India: October 22

Destination: OM (Operation Mobilization)
Team: Aaron Bailey, Luke Greenaway, Tim Barley, Adam Burke
Duration: October 18-28, 2009
Assignment: Education, Encouragement, Evangelism, Adventure
Today’s Log: October 22
Submitted by: Luke Greenaway

So today after breakfast, Sanjeev, one of our OM drivers, took us to the Dalit school called in the village of Nandigaon. We were met by the school’s Principal, John, and he introduced us at a school assembly of a little over 100 Dalit children. They performed some songs for us and we actually taught them a song of our own (Brother Friend). They were a beautiful group of kids and so excited about life and their dreams of becoming doctors, teachers, police officers and pastors some day. The school was actually a rented home built of sticks and mud and the permanent school is under construction, a few kilometers away.. John and Sanjeev took us to visit the new school site, another project funded by OM and their contributors. The school’s goal is to eventually reach the 10,000 Dalit children living in the area.

Later that day, our favorite OM driver, Subrahamanyam, picked us up and took us to an old fort called Golkonda in the middle of Hyderabad. It was huge stone fort built during an ancient kingdom to provide protection and oversight. It had a beautiful view of all of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. We did a lot of exploration and took a lot of photos. Then Subrahamanyam took us to the old city of Hyderabad. It was an amazing area, filled with shops and people and lots of activity. Unfortunately, we found ourselves trapped in a mammoth traffic jam created by an Islamic ritual that was taking place in the middle of the old city. Traffic was backed up for miles around and we were stuck with no air conditioning and rolled down windows in one of the most polluted and congested parts of the city!

But there was an amazing end to our traffic nightmare—we found a McDonald’s for dinner. We were bummed that there was no dollar menu (or beef!) but the chicken sandwiches were the best EVER! We eventually made it back to the OM campus and went to bed exhausted, but with bellies filled with good ol’ American fast food.