Lazy Sunday

It’s my first day off in what seems like a very long time. I am relaxing with the Sunday’s Deccan Herald to my right with headliner news of Egypt’s army takeover and a bucket of dirty clothes soaking in my bathroom. Laundry day, news day, planning day and reflection day- the normal Sunday wherever you are in the world.  My world right now consists of Mother India.  And its plain to see when looking out my hotel window onto a lake of cloud reflecting water with water buffalo grazing and men bathing under a canopy of palm tree branches.  Thank you Mother India for this calming sight, because I know outside of my hotel walls is a chaotic scene of battling traffic- yellow rickshaws blaring the latest Bollywood hit song, old bicycles next to new motorcycles, cargo trucks passing local buses, cows carting farmers, scooters holding two grown men, all controlled by various honking horns, hand signals and assistants to the drivers. 

And such the story begins of the, “Land of Contrasts”. In this land you will find BMWs passing the slumdogs of Mumbai, five star hotels for foreigners with handicapped beggars outside the gates, Indian college students wearing jeans and American volunteers wearing (not Sari’s but Indian apparel), cars driving towards each other in the same lane with no accidents, smog and sand filled air not dirtying white clothes, and so many more contrasts than you could ever imagine. And maybe that’s why I keep coming back for more.  Maybe this is more apparent to me now that I am in a foreign land and my eyes are wide open trying to take in everything I can. You can find similar parallels in the US or Europe, it just looks different than the scenes that are before me.

Even with the months of pre-arrival excitement, the first moment of walking into Mumbai traffic my first thought was, “I can’t believe we came back to do this program again. Why did we come back?” And so I didn’t walk farther than the first stall to buy water and I returned to the outside café of my hotel to soak in the India in front of me over a cup of ginger-honey tea. That seemed like the smart thing to do.  Tea and observe.  And the things that I observed was in a world that feels very natural to me- boys laughing amongst friends, the doorman greeting guests, families eating samosas, and traffic blaring in the background. Driving back to the airport, I saw a thousand near accidents avoided by driving experts, school children walking home with backpacks larger than their own bodies, policeman guiding traffic and the hot air energizing the city and its people into a rhythmic movement that is as natural as the waves of the Arabian sea harboring Mumbai.

And so this first week has not been about searching for the same answers discovered during my last time in India or about finding new answers, it has been about settling into India’s contrasts and chaos all over again.  This time will come different questions and new answers wrapped in an experience of its own accord.  Thus, I will move forward each moment and soak up what India is offering me. Tell the Chai-wala, I’m ready.

The Amazing Organizations Visited During Week One—

BCT-

Originally created to support the education of young female children of sex-workers, it has now become an after-school center for females of mainly low income families. Classes are held 6 days a week from 6-9pm, after the regular hours of government schools. Some girls walk as far as 2 miles in order to attend.  We were able to sit in with them for 2 hours. When asked why the regularly attended this center after long days of school, they said it was a more fun learning environment with more teacher-student attention than in the large 50+ student classes of most government schools. When asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, some answers were English teacher, police officer, lawyer, judge, and high commissioner. Some ladies with big dreams!! Just my kind of company :)

Navachetana Foundation-

A two-part organization, firstly helping rural women farmers to receive money for their cow milk and secondly offering microloans to farmers who are interested in creating more self-sufficiency.  Many women used microloans to buy cattle, in which this foundation paid weekly for each liter of milk provided. Collection is twice a day. We visited an evening milk collection and was quickly surrounded by what seemed like the entire village. When asked what the biggest change seen in the village since this organization arrived, the female collection manager said the women have begun to feel an empowerment through the work, ownership, income and support.  The success rate for families getting out of debt, becoming more financially stable and repayment of the microloans is high. Some women farmers are interested in a second loan to purchase another cow, with which the profits they will use to buy farming land. 

Family Planning Association of India-

Created in 1969 in the Dharward area, this branch has now become the model organization for the state of Karnataka.  Offering services to rural women which include maternal health, pre-natal and post-natal education, abortions, sterilizations, advocacy about safe sex, STIs, and nutrition, mobile clinic and doctors trainings. We observed several women watching a video about how to care for their new born babies, and met many mother-child couples. I fell in love with Mother Ansoya and Daughter Angeli pictured below.