Introduction

Hi there,

We are on our travels again. The profile picture shows us with some of the novices of the Sisters of Melanesia when we visited the Solomon Islands in 2005.

Now we are able to visit India. We shall be working under the auspices of the Leprosy Mission (www.leprosymission.org.uk) We are going to spend a month at Kothara Hospital in Maharashtra, Central India. The nearest city is Nagpur. The nearest big town is Amravati. It is in a rural setting. It has been there for 125 years . It is built on land given to TLM in 1885 by the local Rajah. The land was disease ridden, nobody else wanted it. Now it houses a large, complex hospital which offers leprosy sufferers and others besides vital help. We shall be arriving there on February 12th. Before that we are having a fortnight's holiday with friends in Goa. Our main work will be in the field of counselling support. Kothara have just appointed their first ever counsellor. We are asked to support her. Also we are to give some seminars in counselling skills to the hospital staff twice a week for 45 minutes a time. Further still. we are asked to offer counsellling to some of the staff who have needs. we understand a young couple on the staff have just lost a child and would appreciate some counselling. Finally we are to be amonst the speakers at a pan-India conference being called for TLM staff halfway through our stay.

We hope you enjoy following our progress. Thank you to all who have promised to pray for us. We would especially like prayer at this early stage for safe travel and freedom from the illness that Brits always seem to get in India. For a good holiday, in which we do some good preparatory reading to help us when we get started.