One Year Later: The Drive to Pondicherry

We were extremely humbled and struck with considerable awe on the drive from Chennai to Pondicherry. These pictures represent just a few of the myriad numbers of “Tsunami towns” which were constructed by the Indian government as “temporary houses” for tsunami victims. These little towns have no running water, no sanitation and no electricity, and now, a year plus after the tsunami, there appears to be little intent in many of these villages for anything to improve or change. In conjunction with the fundamental law that “temporary things tend to become permanent”, such certainly seems to be true here in these instances, and as many as 75 to 100+ families may inhabit one of the little plots (some having a total of over 1,000 people). There is a reason why we are here. There is a reason why housing is still such a critical need for people who were affected by the tsuami from a year ago. And there is a reason why we are attempting to equip local Indian churches with the capacity to meet the needs of people in situations such as this through world class partnerships.