Well, this was our last day in Chennai. There's not too much to say about today as we spent most of it shopping rather than doing anything worth writing home about. The advocates would like to thank everybody back home for visiting the website and posting comments. Your comments have kept us in touch and entertained! As this will be the last update, we would also like to thank all the Compassion India staff (especially, Silas, Helen, Ancy, Samuel, Franklin, Ruby and Esther) who have been fantastic hosts; arranging all the trips to the projects and guiding us around the area - God bless you all! The team would also like to express their thanks to Clare and Kate (Compassion UK) who organised and led the trip to Chennai. They have been tireless in putting up with us all (especially Pete and Martin!). God bless you both! We look forward to seeing friends and family when we get home.

Late start again (Clare remembered half way down the road that she had left her bag at the hotel), but a gloriously sunny day to welcome us outside. Today we travelled south again to project 554, which is a project in partnership with the Indian Pentecostal Church (IPC). There were approximately 256 sponsored children at the project ranging in age from 4 to 18 years. We received a fantastic welcome again with sponsored children lining the street leading to the project waving flags. Once inside the building we were greeted by the sound of the Star Wars theme music being played by a sponsored child on the keyboard (very surreal). The children sang, danced and gave testimony followed by the advocates being taught another Indian dance. We visited a number of sponsored children's homes again and heard about the difficulties that the families were experiencing. When we returned to the project, we were privileged to be a part of a presentation to sponsored children of birthday and special gifts. The families who were affected by the recent floods were also presented with food supplies by the advocates team. The journey home was very eventful; we sat in a traffic jam behind an ox and cart for a couple of hours, our driver then decided to get off the coach and relieve himself at the side of the road. Following this, Pete dcided that he would have to stop the coach again before he burst. This led to us all being guided to the home of a local pastor to use their facilities (this was surely divine intervention, as otherwise Pete would not have had any privacy by the side of the road). Three hours later, we arrived back at the hotel for a shower and evening meal. Tomorrow we hit the shops!!!!!!!!!

A 09.30 start this morning was followed by a drive an hour and a half south of Chennai to project 515 (Victory Child Development Centre). Again we were greeted by a sea of smiling faces. Despite only having 12 hours to prepare for us, the project staff and the children put together another moving presentation of singing and dance (accompanied ably by "Bangra Pete" - a man of many hidden talents). As at a previous project the advocates team sang and danced for the children ("The Name of The Lord"). Later in the afternoon, we visited some more homes of the sponsored children. This was again a fantastic experience and we were privileged to be able to spend time talking to and praying with the families. Some of the issues that we prayed about were for unemployment and income, flood-damaged houses, illness and the children's studies. One of the houses belonging to a sponsored child's family had been totally washed away by the flood water. Malnutrition has been a common sight amongst the children of these families. Many of the children appear to be half the age that they actually are. We finished today being taught how to sing (and sign) "To be like Jesus" by Chris. PLEASE CHECK ALL THE PHOTOS PAGES FOR NEW PICS!!!!!

Thought we might have a rain-free day today. No such luck - the rain started again just before we left the hotel for our visit to Project 522. This project was set up by a woman from New Zealand over 40 years ago. This is a facility with a school, hospital and various clinics attached (of which Compassion only funds a part through child sponsorships). The language barrier is still occassionally problematic, which resulted in Justin being proudly shown the washing machines in the hospital laundry when really wanting directions to the WC. It was great to hear further testimonies from children and parents about their experiences of being involved in a Compassion project (including stories of families being converted from Hinduism to Christianity). Following their welcome, we were asked to perform an inpromptu choral piece (led by Pastor Pete) of 'Jesus, Name above all Names', followed by 'Our God is a great big God' (led by Chris and Glenys) and concluded with a team prayer (led by Brother Andrew). After a take-away lunch at the Compassion India Office, we went on to see some of the homes of the families at the project. These were slums on the river bank, some of which had been damaged by the rising flood waters during the monsoon. It is hoped that Compassion may be able to support the repairs to some of these properties. On our way back Pete (speeding off to find a toilet) and Hayley were so keen to get back to the coach that they left Martin, Chris and Justin aimlessly wandering around the slums in search of a familiar face. When finally re-united, our day was concluded by an extremely hairy road-crossing to reach the coach. We were aided by a young local boy who with little regard for his own life, stopped the traffic whilst a group of us raced across the road holding hands (where's a lollipop person when you need one). FINAL NOTE: We may not be able to update the website for the next couple of days as we are going to venture inland to a rural area and may not get access. Please keep checking and posting your comments to aid any withdrawal symtoms. BREAKING NEWS: Due to poor weather conditions, we have been advsed not to travel to Vellore for the next two days. We will therefore be staying in Chennai and visiting some more projects here....watch this space!

This morning despite Pete and Martin having got up on time with all the other advocates, we were still late leaving as our guide went missing. Today we went to visit the Compassion India Office to meet the staff and discover how the operation for the whole of South, West and North India is run. There are 50 staff in the office supporting 51,000 children in 224 childcare projects across India. We are most grateful to Esther (a formerly sponsored child and Compassion staff member), Ruby, Helen, Franklin and others who showed us around for the day. They made us feel most welcome. After our visit to the office we took another site- seeing tour. This again became a situation where a boat would have been very useful. The north of Chennai City had become submerged in water trapping traffic and pedestrians and bringing the whole traffic system to a stand-still (see photos on photo page). During the trip we stopped to visit the basillica of St. Thomas. Our doubts about whether we would actually see him were proved right after arriving at the tomb we discovered that he had not been there for over 500 years thanks to the Portugese who stole his remains and took them to Rome (disappointing some may say). Lara Croft eat your heart out. On our return we stopped off at Marina Beach, which is the longest beach in Asia and was badly affected by the Tsunami on 26th December 2004 (nearly 300 lives were lost on this beach). There were many fishing boats and nets on the beach, some of which had been repaired with funding from Compassion.