In space two receivers turn away.

Puja Time

January 20th was the puja for Saraswati, the god of learning and wisdom. I spent the day at the office although little work was done. I accompanied my counterpart to the "receiving" part of the ceremony. Basically this involved food offerings and a blessing. I was anointed with a red mark on my forehead and clavicle. Hindus believe these marks represent the essence of the god within you, meaning that she would be in my thoughts and in my words for the rest of the day. After the markings I was presented with a candle tree where, after watching everyone else, I swept my hands over the flame and brought the heat over the top of my head. I'm pretty sure this signifies the receiving of the god. Afterward I was given flower petals which I threw at the statue of the deity.

(picture to come soon of me with the red dots... currently on the roommate's lent out camera)

Pushin' in at the bank

I went to the bank and the line ups were utter chaos. I was with an employee from the OAB who volunteered to stand in line for me while I waited. Good thing because I don't think I have what it takes to get to the front of the line. The lines were long and loud and when a new window opened up it caused a stampede of men. Insane! I did not see a women in the 60 or so people.

All Orissa Student Union of the Visually Impaired

On Saturday the 23rd I accompanied the OAB to the 4th annual function of the All Orissa Student Union of the Visually Impaired. This event was held in Cuttack at Orissa's oldest university, Revenesha University. My role was to show the honoured guests how to use a piece of hardware and accompanying software called Zoom-Ex/Office. This system can take any printed material like a book, magazine or prescription bottle and scan it into the computer allowing for text to speech and magnification functions. My small presentation was well received and hopefully it will lead to a workshop at the OAB for members of the different universities to come and learn how to use this system first hand.


The line of presentations of visually impaired technology. You can see Samad giving a JAWS demonstration.


OAB members interviewing about the conference.

Republic Day

Tuesday January 26th was India's 61st anniversary as a country free from British rule. There was a flag hoisting ceremony at work that I missed because I like sleeping. It seems that when there is a holiday people show up to the office around 7 or 8 … far from the normal time of 10. I did however capture a few shots of the flag and the blessing powder surrounding it. I basically went into the office, greeted my co-workers, ate and then had the rest of the day off. I don't think that I have worked a full week in the 7 weeks that I have been at the OAB.


Flag.


Blessing powder.

Song from title: Two Receivers by Klaxons

That far off feeling. That up close kind of ache. Some white screen reason to look the other way.

Inside the Government

OK, so I am starting this blog post from within the Orissa State building. My secretary has abandoned me to represent the Organisation in a meeting about the rehabilitation scheme that I wrote.... I was not aware that I would be the one proposing it to the government... without anyone else from the OAB! I am in a room with mostly men... about 15 of them and one other woman. The meeting was to start at 3pm … we showed up at 3:10pm to an empty room.


Scary government building.

It is now 3:46pm... still not started. I had no idea that I would be doing this upon arriving at the office this morning. Also, everyone in the room is casually chatting, in Oriya, and none of them have made an effort to say hello to me... hence the blogging. Oh and about 15 mins ago a man handed me a sheet to “sign in”... after I wrote the details like my name and organisation, he took it over to his seat and read it with his neighbour for about 5 mins before actually passing it along. He could have just asked me what the heck I was doing here.

After all was said and done there was not much to report about the meeting. It was more of an open discussion about a power point presentation they gave. The presentation was in English and the discussion was about 50/50 of English and Oriya. They presented a draft of ideas for the rehabilitation scheme and the NGO representatives were there to critique them. I did my best to pipe up and make sure the vision impaired are included in the scheme but it was hard. There were multiple conversations happening at once and they all seemed to talk over each other... not like any meeting I have had in Canada.


Feeling better on the lawn outside, after the whole ordeal.

OAB week 3 and 4

The last couple weeks at work have been a little slower. I have done some training with Samad on how to write queries in access and I am still attempting to find a suitable and free email client for someone who is 100% blind. I was disappointed to learn that gmail is not very accessible. I have also started to download books for the OAB from free online sources and I will be printing them in Braille for the library here. As for work that is about it. I finally got the chance to sit down and talk to the secretary this week about starting to clean up the computers in the lab and begin designing the job matching software that they need. Exciting!

Cave Exploration

Jenissa, Lucy and I took a trip to the Khandagiri Caves which is the site one of many temples here in Bhubaneswar. These caves were carved into the side of a hill and lead up to a temple. It was nice to do something that was equivalent to hiking back in Canada. The only downside being the garbage everywhere. We did take a wrong turn and exited the grounds via a construction site with a helpful man who let us pass through.


Ahhhhhhh! Face rock!


Jen(my roommate) and I posing at the caves.

Happy Birthday Louis Braille

It was the 201st birthday anniversary of Louis Braille on January 4th. The OAB had prepared a remembrance and celebration ceremony that night. Again, I got to light candles for the puja and was presented with flowers. Most of the speeches were in Oriya so I tried hard to listen for words that I knew and just clapped when everyone else clapped. The OAB was presented with some materials for learning by one of the Orissa state ministers that I had a chance to sit down and speak with for a little while. He told me that Canada has one of the best (if not the best) democratic system in the world. He seemed to have nothing but good things to say to me about my country and he was very eager to do so.


Louis Braille puja table.


OAB members making music.


Receiving stereos.

KISS Sports Awards Ceremony and Cocktail Dinner

A simple request to grab a drink on the weekend turned into an unexpected series of events. I had asked my friend Vicky if he wanted to meet some of the other volunteers in the area over drinks this weekend and he invited us all to a cocktail dinner at the Mayfair in honour of some university students from England.

That afternoon we also went to KISS (the tribal school) for a sports award ceremony. Little did we know that we would be as involved in the ceremony as we were. On the way in we walked past a massive field filled with children waiting for the ceremony to start. As we raised our cameras to take a few pictures ALL the children started to wave at us. It was a wonderful greeting by the 1500 or so kids. We were sat on stage with the esteemed guests and we were presented with garlands and a gift of a painting made by the students. We were acknowledged in the greetings and the closing words. After the awards were handed out we were etertained by songs, dance, yoga, and gymnastics.


Clapping students.


Sitting on stage with all the other esteemed guests!


Crazy kid pyramid.

Afterward, we went home to get ready for the dinner... which was easy since Vicky lent us his fancy car and driver for the afternoon and evening. How generous! The dinner was wonderful... it was nice to enjoy a cocktail with food and not have it seem out of place. We got the chance to meet the British High Commissioner who was surprisingly easy to get on with... I was the only person who's country he didn't poke fun at. Go Canada!

Song from title: Map of the World by Monsters Of Folk

Oh the weather outside is frightful.

Christmas at the Mayfair Lagoon

Two other volunteers (Jennifer and Lucy) and I stayed at the wonderful Mayfair Lagoon for the nights of the 24th and 25th. We dined on fancy food and lots of it! On Saturday we all had booked spa treatments to help distract us from being so far away from our families on Christmas day. I had a pedicure and a very interesting massage.... I left that massage feeling tenderized (that tiny Indian woman had fists of steel) and slightly sexually assaulted... ask me for the details if you want them. Haha. I swam on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day... in the mermaid pool! Santa greeted me at the pool and presented me with a mint. I was really hoping for a candy cane but it did the job.


My feet and the mermaid pool.


I want to be where the people are...


Best Christmas gift ever: (lyrics below)

Oh AnnMarie

[chorus]
oh annmarie, you are the one i'm dreaming of,
though you're far away today, there is no other that i love.

oh annmarie (oh annmarie), it is to you i sing this song,
though you've travelled off to india and took my heart along.

[verse]
the days are long, the nights are cold, my love is far away.
but i'll stare down all this lonesome time, and to the hours i'll say:

through tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow for a year,
i'll be waiting back in canada, and loving you from here.

[chorus]

[verse]
oh you've gone to teach the blind folk how to use computers well,
and you'll write petitions, man, you'll give their government some hell!

and you never give up hope through all the trials that you face
you're an inspiration, darling, to the human raaaaace,

[chorus]

We had Christmas dinner at the Chinese\Thai restaurant and we ordered a bottle of sparkling wine. It was the first time that I have ever spent Christmas outside of my parent's house. While I still would have rather been home I had a good time and skyped with my whole family for a couple hours that night.


Christmas dinner. (clockwise: Me, Prangya (my colleague at the OAB), Evans (VSO), Jennifer (VSO), Lucy (VSO))


Perhaps after the wine?

Christmas night while at the bar we were approached by another foreigner, Daniel, he was claiming to have not seen foreigners in Bhubaneswar even though he had been here for two months. It turns out that he is also involved in development work and is volunteering for a tribal school called KISS which takes the poorest of the poor tribal children and educates, feeds, dresses and houses them for free. He introduced us to his Indian counterpart Vicky who is currently a UN employee. Vicky invited us to tour the tribal school and it's sister university KIIT (which I believe supplies the funding for KISS). It was a great opportunity so we accepted and went to see what they do. All the kids were curious about us as we walked the campus. Many of them gladly smiled for photos. Vicky was interested in becoming professionally involved with VSO India and hopes to be a partner eventually employing VSO'ers in the school. We are putting him in contact with the VSO India head office.


KISS students smiling for the camera.


KISS students cooking their dinner.

Happy New Year

Just want to wish all of you out there a grand welcome to 2010. The volunteers had a small party at my place (beach plans fell through). We spent the night eating, drinking and watching the blue moon lunar eclipse. Sorry you had to miss it Canada, it was the middle of the day for you but it was not a full eclipse and was only interesting because of how rare it is. We cooked naan, pakoras, stirfry, salad, hummus, and I managed to bake an awesome banana bread for the occasion. I baked without any measuring equipment, half of the ingredients missing and in a baker that has a dial but no temperature indicators. It turned out surprisingly well, everyone loved it. Everyone was stuffed... we were eating leftovers for a couple days.


Yeah, I'm that proud.


For those of you that missed it. (Photo from http://newshopper.sulekha.com/philippines-new-year-lunar-eclipse_photo_1107776.htm_)

Puri

I finally got the chance to visit Puri, a small seaside town about an hour and a half bus ride away. (60k, I think) I went with Lucy (as she lives there) and Jen, the same vols from Christmas. We spent our time there eating at a diner on the beach and shopping in the touristy shops. Puri has a vast beach and I was able to wade in the warm waters at sunset. It was quite beautiful... too bad that the sand is covered in garbage.... as is everywhere in India. I think I will be heading back there despite the garbage for some swimming... fully clothed swimming of course but it will be nice when the 50 degree weather hits.


I'm standing in the Bay of Bengal.


Puri sunset.

Song from title: Let It Snow by... everyone?

I can't remember all the times I've tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.

Week One

Considering it was my first week on the job I was surprised that the OAB actually had something for me to do. We are told in ICO that building relationships with our work colleagues is of the utmost importance... and to focus on this rather than on specific tasks or even trying to imagine how you are going to complete your placement objectives. All week I was working with the computer instructor, Samad. He had a free week because his students were all writing exams. I was teaching him how to perform some tasks in Microsoft Excel and Access. He is a very polite man and a very keen learner. It is his job at the OAB to teach basic computing to the blind... some of which have had absolutely no experience with a computer. I felt the work I was doing in week one had a direct impact on the capacity of the organization to better train it's associates for potential job placement. I left the office everyday last week with a big smile on my face knowing that I have already positively influenced someone in the organization.


The gates of the OAB.


This cow is always around work.

Training Week (Week Two)

On Monday I arrived at the office not knowing that this was the starting day of a seven day computer training program for blind school teachers. This is the first time that the program has been done. The program starts the training at a very novice level and will eventually result (after many 7 day sessions) in the blind teachers imparting this knowledge to their students. (The ones lucky enough to have a computer in their schools.) There was an introduction ceremony that they included me to be a part of as I will be hanging around the lab and helping with instruction. I got to help light incense for a puja for the god Jagganath. Putting it in Judeo-Christian terms, a puja is a ritual like a blessing or praying. Jagganath is a deity who is well known in Orissa. He is known as the principle god of Orissa and is thought to be a re-incarnation of Vishnu. Vishnu is the head of the Gods in Hinduism. This puja is done whenever a new thing is started. At least this is what I understand. So, this is how we began the training week. Starting the program with this puja is like praying to bring good luck to the program and they believe that it will help make it successful.


Participating in the puja. Although you can't see, my shoes are off as part of the ritual.


Learning the basics of computer hardware.

Democratic Elections at the OAB

I found out that the OAB is a democratic NGO. This means that every three years there is a vote for those holding membership cards of the OAB. There are some 800 people across the province that participate in this. Only vision impaired people can be members of the OAB and so from this pool the candidates are nominated. I am lucky enough (perhaps unlucky if it really affects my role!) to be here through the election process which happens in June. I am happy to work for an NGO that operates in this way.


Statue of Lewis Braille at the OAB. I'm sure he would be proud of the politics.

I don't know what I'm doing!

So, my boss, the secretary of the OAB, gave me the task of putting together a "Rehabilitation Scheme" for disabled persons in India. This scheme is going to be considered by the state government. This scheme is to outline services and policies to be implemented by the public and private sectors for the inclusion of disabled persons. My first response was that is should be called an "Integration Scheme" because the language of the former suggests that persons can be cured of their disability... he listened to my suggestion but did not really respond to it. So, he gave me a booklet, from Canada actually, called "Bridging the Gap, Government of Canada Programs and Services of Interest to Canadians with Disabilities" as a guideline. I think I am tackling the task alright, my biggest problem being my ignorance of policies and schemes already in place. We are going to have a meeting about that next week.

My new best friends

My office has dogs! Dirty, strayish dogs but they enjoy the company of people and consider the halls of the OAB to be home. Kalu ("Blacky") is a vision impaired dog (he is missing an eye) so he fits in well.... he really resembles my family's dog Ben... just thinner.


Kalu.

Also, out back on the grounds there is a litter of young pups, 9 of them to be exact. One of them in particular has taken a liking to me and lets me pet him... I'm trying to be careful not to let him lick, scratch or bite me for fear of rabies. (Even though I am vaccinated the treatment plan has to be quick and it is lengthy, involving lots of needles) My research suggests that a dog has to be acting like it has rabies to spread it... someone correct me if I'm wrong! Anyway, my landlord is not fond of dogs but I want to see if I can adopt the one puppy with hopes of immigrating him to Canada upon my return. This is all dependent on the laws, vets, and landlord situation working out... that is a lot of factors.


The puppy posse.


My little guy.

Raw Mandeer

Mandeer is the Hindi word for temple. So, I was brought to Raw temple by a co-worker named Praygna. She showed me around and I asked if it would be alright if I could snap some pictures. (I got a couple but I didn't want to take too many, people were already staring at the foreigner.) It was neat to see how they pray to different gods as this temple housed shrines to a number of them. I had to wash my hands before entering and check my shoes at the door... for the cost of 1 rupee. People were all over the place, sitting on the floor, standing, lighting candles, and all engaged in personal prayer. It was interesting to watch.


Candle tree inside the temple.

AG Square

My roommate Jen and I have taken to shopping at AG Square. This is a very local market. The crowded square is a maze of stalls that sell household items, electronics and food. It is narrow, dusty and made for people much smaller than me so I often get held up at a human traffic jam as Jen slips by... she is a tiny woman. The locals are always surprised to see us there and Jen (who has been in Bhubaneswar for 4 months and has a better grasp on Oryia) overheard a man ask a shop owner "What are these two doing here?". We had a good laugh. Out back there is a produce market where the food is of much better quality than at the local Reliance Fresh (a grocery store chain) and at a much better price. The catch is you have to bring your own bags to carry the produce home.


Out in front of the square.


Inside the square.


Behind at the produce market.

Song from title: Long December by The Counting Crows

It's all thriller, no filler.

Train Journey

So, I boarded a train in Delhi at 5:20pm on Monday and I arrived in Bhunbaneswar on Wednesday at 1am. The train was only supposed to be 24-26 hours but it was about 7 hours behind schedule. The ride was interesting. I was booked in class 3A which is a sleeper class with no privacy whatsoever... for the night I was in a top bunk stuffed beside my guitar case and I could not really move much. Although there were four volunteers on the train we were seated separately. So in the morning I went to find Jen and to my surprise she had 6 bunks to herself. So I quickly grabbed my stuff and spent the rest of the time with her. We were tired and getting antsy around 4:30pm thinking that the train would be arriving soon. We pulled into the station at 1:30am and had to organize cars and get to our respective apartments. My wonderful roommate Jen was up and helped me settle in. She is really sweet, she made me a welcome sign and had made me tea!


I spent the first half of my trip up on the top bed above the seats...squeezed beside my guitar case.


Bhubaneswar

The day after arriving I spent some time with my landlord's wife, Guyatri, who insisted on cooking me breakfast! That was pretty sweet. She has since cooked for me a number of times, taken me shopping, introduced me to shop owners near by and is always checking in. She wants us to feel like family and told me that I can talk to her for any reason. I feel very lucky to be living in her house. (Her and her husband Sarada have the upper floor) I am so grateful for my accommodations.


My room

What Service!

FYI: I dropped my laptop and had to get it repaired... which explains the long gap between posts! Anyhow, I called a laptop repair company and the man came to my house, tried to fix the problem, took the computer away and dropped it off a few days later all for 2000rps (approx 45.00CA).... I'm still waiting on a new hard-drive (another 3000rps) but at least my computer is usable. Home service is big here. I opened a bank account from the comfort of my living room!

Orissa Association for the Blind, Day 1

I left my first day at the office at 12:30pm, after arriving for 10am. I was shown around the building a little and told that my secretary (the big cheese) is in Delhi until Friday. I had some nice chit chat time with some of my future colleagues in Hinglish... everyone's English is so much better than my Hindi. I am also trying to pick up Oryia which is the language of Orissa. I was told that there are over 800 languages (dialects on top of that) spoken in India... someone help me!

Some of my colleagues were asking me what class/caste I am from in Canada and it was difficult for me to explain that those systems are not like they are in India. They wanted to know the professions of my parents and if I was married and had children. I was also asked how much money I make in Canada and how much I am making here...it is common to ask someone how much money they earn as well. I have been told these questions are not rude and not meant to invade my privacy. This is how people understand how to address me and act towards me, they need to know where I fit into their social strata. Plus, I suspect there is some plain old curiosity mixed in.

I walked into the office with one goal in mind, a goal that I could not accomplish in one day. I wanted to leave the office with a letter to finalize the opening of my bank account. The letter is to state that I am working for the OAB for one year. I needed this printed on company letter head. I asked if I could write the letter to get the ball rolling, so I did. Then, there were many phone calls trying to get a piece of paper to print it on... they could not get one. That didn't matter so much because a woman (apparently my subordinate) did not show up for work and she has the key to the computer lab where I would have printed said letter, if I had paper. I did however have lots of time to chat and meet different people, including some of the children that attend classes at the organization... they were reading braille and were excited to meet me.

On a side note, I really enjoyed being in the office. Being around so many blind people made me feel normal. This is because I am stared at all the time, everywhere I go. People are always interested in the foreigner and I can feel eyes on me constantly. I suppose I am quite the site as I am white and tower over most men here. At the office I am not noticed, people walk by me without a glance and it's great.

http://oab.org.in/


Samad, the computer instructor, teaching the keys on keyboard

Shared Rickshaw

On last thing. I really enjoy the auto-rickshaws here because they are shared... they pull over at major intersections and you tell the driver where you want to go and cram in with the other passengers. For me to get to work I have to take two of them and it 5 rps for each leg of the journey. So round trip to work everyday is 20 rps (just below .50CAD). I like that I ride to work with others and some will try and speak English and want to know where I am from. I enjoy meeting people along the way and get a chance to practice some of my Oryia and Hindi... they can hardly understand what I am saying... I guess I'm that bad. I do also have trouble understanding their English with the heavy accents.. .so I suppose it is the same for them. It's fun nonetheless.


Standard rickshaw

Song from title: Operation by Jamie T

I want a better place or just a better way to fall.

Indian Cooking Lesson

On the last day of ICO (In Country Orientation) the volunteers were given a lesson in Indian cooking. We were taught the basics of using a pressure cooker for dal and how to use a tawa to cook roti. I got to make a dosa as well! Oh and aloo ghobi too. It was also our job to cook lunch for the VSO office employees... they said the end result was great!


chop chop chop

International Volunteer Day

On one of my free days I attended a presentation at the oldest high school in Delhi, I want to say it was called Queen Mary's School? I was invited by another Canadian VSO'er, Liam, who gave a lovely presentation on volunteering and successfully got the children passionate about it. All the students were invited to come clean the Yamuna that following Saturday as part of International Volunteer Day. The presentation was great and I got to say a few words about where I am from, why I volunteer and what I will specifically be doing for my NGO here. The students really surprised me with their ideas about getting involved and their ideas about what can be done about climate change... as the theme for IVD was environmental. It was nice to be around youth who are creative, passionate and willing to give their time.


Liam presenting at the school

All the VSO volunteers in ICO were welcomed to participate in cleaning the Yumana River too. So early that Saturday morning we loaded onto a bus that took us to the filthy banks. We arrived to see hundreds (if not thousands) of people wearing gloves and boots sifting the sands and the water to collect garbage. It is a regular practice for people to bring their household waste and just toss it in the river... very different from anything I know in Canada. Even as we were cleaning people on the bridge that could see our efforts would dump their litter. I found this frustrating and yelled a little... in English but I think the message was understood, but not complied with.


Cleaning the river

Man, that water was dirty! It is shocking for me to see a body of water in that state. It looked black and it wreaked. I doubt that it could support any wildlife! So, we cleaned for a couple hours, which entailed sifting garbage and putting it into large bowls then dumping the bowls into piles on the beach... I never saw what came of those piles that we left behind. Even with thousands of hands we did not make a dent... and I mean not even a dent in the areas that we were literally standing on. The job is too massive for one day of effort. There needs to be more education about pollution, a service for people to get rid of their garbage (I suspect that most of this garbage comes from slums where regular garbage removal is non existent) and enforced laws about dumping. In a country with many more pressing issues I can see why ones like this get left out of the equation. The day was more about promoting volunteering than cleaning the river but I found the state of the water to be more than a little disheartening.


Yamuna water

At the clean up there were speeches and performances to keep us going. I really enjoyed the music and hung out close to the stage. I wished that I could have helped more but I was not feeling well that day... I stuck it out though. Performances were by Indian Ocean, Menwhopause and Terra Naomi. They were all quite good. I even got the drummer from Indian Ocean to autograph my my arm. Rock on!


:D


Indian Ocean

Ghandi Memorials

Finally, I made it out to some of the cities Ghandi memorials for Mahatma Gandhi. It was interesting to get a glimpse at a part of India's history. My favourite (albeit, in my opinion a little morbid) was the Mahatma Gandhi memorial where he was assassinated. It has in stone his last steps and a gazebo where he was shot. I enjoyed seeing where he lived for the last part of his life and was amazed at the small amount of possessions that he had left behind.


Ghandi's last steps


AM, where Ghandi died (I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to smile or what)


What he left behind when he died (sorry for the glare)

Song from title: Bukowski by Modest Mouse

Those starving children, they ain't got no mother. There's pink flamingos living in the mall.

Clothes

I finally got out and bought some Indian threads!! I purchased a churidaar kameez and a kutri. I really like them. It feels like I get to wear pajamas or hospital scrubs all day. Very, very comfortable. I now had something Indian to wear at the upcoming conference.


This is me leading the conference(details below) during an energizer. The theme was bollywood dancing!

VSO Strategic Workshop Conference

All the volunteers were invited to the VSO strategic workshop conference in Gurgaon last week. It was a great experience. The goal of the workshop was to help VSO form new objectives for development in India. Currently VSO works in three main areas: HIV & Aids, Disability and Participation and Governance. They want to expand the type of development work they do and not be limited only to these areas. There were a lot of current volunteers who have been in India for some time. I was able to learn a lot and even contribute here or there. There were many great speakers who highlighted the different images that India has; one of a shining and powerful India and one of an impoverished India. While India is one of the next great economic powers 450 million people live below the poverty line! (Less that $1.25 per day US) There is such a drastic difference between the rich elite and the working poor.



I don't really want to get into the specifics of the conference as the details of the development plan are still being worked out and a lot still has to be done... I fear of misspeaking. At the end of the conference the different tables were encouraged to write some sort of art to express all that we had learned over the two days. My group did a poem/play/interpretive dance thingy. There were prizes to be won for the best art which included western treats such as Oreos, Pringles, chocolate bars and popcorn. I am happy to report that my table won two of the three prizes. (we shared the treats with everyone anyway!)

The conference was held at the very posh Best Western Country Resort. I found it funny that a conference attempting to serve the needs of the society's most marginalized was held at a country club... not that I'm complaining. The grounds were outstanding! There was a tennis court, volleyball court, basketball court, badminton court, outdoor pool, lounging hammocks (where staff would stop to rock you!), gym (with treadmill!!!), spa and very conformable mattresses.... unlike the rock that I sleep on in the hostel. Oh and the all you can eat buffet lunches and dinners were exquisite. The rooms were also cleaned to a western standard (my favourite part!) We all felt so lucky to be invited to event.


Pool!


Don't disturb a hammocking Lucy! (my roommate)

AAA(Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan)

In Delhi there are about 150, 000 homeless people. That is practically twice the size of my hometown of Niagara Falls, ON. An astounding number. On Friday night the volunteers were invited to one of the AAA's homeless shelters, a partner of VSO. We got to see first hand the amazing work that they do with the homeless. In India, everyone in the country is entitled to 100 days of work provided by the government. An issue with this is, even if a homeless person finagles a job card which entitles them to this work, they have no where safe to keep their earnings. They have to carry it on them until they eventually lose it or get robbed.The shelter actually helps the homeless set up bank accounts and gets them ATM cards so that they will have a safe place to keep money that they earn. They help them get ID and can give them a permanent address, without which it is impossible to open an account.
(Article about program)

This group of shelters keeps 500 people off the street every night. A great accomplishment but only a small drop in the bucket. They explained that in the winter months they pitch temporary tents which can house 5000 people for the night. A significant increase. (I did mention in a previous post that in Delhi the temperature will go down to freezing.)


Hanging with the kids.

While touring the shelter we spent some time with some street children who had sought refuge there. The shelter actually gets them sent to school, feeds and baths them. It's really quite amazing. We spent a better portion of our time with them. (About 15 boys aged 6-14.) The children were really welcoming and so happy to see us! They had a chance to practice their English...and in return we practiced our Hindi. The spirit of these children was really amazing; all smiles and positive attitudes. They were curious about us and gave us all a chance to introduce ourselves, say we were were from and try and explain why we were in India. They patiently listened and made sure that no one was left out. They also introduced themselves.... paying attention to include everyone as well. What manners! I received a round of applause as I told them that I work with computers... they pointed out that the shelter provided them a computer to use. It was really funny. On my way out I taught them how to high five... when I held my hand up they didn't know what I was trying to do but they caught on really quickly! I had to exit from their room fast because I was overwhelmed by their attitudes and couldn't help but think about all the wonderful children in my life back home who are some of the same ages. I tried to choke back my tears in the hall... some other volunteers did the same. (I even well up now just thinking of it.)



Taj Mahal

Some of the group made plans to head to the Taj Mahal on Saturday... I couldn't miss this opportunity! Our day started bright and early with a 5am pick up(we rented taxis for the day) and then hit the road for our 5 hour journey to Agra. There we picked up a tour guide and headed to the Taj. Upon existing the cars we were told that the Taj Mahal was open to the public for free but only for the next ten minutes. We quickly jumped onto an awaiting golf cart thingy (no cars are allowed up to the grounds because of pollution) and practically ran toward the gate... but we made it. That saved us 750 rupees! Which comes to about 1/8 of our monthly volunteer wages. It was open from 9am – 10am for free because it was the Muslim holiday of Eid al-ahde. What luck! It was really spectacular. I know that when you think of Taj you think of the tomb but really the entire grounds were gorgeous! Apparently they do not usually have the fountains on but again since it was Eid al-ahde they were flowing! It was gorgeous and very very clean. Our guide Fiez was awesome too, the guides work based on how much you want to give them after the tour. I found this an odd system but since the entrance fee was waved we gave him a little more than planned. Also, If anyone travels to the Taj in the future I can give you the contact details of our guide. Just email me.


That's right... I'm holding it with very little effort.

Badte Kadam

Today we visited a street/working children centre, Badte Kadam, another partner of VSO India. It is a place where children can go to talk about issues they face and have a safe place to learn something new, grab a bite or just have some fun. Again, I am amazed at the attitudes of the children. We talked about the organization and how it was run by children for children. There are 7-14 year olds out there advocating for their rights and spreading the message to others. It really opened my eyes to just how sheltered I was... and still am for the most part. The children put together a play for us to demonstrate a collective story of growing up on the street. It was really neat.


Children performing play.

We spent some time asking questions and answering questions. We had the opportunity to explain the rights of children in our home countries. Basically, in the UK, Australia and Canada a child under the age of 15 (roughly) is not allowed to work and that school is compulsory for anyone under the age of 16(again, roughly). In India, this is not the case. A child of any age can work and most of the children on the street (some 10 million!!!) do not attend even basic education. We asked them what is the best thing we can do to help kids like them. Right away they told us to go to our governments and get them to lobby for more child rights in India. A very smart but not so simple answer. What astounded me the most was when a fellow volunteer asked the kids how they felt about hearing how children grow up in our countries. They responded that they were happy to hear that there are kids out there who have these basic rights and that have access to education. It brought tears to my eyes... they weren't jealous, or angry, or pitying themselves... they were happy for others. Truly outstanding!!


The kids went crazy with our cameras. They loved snapping photos.

Song from title: Money Lenders in the Temple by Conor Oberst