Archives: Blog Posts

Saturday, February 8, 2025 35 families The second Saturday of each month is a national holiday, and the day all the families come to SEEDS India. “Families? What families?”   The families of the children being sponsored for their education, of course.  There are 35 of them in total.  Always 35.  When a child reaches 18, that child graduates and another is invited into the group. SEEDS has been doing this for 25 years.    SEEDS doesn’t just pay off the kids’ school fees and be done with it. No, they form … Read more

Saturday, February 8, 2025 String hoppers and curry leaves This morning’s breakfast was Idiyappam or string hoppers.  They are cute little bundles of noodles, each one a mouthful or two, to be eaten with curry.  Sally picks the curry leaves fresh from their garden every day.  The essential job of these leaves is to flavor the curry and not be eaten.  Thus, they lend themselves to the expression, “throw him out like an old curry leaf,” in this example referring to an old boyfriend.  ARI memories This morning’s breakfast conversation … Read more

Friday, February 7, 2025 ‘This medicine to be taken with food’ Next, we went to check out what Yamanoshita san was doing.  Yamanoshita san is a longtime volunteer from Japan, coming to SEEDS since around 2000.  COVID and the occasional visa problems sometimes keep him away, but for a good part of 20 years, this place has been where he calls home.  A slow and meticulous fellow, he prepares each food bag with bread and a banana – the bread is high quality, from a local bakery, which SEEDS pays … Read more

Friday, February 7, 2025 A visit from an apostle After a hot shower I went down to the living room and immediately got into a conversation about Christianity in Kerela.  Feel free to skip over any of these “Thomas Mathew” lessons.  It’s just that I find them interesting and wonder if you might too.  Also keep in mind that I am relating these stories just as I hear them. Thus, they may be different from what you see on the news, read in Wikipedia, or even hear from someone else … Read more

Friday, February 7, 2025 Where is my stop? The next morning, I started trying to figure out where I needed to alight from the bus.  Stops are not announced and it seems that people were using Google Maps on their phones to know where and when to get off.  This wasn’t an option for me, as I had no network connection, so I tried the next best thing – annoy the driver by asking over and over how long until Thekkemala, my stop.  “Is this my stop?”  “No.”  “Is this … Read more

Thursday, February 6, 2025 Where are the people? Despite attempts to cling to sleep, jetlag had me up in just a few short hours, so I took a warm bucket bath and ventured out into the lush garden of the compound.  There was not a soul to be found.  Oddly, I had come to a country of one billion people, and couldn’t find even one of them.  As I meandered across the garden, soft singing approached my ears; an early morning mass.   At once, I followed it to its source, … Read more

Wednesday, February 5, 2025 to Bengaluru Passport? Check. Visa? Check. Tickets? Check.  India shaped adapters? Check.  Everything else?  Check. Okay, I’m ready for my next trip to meet, learn from, and be inspired by ARI graduates; to see them in their elements as grassroots leaders working side by side with their people.  I am excited! This time my plane will take me to Bengaluru in South India.  Some of you may be tempted to correct my “Bengaluru” to “Bangalore,” and I wouldn’t blame you for trying.  But the fact is … Read more