The cool weather was a welcome relief from the HOT weather we had in Chennai. Jamie was able to do some health care in a couple of villages and we also went to a Catholic school where the teachers asked us to check all their blood sugars. Jamie and I checked about 30 teacher’s glucose levels and were please to see that almost all of them had good levels. We went to a few tribal villages to do some home visits and talk and pray with some families. As usual, the hospitality was amazing!
On Saturday we made a day trip further up the mountains to Munnar to see a tea factory and all the tea plantations along the way – the highest tea plantations in the world!! Of course I couldn’t resist making a few purchases along the way – tea of course! That evening ended with us taking a drive even further up the mountain with tea growing all around us. We went to a village and sat and had tea with a family that works in the plantation. We asked many questions about how to pick the tea and were shown some examples of when to pick for white tea and green tea. Jamie and I were blessed to be sitting in the small cooking area on a stool right beside the fire that was holding a vessel of cooking rice – sharing a cup of tea with a man and woman who worked SO hard to provide for their family. They are one of many families who are second generation tea pickers brought in by the English when the plantations were started. in the 1800s. (Tea is not native to India) This families only desire, that their children would not be tea pickers… that they would move away and do something different with their lives. Would they have the opportunity? You never know!
Kerala, India