Phil Smith
In Christian tradition, Thomas the Believer has a strong connection with India. In recent times, a much younger Thomas Delaney has come from India with some insights to share.
Unpack the issues...
Thomas is a Year 8 student at St Laurence’s College this term, immersed in a Brisbane Catholic school while his parents take a furlough and study break. Boys’ obsessions with the latest Nintendo product are puzzling for a lad who carries drinking water in buckets at home.
Mark and Cathy, Thomas’s parents, both experienced short-term mission visits to India during their university years.
“When we eventually met, we both had a sense of the third world and a sense in which it just wouldn’t be right to walk down a career path to a comfortable life,” said Cathy.
They have lived for almost 15 years in one of East Delhi’s ‘illegal’ Muslim communities, Janta Colony. Both their sons, Thomas and Oscar, were born and raised there.
‘Home’ is the word Thomas, aged 13, chooses for Janta. His three-month stint at school in Brisbane is like an interesting look at a foreign culture, a short break from reality, for someone whose life is in Delhi.
“We never thought we would necessarily be there for this long, but we take it as it comes and God is using us, good things are happening and it’s working for us as a family,” said Cathy. “There’s no real reason to change anything.”
One thing has changed recently: the Delaney house now has a legal electricity supply! The family home in Janta is a single upstairs room, with access to a shared bathroom facility and a small courtyard. It has a concrete floor, raw brick walls and a roof that doesn’t leak – everything one can ask for in a crowded neighbourhood that began as a huddle of hovels made from cardboard and tin.
At St Laurence’s, Thomas marvels at things other students take for granted: facilities for art and science, the opportunity to study in small classes.
“At home it’s a privilege go to school at all,” said Tom. “Many kids don’t.”
While his parents worked informally in the neighbourhood, and with a Christian medical non-government organisation, Thomas attended the nearby Muslim school before home schooling through to Junior High standard. In Brisbane he is surrounded by 1,400 other boys in a playground like nothing he would see in India.
This is a young man with a rare world view. The wide diversity in St Laurence’s student population is a welcome environment for a white Christian boy well acquainted with being a very small minority.
“Most of my new friends here are Sudanese and Sri Lankan,” said Tom. “I am looking forward to being home with my good friends in Janta.”
Two days after Australian media published schools’ comparative academic results, Thomas wasn’t measuring his future by professional income.
“Jesus said to serve, so I’ll look for a way to do that.”
When asked about what field he might explore, Tom responded with geography instead of vocation.
“I will be in India,” he said with absolute certainty. “That’s where I have always lived and I love it.”
- How are you called to serve?
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