Raj and I had planned to go to India early this year. However, we could not make it, due to a rampant viral infection in epidemic proportion in South India, especially in our state, Tamil Nadu, during the winter months. It had serious and long-lasting side effects, and our relatives and friends advised us not to make the trip at that time. We spent three months with our son in California and returned to Monmouth late last month. We plan to go to India in January 2011.
Meanwhile, we are continuing our work with the help of village elders, a very dependable cousin Joseph, and the efficient Managing Director of our village Medical Clinic, as well as its small branch clinic, Mr. Samuel Sundersingh. Early this year, we conducted a very successful Medical Camp in the Light Eternal Medical Clinic in Kandithankulam. Nine physicians - a cardiologist, a gynecologist, a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist, two senior dentists, along with two of their junior dentists, and our own part-time physician- treated over 400 patients, working hard for about 5 hours. The physicians brought their own nurses and technicians.
Patients who were too old or infirm to travel on their own were transported by two vans that were specially hired for that purpose. All the doctors and their nurses donated their time and services. As there was a heavy downpour the previous evening, and the weather was bad and the roads slushy on the day of the camp, the director was not sure how many of the doctors would turn up. But turn up they did in full force! They were all given some mementos as tokens of our appreciation. Our Clinic's Managing Director has, over the past few years, become an expert in arranging these camps, with all the complex logistics involved.
As very limited medical facilities are available in this area, patients came from 7 or 8 villages. These camps are playing a vital role in providing medical treatment and check-up, preventive measures, and health education for hundreds of villagers. Several young mothers brought their children with them. We provided free medication, and free tooth brushes and tooth pastes for school children who were encouraged by their teachers to take advantage of the medical camp and have their teeth checked.
We have been conducting two or three camps a year for the past eight years. We are providing some sample photographs to give you a feel for what happens in these camps. As you can see in one of the photographs, where the patients are being brought to the camp by a van, we were present since it was conducted during our last visit to India in August 2007.
Other Initiatives
In addition, we have been fulfilling other needs as and when they arise. The villagers approach the elders, who make their cases to Joseph, my cousin, who in turn, talks to me at length - he is a man of many words. Once Raj and I make the selection depending upon available funds, he goes ahead with funding the projects and supervising their completion. Projects include fixing roofs, providing seed-money to a family who has moved to one of the villages that is, now, part of our program, helping out with medical bills, providing note-books, maps, and teaching-aids to the children and teachers of the pre-school, and elementary schools etc.
In A.M.Kulam, there is still a lot of work to be done, and Joseph told us that the people in that village are eagerly awaiting our arrival. However, that does not mean that work there has come to a halt. Joseph is providing us with photographs and details of families who need houses to be built. We will be making selections soon. We built seven houses last year in A.M. Kulam and Kandithankulam following a similar pattern.
Those of you who attended the service on Maundy Thursday may remember the Franciscan Benediction to which Pastor Myers introduced us. The last two lines are of particular meaning to our congregation's mission in the villages of South India:
"And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."
What a difference our congregation has made in the lives of thousands of people. Two decades ago, who would have thought this possible?
Thank you for your foolishness and May God bless you.
Saro Ambrose 
