It ain't half 'ot, mum!

We are in Delhi!  Wow, it feels so strange having been preparing for this moment for so long!

We arrived Wednesday morning and were whisked off to the offices of Asha in Ektar Vihar, just to say hello to the Asha team before being taken to our flat in Vasant Kunj, in South Delhi. We had a lovely welcome.  Everyone is keen to help us settle in as easily as possible.

Heather is teaching the 'bal mandal' children (kid's club), and next week gets the chance to go on the Asha bus to teach some other kids elsewhere who haven't had any volunteers for a long time and feel they are missing out! She will actually be teaching on the bus; it's her mobile classroom for two days a week . Lucky her!

Today Ken had 20 students, college level and above. Tomorrow (Saturday) there's possibly a further 87 students, in three groups! Today was crazy, but crazy good! We have heard that the students were so excited that we were coming - that was really nice to hear and to know.

Settling into a new home is a bit tricky even when you know your surroundings, speak the language and have some idea of where to shop and what to buy -  this bit, is quite a challenge - just as well an egg is the same where ever you go and one kind person gave us some sachets of Oat So Simple to slip in the case!!!

Tonight however, we had a speedy ride in a tuc tuc to a Shopping Centre where we were able to stock up on some essentials for the fridge and also have our first Indian meal - DELICIOUS! Another speedy ride home (those of you who have been in a tuc tuc will appreciated the bravery and also the thrill - its like being on a very long dodgems ride!!) and safely home we now need to prepare for tomorrow!!

Looking forward to hearing your news and sharing some more of our time here later.

Thank you for reading this and all your support!!!

Love Ken and Heather x

St Stephen's trip to Asha in Delhi in 2014

In October 2014 St Stephen's Church sent a team of people to Asha in Delhi.

On our return some of us wrote down our impressions of the trip. Heather wrote a poem, "At the traffic light: a reflection".

Just so we don't get lost...

At church this morning Ethan drew this amazing map of Asia for us, so that we won't get lost when we go to Delhi. Thank you, Ethan, the map will come in very handy!

We took this photo of the children in Tigri slum, South Delhi, last October (2014). We were in Delhi with Asha for 10 days with a team from our local church.  

Action list

Good morning, It's Tuesday morning and I have an action list as long as my arm! There's a lot to do before we go to Delhi. And, of course, as some of you may know, Heather's son,Simon,is getting married to Katie this Saturday, so our list isn't just about going to Asha. We are planning to let a couple of our bedrooms while we're away to generate some income to live on, as Heather is retiring this week and I won't be earning anything from teaching English to foreign students at home. So we need to do certain things to the house in preparation for September. Time goes so quickly, so I'd best do something on the list before we get to 9 o'clock. Have a good day.

Preparation for Delhi trip

Hi everyone, This is our first post on our Delhi blog - although we don't go 'till 22nd September 2015! We will be travelling to Delhi, India, to spend six months serving the poor in the slums of this vast city, which has a population of 17.8 million, at last count. Working with the Indian NGO, Asha,(their website is www.asha-india.org) the aim is to love and serve just some of the four million people who struggle daily to live in one of the worst environments in the world. Ken will be teaching English to High School and College students and Heather will be teaching the younger ones music, arts and crafts, English and foundation computer skills! She always gets the hard jobs. Both of us will be mentoring some of the older students. We will be working in three of the slums in the RK Puram area. While in Delhi, Ken and Heather will be renting Asha’s flat in Vasant Kunj, South Delhi, commuting by auto-rickshaw (tuk-tuk)from the flat to the slums. We had anticipated living relatively cheaply in Delhi, but the cost of rent, utilities, travel and general living costs is higher than expected. We would really value your support in prayer, so we are asking for a group of people to commit themselves to pray for us regularly. We will be blogging from Delhi to keep everyone informed of what we’re doing and any issues we may be facing. Our blog will also be on the St. Stephen’s website (st-stephens.org.uk) under 'Global Engagement'. If you would like to know more please contact Ken on kabrown57@googlemail.com.