"Doris" Voss went to India at age 18 from Germany. After a few years there she married Ferdinand Hahn. In 1906 Ferdinand, my great great grandfather, became ill. In 1910 they went up to Mussoorie so he would recover. She writes in her journal: " The weather was wonderfully warm and friendly, and he recovered rapidly, so that we were able to take daily long walks and enjoy thoroughly the glorious views up the mountains and down the slopes. He liked especially to walk to the cemetery where he could rest on a bench by the gate." She continues (Maria is a fellow worker who also went to Mussoorie to recover): "When Sister Marie once said to him out of a feeling of personal weakness and in view of the many graves: “I do not know what the Lord is planning for us, whether we will find here our final resting place”, he looked at her with big eyes and said: “May the Lord prevent this, no! We are hoping to get well here in Mussourie, to be sure, and to return to our work in Purulia strengthened.” For as much as he used to talk about dying and going home, now he wanted to live and work! And no thought came to me that his end would be so near. How often did he suffer, and God had always given him new strength and health. "
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Travel backwards:
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My Trip to India Oct 10-Nov 7 2013
Those who know me well know how long it has been that I've dreamed of returning to India. I grew up there arriving in 1959 and leaving in 1976 (with about 5 years int the States). Most of the time I spent going toWoodstock School in the foot hill of the Hymalyas in a town called Mussoorie.
While I was somewhat curious to head "home" to see my old stomping grounds, my main purpose was to begin a journey of understanding my ancestral connections to India and to discover what India has become.
Yes, I found there are a lot of changes in India, but in truth the most remarkable thing was how "familiar" it was to me.
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