Hazel Winder Raine

Never thought I could have such a chance to sit together with this great lady, look up her album, listen to her great stories in India – where her family stayed for more than 40 years. This is Hazel Raine, 87 years now, alway smiles joyfully and peacefully.

One day in 1958, a letter arrived from a friend who went to India: “We have begun a Bible school here and we need a teacher. Come over and help us”. So after setting down everything in Canada, she and her husband, Lloyd, went to New York, where they boarded a cargo ship, with their 4-year son, and 16 months girl. After several months they landed in Bombay, India. Lloyd started teaching Bible and Hazel taught English. That’s the beginning of their 40-years relationship with India.

Life was full of challenges.

The whole school was located on the second floor of a family in a suburb. The room they live in was only 13×13 feet. The landlords had their own religious life and even had a pet cobra in their yard. And surely they cooked and ate Indian food. But there were so many similar ingredients, that it’s always hard to figure out in the market.

Life was busy.

Besides teaching, she needed to take care of her 2 babies(later on they had another kid – a son Philip). Also, she was assigned to take care of the cooking for the teachers and students too!

The hardest thing was, you never know how many students will have dinner every day – she smiles.

Life was fun.

They were so welcome so they got many local friends very soon. Lloyd was so good at the language that he quickly learned local Indian Hindi. In some events, Lloyd preached in Indian and an interpreter translated it into English. – In that case, there were always many many people.

Life was also fruitful.

Many of students go to another city after graduation and set up new bible schools. “We are always so happy to see the gospel spread this way.”

Present

“Will you feel regret sometime that your parents brought you to India instead of staying in comfortable Canada?” I asked Branda, their daughter. “Absolutely not!” she answered. “We would love to go back to India if there’s a chance. We had a wonderful life there and we have many many friends there. India is our home.”