A quick catch up...

Life continues to be a bit manic I'm afraid so the blogs seem to fall by the wayside a little.

Bits club was good. Not massively high class but then you don't expect it out here really. Really nice swimming pool which the kids loved and we spent some time with Becky and Josh and their kiddie Leah (see earlier post pic) and had some good chats.

We plan to go to bits each Wednesday for a bit of chill time. That will be nice. We need to make use of it anyway as, for some bizarre reason, we have managed to pay up front for 3 years membership!! Probably only costs the same as 2 months membership at home but it means we can use it as much as we like for free out here and when we have people come to stay (July/Aug) we can take them too for a tiny fee.

In the afternoon yesterday (23.5) Raj and I travelled to a centre called the Ecumenical Christian Centre where we were again taking the young people's sessions for EFFICOR's annual staff conference. About 40 kids aged 15 -20 from all over India (as EFFICOR works throughout India).

Before telling you a little about how it went I need to just be careful....! I say we travelled to the ECC centre but just saying it like that misses out a huge part of what this trip is all about - the challenges and experiences that we rarely get in the UK (thankfully sometimes!).

The truth is I rode on the back of Raj's bike (Raj a good 19 stone and me about 17 a bit!) with no helmets (just can't get them easy here) whizzing through the mad India rush hour traffic with noise and exhaust fumes like you can never imagine. For much of the time we go at a snails pace (something hard to do with nearly 40 stone on a bike!!), and then a new freeway opens up and we are racing along with the wind blowing off your glasses etc!! Great fun but very conscious of the risk........

We went through some fascinating places on the drive to the ECC. The drive was about 3/4 hour which when you are straddled behind a 20 stone guy is very painful!! No more kids in our house!! Mind you for Raj he has a 17 stone bloke with a gut pushing him as far up the bike as he can go so that doesn't help!! You can imagine we get comments and get stared at often!!

We went through one of Bangalore's biggest slums and saw some sights that would take your breath away but then 15 minutes later went to Whitefiled (where ECC is) and found ourselves in the IT hub of Bangalore with buildings/centres that make some of what we have in the UK look utterly shabby and ropey.

Once we got to the ECC we painfully exited the bike. It takes about 5 minutes to get the blood going again.

ECC is a levely residential centre established in 1963 with the vision of promoting “the unity of humankind as an expression of radical obedience to Christ.” ECC sees it's role in facilitating a variety events/conferences etc that enable dialogue on moral and ethical values and for social change and harmony. In the words of Rev. Dr. M. A. Thomas, founder Director of the Center,

“The role of the Center is to promote and strengthen the winds of change. Through its action oriented study, the center seeks to create ripples and more ripples which will converge one day.”

ECC is located in Whitefield, at the heart of Bangalore 's IT Industry. The International Tech Park (and the hundreds that surround it) are breathtaking.... At ITP, over 20,000 staff work (in one building!!) and it houses more than 130 companies. There are literally hundreds more buildings you can see being built in the zone of Bangalore and you can only dream of what this area (and others in Bangalore) will be like in just 5 years time.

The obvious comment is the contrast between the 2!! The gap between the 'have's and have not's' is stark in the Uk but here....well it's breathtaking......

Interestingly our talks at the youth section of the EFFICOR conference was on "Glorifying God through good works" so I am afraid I didn't hold back and challenged these guys (from all over India) to be people who 'stand in the gap' of those that have (most of them incidentally!) and those that have not. Good specific responses/feedback from people.

EFFICOR is doing a grand job too! We sat in on a session and learnt more about them. See their website here.

It was so weird doing a session like this in the open air of a lovely retreat, sitting under a mud hut with no walls and using the latop to convey video/images etc to these kids and see them impacted to meet their Countries needs. A real privilege....