Kiwanis Learns About Mission to India - February 15, 2011     

At the weekly luncheon meeting on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, the Chipley Kiwanis Club had a program presented by Pastor Vincent Spencer of the Chipley New Life Fellowship Church.  Vince showed slides and informed the Club Members present about his recent 14 day mission to Central India.  During his trip in January, Vince visited six locations along with several other people.  All of the locations were in central India around the city of Hyderabad which is the sixth largest city in India with an area population of about 12 million.  They also visited Gadwan, a town of 2000, Ija, a village, several other villages and KaKinada, a city of 750,000.  India is the second largest country in the world in terms of population and is projected to overtake China as the largest population in the next 20 years.  Central India is dry and has a climate similar to West Texas.

After nearly 20 hours of travel to reach India,  Vince and others visited two orphanages run by Pastor Abraham Lincoln and his wife Lotte.  The orphanages house a total of about 170 children.  The cost to run these orphanages is about $6,000 per month.  The children as a result of their parents having died,  their parents  gave them up because they had too many children, or the parents wanted a son instead of a daughter. 

The orphanages depend on water buffalo for meat and milk.  After a water buffalo has six calves, it is sold for meat.  Vince learned that if the orphanages owned 100 water buffalo at a cost of $800 each, the income from the water buffalo would make the orphanages self supporting.

Indian society is composed of four castes.  The caste system is a rigid social structure and people who are born into a lower caste have little or no chance to move up in society.  The highest caste are the Brahmins who occupy all of the good jobs and run the government.  The lower castes are shunned.  The effect of this caste system is that the orphanages are shunned by the higher caste Indian people who could afford to help.

Vince and his fellow visitors found the children in the orphanages to be very welcoming .  They greeted the visitors with a file of children lined up as they came in the gates, with drums and cheering.  They were also greeted with flower garlands around their necks similar to the custom in Hawaii.