The Michael Job Centre

The Michael Job Centre was started as an orphanage for persecuted girls in India; and was founded by Dr. Job after his son Michael, who was only 21 years old, was killed by Hindu fanatics in 1999 because of his father's Christian work. A year later, Dr. Job accepted a small piece of donated land in order to take care of only a handful of children whose parents were persecuted or martyred Christians. However before he knew it, Dr. Job found himself with fresh water, electricity and enough concrete to further build a school and a chapel. Naming the centre after his son, he was supported by generous friends and churches around the world as they bought up adjoining land for his cause and helped equip the building's with the basics.Only 10 years later and the 31 girls he started with has amazingly turned into 541 and it continues to grow in numbers. These girls come from all over India and neighbouring countries, many orphaned due to their parents beliefs, whilst others were abandoned just because they were female. In many areas of India, it is still believed that being born a girl is a crime, they are believed to not be as valuable as sons, they are simply an extra mouth to feed. For this reason many are aborted before they even get a chance to live, and those who aren't abandoned are often greatly neglected and ignored.Not only are these girls housed and fed, but now they are also educated through the schools that have been founded, including a Higher Secondary School, Arts and Science College and B.Ed College of Education which allow the girls the opportunity to leave the centre with a secular degree, so providing them with a great advantage in life and much more hope for the future.

Piece by piece

Little by little, piece by piece, I'm nearly there! What's next on my list: India Visa. This is about half the part of stress for this trip (the rest comes when you are trying to go through security). The man I directed my questions to at Visa Services Canada told me that I had better fill everything out to the max because they are especially picky about British Columbians. So I filled in every possible line, wrote "IN BLACK INK" and sent it off to Quebec. A few days later I received an email regarding an error with my Visa. Great! The first thing they tell you when you apply for a Visa is "Do not book your trip prior to obtaining a visa". Well, of course Henrietta did it backwards: she booked her trip and THEN applied for a visa! Not a very smart thing to do! Anyways, I sent an authorized letter stating that I wanted to apply for an India Tourist Visa and now all I could do was wait. Each day I would log onto my email account and scan the ever growing list of un-read emails looking for "Visa Services Canada", until one day the little guy in the corner of the screen popped up and said: "YOU GOT MAIL". The email told me that my Visa was ready for pick-up! So I drove to Impaqt Computers in Chilliwack and picked up my envelope. Before I got into the car I had already torn the envelope apart (never mind carefully tearing the perforated strip and gently opening the packaged) and out fell my passport. I flipped through the pages passing my Brazil and Paraguay visa and finally stopped when I came across:

Planning, organizing, and preparing

For a few months I have been busily planning my trip to India and Holland. Since I found that it was not only more "gezellig" to fly from Vancouver to Amsterdam and then to India, I also found that it was alot cheaper! My flights have been booked: I leave Vancouver on July 8th and arrive in Amsterdam the following day. After spending two weeks in Holland visiting family and friends I head out to New Delhi, India on July 22nd with my cousin, Petra, and a group of 4 young people from Holland (Piet, Marijke, Susanne, and Nathalie). For the first 1 1/2 - 2 weeks we plan to work in the Michael Job Centre, an orphanage for girls. Our last week in India will be spent visiting the Taj Ma Hal, trekking through the jungle, and other exciting adventures India has to offer. On August 12th we hope to return to Amsterdam where I will stay until August 18th and then fly back to beautiful British Columbia!