Where can I go from your Spirit
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
— Psalm 139:7-8, NIV

A Teenager Describes He Time With India’s Underclass

Most teenagers might spend their long  summer days relaxing, relishing the very short period of time they have away from school. They sleep in until noon, try to save up some cash by working at a fastfood restaurant and spend every night out with their friends.

This summer, I didn’t get as much sleep as I would’ve liked, I didn’t make as much money as I wanted to and I didn’t get to see my friends as often as possible. Instead, I traveled halfway around the world to Hyderabad and Mumbai, India. And I wouldn’t trade my experience there for all of the money, sleep or friends in the world.

For three weeks, I had the privilege of living in 115-degree heat with 90 percent humidity, wearing long pants instead of shorts. Air conditioning was non-existent, and with  frequent power outages the feeble fans didn’t stay running for long. To say the food was questionable is an understatement: I couldn’t pronounce half of the menu items, and after receiving green chicken on several different occasions, I finally resigned myself to the conclusion that such cooking wasn’t a mistake. My “showers” consisted of taking a bucket of water and dumping it over my head, and most bathrooms had neither toilet paper nor a proper toilet.

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

After traveling on a plane for nearly 30 hours and stopping in Hong Kong and Singapore, where we (a student group traveling together) were finally able to get out of the airport and take a tour of the city, we arrived in what was most definitely a totally and completely different world: India.

Everything I saw looked like something out of National Geographic: Women balancing pots on their heads, turban-clad men hauling carts of spices around alleyways. We visited what seemed like hundreds of shops overflowing with Indian jewelry, and gorgeous fabric made into saris, all handmade.

The most memorable part of our trip was spent in Mumbai, India — an immensely populated city located along the west coast. While there, we spent four days traveling the slums. We were told that no other place in the world contains poverty as desperate and as bleak as India’s. I don’t know if that’s true, but I know we witnessed absolute and  overwhelming poverty.

Most of the people who live in the slums are called Dalits. In India, a caste system has been in place for thousands of years. The caste you are in, more often than not, determines the job you are given and the way society views your worth.

The Dalits are thought of as so insignificant that they are not even considered part of the caste system. They are beneath it. They are outcasts. These people have been taught all their lives that they are worth absolutely nothing. They have been told that they are wicked people who must have done something wrong in a past life to deserve their current
social status. They are only given jobs that no one else wants, such as cleaning up manure and trash in the streets.

We were given the opportunity to work in schools that have been sponsored by the Dalit Freedom Network, which is an organization that raises awareness in America about the caste system and the plight of the Dalits. Most students who attend these schools are sponsored by partners of the Dalit Freedom Network. These partners pay $240 annually so that each child is given an education, a uniform and a daily meal.

While working in the schools, we were able to do crafts with the children and teach them more about God’s love. We made crowns for each of them and explained that they were children of the King of Kings, making them princes and princesses in God’s eyes. They were worth everything to the One who mattered.

We also visited a women’s Bible study and were able to participate in worship. The women sang praises to the Lord in their native language of Hindi and then allowed us to teach them a few praise songs of our own as well.

It was incredible to experience God in such an authentic way while being halfway around the world. God does not just love my church in Colorado, or even just Christians in America.

He loves every single person who lives on this earth. He loves me just as much as any of the children I met while I was in India, and He hears the praises of those women
in the slums just as clearly as He hears our youth group on Sunday mornings.

There truly is no place we can flee from His presence; we cannot run away from His Spirit. He loves us no matter who we are or where we are from, what we’ve done or what we will do. He loves us all equally because we are all His children.

God’s love is just as universal as it is unconditional. While in India, He taught me that I can be anywhere in the world and He can still reach me.

God calls everyone in the world to experience His grace and His mercy. His  light can penetrate any darkness, even the evil in the caste system of India. The Dalits are slowly starting to learn that the oppression they have suffered is unacceptable. They are worth more than what the world tells them, and God is waiting for them to discover his unfailing, unfaltering love.

If you would like to learn more about how to help the Dalits, please contact the Dalit Freedom Network at www.dalitnetwork.org.

____________________

Susie Typher is a National Award winning editor and columnist for her high school (Rock Canyon High in Douglas County, Colorado) paper. As a junior she has already made 7 mission trips to Mexico and two years ago decided to venture out to India. This was the second mission trip to India that she took with her church – Cherry Hills Community Church.