We arrived in Hyderabad on Friday evening. Pastor Suresh met us and took us to the hotel.

The Saturday was spent with a different pastor, Pastor Polisetti Moses. He came at 8 am with a very busy programme in mind, which we had to ask to be modified as neither of us could keep up the pace and absorb what we were seeing.

We first visited what he called a slum area but which I would call a town camp by the water. All the local drainage and sewage ends up in this lake so it's hardly a real estate agent's dream. The people live in whatever they can scrounge- old tarps suspended on timber frames.

Some people from the church go down there every week and distribute milk to the children. One cup of milk a week is hardly adequate but it might make a difference. We also prayed for each of the children and their mothers,

After that we visited a little church not far from there which is located in a leper colony. I thought that leper colonies were a thing of the past now that we know that leprosy is easily treated and not so contagious. I was wrong.

The pastor there has been faithfully ministering to his little congregation for 23 years. People are sent to live in that area when they are diagnosed. The Government gives them free medicine and when they are better they
move out again. With no social welfare system they are quite destitute and rely on others for support. Every second Saturday Pastor Moses and his team take food to them.

I left all that feeling shocked and angry. Why are people still losing fingers and other parts of their body to a disease that is so easily treated? Why are people forced to live in total squalor in a nation that is on its way to becoming a quite wealthy nation?

I was talking to Pastor Moses that afternoon and I told him every Australian should spend a week in these places. It would make us a much better nation, and I think much happier and focussed on different goals.

After the leper colony we went to an orphanage and sewing school (the same two room house does both) where the children were as always simply delightful. One little girl adopted Grant and wouldn't get off his lap.

After this we addressed a meeting of the pastors and other leaders in Pastor Moses' organisation.

By this time I was pooped and we went to Pastor Moses' apartment where I slept for an hour. We then went to a night time meeting of about 30 or so people.

The rest of our stay in Hyderabad we are ministering with Pastor Suresh's church