March 2006

Report from Martha B. Foerch:
It’s almost Easter, and I am putting together my impressions from the last journey. We–Bob, Gertraud Zeisberger, and I–were in India from 24 January to 28 February 2006. The severe cold of Germany after the heat of India caused a bad cold. I still am trying to get rid of it. Besides some trouble that we had there were many great happenings. The assistance of Gertraud Zeisberger was most helpful. Even though she had recurring problems with headaches, she didn’t let it get her down and helped energetically. Sugali Colony has a sewing center now. After some changes the

poorest women get help first. If they will take their chance, we’ll see in about a year. We were shocked to see the poor conditions where they live. We visited the other projects and checked how they work – we are really contented. If they work as exact as we teach them to, they will not earn a lot of money though. Therefore I will check next time what the individuals do with their apprenticeship. We also visited Annei Grace but then decided not to take her as a sewing teacher. She didn’t listen to what we said, kept on begging, and didn’t take the chance to earn money with good work. Thanks to the financial support of Gertraud’s friends, we were able to buy a car

(an old Ambassador). Now we are more mobile and able to visit our 16 projects on a regular basis. To find the right driver turned out to be harder than we thought. The last one we had brought us closer to god in some ways. He didn’t see very well, could barely hear, had a bad attitude, and didn’t talk. Every time we got home safe it was only because God had listened to our prayers. Besides that, the car broke down almost every day. Fortunately the repairs cost only one or two Euros. This is a daily wage in India though. The next change will be our office. Besides the annoying mosquitoes, the landlord demanded a huge raise in rent. Click here to read the rest of the report