, fruit, flowers etc. A kind of City wholesale market. I love this place as it has such a heart to it. The people there are always so lovely to the kids, giving them flowers all the time etc. Here is the market selling flowers for the garlands for the gods in the temples and then (2nd pic down) the hottest chillies India has!:

"Husband time"

2008-07-15T04:10:00.010+01:00

No, don't misunderstand from the blog title: Sarah still doesn't have as much as she should do with me (!) but what I mean is 'time with the Husbands...'!!

We had a good chill day today as we had had a busy weekend with the training and all.

In the morning Rob had to go to the local doctors as his guts had been bad for a few days. The rest of us went off 5 minutes walk up the road to a great shop called 'Raaste' - owned by a lovely lady we have met a number of times before called Angelina. That's here on the left.

She has a craft shop where she sells the most amazing array of craft bits and bobs. She also enjoys having kids into the shop to make things. We took the kids an spent some time making earrings, necklaces and bracelets. All great fun and very cheap.

Raj brought Rob back from the docs. to the shop and gave the kids the obligatory bike ride.

Then in the afternoon we went off for our weekly visit to Bits but, of course, as the Husbands were with us it was so much more fun for the kids in the pool etc.

Rob and Tina got some time with some good friends of ours from Church too who came

A nice chilled day!

Another job done

2008-07-13T16:07:00.007+01:00

The training weekend finished today. Hurrah!! Although it was very challenging for Rob and I to do this, it went was really, really well. The people that attended really seem to get where we were coming from and engage with all that we worked on.

We did some detailed feedback sheets for them to fill in and got some amazing feedback. Really encouraging. Not a lot more to say other than it really feels tonight like 'job done'!

One more training event now on Friday with the big corporates and we can start to look forward to a great week holiday with the Husbands. Not sure where yet. We are chatting about that tonight....

Needing to be 'Accept' ed...

2008-07-13T03:59:00.010+01:00

Now that the weekend of training is complete (more on that tonight maybe), I have finally got to the stage where I feel I can blog about what happened on Thursday of this week. I have considered whether to write about this as what happened was a very deep, challenging, personal experience for me. On the one hand I really don't want to share it with the world (if you know what I mean) but on the other hand I feel, if I am going to be true to giving you a full picture of what we are experiencing here, I need to at least try......

You may recall we go to the 'Accept' orphanage each Thursday and have got to know the kids there fairly well. Great kids. Wonderful place. This Thursday we went and Rob came with us. A normal visit in many ways - playing games and other stuff. Half way through the visit one of the older girls who can speak some English came to me and said 'Uncle (that's what they call the adults), come and see here and pray......'.

She led me to a room next door to the rooms where the kids stay and knocked on the door. There were 3 boys and a guy aged about 40. The man very humbly welcomed me in and asked if I would pray for the boys. I said yes and asked what I could pray for - I wasn't sure what was going on if I am honest. I was totally in the dark. He then explained......

The boys and their family lived in a village just outside Bangalore and their Dad had got infected with HIV and passed that on to wife and kids too. A week ago, after developing full blown aids, the Dad had suddenly died and as a result, the village had found out that he and the family all had HIV too. As a response the village elders had kicked the Mum and 3 kids out of the village. The family had slept on the streets for a few days and then had been picked up by an NGO (Charity) in Bangalore and had been referred to Accept. That's bad enough eh?

The family arrived on the Wednesday night at Accept and the night they arrived (the day before we came) the Mum died too (of TB).

Here, in this room, was (what turned out to be) an uncle who had been tracked down by Accept with the 3 young boys (ages 12,9,6) in a small room. The boys were clearly scared and were crying. The uncle just kept holding my arm saying 'what do I do?'.

This whole event just hit me like a train. Not only was this situation awful enough on it's own but, for me, it seemed, in some strange way, to represent and be a catilyst for many other similar scenarios I had seen like this over recent weeks. It was just all too much for me to take in.

I did pray (although feeling very confused about why and for what) and left the room after trying to comfort in the best way I could. Stupid to even think I can offer anything like that really. It was just all too much and I had to just go and find space and sob my heart out.

After some time I went to Sarah and told her as I couldn't bear the pain of this moment any more. Seriously, I felt I could have physically collapsed under (what felt like) the weight of pain I felt I was carrying for those kids. At the same time I was very angry with myself that I was caught up in my own pain which didn't even scratch the surface of this dear families pain.

I felt anger, compassion, guilt and a very heavy sense of pain in my heart. If that's how I feel, can you get a glimpse of what those poor kids are experiencing in their lives. God where are you in all of this??

I'm giving up on try to explain this. Words cannot explain this day and this event. I can't get those kids out of my mind. Their faces haunted me all that night and have done ever since......

The only consolation (and I mean the only one) is that they are now at Accept - a beautiful haven of care and peace for these kids.

We left just at the minute the kids tentatively came out of the room and met and played with the other 30 or so kids that live at Accept.

Just another day in India eh......??

Another GOOD day

2008-07-12T16:53:00.004+01:00

Yea, today was another good day of training. It's great to see people really catching what it is we are trying to convey on this training. People are really getting hold of some deep Leadership principles. It's been really encouraging to see.

The attention span of people on this training seems to be so much better than at home? Not sure if that's to do with the air conditioning or what but it's good as it means we can get a full day of training.

For me the most exciting thing is to have people come to you after and say 'I really get this now!' (how to plan or whatever). It's great to see people get hold of principles that you know will change the way they do things.

Another reason why we came to India has been achieved!!

Leadership training: the story so far.....

2008-07-12T03:23:00.011+01:00

I thought I would give you a very quick update and some pics of the 1st day of the training yesterday.

It was a good day and a really good foundational start to the weekend. We looked at identity, who am I and what is my mission etc - all key foundational principles to look at before starting to look at the 'who do we do it' bit (which comes today and tomorrow)

I did very little yesterday (!) as this was mainly Rob's day and I do about 2/3 of today and all of tomorrow...

We had targeted the day at people who would not normally get this kind of training elsewhere and what was good to see was the people who came had a real hunger to learn and see themselves develop. I love working with people like that...

We had 23 turn up and few extras are coming today. Inevitablyy a few pulled out last minutes

It really is exhausting though as training is normally challenging enough on it's own let alone trying to wrestle with language etc and also ensure what you are training on is culturally relevant etc. We get to the coffee breaks and Rob is off for the squits (yes he has it bad too!) and I'm off for caffeine....!! Going well so far though.....

Today focuses on the how we take leadership from 'who we are' to the 'how we do it bit'.

Loads of Husbands come to India!!

2008-07-11T03:50:00.002+01:00

No, this is not some call to lonely 'on the shelf' spinsters to get off the shelf and come and find some totty (!) but it's just quickly to let you know the Husband family (Rob's wife and 3 kids) arrived safe and sound this morning at 4.30am.

They are asleep now and we are off to the training weekend.

This is an old picture but I am sure there will be many many more up to date ones being taken over the next two weeks!!

Hereford sends another team to help...

2008-07-10T02:35:00.006+01:00

One of the things we discussed to quite a level with our Church befiore coming was the possibility of a team coming over here whilst we are here. It didn't work out this year for loads of reasons but I heard the other day Prince Harry was inspired by our thoughts of a Hereford team going abroad out but chose Africa instead!!

I saw this pic on BBC news. Apparently Prince Harry has sparked debate after wearing the strip of a non-league Herefordshire football club in Africa. He was photographed in the claret and blue Westfields strip in a football game in Buthe Buthe, Lesotho. They reckon the shirt went to Africa for a Football Association appeal to help schools. Prince Harry and his Household Cavalry colleagues are involved in humanitarian work in the country there.

Sadly The Prince is an Arsenal fan (very sadly!) but put on the Westfields top for a match involving his regiment, local teenagers and some journalists.

The last push...

2008-07-09T06:48:00.006+01:00

Tina (Rob's wife) and their 3 kids arrive Friday am. They fly in at 3.30am and our leadership training weekend starts on the same day at 10.30am!!!! Good timing eh??

It's always been like this as this was the only time we could have the training so everyone knows Friday will be very weird (how are we going to train for the weekend having got up at 3.30am and then have 9 in the house!!!!) but we are all up for it!

Rob and I are in the final throws of the content for the weekend and the corporate day. We have so many resources to give participants we have decided to give them a CD of handouts (plus some on the day).

What a great idea but it means sitting for ages burning loads CD's of handouts!! That's another morning gone!

Hello Mo and crew!!

2008-07-08T02:20:00.003+01:00

You will have read about our friend Mo who has a group that looks at the blog each week at her home?. Got and e mail from her today repromanding me for not blogging today so I have retrospectively added this blog post just to keep her happy.

There you are Mo, just to show I care, here is me saying Hello in over 800 languages. Click here.

2008-07-07T17:59:00.004+01:00

It's great to have Rob here as he is (most importantly) such a good mate but also like a breath of fresh air on the work front. He is helping on loads of the training development. It is good to let Rob take some of the lead in these things. I guess it feels like I can share the responsibility a little more with someone I trust.

It's weird, since he has come out here, the overwhelming feeling for me is that of a relay runner who has run a good distance and suddently feels a fresh runner up his rear (!) and just wants to hand the baton over to the fresh runner but knows he still has to short distance to run before he can hand the baton on and dip out of the race.

Rob coming seesm to have really brought and instant feeling of tiredness for me and the thought that 'I'm near having enough here now'. That said, I know I have a little more to run and run I will...

We had a good meeting with our 'fixer' on the corporate training front and things are going well there. That training is on the 18th.

With both the residential leadership weekend coming up this weekend and the corporate day on the 18th too, we are both engrossed in developing content now for these events. I think we are both feeling a little like the ducks in the picture below...!! Especially as Rob's wife and 3 kids coming out at 3.30am the morning of the training this Friday! Arghhhh!!

The record was beaten!!

2008-07-07T03:38:00.006+01:00

We mentioned to a number of you the silly idea we had of trying to beat the amount of people that hit the blog in a day the other day??

Well thanks to all of you who did what we asked. We had a record 21 visits on the day and 43% of those were new people - welcome all of you!!!

There are loads of other stats. but for the most interesting one is that we have had 193 visits came from 16 countries. If you click on the picture on the right to see them. They include India China, Argentina, United States, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland. I think that's amazing.

We do appreciate all the interest and feedback in the blog. I've enjoyed doing it and it's been a good discipline. Someone called from the UK last night and said that they had noticed that the blog content had moved from a kind of diary (we have done this and are doing that) to commenting on what we have seen, giving my views and options and even, at times, challenging us all (and I mean me us too) to being more involved with the poor wherever we are - who am I to do that really??

So thanks for playing our silly game of beating our record!!

A long (but profitable) day...

2008-07-05T18:55:00.002+01:00

We had a full day yesterday doing training with the TFT trustees today. Although it went very very well it is draining at the best of times doing training, let alone having to cope with all the culture sensitivities and language issues.

It did go really well though. It feels as if the trustees are now really getting hold of their responsibilities and how that relates to Raj (and Nadu's) role as staff. Some of the things we looked at were fairly basic and some of the stuff we looked at was complex.

One of my reflections is that much of what we trained on and talked about as 'issues' are very similar back in the UK and I suspect all over the world. People are people eh??

Without saying too much on the blog again, there were some interesting glimpses during the day (in what people said or did) that they have really got hold of the fact now that they are not just friends who are supporting Raj and his vision but they are managing an organsation - with all the challenges that that brings.

We had the Trusts Chartered Accountant come and talk about the legal responsibilities of Trustees which was quite challenging due to the bureaucracy out here!
Rob’s style and mine are different at times but complimentary I think and I feel we work well together.

We have worked with the Trustees now on roles and responsibilities in detail. Some of the specific discussion on who will lead what area is being kept for the follow up trustees meeting in early August but we have worked through with them that trustees need to:

Set and uphold the vision, mission, values, strategy and aims of the Trust.
Maintain effective Board performance
Prepare for, attend and contribute effectively to meetings of the Trust at meetings
Understand the staff/trustees roles and provide support to staff in between trust meetings
Set up employment procedures
Seek to maintain and enhance their knowledge and understanding of the business of the Trust and of the field it works in.
Ensure & maintain proper financial oversight
Generally uphold the principles of good Trustee governance including compliance with the law and governing document
Promote and enhance the reputation and standing of the trust with key organisations that trustees might be associated with.
Provide a link with relevant churches (i.e BBC)

This is all fairly new for the Trustees and for Trustees in some other Trusts here to (and in the UK). They do feel now that these 'standards' are something they can judge their performance against though - now and in the future..

The family get the hump!

2008-07-05T18:34:00.009+01:00

Sarah and the kids stayed at home whilst we did the training today. The two kids from downstairs (Jan and Vinay) were with them. The camels (I mentioned in a previous blog item) came down the road here again and this time, Es, Josh and Jan got a ride...

It's nice that they had a ride as apparently these camels come down from the North of India (doing camel rides all the way) and finally end up in Bangalore where they then get the axe and end up as a delicacy on someones dinner plate!! Nice to have been the last ones to have known them I guess...!!!

A record day??

2008-07-05T02:53:00.008+01:00

Rob and I are off to do this Fishermen Trust trustees day today so we thought we would try and have a little fun whilst we work here and you guys in the UK wake from your sleep and set off for the day..... !! We are already training here by the way!!

If you are on the blog today for the first time as a result of the e mail we sent: WELCOME!! If you are normally on the blog and wondering what I am talking about, here's an e mail we set out today to people who are supporting our trip:

"We have tried not to bombarded people with too many e mails since being India and just let people find your own level of interest via visiting the blog. It really seems as if that has worked and many of you guys have been so good at feeding back to us how much you have appreciated it. Thanks

We thought we would have a bit of fun to lighten up our day and maybe yours too!!

We mentioned on the blog that we now have our stats from visits to the blog analysed by Google (who run our blog) from.

So far, since June 16th, we have had:

162 new visitors
582 page views
People from 15 countries visiting

and we wondered if in one day (today) we could blow the roof off those stats so we have e mailed people to say:

If you are from another country to the UK, hit the blog today and change the map of the world that we have had visitors from
If you have not visited our blog before, hit it today and have a look around. We will see you pop up as someone who has not visited the site before - not by name of course but that how amazing the stats they collect are
If you know of people who have not gone on the blog, give them a kick and get them to."

You are obviously on the blog and we hope that is as a result of the e mail.

We'll post the results here tomorrow with what stats we got!

So far the record is 18 people in a day. Lets beat it!!

Words...

2008-07-04T17:22:00.012+01:00

With Rob with us for the day today, it made me realise again all that India is and that sometimes we have taken for granted because we have been out here a while now. I am sure some of you saw these words that came to my mind when I recently wrote a newsletter, but here are the thoughts/words that again come to mind when I think of this great country:

Chaotic, noisy, disorganised, utterly poor, staggeringly rich, amazingly resourceful, overstaffed everywhere, beautiful, ugly, oppressive, free spirited, pro men/boys, growing, spiritual, open to new ideas, people focused, germ ridden, wonderful people, polluted, spectacular, deep, unkempt, filthy, lacking focus, expanding at a staggering rate, positive, fatalistic, open minded, intelligent, skilled, smelly, providers to the nations, lacking trust, submissive, respectful, a big family, caring, servant hearted, honouring, attractive, loving, spiteful, abusive, needing guidance, able to offer so much, untapped potential, dreamers, and, despite all this......

It’s still a country I stil love so much……

Rob's here!!

2008-07-04T05:28:00.003+01:00

Rob arrived this morning. We got the airport at 4am (having got up at 3.30am) but unfortunately the plane was delayed and therefore Rob didn't get out til 6ish.

We have today to discuss the training programme for TFT trustees which starts at 9.30am tomorrow so poor old Rob is straight into it!! Having said that I am doing the bulk of the training tomorrow.

Rob being here now kicks off 2 very busy weeks of training and what we have been seeing as 'the beginning of the end': After Rob comes Rob's wife and kids (2 weeks) then a 2 day gap, then my brother Paul (from China) then a few more days, then home!!!!

A hornets nest...

2008-07-03T05:31:00.001+01:00

Well my blog item on the tension between 'doing up the church' type thing and 'being in the slums' (on the 1.7.08) seems to have stirred up a little hornets nest back there in the UK!! I wasn't trying to be that controversial but the e mails and comments I have had back have been very interesting: Some agreeing strongly and being challenged to do something again, others objecting to what I said, others giving me some 'wisdom to try and help me' and others just appreciating the tension and agreeing it's hard......

Let me say again THIS WAS NOT ABOUT HAVING A POP AT MY CHURCH AT ALL!!! I have no problem at all with what my Church has done! In fact Sarah and Bec (friend) were some of the instigators of getting the work off the ground in the early days. My point was not to criticise money being spent in the UK but simply to point out the tensions that we see, watching the UK but living here. How do we try to reconcile (and I no we never fully will) seeing money used on all sorts in the UK (yes, we are a family who wastes money too!!) and yet see families with little enough rice to survive here at times...??

Well me thinks me has pushed a few buttons with people...Sorry!! At least I think I am sorry!? I am not sure I've made my mind up yet!! It certainly wasn't my aim to offend....

What a difference a day makes.....!

2008-07-01T14:21:00.016+01:00

This blogging business brings in to focus a number of things, one of which is the changes you experience in your life (here and elsewhere) from day to day. In India, no one day is ever the same!! The phrase 'that was another random day in Bangalore' has been coined by the family for virtually every day so far!

Today was no different. One minute I am blogging about our Church having £000's spent on it to give it a much needed face lift, then I am with Nandu and Raj in a staff meeting (they had never had them before I came and they are the focal point of the week) talking about some new form of paperwork and then soon after this meeting, we walked about 2 minutes down from the Fishermen Trust office to a fairly new slum that has been set up that houses about 40 families that are working on building a local bridge.

The families have set up the slum whilst they are working on the bridge and then, when they are finished, they will move on to another area where there is more work. Nomads I guess you could call them? The consequences are the kids obviously do not get an education as they are never around long enough. The slum is next to a rubbish tip and swamp.

We went to the slum today just to meet people there and find out more about what kind of slum it was. As I say it is just a short walk from the TFT office and met with around 30 odd kids. Raj translated and we found out there were no parents 'on site' - they were all working at the construction site. Women work out on the construction sites here too. There was just one 'Auntie' (the name they use for an older lady) who wasn't altogether there! The older 3 kids (13 years??) look after the babies all day etc.

We spent some time chatting and playing with the kids and gave them a few smalls presents that Tim had brought out. The look on the kids faces when they got the gifts cannot be conveyed in a blog I can tell you. Unreal.

All this was just a world apart from blogging about my Church that is spending thousands on a refurbishing it's building! There we were in huts made from old bits of wood and a plastic sheet over the top with 4/5 to just one room. What is this world like eh??

In response to the desperate situations we see here, some of which I saw in even greater detail today, I am constantly told when back in the UK:

"Yea but you can't compare these two worlds can you?"

"We need to do both don't we? i.e give to the poor and plough more money into our properties"

Is that really right?? Are you SURE you can't compare?? If you will come with me for a day to one of these slums and see what/who I have seen today maybe I will listen to theories like that....!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising my Church for refurbishing it's building - not at all - but at some point, someone somewhere has to shout very loudly

"this injustice has to stop!"

Why is it, just because of where they were born, should my kids have an abundance of wealth and provision whilst these little ones have nothing other than the responsibility of raising their tiny brothers and sisters in squalor?? Why?

Then tonight I am went off with another good friend (Sreeni) to one of the more permenant slums that he works in in the evenings. This slum is much, much bigger (hundreds of 'units') and was much more permenant than the ones we saw earlier today. On eof the families we went to visit were not there so we will try again tommorrow but the other house we went to was unreal. I will try and describe how things were but will fail I am sure.

Went on the back of the motorbike (as always) and got there by 8.30pm. Dozens of kids and adults out in the street that runs through the middle of the slum. The power was off (and every day occurance at the slum) and so the atmoshphere was very odd - just little candles all over the place. As we arrived Sreeni says "Dave we need to go careful as the dogs here are mad". Now we are used to mad India street dogs by now but these slum dogs go for anything they don recognise apparently!!

Went down a very small side street where the shambolic brick built house were crammed together. Everyone staring at the westerner and wonder what he was doing here. Went to the first house but no answer so we went over the road to the other house - all in complete pitch black with dozens of people watching. In the middle of two of the rooms (or houses as they call them) there was a flight of stairs - all broken and battered and up we go using our mobile phines to light the way as by now it was totally blacked out. At the top of the stairs 3 rooms (all separet houses) and we went to he corner one where the family (couple and an 18 month old) lived.

One candle in the corner of the room and the room was no more than 10 foot square and this was their house!! 1 single bed and 1 chair and a small TV, no cooking/washing facilities at all - all done outside.

Spoke (via Sreeni) to them and left some small baby toys Tim brought out. Prayed for them all. What do I have to offer eh??

They have no security of tenure at all. Could be evicted at any time by the government. Just a rush of emotions seeing this kind of house. Stark poverty and yet you can feel the community is knitted together - everyone watching everyones backs....

I get so depressed going to the slums and yet at the same time they are places of real joy. The kids are (generally) so happy and content (unlike mine at times!!). For me, I love these places. Seriously. I find a profound sense of purpose being there and the slums are where I love to be. I'm not trying to be any kind of hero I just think it's where I should be at times - with people who lives can be changed with so little. All this energises me and gets the adrenaline going again! Something I have needed over the past 2 days.... This is what I am here for.....

Facelift

2008-07-01T04:34:00.004+01:00

You may recall (see 16.608 post) that our Church has been having a makeover since we have been out here. It's been great to see the changes taking place.

Got mailed some pics today of the changes that have taken place to the front of the building. Wow!:

Here's the before:

and the after:

Tonight....

2008-06-29T17:48:00.003+01:00

Just in case you wondered.....tonight's preach was better than this morning but I am still very glad today is coming to an end.....!!

Not enjoyed today at all!!

In fact I am feeling an urge to joining the 'grumpy old men club' tonight....Some of you might think I have been a founding member of said club. You know nothing......

Must go! Night night!!

Doing what I am told - for once in my life!!

2008-06-29T09:13:00.008+01:00

One of things I committed to doing before I came out here was to do whatever I was asked to do. I have tried to keep this up and as a result found myself speaking at a local Church called 'Revival Church' this morning. I spoke on 'Potential' and 'Perspective' and the need to remember what God has said about our potential but also the need change our perspective so that we can reach that potential.

How did it go???? Mmmm..!!?? Not easy really but I did it! Don't have a lot more to say than that really. It was fairly hard going. Reasons not appropriate for the web!!

Speaking again tonight! Hey ho!!

So frustrating....

2008-06-28T06:04:00.005+01:00

I have tried to not say too much on this blog about my frustrations out here for various reasons:

1. This is India and not the UK! (good observation eh??) I have come to India to be in their country and therefore I have no rights to be banging on about timekeeping and organisation and the like. If India has chosen to be the way they have and they are growing at the pace they are, what rights have I to say anything needs to change?

Having said that, part of the reason I have been asked to come here and wanted to come here was to help them (or Raj and the Trust anyway) as Raj does see the way he and the Trust works needs to change and adapt in some areas. So, no, I have no right to comment and help, but I have been asked to and therefore be true to that.

2. I do not think that it helps anyone or any organisation or any Country who has weaknesses (such as the UK for example) to have those weaknesses flaunted on the web in front of the world. I know full well what the UK's issues are but if someone visited my Country from India and was writing a blog slagging off the weaknesses on the web I find that hard

3. I am trying to learn from this culture. I am not of the opinion that i have all the answers and India does not. Far from it. I learn vast amounts every time I come here and one of the things I learn every time I come here is that I am far, far too structured, 'planned out' and organised. I think that's the reason I am here - to learn to chill a little and to help the guys here to organise a little.

4. The issues here are not (just) about timekeeping and planning/organising. There are deep ingrained issues in India (as there are in any Country) and therefore it is not appropriate for me to come in with my size 9's and suggest all sorts of inappropriate change. I am learning (I hope) to watch and listen and see what change would work best in this culture. This is something I have done more this visit than ever before. 3 1/2 months enables you to do that.

5. Linked to the above I have needed this time to take things slower and be more focused about suggestions as, again, if I waded in from day 1 with reams of new paperwork, ideas, plans etc then we would all burn out far too quick.

Having said all of that (and they are only the things off the top of my head) I do need to just give you an insight to the struggles I have here every day, almost every hour of every day, on timekeeping, broken plans, empty commitments etc.

It really is staggeringly hard being in this culture at the best of times, let alone when you are a hyper organised person. As I say it's one of the reason's why I think God has put me and Raj together in this relationship BUT that sounds grand and yet is very very hard in reality.

I said to Raj the other day we talk about working together 'knocking the edges off each other' but in reality, having the edges knocked off you hurts...a lot.....For Raj and I.

But we are getting there. I have learnt that the lack of 'being there when you said you would be' is not some personal insult to me but is actually the opposite: It's about them seeing me as part of the furniture now that they no longer have to bow and scape and be to me on time as we are now in good relationship. I still think it's a bit of a cop out (!) but I am trying to learn this is what's behind bad timekeeping! By the way when I say bad I mean often not turning up til and hour later and no word as to why.....!!

Let me give you just one example: Sunday I am speaking at a local Church. I have been asked to speak morning and evening by a good friend of Raj who is the assistant pastor of the Church. The only connection I have with the Church is Raj and this friend.

I found out during the week that neither Raj's friend or Raj will be at the Church. All (semi understandable reasons I guess) so I will be going along to a Church I don't know with no connections as to why I am there in the hopes that someone knows I am coming. Slight exaggeration I guess but not far off.

Worse than this (and there far far worse examples I can assure you) is no one really thinks there is anything wrong with this so therefore there is no need (as far as the guys here see it) to say sorry or explain. You are just left to get on with it.

Raj has been good in trying to smooth things over (as ever) but you are still left wondering 'how can this happen?'.

As I say this is nothing at all compared to some of things that have happened out here but I feel that I don't want to air some of the more personal dirty linen in public....!!

So that's just a tiny insight into daily life here in terms of one area of frustrations. Add to that the 1001 other frustrations of food issues, cleanliness issues (i.e putting a bag in fresh dog poo and then standing in it right outside our door), language, cultural 'no go's', lack of marmite (!) etc etc) and you just scratch the surface of when you are having a bit of a down day you have to keep your focus. Sometimes easier said than done the longer you stay.

But on reflection, hey I guess I could be far less sensitive to the culture clash than some:

Breaking news!!

2008-06-27T11:26:00.006+01:00

Well the blog is fast becoming the place where we are breaking news on the Hider family . Today, I am shocked and stunned to tell you the latest in the Hider house. After much begging from the daughter re: getting her ears pierced and then much debate between Mum and Dad over recent weeks over when etc we decided to let Es have her ears pierced here in India - she will always have a memory of her time here in India

So, after the tears this morning and a bit of home sickness Sarah decided to treat her and take her to a place called Gurada Mall (see pic on right) and have them done.

Here's the den of iniquity where the dirty deed was done!!

and here is the result. Look at the delight on that face!!!!!

and the wicked woman who organised the dirty deed....!!!

Another memory of India that will never go away....!!!

Bye to Lillie

2008-06-27T07:56:00.005+01:00

We took Lillie to the airport at 7am this morning. 3rd time I have been there now and it stills feels weird saying goodbye to people and us staying here.... Esme got a bit tearful this morning as she is fond of Lillie and she said she really wanted to go home now....

We went out for a meal last night with Lillie to say bye to her. Thought you like to see some pics of us all as we think our family has changed a little since being out here. What do you think?? They are a bit larger so you can inspect us!!

Mesaages from home and to home

2008-06-26T08:02:00.000+01:00

Josh got an e mail from his Teachers at school today with some pics of the school. They had been on a day out to the Sculpture Trail in the Forest of Dean and wanted to tell him all about it. Ahhhh....That's them on the left.

And as a return 'gift' we sent the school today some pictures of the kids at the Accept home receiving the skipping DVD that the school sent out with us and the money to buy the skipping ropes.

The kids did a display for us this week. They are getting really good with the ropes.

Prep, prep and more prep...

2008-06-26T07:38:00.004+01:00

Apart from yesterday, I have spent most of the last 3/4 days locked away preparing for the month of training we have coming up.

The first training session starts next Saturday (the day after Rob arrives) with a day for the Fishermen Trust trustees (and a few others). I am getting to the stage where most of the programme for this day has been set up (see pic for example slides). Just need some of the content from Rob etc

Next huge milestone is to prepare for the leadership academy for Pastors, leaders of NGO's and Christian organsations etc.

This is a weekend residential programme from Friday 11th am - 13th am so there is loads to prepare for this.

Busy....busy....busy!!

Want to get as much prep done so that when Rob arrives (and then Tina, his wife, and their kids arrive on the 11th we can give all our attention to them from the 14th July. After they have gone, we have a weekend spare and then my brother comes over from China for 10 days and then....we are a few days away from coming home!!!!Arggghhh!!!

1000th blog hit!!

2008-06-25T04:36:00.008+01:00

Well I started this blog lark some time back now (2006 to be precise) but did not really get into blogging until early this year - when the India trip begun to loom. I really didn't realise how interesting blogging would be - for me and for the people that read this. I have had so many positive comments from people who have said they are following the blog daily - thanks guys. Some of the people that have become addicted (slight exaggeration!!) to our blog are people I would never have expected to even be on a PC!!

I set up a counter on the blog to see how many people had visited the website from the start of this year - actual visits not flipping from page to page and this morning we had our 1000th blog visit!! That constitutes approx just over 3000 individual page hits!! I know all this as Ihave now signed up to Google's Analytics (sado!) as Google manage the site my blog is on. My analytics pages collect (for free) stats from hits to our blog so can also now see:

What page people view the most

Where in the world people are viewing from

On average how long people are on the site.

Plus loads of other stuff

Oh yes.....Big brother is watching you!!

Since we came to India, we have had people view the blog from 11 Countries. The shaded areas shown in the pic below are where hits have come from. Darker the shade the more the hits:

UK: (all our chums there - especially the 'Mo Collings crew' on Monday's! See previous post)

India: (that's me spending all day clicking my site just for more hits insecurity thing!)

China - Hi Paul! (My brother)

Africa & South Africa - Hi Tim & M (Good friends)

America - Hi Paul Dass (I think!) (Indian friend)

Poland - who is this?!!

France - who is this?!!

Norway - Hi Tom and Merete (Old Bible College friends)

Germany - who is this?!!

Northern Ireland - Colin?? (Raj's friend)

New Zealand - Hi Sarah's family

Just amazing eh. Can't really see me keeping this up when I get home as life is far less exciting - unless I am flooded with requests that is......as if!!!

Thanks to all of you for being so ineteresed in our tiny little lives over here!!

"Lillie"

2008-06-25T02:00:00.010+01:00

You may recall we have mentioned Lillie, a girl/young lady (I never know what to call people these days!!) who is a design student on placement with Via Design which is owned by Janet whose house we are renting. Lillie has been here since we have been here and more - in fact 5 months in total but she is off on her journey home this Friday - boo hoo.

Lillie goes to Mumbai this Friday and stays in Pune and then flies home next Monday.

We'll miss Lillie. She has been good fun to be with and we have enjoyed having her around. The kids love her and Sarah and I have really enjoyed her time with her too. She been a real help for Sarah to feel ' a normal Westerner' out here with chats and coffee's and girlie night with Es too.

To say bye to Lillie they (not me!) all went out to the Raintree Cafe which has been set up in a 75-year-old family bungalow. It has various contemporary design and craft products, boutiques, glass furniture and accessories. There is also a cafe - of course!! At least some of us were working. In fact whilst the chicks and Josh were at Raintree, I was sitting in a stuffy restaurant with Raj talking about his plans for the Fishermen Trust for next year!! This was exciting too I hasten to add!

We also had some good friends over for a meal last night. Some of you know Sreeni who we brought to the UK a couple of Christmas's ago. He is now married and they have a gorgeous daughter called Hannah (see previous blog pics of the dedication).

I cooked them Shepherds pie as people who have been to the UK seem to love English grub like that. Amuda not too impressed but she had a curry as well beautifully cooked by Sheila (our home help lady!) closely watched by Es. It was a real art watching her cook a curry. No Pataks sauces going on here I can tell you...

Rob (my trainer friend form the UK) arrives next Friday!! Argghhhh. Now this is scary as Rob coming out has always been seen by us as the 'beginning of the end' out here. Rob is here for a week and him and I are training various groups and then Tina (his wife) and the 3 kids come a week later (11th?) for a further 2 weeks, then they go home and we have a weekend free and my brother comes from China for 10 days and then a few more days and we leave for home!! Oh my goodness. My guts are churning as I write this!!

My biggest challenge now is preparation for all the training we have to do. The first training starts next Saturday and then a full weekend the week after and then the training with the corporates the week after that - our contact has been talking to people at Tesco, Hewlett Packard and Microsoft over here and they will be coming to the training it seems!!

The training I have to prepare for now is:

Developing, safeguarding and promoting your values and mission
Team roles of the Board and staff members
Setting plans and monitoring them
Managing and supporting for staff
Models for reporting Being an effective leader
Being open, honest and accountable
Organisational principles
Developing, safeguarding and promoting your values and mission
Networking and partnerships & Developing projects & planning

There's a heck of a lot to prepare for and only a week to do it in!! Add to this I have just been asked to speak at 2 Church's on Sunday (am and pm) and I'm needing some time. Better stop blogging right now......!!

Kerygma

2008-06-23T16:09:00.008+01:00

I have met a guy a few times now at Raj's Church called Jacob Isaac. Have heard a fair bit about him. Bit of a visionary and pioneer in Bangalore. He has established an organisation in the City that is not totally dissimilar to the Fishermen Trust called 'Kerygma'. We went to their coffee shop/drop in today to meet with some of the guys there and hear of their work. He's coming to the UK later this year so I hope to meet up with him at home.

Kerygma is a non - profit organization, founded by Jacob and his wife Sheela in August 1997. Their projects include:

Redshift cafe: The drop in cafe we went to today.

T4L (Thanks for listening): A counselling service for young people.

Coffee Talk: Kerygma's main work is with young people in Bangalore through coffee houses (based in college hostels) where the staff meet with young people and help them.

Training: Jacob is well qualified so undertakes training in various ways

They also have a drug rehab centre which is kept a little more under wraps.

There are some strong similarities with Jacob and his Trust and Raj and his although some clear differences too. It was exciting to see what Jacob and his team had done in 10 years and wonder where the Fishermen Trust would be in 10 years too....??

My designs are not the only designs to hit the news

2008-06-22T18:15:00.006+01:00

Just as I was about to get to bed tonight I had a quick look at the BBC website only to find that someone else's designs have hit the headlines!

Have a look here to hear about Primark having fired three Indian suppliers after a BBC investigation found children as young as nine making clothes for them. One of the factories is right here in Bangalore. The Panorama special on Primark will be broadcast on BBC1 at 9pm on 23 June.

Posing as industry buyers in India, the programme's reporter and his team find some of India's poorest people working long, gruelling hours on Primark clothes in slum workshops and refugee camps far away from the Primark approved and inspected factories; breaking promises on child labour, working hours and wages

What struck me was what sits behind this story....Primark firing 3 Indian suppliers....

So let me make two rants to Primark before I hit the sack!

1. If you charge the prices you do you have to get the clothes cheap somewhere?? Don't tell me you don't know that your clothes are being made in places where conditions are not tip top please! Or is the statement really true on your website that:

"Primark’s prices are low because we don’t overcharge our customers"!!!!!

2. It's all very well to 'do the right thing' and saying 'we will not support these businesses any more' and fire those businesses but behind those businesses are people - real people - some of whom, as the Panorama programme found are just 9 years old! I assume you will be helping these people who don't have any job with their future employment opportunities now Primark???? After all fair trade is not just some trendy badge to wear these days is it??!

There - rant over. I'm off to bed!!

More on this story on the War on Want website here and the somewhat patronising, self righteous statement from Primark here.

Can you spot any word on what will happen to the workers.....??

Designer Sunday...

2008-06-22T17:33:00.009+01:00

It's been a roasting hot day again today. Just as we thought the weather was cooling, it's gone back up again. If you get chance to look at the weather in India at the moment it's fascinating.

The monsoon is coming in hard but completley missing Banagalore!!

As it was so hot today, after Church, the kids and Sarah had an afternoon watching DVD's at home. Not really my thing (sitting in front of the box) so I sat in the lounge with them and doodled on the PC - as one has a tendency to do sometimes...!

Part of the targets I have set myself/Raj has asked me to look at is to look at helping him design 3 docs for PR purposes. One of the things we are playing with is establishing more of a brand for the Trust so that people start to recognize it. The 3 design bits of work I have to look at are:

1. A '100 club' leaflet: We are looking at setting up a scheme similar to that which many charities have where we 'recruit' 100 Indian supporters to support the Trust by paying a monthly gift of Rs1000 (nearly £12) per month by direct debit to the Trust's bank account.

2. A Fishermen Trust leaflet: Raj has other PR materials he uses (not much to be honest) but doesn't have a TFT leaflet. I have had a play around with some designs today (see right) and plan to go through them with him tommorrow. This is far from being a skill of mine so no laughing eh??!!

3. Fishermen Trust website: The trust currently has a blog which I manage for them (see here) but we both feel a promotional type website would be good to complement the blog.

Again. I've had a play around with designs (a couple of example web pages are shown top and below).

We'll see if Raj likes them tomorrow. It's just to get the ball rolling really....

Any ideas gratefully welcome....

The water works don't work!

2008-06-22T09:09:00.004+01:00

We found out yesterday that there is a problem with the water here! We have got used to power cuts (average of one a day) but this water issue is affecting the whole Hutchins Rd area (where we live) apparently. Elsa and Georgie (the landlords who live below) say they have spoken to the water board and it may be at least 2 months before it's sorted!!! So that's it for water until we go home!????

Apparently there is a major problem up the street and there doesn't seem to be a lot of rush to sort it. Strange that for India!!!!! Not too sure of details....

All this means we can still use water BUT have to be sparing with it which is no bad thing but living in this culture you just need water all the time: Gallons to drink, gallons to wash in as you get so sweaty and gallons to wash clothes in as the get dirty so quick. So if water is short it becomes real problem.

Elsa and Georgie are greta at helping us out and there is a possibility that they are going to try and access water from their bore well which will cost them to sort out and may mean the water coming in for the time being is not brilliant apparently. It sounds like we need to get the big (10 litre) mineral water bottles for drinking water and then be sparing with the other water.

It' all a bit frustrating as we are not able to control what happens with the water people and things move so slowly.

As an outsider coming in, problems like this are bound to keep happening as there are ridiculous amounts of new properties being built with no attention being paid to the need for the infrastructure to support these new houses (sewage, water, electricity etc). Ah well, lets hope it doesn't impact us too much.

No bad thing having a reminder of how cautious we need to be in a country like this with a precious commodity like water.

Another random day: The coconut tree 'fella' & camels?!

2008-06-21T13:40:00.016+01:00

Another random day started this morning with the kids coming to see us at about 8.30am asking 'can we go and see the coconut man with Jan' (the girl that lives downstairs). After further inquiries we found out that a guy comes every now and then to fell the coconuts from the tree just across the road from us....hence 'the coconut tree fella' - pictured on left!! We said yes and gave Josh the camera and the result of their expedition is in the pics here. If you click them you can see better. They brought a tender coconut back with the top off (to get the coconut milk out) and then you give it back to the guy who chops it up and you use the hard skin to scrape out the coconut inside.

Then, a couple of hours later, the dog over the road was going absolutely mad. Now he is mad 99% of the time and barks all day and night but there was something about his lunacy this time that caught our attention. We sent the kids to the window (!) and they shouted back 'there are 2 camels walking down our street!!'. Now we have had cows and herds of goats (are they in herds or is that cows??) coming down our road but NEVER camels!!

We shot up and sure enough there were 2 camels walking right past our house!! They were all dressed up and ready to give kids rides etc. Here they are:

Another random day on Hutchins Road.......!!

I'm now getting fed up of being on the web!!

2008-06-20T16:55:00.004+01:00

A lot of our friends are off to a regional weekend with the group of Church's we have just become a part of 'New Frontiers'. The regional event is called Envision. See here. I thought I would have a look at the Envision website as I heard they had some pics from last year. Last year was a real was a real wash out as the place was caked in mud as the rain had been solid the week or two before. We went that year with our friends VW van.....

So off I clicked to the Envision pages and the first page I go to is the 'what's on' page. I start to read and my eye is caught by some pictures on the right and then....oh no...surely not...yep - it's your truly doing the tug of war for our Church year!!! Still smarting that we were robbed at the semi final stage. Fancy being there on the front page. For goodness sake!!!

The full set of pics from last year, including the one of the VW we took (called Bluebell) are here. Hope all you guys reading from our Church have a good time!!! We'll miss you....

Chips

2008-06-20T05:26:00.005+01:00

'Chips' out here are actually crisps and chips are called 'finger chips'.....

Today we went a small 'chips' (crisp) factory in the middle of a slum area where Sreeni used to live and work. Sreeni was keen to take us there as his roots are there. Many of the friends he grew up with live there and work at the chip factory (factory is a bit grand really!).

I took the kids and Sarah chilled at home. The factory was in the middle of a stack of very basic, humble houses (again, houses is too grand a word really). The owner is mate of Sreeni's.

The factory if actually just one big room in a house but it turns out hundreds of kilos of chips every day for sale through Bangalore.

The potatoes are all peeled by hand at 5am in the morning. The cook guy holds about 3/4 spuds in his hand and slices them on one of these contraptions you see on the shopping channels in Sky! Sreeni told me that when he worked here if they sliced their fingers, then they have to put chilli poweder in the cut and cover it up and continue. No time to stop!

Cooking of the crisps is all done in a huge wok type thing (see pic) and starts at 7am and goes on all through the day til about 5/6pm.

Once the chips/crisps are cooked they go into a huge sack ready for taking over to the 4 guys that sit on the floor all day packing the crisps into tiny crisp bags ready for sending out.

For me this place typified India. Due to lack of money etc everything is done manually and therefore takes 3/4 times the lenght of time to do if you had a factory of some kind - or at least an electric potato peeler...They just use a normal knife!

I guess if everything was automated then so many people would be out of jobs too which is just not an option with a population the size of India's which in 2007 stood at 1,129,866,154. Bangalore City alone has a population of 5,280,000!!

Life....or not

2008-06-20T04:43:00.007+01:00

Had a sobering day yesterday at the Accept HIV care home and orphanage that we go to each Thursday. You may recall there is a large home/hospice there for adults (all with HIV/Aids) and then the separate children's home (that we visit) on the same site - again for orphans with HIV/Aids.

We have been having such a lovely time with these kids and the welcome we get from them when we arrive is enough to get us welling up every time. It is to be seen to be believed! Those at CLC - ask Tim for more. The kids are so beautiful (in looks and personality) and we are getting so connected to them as they give you so much of themselves. My favourite (if you are allowed them!) is Raoul (pic above). He's just the most engaging, wonderful kid I have known for a long time (apart from my 2 of course!).

Having had a great afternoon with the kids we were getting ready to go and suddenly the (in house) ambulance Accept have arrived at the main door of the adult wing and the doors at the back opened and they brought out a covered body. One of the precious people from the hospital who had died.... Some of the kids (and I) stopped to stare for a few seconds and then the kids carried on playing. I guess they have seen that sight many times before as often when the adults come to the home they are too far gone with full blown Aids and not a lot can be done if they get TB etc.

This moment so impacted me...a life gone...just like that.... And the kids...? What do they think when they see this? All very upsetting and yet within seconds, the moment has changed (for them) and we are all in the round hut where we have stories singing the 'Oke Kokey' with them..... huge smiles on their faces and giggling with delight.....

Life eh?? Or not for one yesterday.....

A 'typical' day

2008-06-19T09:15:00.010+01:00

We have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing in India!! having said that, here is an attempt to merge together a few of the events of the last 3 days to give you some insight into what a typical day entails out here:

5am: Wake to early morning call to prayer at the mosque in the next road. Kid of half wake/half sleep thing going on as I listen to the wailing cat (as it sounds to us)! That darn bird starts to do it's noise (hear it on the video below?) at this time too.

6am: Wake properly as it's so much lighter and noisier here. Dogs barking madly, milk guy coming along the street shouting that he is selling milk etc

I get up most days around this time as it's the best time of the day for me - for the brain to work almost normally etc and it's the time when the family are still asleep and I can hop on the PC and blog/reply to e mails and not be disturbed and be seen as 'Dad's on the computer again'!!

8am-9am: Family up and breakfast. Try to have it all together but sometimes kids get their breakfast and watch the TV.

After breakfast we have a quick family quiet time/pray. Not every

day but as often as we can. Good time to talk and see how we all feel about the day yesterday or whatever.

10am (or it's often agreed as this time but in reality is 10.30/11am!): I often am met at the house by Raj or catch a rick to TFT office to meet with Raj. Sometimes we will go for a coffee somewhere. We generally meet and talk about things like:

how things are going generally

personal/relationship stuff i.e "Raj I am sick of you being an hour late...."!!

topic based stuff: finance, planning, reports, accountability etc

training and personal development (i.e timekeeping, planning, time management etc)

talk through the training we will be doing next month etc

12pm: Tend to go to an Indian restaurant with Raj for a meal/snack or sometimes go home for lunch.

1pm: Afternoons could be any one of 100 things. More meetings, going to train stations, visiting the Accept orphanage, preparation time for the training, meeting with contacts etc etc

5pm: Often come home and time with family. Chill for an hour or two

7pm/8pm: Tea. Often will eat out as we can all eat locally for £4-£6 and to eat at home with the food we like (mainly import food) it's as expensive! Some times we will call people to come and have a meal with us (Nandu/Raj etc) and sometimes we will cook for people and have a meal at ours. We are starting to do this more from now on.

9pm: If we are out and about (which we often are) we will go to the shops or just look around or depending on how tired we all are we may go back home. Most shops don't close til 10pm/11pm so this is a good/cool time to shop.

10pm/10.30pm: Bed for kids and Sarah and I chill and chat. If we are not falling asleep!

11pm: I will often hop on the PC again to see who is on skype (6.30pm your time) or who has e mailed.

As I say, every day is different so this is by no means a typical day (!), but hopefully gives you a flavour of what a semi normal day is.

The papers, the magazines, the websites, the BBC and now You Tube...!!

2008-06-18T16:48:00.004+01:00

We sent a video to our Church back with Tim who was here last week. Apparently it was shown at Church on Sunday. Having just viewed it again here I have realised that the section with me on it wittering on about the 'work' we are doing out here, is not on the video. Somehow I left myself off!! Maybe this was divine providence...who knows!!

A friend of ours has posted it on the CLC (our Church) site on You Tube. See below

A picture that reflects where we are at

2008-06-18T08:24:00.005+01:00

On Tuesdays we have a time of prayer for the Trust and then a staff meeting - the latter being one of a whole host of things I suggested we start as a 'team' whilst I am out here in the hopes that these things become habits that are harder to break when I go home.

Over the last 2/3 weeks and especially during the prayer time yesterday we really felt we wanted to focus on the priority being getting the land for the Trust to build the adventure centre on. It is clear to me that when this land comes to Raj and the Trust, the Trust will explode in terms of what it does. All the contacts are ready (UK and here) to come, plan, build, train etc etc and they are all waiting for 'the land'.

We have been working and praying hard for this land and I have been encouraging Raj to push forward even further to acquire it. So, yesterday we took a map of the state (Karnataka) and spent some time looking at the map, ruling out certain parts, focusing on others and then praying for where it is that God wants to lead Raj for that land. The pic above I just thought summed up where we are at at the moment - Raj & Nandu praying over the map for guidance!

One place that we are keen to look at further (amongst some others) is Chikmagalur which, as well as being in the hills and having amazing scenery etc, also has a large lake (dam etc) and is only 2 hours from Bangalore.

We are toying with the idea of getting some of the tents together and trekking up that way for a few days over the weekend. We'll see..

Prep time

2008-06-18T04:23:00.015+01:00

Things may go a little quiet over the next couple of weeks or so. I have agreed with Raj to reduce the amount of times we meet together so that I can have at least 2 days a week to prepare all I need to for the following:

- Trustees retreat day

-Corporate training day

- Leadership training weekend

It's all very well setting these training sessions up but then it dawns on you that you have to have prepared well in advance if the people coming are going to get the best from you!!

I do have some content for some of the sessions I am doing (Rob will obviously be doing lots too) but still need to prepare for modules on:

Developing, safeguarding and promoting your values and mission
The mission and purpose of 'charity'
Key responsibilities of a charity and trustees
Team roles for Board and staff members
Setting plans and monitoring them
Managing and supporting for staff
New models for reporting
The need for leaders to lead!
Being an effective leader
Being open, honest and accountable
Organisational principles
Developing, safeguarding and promoting your values and mission
Networking and partnerships
Developing projects & planning

So I plan to work at least Thursday's Fridays. Please remember me as it's hard trying to prepare when you have so many distractions here - noise, family (a good distraction but..), heat etc

And expect a few less exciting blogs for a while (if you think they have been exciting that is!!)

Lets hope the training is a little more paticipatory than it was at this training event in Bangalore I saw on the web today!

More news from home...

2008-06-16T18:53:00.019+01:00

Before we left the UK there had been a fair bit of work done to refurbish our Church which had become a little bit tired. Some of this work had happened but most was in the middle of being done when we left. So to our surprise today, when surfing the web, we came across some pics of the refurbishment on our Church's web site.

On the left you can see some of the before shots that Sarah took a couple of years back and then the 'after' shots taken just recently to the right. Cool eh?

A lot of this has been done in house and led by good friends of ours Jan and Frank Price. Well done guys!!

News from home

2008-06-16T05:00:00.006+01:00

News from home has been the lifeblood of our time here..... We have been so surprised at who/hasn't been in touch. People who we know well but wouldn't call 'best friends' have been popping up all over the place to e mail us and some of the people we would have expected to hear from have all gone quiet!!! Yes you know who you are people....!!

Today got an e mail from a lady/friend at our church called Maureen (Mo). I am sure some of you lot know 'Mo'. Now, I like Mo! She's got a great sense of humour (although struggles to understand mine at times I think - who wouldn't), very caring and supportive to us (the kids too) and is just an all round good old bird!

Now Mo and IT do not go together - at least they didn't. I have spent hours and hours round Mo's house trying initially to sort her laptop (almost like the old atari ones for those that remember them!), then abandon that and give her an old PC we had and set her up on broadband. Now Mo is surfing the net big time......

Mo enrolled at a class to learn about the web and has now officially become our most avid blog reader. I felt I needed to give her a mention today!!

Here's what she mailed to us today:

"You are doing a fantastic job out there guys. Can you hear me? Dave, you are a man with great energy and passion to get everything done well and the dear Lord understands where you are. I really respect you, Sarah and the children.

I tell different folk that I have been 'blogging with the Hiders' and share what you have been doing so much so that now I have regular following of people who don`t have computers and are here on a Monday for other reasons. We all sit round the computer catching up with your activities and they are truly thrilled to go through the blog with me. Each Monday you can picture us gathered round the screen Blogging"

So here's a big shout going out this Monday morning to all the IT novices gathered round Mo's PC looking at this.

Today, the 16th of June 2008 in Bangalore India...Mo Collings and all that are gathered round you right now.....we salute you! We love you! God Bless you!

A bit of late news...

2008-06-16T02:18:00.009+01:00

We have had such a lovely chilled out weekend as a family..... even the girlies (Sarah, Es and the UK girl who lives at the flat bolted onto our house Lillie) went out on the raz - well to Pizza Hut anyway! Es is growing up so fast. She seems to have shifted up a couple of gears since we have been out here! She's mixing with older girls (at Church etc) out here like never before, calling for the ricks and giving them directions etc. Just so confident in this environment......

Having the weekend so chilled and the girls being out last night meant that, after 'the boys' night in', (which on this ocassion consisted of a big bag of crisps and a DVD - our turn this week!!) meant I could have a think back to things I hadn't ticked off on my (essential, life transforming, centre of the universe, pivotal role in the whole of India society) 'to do' list I have with me all the time here!!! If truth be told my brains going and I have to have it to survive!!

What popped into my mind as I thought was one of the things I had forgotten to feedback was 2 people gave 2 gifts (total £300) before we came out to the Trust specifically. One of these people was a lady at my workplace - out of the blue she gave £100!!

As I have mentioned before, we have worked hard this trip to try and give funding not just as cash where we see a need to but to try and give to a place where it might 'stem the flow' of any poverty or problem in the future (hand up not hand out principle).

We were seeing time and again that things were not working well at all in the Trust in specific areas partly due to disorganisation (a big thing out here) and partly due to people not being prepared/organised for meetings and events where the trust is doing training or speaking etc.

Part of the reason for that is Raj is too busy (in my view) BUT has some 'dead time' when he is going to camps/events etc and has 5-10 hours spare on a train so for this reason plus we needed IT for the new office etc (and 101 other reasons!), we decided to use this money to buy a laptop for the trust.

This will mean when Raj goes to camps/meetings he can take the PC, do some work on the way and use the laptop for more professional talks/videos when he gets there.

This laptop is a great investment for the trust for the next few years and will be based at the trusts new offices (see blog)

Another bit of giving that is not relieving huge poverty immediately but will be used as a resource in the trust that is helping many hundreds of young people out here.

Reflections....

2008-06-15T03:56:00.017+01:00

Bit of a wordy post this but, we are almost half way through our stay here (!) and if you are still wondering what we are doing here (!) and, more importantly, what we have done so far, grab yourself a brew and give us 10 minutes.............:

I was thinking back this morning over last nights post of why we are feeling more chilled. One of the reasons I think felt so much better yesterday was because I had taken time to look at what we had achieved whilst out here and what else needed to be done.

Now before all the people that know me well say 'here he goes again' get off your high horse for a minute (!) I am 100% aware of that fact that all the following is just 'stuff' - it's just a few family/work goals that I felt if we set would help us in the times that we feel we are not getting anywhere here. I appreciate that this is only a small perspective on what we have 'achieved' out here.

There are hundreds of other things that the family and I have 'achieved' out here: confidence (seen in the kids in bucket loads), a sense of 'pulling together despite all sorts of hassles, relationships with our Indian friends going to another level, and a whole heap more of the slightly less tangible outcomes (not always though) from being here.

Having said how important the non tangible goals have been and highlighting the personal/ family goals that we have seen happen so far, it is really important to communicate that one of the main reasons for being out here was to partner with Raj and the Trust and take it to another level. This is not some kind of egotistical 'pat on the back' but, in a country like India, you need to have focus and some specific goals to ensure you are not getting distracted (something that happens all the time here) and enable you to get a sense, looking back, that your time has been fruitful.

I also firmly believe our goals have also:

a. Given us a sense that my time on a career break had been worth it and that there was some fruit for our labours

b. Encouraged me/us as individuals and a family that we have done some good stuff whilst here so that when the low times (as they have and no doubt will again) we can have something that encourages us

c. Fed back to some of you guys who are reading this. Despite the numerous blogs we have still had people e mail us to say "what are you really doing out there!!" Oh dear!!

d. Brought a sense of accountability to all of you that have supported us before and during this trip and ensure you feel that your 'investment has produced a return'.

e. Given Raj and the Trust a focus to what we will and won't be doing during our 3.5 months so that expectations are clear and they know what remains for them to do after we go.

Sorry if this all sounds like a final sum up before we leave and we have only been here 7 weeks this Wednesday!! That said, the bright ones amongst you (well that's just my big brother Paul then!) will have noticed that we are just one week short of being half way through our trip!! As I type this, the butterflies are raging in my stomach.....

Anyway, shut up rambling boy....!

Do flick back to the post on the 25.5 and here's what we came up with in terms of aims that we set that we have hit so far:

FAMILY AND HOME:
1. Keep journal on a daily basis (All)
2. Speak when asked to – massive thing at the moment! (Dave)
3. Keep blog up to date daily (Dave)
4. Communicate regularly through e mail and calls (All)
5. Live within (our very tiny) budget (All - kids have one too!!)
6. Establish itineraries (for Tim, Rob, Husbands & Paul), have visitors stay and ensure they are happy!
7. Ensure Sarah feels Dave is balancing ‘work’ and ‘home’
8. School work for kids 4 times a week for 2 hours until Husbands come
9. Josh’s reading to improve
10. Stay as healthy as is possible– especially Sarah

THE FISHERMEN TRUST:
Here's what we (well I guess 'I') have managed to get done with and for the Fishermen Trust in terms of specific goals:

Furnish TFT office TFT laptop & associated items purchased
Establish new system of reporting from Raj to trustees and blog
Clarify finance issues to split TFT and Raj’s finances
Clarify money in CLC account use
Establish a TFT Trust budget and write a ‘finance proposals’ paper to Board
Speak at 3 camps (Church, Avalanche and Efficor)
Establish 3 day residential leadership training weekend for Christian leaders including programmes and PR
Establish 1 day corporates training event with Mindview including PR and programmes
Establish a day retreat with TFT trustees including programmes
Update TFT blog weekly
Discuss and agree partnership document with CLC and e mail out/discuss with TFT Trustees

SUPPORT FOR RAJ: Targets that I have worked with Raj on and have achieved:

1. Provide external supervision for Raj 2. Support for Raj’s personal development 3. Give to Raj where necessary

OTHERS: And finally, where 'others' have been the focus of our goals, we have achieved the following:

Support (confidential name) house build
Support (confidential name) family – money, toys and baby carriers
Support Sreeni in development of his Church
Buy climbing shoes for (confidential name)
Distribute the £1000 we have been given wisely. £500 done and £500 to go
Distribute toys/baby stuff given from Tim
Purchase and distribute the £100 from St James via skipping ropes etc

So you can see why, after a good old look at where we are at, nearly half way through the trip, we felt as if we had done a huge amount. Add to this all the changes we have seen in each others lives and the lives of the people we have been serving, and we hope you will agree it's been a good 6 weeks!!