I’ve been trying to figure out how to feed back our trip to India without throwing a lot of photos and words at you, and I haven’t really come up with anything. So I’m just going to write and see what comes out. Consider this the first of a number of blogs on the subject.

Our Base – Mangan, North Sikkim

While we did a fair bit of travelling and hiking to nearby villages our base was at a tourist lodge in Mangan, North Sikkim. Mangan is in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, 7 hours jeep ride from the nearest airport in Bagdogra and with stunning views of the snowy peaks of Kangchenjunga – the 3rd highest mountain in the world.

The Himalayan Mountains as seen from our lodge. Kanchenjunga is just obscured on the left by cloud.

North Sikkim is a restricted area, partly to preserve local culture and partly to keep the Chinese out! Up until 1975 Sikkim was a separate Kingdom, before India took control amidst growing tension between itself and China.

“We feel very priviliged to have been allowed in.”

For this reason, the Sikkimese people don’t really consider themselves Indian. Their culture is much more Nepali – they speak Nepali, eat traditional Nepali dishes and look more oriental than the average Indian. Up until recently no foreigner was allowed to set foot in Sikkim for more than 2 days, so we feel very priviliged to have been allowed in for 10 days.

Our Mission – Equipping the Saints

Before we arrived in Mangan, I don’t think any of us really understood what we would be doing when we got there. There was a suggestion we’d be helping with earthquake relief (Mangan was the epicenter of an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale in September 2011) but I think we were too late to help with that.

A church high up in the mountains. The only reason this church is allowed to exist is due to the Chief of the village becoming a Christian.

As it turned out, our mission was to minister to the growing underground church there. Christianity is outlawed in Sikkim (the area is predominently Buddhist) and so any kind of outward mission work is unwise.

We went from church to church, house group to house group and we shared from the Bible and prayed for the people there, as well as giving financial aid to those in need.

What we really felt was a connection being formed between Belfast and Sikkim, and we were constantly told what an encouragement our presence there was.

Our Journey to Mangan – Dirt Roads and Cliff Faces

After 35 hours of gruelling travel (3 flights and the aforementioned 7 hour jeep ride) we arrived at the lodge on Sunday evening and were greeted by our appointed guide, Moses. You’ll be hearing much more about Moses in the coming blogs, suffice to say he left a lasting impression on all of us.

A woman breaking rocks that had fallen during the earthquake with a small hammer. Her wage would be about 50p a day.

If you’ve ever heard stories of the way people drive in India, you’ll know there are no rules. Despite our friend Serenus suggesting there aren’t many accidents because “Everyone knows what they’re doing” we were involved in one (minor) accident involving a bus, another part of our group was involved in a coming together with a motorbike and we had countless close calls.

“Much of our journey was at a snails pace, scrambling over rocky terrain and avoiding fallen boulders.”

The narrow winding dirt roads up into the mountains were treacherous to say the least – on more than one occasion there were gasps of “Hallelujah” when our driver narrowly avoided tipping over a steep cliff! But credit to our guys they were able to handle it.

The roads are rebuilt every year, as during the Monsoon season they are washed away by frequent landslides. The earthquake left them in even worse condition, and much of our journey was at a snails pace, scrambling over rocky terrain and avoiding fallen boulders.

Our Stay at the Lodge – Hot Water Bottles and Rice

Colin and Dominic freezing their butts off at our lodge in Mangan.

Due to the altitude the weather was bitterly cold – we were rarely seen without bodywarmers, coats, gloves, hats and long johns on! Despite the comfort of our lodge there was no central heating, and the hot water didn’t work, so other than the odd wash from a bucket of water heated over a fire, we stayed dirty and cold! This did little to dampen our spirits though.

“The chickens in the yard seemed to dwindle in number over the course of our stay.”

Every day we were treated to a local delicacy, using home grown organic food. The chickens in the yard seemed to dwindle in number over the course of our stay and I think I consumed more rice in a week than I have done over the course of my life. But there was nothing overly spicy and they threw in some British cuisine just to make us that little more comfortable.

Throughout our stay we were waited on like royalty. The people of Sikkim have such a generous and serving nature, and they could teach us a thing or two about respect and humility.

Coming in Part Two

I’ll follow up this blog with a bit of a diary of events which will hopefully give you a better impression of what we were up to. I felt it was best to set the scene to begin with before delving into the details. I hope this is an interesting read for you all, but it’s useful even for my own benefit to help process the past few weeks. I think there is a lot to unpack from my experiences, and some of it might only come out over the coming months. Stay tuned.

Carol and a child from a remote settlement high in the mountains. We prayed for baby and mother as both were having trouble sleeping.