It was the summer of 2007 and again we [Delirious? members] found ourselves at the airport. We had been asked to play at several events throughout Asia so we thought we'd combine work with our summer holiday, a great idea until we realized the monumental task of taking 5 wives, 16 children, 6 crew members and more suitcases than I've ever seen in one place. In fact, as usual, our family were guilty of the most and with 8 suitcases, a car seat, stroller, Eszter our au-peur, 5 children and another one growing in Annas belly, we set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
Just briefly I'm going to backtrack eight months to January. When we last toured India we visited this amazing project in one of the red light districts in Mumbai. To cut a long story short I met an Indian child there who I fell in love with and wanted to bring home. Was I going mad? (Anna thought so!) But I returned from that trip in turmoil over how we could rescue this girl from a life of poverty and prostitution. I remember clearly the first adoption agency forms sitting on the kitchen table and wondering where this journey was going to take us. Anna, the amazing woman that she is felt the right thing was for us to visit her together with the kids and we planned that it for August at the front of our Asia tour. However in the meantime there was a huge turn around with this girl’s mother who decided to exit the trade and keep her. It was the right outcome and I was sad and happy.So August was here and we were off to India. To have Anna and the children with me was extra ordinary and seeing my own kids on their hands and knees feeding other orphaned kids their daily meal was a beautiful thing. Obviously the highlight was our visit to see our 'little girl' and meeting her mother and family too. Who knows why this has happened to us but I know now that she will be educated and given a chance to escape the trap that is crippling millions of innocent lives.
Hyderabad airport will always be remembered for a stressful Smith family moment! I had put 8 passports and boarding cards in the hood of our stroller, which decided to tip over at the wrong moment throwing all the contents across the airport floor amidst a sea of people. I tried at that moment to be a good Christian but failed miserably. Anna is writing a book at the moment called 'Being Mrs. Smith', which will probably be an expose of my humanity!
