Rianna's Fund India Blog

Day 6 - Sunday 12th October   A day of rest for us in terms of visiting projects, just as well as Terry has been brought to a standstill by Delhi belly! Steve and Jon left early this morning so it is now just Mr & Mrs Sherring for the remainder of the trip.    Today the rains have arrived, sad for us but a huge cause of celebration for the people of Chennai. The rains are late this year, which has been causing big problems in the city, including electricity shut down for 3 hours each day (we are assuming hydro energy must be very important here).   I left Terry to sleep off the upset stomach and headed off to the Powerhouse Church. The Powerhouse Church (www.powerhousechurch.org) was established by a Jeyakaran Emmanuel and his wife and has been meeting for about 10 years. They now have five different meeting places for worship around Chennai, including one in an American Restaurant where you can get 20% discount on your lunch if you stay on to eat after the service. I joined the service at the IID College in their hall and we enjoyed lively service and fellowship. The congregation was largely made up of young couples, and about 40 people attended. Mostly our prayers and worship were related to the persecution of Christians this sadly is a huge and growing problem in India at the moment. In India Christians make up about 3.5% of the population and the current government are trying to get Christians listed as a minority group and hence bring in extra protection. The worst attacks have been in the state of Orissa where the murder of a Hindu leader was blamed on a Christian group. Riots followed and 50,000 Christians were driven out of their homes and more than 30 people were killed in Kandhamal when rioters attacked Christians. Thousands of houses and a large number of churches and prayer houses were burnt down and damaged. The situation is now said to be under control and 13,000 have returned to their homes, however, 23,000 remain in temporary shelters. Since this time and throughout the country there has been a spate of vandalism at Christian places of workship. The most horrific situation we have read about is the rape of a Catholic nun in the state of Kerala. We are told that one good thing that has come from this situation is that all Christian religions are now working together, but it is a very worrying time. One of the other very sad results of this unrest is that Christian charities who work on the ground are, in some areas, finding it difficult to help the poor and needy. In fact, Christian NGO’s have all left Orissa until the situation is stabilised.   I would ask you all to keep this situation in your prayers. It’s one thing reading about it when you live in Ashtead but being here has really made me feel that we must at least pray into this dreadful situation. I have asked the guys from the Powerhouse Church to keep us in touch with the situation once we return to England.