Day 4 - Friday 10th October
 Wow, what a day!
Our early morning visit was changed to an early evening visit, but we are learning that we have to be flexible with our arrangements. We all felt exhausted today, I think the heat and long days are getting to us. Pick up was at 0900 and off to visit Elim School and Orphanage. We arrived at our re-scheduled time to a sea off children all running to get in line for the arrival of their visitors. We are greeted by over 200 children. 190 are orphans living on this site, which is amazingly at the far end of the IT Highway in Chennai. We are still getting our heads around seeing the most amazing high-tech buildings and right next door could be a rubbish dump or slum area. 90 children attend on a daily basis for schooling.
 The children looked so smart in their uniforms and were obviously very excited by our visit. They proceeded to entertain us with singing, dancing and a short play. The orphanage is another project for IID and living on site is Mr Benjamin, his wife and son together with a number of staff. After the entertainment we distributed cake which had been bought as a treat for the kids and it was then time for games. Jon and Steve tried to get the children interested in a game of football which was obviously not their prime interest, and eventually a game of cricket was arranged. I got involved in some highly competitive running races and made a complete fool of myself when I was asked to race with the teachers and helpers – nobody explained that women in Saris do not run and that this was a walking race. Thanks guys!
 We were shown around the site. The children’s quarters were very basic and we were all a little horrified that they sleep on the floor, but apparently that is cooler for them. The sleeping areas have a resident family within them who are on hand for the children. Our hearts broke when we met two young boys who had arrived only the day before, one was obviously very distressed and initially would not take cake or look at us at all. He started to show some interest when I showed them a picture of my dog – I don’t think they have Great Danes in India.
Exhausted and rather sweaty we headed off to the next visit. This was to see Wilson who is running a project funded by YWAM. Wilson and his wife have been working for 12 years caring for terminally sick women and children who are HIV positive. Originally his centre was a hospice and he explained that his worst day was burying four people in one day. The situation has improved with some drugs available through the government, so their work is now about  counselling people to live with the disease and giving them skill training. Up until a few years ago family and friends would have shunned anyone suffering with AIDS, however, through awareness programmes there is now greater acceptance and so care within the homes has become possible for some patients. Wilson and his wife also care for 15 orphans who are HIV positive; the youngest is 2½. Up until 2006 the children were home schooled, as schools locally would not take children who were HIV positive. They have now found a Christian school 7 miles away that will take them. Even though 7 miles is a very long journey on India roads, Wilson told us how relieved he was that the children were now in mainstream education.
We left Wilson and spent another hour sitting in the most horrendous traffic before we got back to the hotel. Our driver arrived again at 1800 as we had asked if we could meet up again with the street children we met in the Park earlier this week. The plan was to go to their drop in centre close to the bus depot where they  live. We arrived at the bus depot early and were mobbed by the children who were just so pleased to see us with great shouts of “Aunty” and “Uncle” as they ran towards us. It was great to see them again, however, seeing the conditions they live in was a heartbreaker for all of us. The true horror hit home when one of them proudly showed us a thin stretch of dirty pavement and said “this is where I live”. Their fathers and local beggars started crowding round us asking for money, and bizarrely these children were trying to protect us and telling people that we were their friends. We managed to hide our distress until we left them with promises to send on photos and that we would return to see them. I cannot describe to you how I felt as we drove away. I shed my first tears of the trip. I know the answer is not easy, but I do know that I must return to keep my promise. I just hope and pray that we can find a way to help these children.
 On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the big rubbish tip where many of the street children work during the day. They wade through the rubbish to pull out any aluminium and plastic to sell before these piles of rubbish are sent for landfill. The stench was vile. Thankfully, it was late and none of the children were working in the dark, I have to admit I would have struggled to cope with this after our bus shelter experience. Back at the hotel we tried to make sense of our day, but we have all been deeply affected by what we saw. We all thanked God for the local organisation who is working on the ground to run the local drop in centre and who try to offer these children at least an avenue of respite from their daily lives.
I must apologise for the length of this blog, but the past two days have been so full and I can’t bring myself to edit any of it. We have an easier day tomorrow and Jon and Steve then head back to England.
To those who are reading this, thank you for sharing this journey with us. I really feel that writing this down is helping me make some sense of everything I see.
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