Thomas Family Newsletter – October 2008 from Woodstock School in Northern India
Woodstock school closed in protest on August 29th along with all other Christian-affiliated schools and hospitals in the country, in solidarity with the Christian community in the state of Orissa. The school community met for prayer and to lay flowers at the flagpole in tribute to those who have died.
Orissa is a poor but large state 1200 miles southeast of us. A tribal person – an Indian Indian, if you will – is entitled to special hiring quotas for government jobs and school appointments. In the district of Kandhamar, there are two very similar groups: one is designated as tribal, while the other is officially Hindu. There is envy among the other group about the special dispensations. There is also an active revolutionary Maoist insurgency in the remote countryside of Orissa and neighboring states. Add to the mix the longstanding efforts of Christian missionaries to bring schooling along with churches to the poor. A conservative Hindu swami established a re-conversion school in the area – he was vocally anti-Christian and anti-Communist. Last month a group of masked Maoists attacked the school and shot the swami. Rumors then fueled mob frenzy against Christian villagers and church buildings. Some of the attacks were well-planned, as reported in the NYTimes September 3rd. The state government declared a curfew in the area and set up relief camps for over 13,000 refugees from the violence. Things calmed down for a while, but recently the Hindu fundamentalists published a booklet that specifically blames Christian extremists for the death of the swami, and rioting has started again. Two of our students come from Orissa, including Coleman’s classmate Ankita, whose father is a church worker in another part of Orissa, safe thus far.
In the south, near Bangalore, more anti-Christian protests led the police to order the closing of three churches, and mobs to torch 12 other church buildings. Then, mysterious bombings – reportedly the work of Muslim extremists -- in Delhi marketplaces last Saturday have quite unnerved the school administration, wondering if our planned school trips to the capital in October and November should go ahead. Thankfully, we feel safe and peaceful in our isolated state; but we grieve for those suffering as a result of religiously-motivated violence.
Last weekend we joined colleagues for a campout at nearby “Flag Hill”, so called because it is an accessible high and windy point where Buddhist devotees string rows of hand-printed-and-sewn prayer flags among the trees. As we were packing up to leave, a Tibetan family arrived with their new set of flags to string. The attached picture shows Coleman among the flags, contemplating the beauty of the mountains, and wondering about peace. Please join us in prayer for this country of contrasts and its people who struggle to peaceably coexist.
We ask, too, for your prayers for us to discern God’s leading as we come to the end of our four-year contract with Woodstock School.
--Namaste,
Jeff, Barb, Chris and Coleman Thomas
Woodstock School
Mussoorie UA
248179 India
Thomas India Mission Fund
c/o Doris Kersten, Coordinator
Checks to made out to:
Pleasantville Presbyterian Church
(memo line Thomas India Mission Fund)
400 Bedford Rd
Pleasantville, NY 10570