Feb 26 - 27 Khatphra, memorial, church, hospital

Saturday the 26th, another day of travel to a small church and school day for Gail, blogging for Jim. Gail rode with Biron nearly to Guwahati (the airport, 100 km away) to the tiny village of Kkhatphra mail, just steps from the expanding Guwahati-Shillong highway. At least 100 steep steps, that is, making it one of the most inaccessable places even though only a couple of km from the large city of Byrnihat. The church rivals Lum as smallest building; the level of isolation and poverty is similar. The people speak a dialect which Biron and a local man find hard to overcome. Gail learns more about beetle-nut cultivation (an almost universal habit here red mouths, bad teeth and red splotches on the ground everywhere). The leaves used to wrap the nut with a dash of lime are trained to grow as a vine on the beetle palm trunks. Medical practice does not include educating the patient about the nature of the disease or treatment schedules, so people don't take the medications: polio and diabetes appeared to have been under treated in one family Gail and Biron visited. Hope lies in this young woman who wanted Gail to hold her baby – she spoke excellent English.
Back to Shillong, we attended the evening 3rd anniversary memorial service for Shri Brington Mylliemngap, P. G. 's father and past Secretary General of the Unitarian Union of NEI. One eulogy from memory lasted 39 minutes (timed by John Dale of the UU Partnership Church Council). At the reception the Laban church basement afterward, much bigger than the service at P.G.'s home, Fair, the long winded Eulogist and 3 year younger cousin of the deceased, retold the whole story to Gail in perfect English.

Sunday am we awoke at our wonderful Hilltop Chateau Guest House, took in the view and walked to the Laban Church. Just after we made a wrong turn, we were invited to hop into a family motorcar to take the remaining two blocks to the church. There we met many of our new friends, both from the States and Meghalaya. Here Peter Morales contemplates the view and gathers his spirit before the service, where he delivered a fine sermon on 'Spiritual Passports'. The UUA formerly presents the 'Carry the Flame award to the UUNEI (Pearl Green and Derek).
Our visit to NEI was capped by a pastoral visit to the Nazareth Hospital in Shillong to visit Leiki's sister, a Jowai nurse, who was recovering from a severe fever. It was great to see Leiki again: she had been so generous both at UUNIE, her home, and on the trail.