Global Urban Trek 2008
Mud Puddles and Dream BurialsJuly 14, 2008
Kolkata never ceases to surprise me.
Everything is possible here. To an outsider, this city is chaotic and unorthodox, but to the natives, it is an aggressively beautiful place to live in. Notice I said aggressively. I love riding the auto-rickshaws. They are a good way to “inhale” the city.
Today was the last day at our placement. Rosa and I had built so many relationships with the women there that it was very hard to say goodbye. We tried to hold back the tears as we saw their sad faces and teary eyes. They love quickly but deeply. It hurts to leave.
We left with sadness. As I rode the metro back home, I began asking God if that was it. Did I really come to Kolkata to make relationships with people only to wrap it up and leave forever?
At the mid-project break, our director challenged and stretched us to consider Kolkata long-term. Yikes. Almost all of us dread that thought and secretly hope that God is not calling us here long-term. Though we secretly hope never to come back, I know God is calling some of us back, whether we acknowledge it or not.
We went to visit the slum communities to hear their stories and to pray for them. We had Bible study in one of the homes and helped teach spoken English to the youth in the slums. After we got off the train, it began to rain heavily as though the heavens were pouring their wrath upon us.
We had no umbrella and after a certain point, I ceased to care about keeping dry and watching what I stepped on. There were muddy puddles everywhere. Who knows what those brown cocktails consisted of? Regardless, we embraced true solidarity as we stroked each muddy puddle with our feet. It was then that I had realized that I am nothing and I have nothing.
During one of our team times together, we were given a couple of pictures and asked what the condition of our hearts was. I saw a picture of a woman putting flowers on a dead body and it struck my heart. I feel as though the dreams that I have selfishly birthed for my life have slowly been dying here in Kolkata. The more I let the city in, the more my dreams seep out. I feel like the woman in the picture who is painfully bidding farewell to what was once hers.
God is doing something new in this city and among us. The verse God placed in my heart this past week was Isaiah 43:18-19: “Thus sayeth the Lord: “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.”
My team eagerly awaits God’s plans with our one more week left here.
- Rajee
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