Again we had an ethnic Harvest Festival Indian style. Members of the congregation contributed delicious Indian food for every course and wore various adaptations of Indian dress. Cécile had to stand in front of the computer to watch a step by step guide to putting on a Sari which she had not worn for some time. Instead of marrows and apples everyone donated money for a motherless Babies’ Home in Mizoram. 

Jean visited her sister in Mizoram and presented the cheque to the Mother and Babies’ home. This was created as a response to a perceived need. If the mother died in childbirth nobody else could stop work in the fields to care for the infant, consequently they often died. A group of Salvation Army ladies decided to try to help with this problem and eventually the home was created. The Home shelters about 48 of such children and I can vouch that they are a lively happy group.

Jean writes - I had a very interesting trip to India to visit my sister, Betty and brother-in-law, Hnuna. They decided to move back to Hnuna’s home state of Mizoram in the north-east of India. I have visited India several times while they were working there but this was a very different experience. 

Mizoram has a very distinctive culture. Before the advent of Christianity over a century ago the religion was animistic and there was a very distinctive ethic of obligation to all neighbours so that people’s sorrows and joys were shared by everybody. There was and is no caste system and men and women are equal. I became very aware of this neighbourliness. People dropped in to visit frequently without any need for forewarning. Visits were made to anyone remotely connected if the family had a crisis.

Mizoram is a predominantly rural community but I was staying in the capital city. It was a lively, busy place, built on a hillside and with narrow traffic filled streets and somewhat hazardous pavements. However I managed to get around without mishap and got used to being gazed at as white skins and hair are still a rare sight there The main meals are eaten in the morning and evening with a snack in the middle of the day. The diet is very simple and healthy consisting largely of vegetables, lentils, rice and a little meat with turmeric and fresh ginger as the spices. As yet there are not many tourists and I think that made it more interesting. It is a country that has developed a lot but without losing its unique charm. May it continue that way

One of our new ventures this year was to start a fortnightly Bible Study which we based vaguely on the Emmaus Course. A group of about eight members meet in each others’ houses. After relaxing for a few minutes with tea and cake as we await the late comers we look at the Bible passages and the discussions range over a wide area but keeping reasonably close to the topic on hand. It is surprising how lifelong Christians know so little about the Bible despite the fact we have had it in English for four hundred years or more. The same is true about the teaching of the Church and Christian Ethics. 

January saw a celebration for Jean’s 80th birthday. After a Eucharist in Saint Bartholomew’s Chapel presided over by Bishop Edward Holland with an address by David Sharpe we repaired to a nearby Restaurant for an enjoyable afternoon. The next day, one of our congregation a regular and faithful attender (aged 79) , the mother of the family who hosted dinner for Bishop Geoffrey on Ascension Day, was confirmed in our chapel. It was on the occasion of Alice’s confirmation that she suddenly said that she would like to be confirmed, having previously said that she was too old! 

In March back to the Restaurant to celebrate Douglas and Barbara’s Diamond wedding. The weather was quite pleasant and we were able to have an aperitif in the garden before a convivial meal. One of our congregation, an ex British M.P. who had made sure that Her Majesty knew of the event, proposed a toast and handed over a Card from the Queen. He himself, now nearly 80 and a delightful and interesting person escaped to England with his Jewish parents during the war. He recounts the fact that he was the only British M.P. who had been (forcibly) in the Hitler Youth. He is just about to publish his memoirs which we look forward to reading.

Cécile et Jean C.G.A.