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The
Partnership continues to prosper and we give below reports on three
recent events. Three Wheels on my Wagon! Do
you remember the song? In the Diocese of Durgapur, which has been
linked with the Wirksworth Team Ministry for the last five years,
three wheeled wagons are a means of providing a living for a number of
poor families in remote areas of the diocese. Two years ago, David
Truby and Alison Richards, from Wirksworth, visited India and
suggested that buying three wheeled rickshaws which could be used to
transport goods and people around, would be a good way of assisting
people to provide and income for their families. Since then, churches
in the team, along with people from their parishes, have been raising
money to provide the eighteen rickshaws that now make up the fleet. At
the beginning of February, David Truby, Rector of the Team Ministry,
and his Methodist and United Reformed Church colleagues, Steve Bennett
and Camilla Veitch, visited Durgapur to explore ways of developing the
link. Until now it has been focussed on the team, but other churches
in the Wirksworth area have been drawn in through Churches Together in
Wirksworth and District. In the autumn of last year, our local
Methodist churches decided to send the money raised through their
harvest festivals to a hospital in Serenga, a small town south of
Durgapur. This church run facility provides health care for many
tribal people living in surrounding districts who would have to travel
many miles to a government run hospital.
The dedicated teams of medics work against the odds to ensure
the safe delivery of children provide a degree of emergency care and
set up eye clinics in remote areas to remove cataracts free of charge. One
of the most moving occasions on the visit was the opportunity to
participate in the ordination of a young woman priest who was
sponsored through college by the Wirksworth Team. Swageta Das was
ordained with two others at the Annual Diocesan Thanksgiving Service,
in front of three thousand people who had come in from across a
diocese which is larger than England! As guests of the Church of North
India, our clergy were able to extend their hands at the ordination
prayer—something which they would be unable to do in this country
due to denominational differences. Now
that the link with Durgapur has become well established our hope is
that all of our churches will have a better sense of belonging to the
world wide Christian Family. We all benefit and learn from each other
as we seek to serve the Kingdom of God. Three
weeks teaching in Barharwa We,
John and Elizabeth Hurfurt from the Ashbourne Churches Together -
Patna Partnership, had visited Barharwa in 2006 and 2007 but only
stayed for a few hours. In 2009 we decided to spend three weeks at St.
Thomas’s mixed English medium school there. We were warmly welcomed
by both staff and pupils. John, a retired maths teacher, taught the
older pupils for most of his time and Elizabeth, a retired Biology
teacher, taught Biology and Environmental Studies. We also helped with
the teaching of English. There are also two Hindi medium girls schools
together with hostels on the site. Despite language difficulties the
girls came to talk to us and told us about themselves and their
families. We had a wonderful time there and felt part of their
community. We were invited to visit the homes of both teachers and
pupils. From
Barharwa we went to Taljhari where the Partnership sponsors the board
and lodging of 100 girls at St. John’s school. We saw the
development of the pond and vegetable garden, the new buildings for
the High school and were privileged to be asked to open the new
library. We then visited other schools in the Diocese which are
interested in forming a link with schools in the Ashbourne area. We
hope that the British Council will help to fund this link. The
Partnership is looking forward to May when four people from the Patna
Diocese will visit Ashbourne.
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