My friend Claudia explained this retreat, but I thought I'd give my point of view. This is my second post about retreats, but I have forgotten to explain to you the purpose and meaning of our Young Adult Volunteer retreats. As volunteers we are all based at different "placement sites" here in India. Some of us may be close in distance, but we all sleep, live, and work in different places. One four-day weekend out of each month we all get together for a time of prayer, relaxation and reflection. It is a great opportunity to process what we have been experiencing at our sites.
On the 26th of October, we all headed to our wonderful program director, Thomas John Achen's house. It was a holiday called Diwali (which is called Deepavali in Kerala). Deepavali is the "festival of lights" and is a holiday that celebrates a story in the Ramayana about Rama's return after years of imprisonment. It is not the most popular of Kerala holidays, but some places celebrate it with a BANG of fireworks and lights that make the streets light up at night.
We took our time relaxing at what we all fondly call "The Aluva house". It has become our second home. I got to join Betty Kochamma, Achen's wife, and his son Binu for their Christmas choir practices. On Friday our time was reserved for Bible Studies, conversation and group processing.
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| Photo Credit: Claudia Brown |
We took our time relaxing at what we all fondly call "The Aluva house". It has become our second home. I got to join Betty Kochamma, Achen's wife, and his son Binu for their Christmas choir practices. On Friday our time was reserved for Bible Studies, conversation and group processing.
