Adventures of Uncle Traveling Matt

When I locked in my travel for India a month ago, I reached out to Carey Aiken at Mt. Bethel. Carey is the Pastor of Missions at Mt. Bethel, and I learned that Mt. Bethel supports a mission group, Hope for Today Ministries, in Hyderabad. One of the cornerstones of Hope for Today is their orphans ministry that takes in orphaned and destitute children, provides them a home during the school year, and helps provide them an education. When the children aren't in school, they are sent to be with their relatives until school starts again. Hope for Today has four orphanages serving a total of 106 children.  Most these children stay twelve to fifteen years here. Unfortunately, the children were on break. I didn't get to spend time with any of the younger children, but I did get to see the success the program when I met with 4 boys and 1 girl from the  program. One of them was in the 11th grade, three of the boys were in college and the young lady was a working medical transcriptioni

This is a shorter post today, but I wanted to show a few pictures of my Western bubble I call home. Currently, I'm staying at the Westin, and the staff is amazing along with my room and the spread of food I enjoy in the morning. Breakfast is definitely my biggest meal of the day because eating  in India can be tricky. Sure there are American restaurants with names like Burger King and Subway, but the menus are tailored to the locals. If you want a chicken tika sub, India is the place for you. The Westin has 3 restaurants and room service, but it's easy to get tired of Italian food and the Indian restaurant. Eating at a local restaurant can get you sick very quickly with anything from Bombay Belly to Hepatitis.  Are there local places that I eat? Yes, but knowing where to eat is definitely important. The Westin really does bring out the five star treatment, and most of the US chain hotels have amazing food and amazing service. From custom omelets for fresh fruits, the Westin

The 1800's marked significant change in India as skilled weavers were replaced by British manufacturers that industrialized the cloth making industry.  In many places in India, the art of weaving was lost as skilled workers moved from the looms to the fields to grow cotton, indigo and opium.  During this time, cities in India dropped significantly in population as these workers moved into rural areas to farm making education of the population even more difficult. Today, the poor are moving back into the cities as unskilled laborers. Women in these villages, as in rural India, lack public sanitation and must wait till night time to simply go to the bathroom. There is a great article here  about how India is trying to tackle this problem, but it highlights the lack of infrastructure and sanitation available in India. Sanitation is not the only problem for these people.  The level of poverty and disparity of income are more substantial than the United States, and clean water for thes

Today, I decided to walk into work to grab some pictures with my camera. Before I walked, I was sure to hydrate with bottled of water from the hotel since the thermometer was already reading ninety plus degrees. I also weighted down my backpack with bottled water to ensure that I had enough water to make it through the day. Clean water is a commodity in India as it is in many parts of the world, and drinking the local water or select local foods can leave you with Bombay Belly.  If you are one of the unfortunates to get struck with Bombay Belly, it can be a week long event where anything you eat or drink immediately goes out the other end leading to severe dehydration and weakness.  One of my coworkers takes India to the extreme and packs his own food. Others limit their diets to the buffet at the Westin and the few restaurants located inside. Watching what you eat, and drink is an important aspect of traveling in India, and I make sure I always have enough water t