Reading a book called Holy Cow, the author explains how things work on Indian Roads…Contrary to popular belief there is an order to things. Pedestrians give way to everyone, bicycles give way to scooters, scooters give way to motorbikes who give way to the auto rickshaws who give way to cars. Cars give way to trucks who give way to buses. And who does the bus give way to I hear you ask eagerly? The cow of course!

Or to put it another way, I found this gem in the library at HMI

On Hyderabad’s roads there’s a battle

Where ancient lorries and buses that rattle,

Dodge autos and cars

And two-wheelers have wars,

But the winners by far are the cattle

Have travelled far more in autos through Hyderabad than in Madurai because Madurai is small enough to walk most of the time. Hyderabad is vast though and I’ve been exploring when I can drag myself out of the library. One of the most amazing places I have visited is the Golconda Fort, founded originally by the Kakatiya's in the 13th century the existing structure was expanded by the Qutub Shahi kings, their rule ended in1687. Its huge granite walls encircle a citadel and it sits high above Hyderabad, glowering down at the urban sprawl surrounding it. From the top you can see that elusive feature…greenness! There are actually lots of trees in this city...nice!

Another interesting place to see in Hyderabad is the Chaminar in the “Old City.” It is a beautiful monument in the middle of he busiest market I have ever experienced. You have to be in “the zone” to shop here. If you were in a bad mood it would just make you cry. It is even busier right now as this is the Muslim part of town and Ramadan is in full swing. Tomorrow night we have a celebration of the final days of Ramadan (Islamic Holy month) and the first day’s of Diwali – the huge Hindu festival of lights. It is so interesting to be involved in the customs of so many different religions. In South India (which is where I hang out) it commemorates the killing of Narakasura, an evil demon by Lord Krishna. So Diwali is a festival symbolising the destruction of evil forces.

Now don’t be thinking that all I do is read books, go sightseeing and celebrate festivals (though that does sound good), I’ve been to lots of classes on Religion and interfaith, visited community centres, rearranged the filing system in the academic department, and written copious amounts of my final assignment. Gosh, I need a rest!

Going home to Madurai on Sunday (wow…that might be a first, not sure I’ve called Madurai home before). Looking forward to seeing everyone again for the last few weeks of the TIM experience.

Hope that you are well and as always I LOVE REPLYS!

Arohanui Teresa

Hi! Phew, well I'm back again to try and write this email for the third time. The power went out twice last night while I was writing it, so I gave up and went to bed! Sorry it's been so long since I wrote to you, time's going really fast and I never feel I have enough different news, but I do remember you! OK, so I'm happy these days, very glad to be here, glad to be here with these kids and glad to be here in South Africa. The days can be long and yeah they're pretty repetitive, and that does get hard, but they are really good and fun moments too. I know that I'm learning a lot, and you might say 'Of course", but one thing I am learning is that learning and growing all come down to how you deal each day with what you have; it's not circumstances that make you into what you are, but it's what you do with these. Being in a foreign land or doing 'Godly work" is not enough of its own to change and grow you, it's what you do with these, how much you put in... Anyway, enough for now about me, let me tell you about the kids!! I love them, more so every day, and they're beautiful, more so every day!! What amazes me is how much they are all growing! In the seven weeks I've been here, I've seen seven new babies come to us. These are either babies who have been totally abandoned, like Helena, left in a dustbin, or Jolene, left in a plastic bag on the veld, or else they are babies given to us by their family when they feel they can't properly look after them, like Khanyi, daugter of a 17 year old orphan who is already looking after four younger siblings. And in these seven weeks I've seen eight babies adopted out, five overseas, and three back to some relative of theirs. That's always really exciting, although it's sad for us individually, and we try and remember how much better it is for the kids themselves, and for their new families, who can look so stoked to finally have a kid of their own. Woops, I sound like I'm writing propaganda, it's not a perfect place of course, but I think it's great what they are doing. The nursery is very full at the moment, with 35 babies. We've got 17 volunteers helping, which sounds a heap, but when you have to man the nursery 24hrs a day it's actually still really busy! Most of the voulnteers seem to be from England at the moment, but there's also Germany, Austria, US, Canada, and one from Australia and one from New Zealand (they're not actually the same place would you know!). But it's not too monotonous really. Fun stuff happens. This Sunday is a special occassion, South Africa's Midwinter Christmas (July the 24th). So that's going to be great fun, with carols and pressies and food and a tree yay! The older kids in the house will be pretty excited too I think, so it'll probably be crazy! The TLC kids have a soccer team and play matches each Saturday, and I went and watched and cheered last weekend, great fun. One of the photos was of them as we squashed in the van to soccer. And I play with them when they muck around in the paddock here, but I'm finding that once they get to about 8 years old their skill is well above mine! And the sun's already kind of hot. I don't know how anyone runs in Africa in summer! And in Anna style I'm planning adventures for the future, a six day trip to Kruger, Swaziland and the coast in August, and four weeks as a camp counsellor at an outdoors camp west of Pretoria for October. And Lesotho is still very much in my mind! TLC can spare us then because three short term missions teams come from England in the next few months. The other photo I'm sending is of four of our big babies, Nolu, Julia, Manene and Cherry, front to back. They're all between 12 and 16 months. Well I miss you all heaps. Thanks to you for keeping in touch. Can't wait to see you in February, which could well come pretty fast for me! Anyway, love, love, love to you all. And hugs. I think I might get to send this before the power goes! Love from Anna