Discovery Camp

Campers for the Discovery Camp arrived Sunday night and camp officially started on Monday without us. A lot of changes have happened recently out at the Kalapani school site to prepare for this camp. Later I will show some comparison pictures to show the changes. The camp definitely has more of a camp feel out at Kalapani than it did when it was held at the Baptist Guest house in January!

The plan was for Ray to teach the morning classes and for Shyam to teach the afternoon classes. We had originally planned to go out to Kalapani with Ray in the mornings for his class and then come back home for lunch and school with Autumn and Andrew in the afternoons. Tuesday was our first day out at camp and we were so excited to see so many of our old friends that Ray asked us if we wanted to stay for the afternoon and come home later in the day with Samuel. It was a good day! Today we went out in the morning and came back for school with the kids in the afternoon. It looks like with where the kids are at in school that we will be able to go out for a full day tomorrow and again on Friday. Should be some good times. Here are some pictures from the first few days.

In the girls room. They love to sing and to dance!

Timothy wanted pictures taken of us so that he can take them with him when he goes home to Myanmar next week...this was the best one we got.

Love listening to him play and sing.

Lian giving Andrew a guitar lesson.

Sanglalray, Autmun, Raysha, Lian and Paua


Sivilia, Mridula, Rubika, Autumn and Marina.


I really enjoyed all of the singing and dancing that happened during spare moments.

Nic Olson and his self named team, "get BENT" (Bonnie Casella, Eric Goud, Nic Olson and Tyler Butel) are arriving on Friday night. We (Autumn, Raysha and I) plan on staying out at Kalapani that night so we won't be here to greet them. This group of four is our last wave of visitors before we go home. Crazy to think about. Keep your eyes open for more camp pictures after the week is over.

Free Wheelchair Mission

When we were visiting the mission hospital where Dr. Mohanta works I saw the wheelchair pictured below.

I remembered seeing something about these chairs on TV a while back and seeing the chair piqued my curiosity so when we got home I looked it up on the internet. It is called Free Wheelchair Mission. Their mission statement is "Transforming lives by sharing the gift of mobility with the physically disabled poor in developing countries as motivated by Jesus Christ".

Free Wheelchair Mission was founded by a man name Don Schoendorfer in 1999 after being inspired by the sight of a crippled woman in Morocco crawling across a dirt road. His idea was to create a simple, rugged and inexpensive wheelchair that would be distributed free to those in need, on a non-discriminatory basis. As you can see from the picture, the wheelchairs are made using bicycle wheels and a molded plastic patio chair, talk about ingenious. It's waterproof, durable, comfortable to sit in for long periods, washable, it's made in many countries and you can easily drill holes in the arms and legs so it can be mounted on the frame. The cost of one wheelchair is under $50.00 In my opinion $50 bucks is hardly anything when you think of the huge way that one of these chairs could change the life of someone in need. I've seen the need here in India, believe me, it's real.

Adventure Weekend #3 - Kaziranga, Jorhat and Tezpur

On Friday we (The McPerhouses plus Becky, Kuldip and Jordan) all piled into the Sumo and headed out on adventure weekend number three. Our first destination was Kaziranga National Park. Our second and furthest stop was a city called Jorhat and on our return we stopped in Tezpur. Kaziranga is about 220 km from Guwahati. A good four drive.

This is a group shot looking out over the Kaziranga National Park. We stopped here on our way to our hotel. You can't see but behind Ray's head there is a wild Rhinoceros, a pretty cool welcome if you ask me.

When we checked into out hotel we were greeted with a traditional Hindu blessing painted on our foreheads and served a salty tasting lemonade. It was an interesting experience. Before having supper we were treated to a performance of traditional Bihu music and dancing. I was very impressed with both the music and the dancing. The mekhla chadar outfits that the women wear are beautiful!

One of the young Assamese dancers.

Us "young folk" got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday, 4:15am to be exact, to go on an elephant safari. Probably the coolest tourist thing I've done in India so far. I love elephants! I think they are the coolest thing ever so getting to ride one was pretty stinking fun! While we were riding around on the elephants we saw various types of dear, a wild boar and her two piglets, about 9 or 10 wild rhino and some interesting birds. Very memorable!

Autumn, Becky and Raysha on their trusty "steed".

Beautiful Kaziranga in the EARLY morning.

This was a mother and her not-so-little baby. So cool to be up so close! Kaziranga is home to two thirds of the world's population of One Horned Rhinoceros.

This picture shows just how close we were able to get.

After the safari the baby elephant that had been following it's mamma around while she was working came over to check us out. Her name was Buttercup. Very, very cool to play with her!

This one posed ever so nicely for our picture to be taken.

After our elephant back safari we went back to the hotel for breakfast. Soon we were on our way back to Kaziranga National Park for a driving safari in our Sumo. It was maybe not as thrilling as riding on the elephants but it gave us the opportunity to see a lot more wild life which was pretty cool.

Andrew, checking out some elephant skulls at the entrance of the area where we went on our driving safari.

Our first wild elephant sighting. We saw 19 in total.

We saw lots of these wild buffalo too. They are larger than this picture makes them look!

I lost count of how many rhino we saw. This one seemed pretty curious about us and was getting kinda close.

Didn't see any tigers but according to our guides they are there. They said that Kaziranga has the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and that is had been declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.

Not a sign you will see in Saskatchewan!

When Ellen was in Kaziranga two years ago she met this lady and so before we left we went and found her again. She served us tea and we shared a nice visit. We also met her husband who happens to work at the hotel where we stayed. He was also one of the Bihu dancers who performed for us the previous night.

After arriving in Jorhat we met up with Dr. Mohanta. We first met him in January when he attended a retreat here in Guwahati. Unfortunately his wife was travelling and so we did not have the opportunity to meet her on this trip. Dr. Mohanta took us on a tour of the mission hospital where he works. He also took us to a tea garden village where he has set up a dispensary. He provides basic treatment for the tea garden workers and their families. There seems to be some problems within the tea market and so many of the workers are not fairing well. I will never drink a cup of tea again without thinking about the women I saw in the tea gardens picking the leaves. Very tedious work that does not pay very well at all.

Here I am during a walk through one of the lovely tea gardens. They really are a sight to see.

Saying good-bye Dr. Mohanta.

We left Jorhat on Monday morning and started heading back towards Guwahati. We took a bit of a detour so that we could stop in Tezpur where our driver, Kuldip, is from. We went to his parents house and had a good visit with them. Kuldip took us to see some sights of Tezpur. We spent a couple of hours in a lovely park where we enjoyed a paddle boat ride. It was very refreshing to walk around the park, especially after so many hours spent sitting in the Sumo. We returned to Kuldip's house where we were served a very tasty meal and shared in more visiting and of course tea.

In keeping with Assamese tradition there was the presentation of gamosas and here is Ray sporting his in true Assamese style.

A group shot with Kuldip and his family outside their house.

We left Tezpur much later than we had originally intended and so we were still on the road to Guwahati after dark. The trip was extended even more by the overheating of the engine which resulted in a new water pump once we got home. Driving in India is always an adventure but I personally think that driving on the highways after dark could be considered an extreme sport. There was a lot of adrenaline pumping through my system, even more so when it started to rain. Not an experience I would choose to repeat if I had an alternative!

Time For An Upgrade??

Guilty Verdicts

While I was still living in Brazil my dad and brother were victims of a home invasion. It has been quite the nightmare for them and the rest of my family. They were in court last week to testify in the trial against the two men who forced entry into their home and attacked them. Below you can read what was printed in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix or it can be found online here. Please note that there is a typo, my brother is 29 years old, not 23.

Guilty verdicts in violent home invasion

Betty Ann Adam, The StarPhoenix

Published: Friday, April 25, 2008

Two Saskatoon men who committed a drunken, violent home invasion at a rural residence nearly three years ago will be sentenced in June.

William Kominetsky, 39, and Thomas Johnson, 31, were found guilty Thursday of break and enter and committing the indictable offences of assault causing bodily harm and assault, respectively.

The intruders demanded money and forced their way into the house, located about nine kilometres southwest of Saskatoon, where they assaulted homeowner Robert Stonehouse, 53, and his son, Dirk Stonehouse, 23.

Dirk Stonehouse holds the shovel handle used in an attack on himself and his father Robert (left) three years ago
Photograph by : Richard Marjan, The StarPhoenix

The homeowners repelled the assailants with firearms from their collection and were themselves charged with attempted murder, resulting in what the elder Stonehouse later called "your worst nightmare, 10 times over."

Justice Ian McLellan, who heard the three-day trial without a jury, recounted Thursday the harrowing events of the rainy night of June 17, 2005.

Robert Stonehouse didn't recognize the two intoxicated men who banged on his door and declared he owed one of them money for work done years before.

When they forced their way in, the elder Stonehouse hurried to call 911 but didn't get through because his son had been using dial-up Internet.

When Kominetsky approached him, the elder Stonehouse seized his .25-calibre pistol from the pocket of his armchair and warned Kominetsky to leave.

Instead, Kominetsky attacked Stonehouse, punching him in the head repeatedly. Stonehouse fell to his knees, with his upper body face down on a sofa, where Kominetsky held him and continued the blows to his head.

Court heard Stonehouse fired a warning shot into the sofa, but when it didn't slow the assault, he reached the pistol across the front of his body and fired back at Kominetsky. The bullet pierced Stonehouse's left side and entered Kominetsky's stomach.

Even that didn't stop Kominetsky's punches. Stonehouse's vision was "turning purplish," he said in an interview after court Thursday.

In the meantime, McLellan recounted in his judgment that Dirk Stonehouse was battling Johnson, who had punched him in the head. Dirk got Johnson out of the house, locked the door and ran to help his father. He punched Kominetsky in the head, but when it had no effect, he ran for a shotgun.

Before he could get it, Johnson had broken in again and attacked Dirk with the handle of a shovel he had used to break in. The pair struggled over the shovel handle before Johnson fled.

Dirk got a shotgun and warned Kominetsky, who turned and grabbed the barrel. Dirk jerked it away and, reluctant to shoot a man, struck Kominetsky in the side of the head with the barrel, at which point the shotgun discharged.

No one was hit by the blast but the elder Stonehouse said he felt the heat of it near his head.

Kominetsky finally fled and Stonehouse got through to the 911 operator.

McLellan found that Kominetsky and Johnson returned to Kominetsky's mobile home and drank beer, which McLellan found "strange" since Kominetsky had been shot. Johnson left and bought more beer. As he returned to Kominetsky's residence, he was spotted by a Saskatoon police officer who had heard a dispatch to watch for the suspects' blue and silver van.

Johnson ran into the house with the beer and out the back door. Police talked to Kominetsky, who was wrapped in a blanket and didn't say anything about being shot. Later, that city constable returned with two RCMP officers and they found Johnson in a bedroom at Kominetsky's. Kominetsky then revealed his wound.

In an interview after court, the Stonehouses recalled their experience.

Robert Stonehouse said when Kominetsky and Johnson were arrested, they told police he had invited them to the house and then tried to kill them.

The Stonehouses were arrested and each was charged with attempted murder.

In Saskatoon RCMP cells the night of the arrest, Robert Stonehouse was suffering from the repeated blows to his head, he said. He also suffered chest pains and was hot and dehydrated. He laid on the concrete floor trying to cool off and passed out there. He was taken to Royal University Hospital three times that night, and each time was returned to RCMP cells.

Hospital staff never looked at his bullet wound, which had been dressed earlier by ambulance attendants, he said.

Father and son spent the weekend in custody, but were separated.

Three days later, when he was taken to the provincial courthouse, Robert Stonehouse could barely walk. Dirk Stonehouse was brought before a judge in the morning and the charge against him was stayed. His father remained in a courthouse holding cell for another four hours, while the family waited in the hallway.

Robert Stonehouse said courthouse staff lost his paper work and didn't know where he was. They phoned the RCMP and the jail looking for him before one of the staff looked in the room where he sat, still expecting to go before a judge.

He was unable to walk from the room and his right arm was too numb to use the crutches staff brought for him, he said.

His son and daughter had to help him walk to a chair, before they got him to a family vehicle and to the hospital.

Days later, Robert Stonehouse discovered he had suffered what a neurologist believed was a trauma-induced stroke while in custody.

Robert Stonehouse was also later charged with unsafe storage of firearms but was given an absolute discharge when the case went before a judge.

The elder Stonehouse said his health has deteriorated and his income from his building moving business has suffered.

His side business, a store selling model trains to hobbyists, has also suffered since initial, vague news reports did not make it clear Stonehouse was a victim, not a perpetrator, he said.

Stonehouse continues to try to get back thousands of dollars of property that was seized by RCMP during the initial investigation.

Introducing Sachin, A New Brother In Christ

Today I had the pleasure of witnessing my friend Sachin put on Christ in baptism. Sachin is one of Ray's bible students. He is also one of the teachers at the Bread of Life Academy and does a lot of the translating for us when we are there teaching bible to the children. For a lot of the village people this was the first baptism they had ever witnessed. Sachin himself had never before witnessed a baptism. I hope you will pray for Sachin as he begins his new life in Christ.

SURPRISE!!! It's Jordan!

Tonight I was settling down to do some reading when I heard a door slam. I then heard Becky screaming as she ran down the hallway. If it had been Raysha screaming I would have assumed she had seen a lizard or a cockroach but Becky never freaks out over those kinds of things. I thought that she must have hurt herself or something the way that she was screaming. When I asked her what had happened she said, "there's a man at the door. So scary!!!" I was hesitant to go and open the front door with some strange man out there but I figured that somebody had to do something. When I opened up the door who should I find but Mr. Jordan Orr fresh off of a 30 hour bus ride from Nepal. I honestly don't blame Becky for being afraid and slamming the door in his face. If I hadn't known him I would have been afraid too what with his more than disheveled appearance. Poor Becky, we laughed at her for a very long time!! We weren't expecting Jordan to arrive until sometime next month. It should be good having him here for a while.

Bye Bye MacCormacks And Hello Woodwards

I think it might be better if we replaced our front door with a revolving one. We no sooner send off one set of house guests and we have another one arriving. Andrew and Rachel left yesterday morning and tonight Mark and Sherrilee Woodward, the directors of Let's Start Talking, arrived. It was good having Andrew and Rachel here and I am looking forward to spending a couple of days with the Woodwards.

Rachel and Andrew MacCormack with the beautiful Khasi hills in the background.

Ray and Ellen with Sherrilee and Mark Woodward.

Bihu

Culture fascinates me. The thing I love most about being here in India is getting to experience new aspects of the culture every day. There is no limit to cultural experiences here as there are so many different cultural groups that make up this country.

Monday, April 14 marked the first day of the Hindu solar calendar. Here in the state of Assam the celebration is called Bihu. This day is also celebrated in other places where it is called by different names. April 13 was the first day of Bihu, the last day of the year. This day is known as Goru Bihu, a festival of cows. On Goru Bihu cows are washed and worshiped. April 14 is Manuh Bihu, a festival for people. On this day the different tribes dress in their traditional clothing and perform traditional tribal dances. On Manuh Bihu children are given new clothes, elders are shown great respect and their blessings are sought. People visit their families and friends where they are honored with the gifts of a gamosa, known on Bihu as a bihuwan. The gamosa is an article of great significance for the Assamese people. It is generally a white rectangular piece of hand woven cotton cloth with primarily a red border on three sides and red woven motifs on the fourth. There are also two other Bihus that are celebrated by the Assamese people: Kongali Bihu in October (associated with the September equinox) and Bhogali Bihu in January (associated with the January solstice).

Sarbananda Nath, the headmaster of the Bread of Life Academy, invited us to his home in the village of Changsari. I knew that it was a holiday but I was expecting a simple visit to Sarbananda's home, instead we got to have a wonderful taste of Assamese culture.

Sarabananda, his wife (shame on me, I have forgotten her name!) and their son, Simon live in a simple bamboo home with a mud floor. In the front room there is a large loom set up where Sarbandanda's wife weaves gamosas to sell. Each one of us was presented with a gamosa that she had personally hand woven. I can honestly say that they are the nicest ones that I have seen. She told us that on average she makes one gamosa per day. There were 8 of us as guests so it took her at least 8 days to make the gamosas she gave to us that day.

Here she is showing Shyam how to weave a gamosa on the loom.

She has presented Ray with his gamosa and is kneeling at his feet for a blessing.

The same was repeated with Ellen. Kneeling to receive a blessing is only done to those who are older than the host.

Ray and Ellen with their gamosas.


We were fed all kinds of Assamese sweets...it was all really yummy except for the buffalo curds on rice. I think it must be an acquired taste.

At one point we were called to go to the street and watch a procession of Assamese dancers. It was so neat to see the traditional outfits and dancing and to listen to the singing. The funniest thing was thing was that I think we white folk were almost more entertaining for those in the procession than they were for us. One guy actually took our picture as he walked by us. It was great to listen to Sarbananda explain different aspects of the Assamese culture. He is very proud of his Assamese heritage.

The beginning of the procession.

The tradaitional outfit worn by the Assamese women is called mekhla chadar. It is a two-piece outfit made from Muga silk.

This little boy was the cutest thing all decked out in his traditional Assamese garb and drum. I believe he is one of Sarbananda's nephews. I could be wrong on the exact relation.


More children in their traditional outfits.

A group shot before leaving the Nath household.

After leaving Sarbananda's home we were ushered over to his relatives homes. We visited four homes in all. At each house we were honored by the presentation of gamosas and served traditional Assamese sweets. By the fourth house I was about ready to burst I was so full of sweets and tea! Something especially neat about visiting these homes was that they are all homes of LST readers that the Muirheads had read with while they were here and whom I will be doing follow up with. It was good to make connections with them and their families in this way.

While we were visiting Sarbananda shared with the us the way the way that he has been shunned by his community since accepting Christ and choosing to follow Him. Initially his entire extended family was shunned by the community but in order to lessen the burden on his family, he has chosen to distance himself, his wife and his son from their extended family. By doing this his extended family does not suffer the same shunning that he does for his commitment to Christ. Sarbananda, his wife and son are the only Christians in his family, the rest are Hindu. Sarbananda, his wife and his young son ar enot permitted to participate in any of the community events or gatherings. They are virtually outcasts in their own community. Sarbananda's story clearly illustrated for me the sort of things a Hindu person sacrifices when they choose to follow Christ. I admire Sarbananda greatly for his faith and commitment to Christ.

On our way home to Guwahati we made a stop at Kalapani which included a little business transaction at the lumber yard. Would you believe that we were invited in and served more sweets at the lumber yard? Can't imagine that ever happening in Canada.

I think this is a cute picture of Raysha and our kids wearing their gamosas. Andrew is wearing his in the typical style of an Assamese dancer.

The last picture may have been cute but this picture is more typical. :) I love these three!

Village Visit

Yesterday we traveled to the village of Bhalukmari where Ray had been invited to preach. It was a 3 hour drive from Guwahati. We arrived at around 11am to a crowd of villagers eagerly awaiting our arrival. We were quickly ushered inside a house where we were served tea and refreshments. We were then taken to the church building where we greeted by the enthusiastic singing of many children.

Upon entering the church I noticed that the women were sitting on one side of the church and the men on the other. I made my way to take a seat next to one of the ladies when I was quickly ushered to the VERY front of the church. We were all seated behind the pulpit in front of the entire congregation. The service was started with presentations of Assamese gamosas to all of the guests and Gauro scarves to the Canadian guests. It was a really special experience and I felt very honored.

Here is Raysha being presented with her Assamese Gamosa.

Andrew being presented with a Gamosa.

Ray being presented with the Garou scarf.

After the presentations of the scarves there was a presentation of some traditional Assamese dances. Lots of fun to watch.

Everyone backed up to make room for the dancers.

After the dancing they had a small ceremony to recognize three new deacons and consecrate them for service. After the ceremony was completed Ray led a Bible study. After this first service we were taken back to the house and were served lunch. It was probably the spiciest meal I have had the entire time I have been here. I enjoy chili in my food but this was a little stronger than my weak Canadian stomach can handle.

This is Sarbananda, the headmaster of the Bread of Life Academy, and his son Simon eating lunch. They didn't mind the spice. Note how much rice is on Simon's plate, for such a little boy he really packed it away!

We love Indian food.

That tiny bit of dhal on top of the rice is what was so spicy. Looks harmless but it was VERY potent!

After lunch we went back to the church where there was more singing followed by a sermon given by Ray. We met a lot of new friends yesterday but we also had the opportunity to reconnect with some young people whom we had met at the youth camp in Guwahati when we first arrived. I'm looking forward to seeing them all again at the upcoming youth camp at the end of this month.

A partial group shot before heading home.