The India Story - Culture Shock

This is what I was faced with when I arrived in India that first day:



Talk about culture shock! Everywhere we went, we were oddities. People stopped, stared, and sometimes even pointed at us because we were unusual. I recognized maybe for the first time in my life that Caucasians are not the majority every where on earth. I am not culturally biased; I have friends of different color and backgrounds, but living in middle-class, Midwestern suburbia has distorted my view of the world significantly. Somewhere in my subconscious mind I began to believe that my experience of life was typical across the globe, even when my conscious mind knew this was false. I also came to the recognition that Caucasians are not the only facet of God. We were ALL created in His image: Caucasian, African, Indian, Asian - we are all displaying parts of our Creator. The American image of a white Jesus with light eyes and blondish hair is just as inaccurate as my image of a white King sitting on His throne in heaven. In my time in India and Nepal I fell in love with the Indian/Asian people and culture. I found beauty where before I had only found unfamiliarity. This was a true blessing to me.



All the photos and video in this post are from Steve Hurry, one of the members of our team, and the ServLife staff member on our trip. Many thanks to Steve for allowing use of his photos on my blog! The photos are really amazing. If you're interested, you can view them full-size here.