storylines: esther jones

Esther, you've just returned from a trip to India - quite an experience. Tell us a bit about your time there…

I went as part of a BMS Action team to Kolkata as part of a gap year programme. It all started in September 06 with a month of training where I met the four other people in my team (four girls and one poor guy!). We were in Kolkata for 6 months doing various social projects like working in soup kitchens, nursing homes and helping at children’s clubs. Our main project which we did 5 mornings a week was working in charity run schools, which had been set up for slum and street children who couldn’t afford a proper education. I stayed with the same class of 4 to 7 year olds the whole time. At the schools I would teach the children English, do crafts with them, teach them actions songs and bible stories. Also a major part of the schools was just having fun with the children as the school provided a safe environment for them to be young again and forget the stress of life.

What motivated you to go out there in the first place - and have you always had a desire to adventure abroad?

Having a gap year is something I’ve always known I wanted to do, but I didn’t just want to travel, I wanted to do something with more of a purpose and meaning behind it. I was very open as to where God wanted me to go and was just placed in the India team. I didn’t know quite what to expect but that just made the adventure seem more exciting!

No doubt the whole experience stretched you and took you out of some comfort zones. What particular ways did you feel challenged?

When I first arrived in India I was completely overwhelmed by everything and for the first week I felt really homesick. I just wanted to give up as I couldn’t see how I was going to spend 6 months in Kolkata. I just had to learn to completely and utterly trust in God, realising that I wasn’t meant to be doing this in my own strength - but instead through his.

The poverty in Kolkata was something that challenged me from when I first arrived to when I left. In no way is it hidden, everywhere you look people are living on the streets, people begging from the old to the very young and just a sense of struggle. In some ways you get used to seeing this but at the same time it never stops affecting you. I often felt a heavy sense that I wasn’t doing enough as the need in Kolkata is so immense.

At 'The Point' we're really keen to act amongst the poor and forgotten - and enrich their lives - and indeed see this as an act of worship to Jesus. Did you have a sense of encountering God as you served Him in your time in India?

In Kolkata Gods presence is so clear to see in the many Christian projects that have been set up all over the city both by Indians and others. I encountered God as I worked in each of these - as He worked through me and gave me strength when I felt I couldn’t give enough. In my time there I really got a glimpse of God’s heart for the poor; his compassion, his pain for those who are suffering and his desire for justice.

As a church we've also got a heart to act locally and globally. Did this trip open your eyes to more of the 'big picture' - in other words getting a bigger glimpse of the world, and how God is moving all around it?

My time in India definitely opened my eyes in many ways. It is so easy to carry on in our everyday comfortable lives not allowing ourselves to think too much of those elsewhere. Now that I’m home this is again a challenge for me because I don’t want to just forget all that I saw and experienced but want it to have an impact on my life now. It was amazing to see God working in India, realising He is truly the same everywhere. It was exciting to  meet Indian Christians who are passionately living their lives for God. Sharing in fellowship with them made me feel united with them despite being from such different cultures and places.

Tell us about the most meaningful moment you had out there...

In the last 3 months I worked at a nursing home called ‘Little Sisters of the poor’, which was set up for the elderly who had nowhere to go. Every week we would serve them dinner and I would also go and sit with this one lady called Rosie. She was a very elderly lady who very rarely had visitors and who would often be very anxious and confused. In some ways it was quite a struggle as she often wouldn’t respond much to me but I still just enjoyed sitting with her and keeping her company. A smile from her, her recognising me when I came in or her asking me the odd questions meant a lot to me and over the weeks I felt I built a bond up with Rosie. On my last visit to see her she had become very frail and ill, I felt blessed to be able to spend some more time with her. I just hope that in some way God worked through my time with Rosie and that she may have been able to see a glimpse of God through the love that I showed her.

What are your plans in life now that you're back in the UK?

In September I am off to Cardiff uni to study sociology. Past that I am still unsure of what I am hoping to do in the future but hope that God will reveal what his plan is for the next step of my life!

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