need

Ok so, I have worked at Prem Dan for 5 days now and we have decided to stay there for a while (probably until April when it gets hot and less volunteers are in town). It has been great getting over the shock of first getting there and starting to get to know the faces of the place. There is such a massive need in this city, both physically and spiritually. There is poverty all over the place. You can't hide from it here. I don't have my camera with me today in the internet cafe (which is 30 minutes away from my current home) so I won't put up any pictures.

Um, yea though, I'm not a very good blogger and I think that has caused me to be a little less anxious to update this thing. My mind skips around like crazy. Prem dan the other day had a lady die. It is more of a nursing home than the home of the dying but there have still been two days where people were left outside the front door. There is a slum right next to the place, but there are also slums everywhere here that isn't that uncommon.

When I am going from place to place in the city, I use the metro and auto rickshaws mostly. This is the easiest and cheapest way of getting around. The cabs usually rip you off because you are a foreigner. I just got out of my 3rd language lesson and I'm learning that I will not be a very good bengali speaker by the end of the 4 months. Nevertheless, I'll put in a good amount of time studying because that will affect how well I can interact with the ladies at Sari Bari and in the gach. Gah, I'm just so overwhelmed by the need here. 10,000 ladies are in an area about the size of a super walmart in the middle of calcutta. 64,000 men are serviced by these prostitutes each day. This makes it really cool to meet Indian Christians and Indian pastors here. Going to church has been encouraging just because it shows that there are pockets of light in the middle of this dark Hindu/Muslim place. I really can't recall getting into an auto without it having a hindu God at the front.

Ok, I will leave it at that for now, hopefully I can put some pics up pretty soon.