Day 35, Sept. 14

Today, Father Charles took me to 7 different projects. The Diocese has 78 parishes. By the end of this day I would have personally visited 10 of them and another 6 on the next day. Nor was travel easy. Transportation was by SUV over dirt or gravel roads. There was mud, other barriers including animals of all sorts and other drivers whose intentions no one could tell. Travel time was much longer than it would be for the same distance in the US.
In Palliagaram, Sister Preethika showed me her Rehabilitation Center which was home to 76 retarded children with another 10 there as outpatients. Despite what one might think, the children were sporting smiles of happiness. On the same campus, two priests run a Health center.
Father Michael Suresh’s parish came next. He was another wise priest who let me know that the needs of the people are far beyond what we are giving now.
There were more Love & Care children at Pappanallur, Amaiyappanallur, Manambathy Kndigi, Ambedkar Nagar, and Rettaimangalam.
We also visited a Jesuit mission at Ongur. It was great to talk to Fr. Bellarmine sj. He told me bout the Jesuits in India including some I hope to stay with later in my journey.
By the end of the day, I knew I had a workout. Father Charles (58 and happily chubby) was still going strong. Then again he was used to the heat and not coughing and blowing his nose like I was constantly. I did learn the extent of the needs in India. They are ubiquitous. Stand at any place in the county. At that point there is a need. The only reason we just have the programs we have is that someone is there