You read that right. Tsunamis and barrettes.

After an official welcome and visit to the Arcot Lutheran Church offices in Cuddalore, we drove further south along the Bay of Bengal to Parangipettai. Search back in your memory to 2004, when most of us first learned what tsunamis could do. This area along the ocean was devastated. People, communities, livelihoods washed away. Some of the most vulnerable in the world had to start over from less that scratch. The world stepped up. And ALC did some incredible organizing and helping at that time.

Lutheran Disaster Relief worked with them and the ELCA raised millions of dollars. Today we saw what the long range work of that money has been able to do.

The ALC Community College, built with those funds, provides one year training programs for nurses assistants, 2 cycle and 4 cycle mechanics, and tailoring. That training goes to those who cannot go through more education, due to finances, social mobility, family concerns, or simply because school has not worked for them. They are people of the least opportunities in a region that has struggled to recover. Now they will become sold employed or engaged in public health work or entrepreneurs. They have opportunities.
The mission of the ALC Community College is to educate, train and emancipate children from their poverty and oppression. And they are doing just that. Enrollment is open to anyone, regardless of social class. Anyone.

That may be a “well yeah” moment for Americans, but in India it continues to be revolutionary, and it hearkens back to the roots of Protestant missions in India, hundreds of years ago. As Bishop Socrates told us we this morning, the Protestants made an intentional decision to not welcome the caste system into their churches. They did not believe this cultural divide and accompanying oppression were appropriate to the church. It affected the growth of mission and the finances, because higher caste people might “ convert” but would not go into a building or service where their status was suddenly lost. They would either leave or, if one existed, go to the Roman Catholic mission where the caste system remained intact. To this day, the heart of ministry in the ALC is one which opens and holds all. A casteless church.

Throw many hours on a bus; the last remnants of jet lag (we hope); a UNESCO world heritage site of rock carvings;a visit to historic Fort St. David, over 400 years old; and a too quick gathering with lay women leaders of the ALC. (we tried to get the men to leave so we could talk without them, but alas…)

What about the barrette?

An exhausted crew walked into a restaurant dinner with leaders and families of leaders nearby. But the setup of the room made interactions between 2 groups that already had some language barriers. I looked around and went over and introduced myself again to the pastor of Parangipettai and his wife, dressed in this year’s official sari for the women’s collective. They seemed embossed at the attention, but we stuck it out. She teaches math; they have 3 well educated children; her hair is a little shorter than traditional. That led to some talk of hair – from both her and her husband – and her removing a beautiful barrette from her own hair to try to style mine. A quick and easy gesture of unthinking generosity, laughter, and kindness. A great way to end the day.