Mobile Creches

This is another blog that is best said through a lot of pictures.  So, I will use the pictures to tell this story.  Some of them may be sad, so use that as a warning.

These buildings hold apartments that sell for about $750,000.  Do you ever wonder where the construction workers who build these live?

In India the workers and their families live close to the site in camps that the construction companies provide.

 These camps are often near standing water.  The hot humid conditions make these the perfect breeding grounds for malaria carrying mosquitoes.

They can also be near untreated sewage drainage such as this.

A surprising number of women work construction.  This could be because the family needs a second income, or because her husband is an alcoholic and can't function at his job.  If the whole family lives in these camps, and the parents have to work, what do the children do?  Do they go to school?

The answers is no, unless someone steps in.  Mobile Creches is an organization that has stepped in to provide care for children ages 0-14 (with a focus on 0-6).  They first and foremost try to get the often malnourished back to good health, but also provide education for the children that are able to attend.

Mobile Creches begin by working with the construction company and asking for a space in or near the camp to set up a facility.  These conditions aren't ideal.

This is the space of the mobile creche we visited.  It is in a partially dilapidated building, no running water, no electricity, and very little furnishings.

The children attending come from very poor families.  They often can't afford proper clothes.

They are also often malnourished.  The light color in this girl's hair is evidence that she is not getting adequate nutrients.

  At the school, there is no way to control the insects.  This one year old naps with flies crawling all over his face, even blocking is nostrils. 

Even in these conditions, there is learning...

laughter...

and love.

Mobile creches has a vision:  A just and caring world for young children of marginalized and mobile populations to enable them to develop into competent and confident individuals. 

Mobile Creches had reached out to approximately 700,000 construction children.  However, that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.  There is an estimated 60 million construction children who currently have no where to go while their parents work.

It only costs around $16,000 to fully run a center for 50 children for one year.  Many construction jobs only last that length of time.  This covers nutrition, medicine, check-ups, and education.  I wish every American company with construction/development ties in India that sets aside funds for corporate social responsibility would sponsor a center.

As individuals, we can also help.  Visit http://mobilecreches.org/ to learn how.

Katha

Katha is an organization whose mission is to impact social injustice and economic poverty in urban India by providing quality education for children (living in slums) that will transform them into community leaders.  www.katha.org

This blog on Katha is done best by speaking through pictures, so let's start with the street we walked down to arrive at the Katha school we visited:

 The two pictures above are the "street face" of the slum.  These semi-permanent shops line the true slum behind.

The smell was atrocious.  Open trash bins, sewage leaks, and scavenging animals were everywhere (dogs, goats, and horses)

We then saw this sign like a beacon in the slum...even the state of Texas would like it, it's "recognized!"  Once we were inside, the gate was closed and we entered the oasis with white washed walls in which the noises and smells of the slum all but disappeared.

The walls of the school were filled with student motivation, color, and student created artwork.  Several times a year the walls are painted over and the students re-paint it.

Most classroom did not have traditional desks and chairs; it is customary to leave your shoes outside and sit on the floor (if you have shoes).

Many classes had the students up and active playing games.  This one was a game called "story play" in which they act out a story to deepen the meaning.

This is me with a group of boys that were at the school for English tutorials.  I helped them practice by telling me stories about animals, habitats, and food sources.

The school even offers vocational classes such as this for women living in the slums to provide them a skill or craft.  If that is mastered they could not only bring in money, but they have the potential to become the family breadwinner, thus improving her chances of eventually moving to a more secure dwelling.

Katha had so much more to offer than what is posted here.  They have computers with Internet, and even participate in international multi-media competitions.  Students from last year won one such contest and got to fly to Boston to attend a conference.

The Katha organization has around 95 such schools.  They reach over 200,000 children.  Yet, this doesn't even begin to make a dent in the children that need to be reached.  Many of the schools have the facilities for more, but lack the finances to be able to hire and train teachers.

Katha is always trying to improve the lives of the students within.  They take the work, bind it in books, and sell them at the schools and online.  They also sell the crafts that students make in school such as wooden toys, bags, and jewelry.  Again, all can be purchased in the schools and online.  Many of the teachers within the school were once the students in the halls, serving as examples of the changes that can be made.

Katha is always looking for help.  It may be through a partnership with schools in America, or it may be the tax exempt gifts people can give.  For more information, visit www.katha.org

No more long wind

I was analyzing my own post the other day, and I realized that I am long winded.  So, I then sought out the opinions of two of my colleagues, and I am beginning a new strategy:  The Ricky-Connie Method of shorter blogs.  Here is attempt 1

On Delhi Day 3 we:

• Went to PRAVAH - an organization that works with adolescents and youth organizations and institutions to impact issues of social justice through youth citizenship action.  We discussed ways to transform students into active citizens.  Great discussion and it is something that I believe our high school's student council can benefit from a partnership with.
• Centre for Women's Development Studies - research institute on women's roles in society and economic trends that affect women's lives and status.  There were many women, each with their own agenda and passions.  
• United Nations Information Center - Lecture on the success of India in achieving the MDGs.  Very well done, and it generated great group discussion and reflection. 
• Said the single most important thing that I have heard so far:  When you come to India you must learn things, but you must also unlearn things.
• Shopping at Janpath - the Indian version of a cheap strip mall.  I got 5 scarves for the price of $7.00!

Janpath - bargaining stalls (not fixed price stores)

Janpath - fixed price stores with 'covered' doorways

Delhi 2

Before I lapse into day 2 in Delhi, let me just make some general comments about my observations about traffic.  If you have ever seen any movies or television shows that have pictures of Indian traffic and think, "That's got to be an exaggeration," then your wrong.  Indian traffic really is chaotic.  There are lines on the road, but they must just be guidelines because nobody follows them.  Everybody honks just to let people know, "Hey I'm coming up on your right."  They honk to tell people to move, they honk when they see someone they know, they honk when they see someone they don't know and just want to say hi.  We decided to play a game on day 3; how many horn honks can you count in a minutes time.  In addition to cars, trucks, mopeds, buses, and three-wheel auto rickshaws going every which way, there are also bicycles, people, cows, dogs, and sometimes horses in the middle of the roads too.  Like in other places of the world, you can see a whole family of four on a moped.  It takes a lot of time just to get a small distance.  I would show you a picture of this, but I just haven't taken one that does it justice.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system let's talk day 2.  This morning we began at a modern Hindu temple called Akshardam.  It was huge, hand-crafted, and so filled with meaning it is very difficult to figure out where to start.  We could only bring in passports, money, and bottled water (nothing else), so we couldn't take any pictures or notes in a notebook.  Their philosophy:  if you are writing or busy snapping a photograph than you are not taking the time to be with family or worship in the temple itself.  There were parts of it, in other buildings on the property, that remind me a bit of Disney World because they would take you into a dark auditorium and show you a little show.  One was about how only you can sculpt your life.  You are the hammer, the chisel, and the rock.  Your actions are what sculpts you.  The next was an overview of the Saint that the temple pays tribute to, and the third was a robotics show depicting his first act under a tree when he was seven (I think I remember correctly) that set him apart as a saint.  He made fish come back to life because he couldn't stand seeing fisherman sacrifice their lives.  Needless to say he was a vegetarian.  There were several other little shows that we had to miss due to time, but we did end with a boat ride on the history of India.  It was seriously like "It's a small world" at Disney.  You enter the little boat and it takes you though the canal while you see different scenes out of India's history.

We had lunch on site and a question and answer session with our guide.  He delved into some of the requirements for the temple by explaining that according to Hindu religion a temple must be self sufficient.  So, he went into water capture and filtration process, solar powered electricity, all uneaten food goes to feed the animals on the property (another requirement), etc.  It was fascinating.  He then went into some detail about the center's to service in the community.  They have a commitment to help end poverty, promote education, and empower women.  They make sure to let you know that they run several schools across India that are free to people who can't afford it.  They want to reintroduce to society that women are not to be treated as lesser people, but the reason they are put behind the men is because their lives and importance is so precious that men must place themselves in danger and be prepared to give their lives in order to protect the women.  So, they hope to help India change in baby steps.

After that we had about an hours bus ride to the Hope Foundation Asharan Orphanage.  I thought this was going to be really sad, but it wasn't too bad at all.  They went through some stats about how almost 500 children have been brought to the orphanage since it opened in the 90's, but over half of those children were returned to their parents.  Of the remaining, almost all of them were able to be adopted.  Less than 10% of the orphans have had to stay in the system until adulthood.  The branch we were at was specifically for children 0-10 years old.  They were all healthy, and the facility was very Indian middle class (in America we would be a little cramped).  Of the 25 children on site, there were about 5 with disabilities.  Two had downs syndrome, one had what we would call autism (it's not recognized in India, they just say that she is "off"), and another had leprosy.  The fifth is another "off" child that is not diagnosed.  The special education teacher in our group had no idea what the official diagnosis might be.  She had a skin disorder, but also other issues.  She was commanding, she would slap you if you weren't paying attention (yes, I got slapped), and she was apparently saying really violent things such as,, "If you don't play this game with me I am going to kill you."  I don't speak Hindi, so I will have to take another group members word on that one.  In addition to getting slapped,  a little girl decided to draw on my pants, and a baby spit up on me.  This is pretty typical of my experiences with children, which is a large reason for why I don't have any!

Here are a few pictures of our time.:

Fulbrighters Pamela and Natalie making bookmarks with the above four age group.

Fulbrighter Jen is holding a baby- the one who spit up on me

After the orphanage we came back to the hotel, and went our separate ways for the evening.  Some people got massages at the hotel, others went to a nearby shopping area and ate dinner at a risque restaurant (plastic pole dancer decorations), and then three of us went to the Lotus Temple, a temple that is part of the Bahá'í Houses of Worship.  The Bahá'í believe it is most important to worship God, so they invite people of all religions to come into the temple to pray.  It was very reverent and peaceful.  The structure itself was huge!  I liked this excursion because this time we were not the ones asking for pictures.  The locals were taking pictures of us left and right, and they even asked us to posed for pictures with them.

Jen and Craig pose like the ultimate American tourists in front of the Lotus Temple

After the Lotus Temple, we made an unexpected side trip to another temple that you could see from the Lotus Temple.  It is called the ISKCON Ashram (temple), and we didn't find out until after the excursion that it is a Hare Krishna temple.  I would tell you more and post a picture, but this is the subject of my blog contribution to our program blog at http://fulbrightindia2011.com so if you want to read more, then please visit.

Until Next time,
Namaste!

Delhi 1

Day 1 in Delhi was jam packed, and we began by meeting Dr. Sharada Nayak (pictured), our local Fulbright consultant (pictured below).  She gave us some great advice on what to expect, and what we should and should not do.  She is also a teacher, energetic, and incredibly vivacious for a 79 year old woman. She told us to not only interact with the culture, but to ask questions and think about how it changes us (and our teaching).  She of course gave us plenty of good health advice too!

Then, we were off to Humayun's Tomb, the prototype for the Taj Mahal.  It was built for a former emperor.  Out lecturer was historian Professor Beeba Sobti.  The official lecture was to be about the preservation attempts of historic monuments, but since she is a historian, she was able to give us all the good stories.  It was fun, and informative.  We enjoyed watching Professor Sobti get more poetic as other tomb visitors stopped and listened.  We had some fun along the way since the locals stop and gawk at us.  They all want to say hello, pose for pictures (which they expect you to pay them for), and tell you impressive stories.  We heard about when both Will Smith and President Obama toured the tomb.



After the tomb, it was off to a food court for lunch.  My dreams of India being my summer diet have officially been shattered.  The food here has been pleasantly wonderful, and the portions are huge!  However, I am aware that my curiosity and tolerance of Indian food will probably wear off at some point in the next 30 days, so I have vowed to change it when possible.  Lunch was my first opportunity...I had pizza.  It tasted just like what you would get at Chucky Cheese.  The only problem I am having to adjust to is our schedule of meals.  Breakfast between 7:00 and 8:00, lunch between noon and 2:00, dinner is between 9:00 and 10:00 at night.  I am an early dinner eater (5:30 or 6:00) so this is quite a change for me.  Another change is in ordering food.  In America we are used to allowing workers time to finish completely with one customer before we approach to order.  Two girls on my trip and I watched three locals cut in front of us before we realized that she is never going to look at us and ask "May I help you?"  So, we had to fight our way to up to the counter and bark orders at her.

However, that is enough about lunch and food.  On with the day.  Next we went to the Center for Science and Environment (CSE).  We toured the facility and listened to an overview of the CSE.  Since I am an AP Environmental science teacher, it was right up my alley!  We heard the story about how land preservation began in India, and it's appetizingly different than what you might think.  Instead of the typical arguments for land preservation, such as "we should save the trees because they are living organisms," or "If we don't save the trees we won't be able to use them for resources," India began their locally named "tree-hugger" movement as a result of women's rights.  You see, women are not allowed to urinate publicly like men, so they needed the trees to provide cover.  Thus, land preservation was born.  We also heard about how the CSE is involved in school, and I am so excited to say that I MIGHT have an opportunity to attend a two day teacher training program at the end of the month to learn how to assess schools on their environmental protocol.  There are still some logistics to work out, but if I do get to attend the training it will be awesome!  There may even be a chance to have my students conduct the assessment on our school, and then we can share it with another school in India (I sure hope my global liaison is reading).

From there, we went to India Gate, India's WWI memorial.  It was crazy crowded, but still a must see.  We only had 10 minutes since it was a total tourist stop with no connection to our Fulbright mission.  Please check out the pictures below.

India Gate and armed security guard

The crowd in the background was just on the other side of the India Gate of the previous picture (things are always this crowded)

 

Two fountains flank India Gate, formerly off limits to the public, now used for swimming and boat rides

So, if that isn't enough...there's more.  See this is around 6:30 in the evening and we don't eat until 9:00-ish.  The bus dropped us off at the hotel and we had some free time until dinner, so a group of us (about 7) went to a shopping area for a couple of hours.  Three of us (including me) bought some fabric to have a shirt tailored for me.  The tailor is coming to our hotel one night later this week.

Finally, we ate dinner and practically went straight to bed.

The exciting thing is that I will be posting more tomorrow, so stay tuned.  If you can't wait, you may check out the whole group's blog (which I will also be posting through during the trip). That address is http://fulbrightindia2011.com

We're here

Namaste,

We finally made it!  The Fulbrighters did have a few interesting issues along the way, but the planes were on time, and the flights went smoothly. 

To start things off, one of our group members didn't show up at the airport until boarding.  I guess he missed the memo on arriving 2 hours early for international flights.  His excuse is that he forgot to start taking his malaria medication two days before the trip, so he took two pills on an empty stomach (supposed to take with food) the morning of our flight.  He was sick as a dog, and the 14 hour plane ride didn't help him.

During the ride we encountered typical plane issues:  One man's bags were too heavy, the flight or food didn't agree with some stomachs, some of us slept too much, others slept too little, and of course we got told more than one by the flight attendants that we couldn't invade their space back by the restrooms.  However, in my opinion we had good reason to invade their space, because the only window shades allowed to be left open were those on the doors at the back of the plane.  We flew from Chicago up through Canada, over Greenland, across Scandinavia, into Russia, and finally past Pakistan into India.  The entire time we were in daylight, and most of the time the sky was clear.

So, being curious Fulbrighters we wanted to look out the windows.  I personally got to see Greenland (the western side), the Ural mountains of Russia, and the tail end of the Himalayan range.  A very nice Indian man that took a liking to our group was going to show us the wall built on the border of Pakistan and India, but it was too cloudy at that point.

I thought the flight went by quite well overall.  I was slightly miffed because the TV player in my seat had a bad connection with headphones, so I didn't get to watch a single movie, TV show, or even listen to music.  However, I did sleep for about 4 hours, got up several times to talk to other people while looking out the window and stretching, and my seat mates kept up some riveting conversation (we were of course in a middle row, and I was the second seat in).

Once we landed, it took two hours to exit the building.  It's not because customs were difficult to go through, but because it is difficult traveling with a group.  One had realized she forgot her wallet on the plane and the rest of us waited while she had to go back to the gate.  We had to stop 3 times and wait on people to go to the bathroom, and twice to get money or exchange money.  Once we finally got out security, we were greeted by two men who gave us each a dot of orange powder in the middle of our foreheads, and a lei of bright orange marigolds.  We took a group picture (that I will have to get later because it was not on my camera), and then we were off to the hotel.  It was dark by that point, so I still haven't really seen much of Delhi.  I look forward to telling you about it on my next post!

Fright before departure

I found myself asking a strange question today...what do most people do the day before they leave the country for a month?  I considered the people I am traveling with and their most recent e-mails.  I'm pretty sure someone was fretting over a converter.  Someone else was probably sitting on her suitcase trying to get it to zip, and at least one person was looking though India guide books to figure out what to do during free time.

What did I do?  I woke up and thought, "Oh my goodness, I have to clean my house."  My cousin is house sitting for me while I am gone, and he's not that particular about cleanliness, but there is a possibility that some relatives from up North will need to stay a night or two in late July.  So, I spent six hours cleaning my house, and I didn't get done.  I had driven my animals to my Mom's house, so I took the time to do some deep cleaning knowing that my animals wouldn't mess it up.  In retrospect, this may not have been the best idea.  It was 3:00 in the afternoon before I even started running the errands I needed to do.  I needed to get cash, run to REI for non-scented shampoo (to keep bugs away), run to the mall for last minute make-up, etc.  After those errands, I was meeting friends for dinner, and then finally I could come home and pack.

I began to feel a little stressed, and when I get stressed I don't always pay close attention to detail.  Take today for example, I started my errands by driving through the ATM for some cash.  While the machine was processing, I was planning my route for the rest of the errands.  Naturally, they were all over the city rather than conveniently located near one another.  Once the machine popped out my cash, I grabbed it and took off.  It was 20 minutes later that I realized my ATM card was still in the machine.  This is where the "fright" of the day occurred.  In the 21st century, ATM cards are the way to travel.  Just get to your destination and find an ATM.  You don't have to worry about standing in line, showing passports, or conversion fees (although there is an international fee from your home country and the visiting country).  I immediately began to panic.  I don't have my credit cards set up to give me cash, so how was I going to get cash while in India...for a whole month?

I drove back to the bank, and talked to some really nice Bank of America employees (shout out) who very calmly and efficiently helped me out.  They canceled my old card, and got me set up with a temporary card.  They even activated it for me before I left the bank.  I immediately took my cell phone out in the parking lot and called to notify the official record keepers that I will be in India, and it appears that I am all set.  It was two hours later before I calmed down enough that my hands weren't shaking and it no longer felt like someone was wringing out my intestines. 

Needless to say, I was ready for some drinks with friends over a great dinner.  It was a great dinner, and the drinks were welcomed!  They only nagged me a couple of times for not being packed, and the evening ended when someone said, "In 13 hours your cousin will be picking you up to take you to the airport, shouldn't you go home and pack?"

It took me a little less than two hours to get everything packed, weighed, carry-on situated, and snacks shoved in every spare nook (I'm not wild about Indian food...Delhi belly scares me).  I needed my big bag to meet domestic weight limits since we will have three domestic flights while in India.  I currently meet that if I eat a few snacks, and don't buy a single souvenir until after all the flights.  My carry-on is packed to the brim, so that won't be any help. I did pack extra duffel, so I may just have to eat it and pay the fees for an extra bag.  We'll see how that turns out.

I still have the kitchen floor to mop, the office and the guest bedroom to clean, but I figure they can wait until the morning.

My next post will be from India, so stay tuned!