Compassion East India

I have not gone into much detail about our visit to the Compassion East India office while we were in Kolkata, so I thought that I would share our story.  It is full of little "God things" as was our whole adoption journey, so I want to share it.

We had decided that we would go by the Compassion office the day before we left India.  First, we called my friend, Janie, who is a Compassion advocate, to get the address.  Imagine our amazement when we found out that the office was only about 8 minutes away from the hotel where we were staying in Kolkata!  We had brought a backpack of stuff from my friend Jenny's family for a little boy they sponsor who attends one of the projects there.  When we arrived at the office and walked in, we stood in the lobby for a minute and then a man walked around the corner and asked if he could help us.  I showed him a piece a paper with a man's name on it and told him we had come to see the director Devasagayam Jebaraj.  He said that was him!  He took us back to his office so that he could hear why we had come.  We shared our story and he shared with us his vision for reaching more children there in the 5 states they serve.  He was very excited that we were there.  He said he was supposed to be in a meeting, but something, or "Someone" had prompted him to walk to the lobby, even though he had no reason for going there! :)  He felt like God had brought us together that day!  

We were introduced to his assitant, Ratna, and she showed us around the offices.  We got to see where they process the letters from sponsors, translate them, and send out the letters from the children, etc.  We also got to meet some of the employees and talk with them.  They all loved Micah of course and everyone wanted to hold him.  As the employees began coming back from a meeting, we noticed several Americans...the first we'd seen in Kolkata.  We began talking with them and found out that they were there from the main office in Colorado Springs to lead some training courses!  We had such a good time talking with them and hope to see them again if we ever get to visit the headquarters in Colorado.  

While we were there, I mentioned that I had also brought a back-pack of stuff for the little girl that we sponsor in southern India.  We were not able to work it out for us to visit her, but we wondered if they could mail or transport the backpack somehow to the southern office in Chennai so that she could get it.  Jebaraj said, "Oh, yes!"  We actually have a delegation from the Chennai office here for our meetings this week.  They are leaving in 3 days and can take it back with them!"  How cool is that? :)  After chatting with everyone, Jebaraj, asked us to stay and eat lunch with them.  This was our first taste of "authentic" Indian cuisine, and I must say it was very delicious, but very spicy!  We had such a fun time.  I would have to say that our visit to the Compassion office was one of the highlights of our trip to India!