Today we complete our second week of work (India has a six day work week). These two weeks have laid the groundwork for the next three months- we reviewed the organization's annual reports, met the team, and worked with our counterparts (supervisors) on the details of our projects and the path they will take.
Kate:
I am working on our NGO's initiative to promote the education of Muslim and dalit girls in the rural villages. The two year old program is run in Varanasi, about 200 miles away from Lucknow. My assignment is to create a document/report outlining the scope of the program, highlighting its’ successes and challenges, and analyzing the collected data of the girls’ test scores and participation in the program. Right now I am reading all of the existing program material and the week after next I will visit our NGO’s field office in Varanasi and meet the girls in the program. I am excited and overwhelmed by this project- everything I have read so far demonstrates the success of the program- they are using a grassroots approach of not only working with the girls, but also with the local government (the gram panchyats), the teachers, the families, and in some cases, the girls husbands. The aim is to sustainably create a community that advocates for education and empowers these girls to stay in school, instead of dropping out at age 12 to join their families in the weaving industry. This project is unlike anything I have ever worked on before and from everything I have read and heard about the project, I am in awe of it all.
Dan:
In the next few months, I'll be working on creating and implementing a training program for the management-level staff of our NGO. The Director's view is that many of the newly-hired or promoted managers lack leadership skills. However, when I pressed for specifics, I began to realize he doesn't really know the training needs of his managers. Thankfully, my supervisor is giving me a wide berth to interview the organization's staff and try to get to the root of the issue. Once I've settled on the objectives of the training program, I'll begin researching and designing the workshop. The organization's hope is that my training program can later be used by the facilitators here to benefit other NGOs once I've left.
Aside from our specific projects, we are learning so much about the social issues in India- the caste system, poverty, education for women about childbirth, infant feticide, land rights, and the list goes on and on. We will continue to blog about our work, as well as the other aspects of our lives here- everything is an experience…from eating lunch with coworkers to using the squat toilets to shopping in the market to crossing the street.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
all of India celebrated my birthday ;)
It all started Monday night with Dan surprising me with an ayurvedic massage at a spa not far from our house. It was glorious and at $10 for an hour massage, I plan to become a frequent client.
We came home and made delicious mashed potatoes (sometimes we just crave 'bland' food) and skyped with Ralphie.
Tuesday morning the skyping continued with Helene, Ben, and Frankie and then Simon and Katy. Simon and Katy sang 'Happy Birthday' and put a candle in a delicious looking cupcake, though there was a small wax spill onto the laptop when they blew out the candle on my behalf.
I started asking Dan for my present at 10:30 Monday night and at noon he finally gave in- he got me the most beautiful sari- a deep blue with gold and silver beadwork. I cannot wait to wear it! Above is a photo of the sari fabric and beadwork.
It has been cold in
In the afternoon we headed to Hazratganz, the main area of the city. Earlier in the day there was a Republic Day parade in front of the Legislative Assembly and the city was still covered in orange, green and white. We walked and explored and then the surprises continued with a delicious Indian dinner and live music at Capoors with Trudi, Molly, and our new German friends, Meran and Gigi who are consulting at SSK on disaster relief projects.
We came home and I skyped with Ralph and my dad, read all of the beautiful birthday emails from everyone back home (thank you all!) and went to bed…
Today I am getting lots of birthday wishes at work and we brought in some traditional Indian treats to share after lunch.
It was a wonderful day and many thanks to
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Movin' day
Yesterday we finally moved out of our NGOs training facility and into our new home! We had the day off for Basant Panchami which allowed us the time to pack, move, and get settled. We are living on the second floor (what would be known back home as the third floor, but here the first floor is called the ground floor, the second floor is the first, etc) of the home/office of a gynecologist, Dr. Neelam. Her office for her practice and the NGO she runs are on the ground floor, she lives on the first, and we are on the second. The place is fine, the terrace off of our living room is incredible. There is a bit of work that needs to be done here- taking the conference room out of our living room, fixing the leaking squat toilet, installing a geyser (a hot water heater), and a bit of cleaning, but we are excited to call this place home.
Our new home is in Indira Nagar (pronounced Indra Nagar with a bit of a rolling tongue on the first r) and coincidentally two other AJWS volunteers live within a 15 minute walk. Bhootnath (pronounced boot-not) market, where we can get all the food and supplies we need, is just a short walk down the road. We also discovered a lovely vegetable market and park right behind our house and a guy selling milk in the morning right next door.
After unpacking and buying a few things for the house, we explored the neighborhood and took an auto rickshaw to Hazratganz, the main artery of the city. We met our friend, Trudie, for coffee and browsed the shops of Hazratganz before making it to Sanatkada, one of our new favorite places. We discovered Sanatkada because the owner, Madivah, spoke at our AJWS orientation about her experience with women and gender in India. After 15 years as Director of an NGO, she left and opened a craft and clothing store that sells fair trade products, many of which are now part of my wardrobe. This week Sanatkada is hosting a film festival and last night they showed a documentary titled 'When Four Friends Meet' about four boys growing up in a slum in Delhi and their perspectives on women, marriage, careers, and friendship. The documentary was insightful since gender-based documentaries are usually about women, and was followed by a great dialogue in a mix of Hindi and English.
Today we had our first commute to work and that experience warrants its own post with picture and video...
This evening I was feeling overwhelmed by our new place- the work that still had to be done, the dirty floors, our lack of groceries and basic kitchen accessories..but then we discovered we have internet here so my frustrations have disappeared!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Aal izz well!
On Sunday we, like many Americans, spent the day at the mall. The experience is not all that different, except for: the language barrier, the spicy everything at the food court, and the fact that people try to simultaneously enter and exit the elevators. Oh, and of course there's also the matter of people staring as if you have an extra set of arms. I realized the other day that they aren't really staring at me, quite the contrary, I seem to pass for a light skinned indian (especially with my mustache!). Kate and our blonde-haired friend Molly, on the other hand, are practically movie stars. While driving by on motorcycles, indian men will actually turn all the way around as they pass us.
The day culminated with a three hour spectacular Bollywood movie. Indians tend to bring their entire family along to the movies, fail to turn off their cell phones, and generally act much more rambunctiously than Americans. One would think that the subtleties of "3 Idiots" would be entirely lost on us since it was entirely in Hindi. One would be right but we still followed the basic plot, loved the music, and, most of all, the impromptu dance scenes. The song from the movie, Aal izz Well, is played nonstop on the radio, people have it set as their ring tones, and we have caught quite a few people (and ourselves) humming it. The movie proved a great vehicle for conversation with our co-workers on the following day - our first day of work!
After carefully selecting our first-day outfits, we embarked on the ten second commute down the hall to work. We didn't get much work done and spent most of the day chatting with our colleagues. The highlight of the day was going to see our new apartment in the city. The flat is sunny and spacious and located in the Indira Nagar area of Lucknow (pictures to come). We'll be within walking distance to a few street markets and parks and getting to work should only require a few short rickshaw rides. We're both excited to move out of the NGO and into our own place.
Here are some photos we posted and there are more to come: Mumbai and Orientation
Namaste,
Dan
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Orientating
We spent the past week with Will and Sunita, the AJWS staff responsible for the Volunteer Corps program in India, and the eight other AJWS volunteers who will have placements throughout India. They took us through a curriculum prepared by AJWS to both acquaint us with India and prepare us for our placements. We learned about the country's history and array of social issues- the caste system, specifically dalits whom I will be doing my work with, access to education, disaster preparedness, the structure of NGOs and Civil Society, and women and gender. Also the practical stuff like how to navigate from city to city and what to do if invited to a person's home for dinner. The sessions were great- a mix of presentations, guest speakers, documentaries, readings, role plays and discussions. I now have a better understanding of all of these social issues and will learn so much more from my work.
Aside from the all of the learning, we also:
*had a cooking lesson to make paneer (easy to make!) and poha, a mix of vegetables, flattened rice, and spices
*ate a traditional Indian feast
*put on my first of many bindis
*put in an Indian nose pin (I had been wearing the same one since I got my nose pierced in college)
*shopped with Sunita for kurtas (dresses or long shirts) and shawls in the markets
*explored the beautiful grounds of our NGO
The only less than ideal part of the week is that it is unusually cold here. I know I will get no sympathy from anyone east of the Mississippi, but we came here prepared for 70 degrees, not 30! This is so strange for Lucknow that they have actually closed the schools and shortened the work day since so few buildings are equipped with heat. Thursday was the festival of Pogal so everyone tells us it is only supposed to get warmer now!
Aside from Dan, me, and our new friend Molly, the other seven volunteers left Lucknow to head off to their NGOs. We will spend this weekend finding a place to live (we have been staying at our NGO's training facility), procuring mobile phones, buying more Indian attire, and exploring Lucknow. Oh, and in an attempt to look less foreign, Dan grew a mustache.
Aside from the all of the learning, we also:
*had a cooking lesson to make paneer (easy to make!) and poha, a mix of vegetables, flattened rice, and spices
*ate a traditional Indian feast
*put on my first of many bindis
*put in an Indian nose pin (I had been wearing the same one since I got my nose pierced in college)
*shopped with Sunita for kurtas (dresses or long shirts) and shawls in the markets
*explored the beautiful grounds of our NGO
The only less than ideal part of the week is that it is unusually cold here. I know I will get no sympathy from anyone east of the Mississippi, but we came here prepared for 70 degrees, not 30! This is so strange for Lucknow that they have actually closed the schools and shortened the work day since so few buildings are equipped with heat. Thursday was the festival of Pogal so everyone tells us it is only supposed to get warmer now!
Aside from Dan, me, and our new friend Molly, the other seven volunteers left Lucknow to head off to their NGOs. We will spend this weekend finding a place to live (we have been staying at our NGO's training facility), procuring mobile phones, buying more Indian attire, and exploring Lucknow. Oh, and in an attempt to look less foreign, Dan grew a mustache.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Mumbai!
This post was written on Saturday, 1/9/10, but we did not have internet until now.
The plane descends, skimming the corrugated roofs of Asia's largest slum. Walking out onto the tarmac we were struck first by the smell of the city. Not at all offensive, the air is heavy and carries a sweetness. It smells of incense, spices, smoke and the press of humanity.Though we will spend the majority of our four months in Lucknow, we decided to fly through Mumbai and spend a day and two nights here so we can experience India's largest city before heading north. By beginning in Mumbai, we may have begun with the Indian city that is most overwhelming.
There's so much about India that is shocking. Children bathing in roadside puddles, construction workers scampering up bamboo scaffolding, packs of feral animals roaming for food, cows tied to roadsigns contentedly chewing litter, street-children with babies on their hips begging for money...but India also has an incredible charm. The people are warm, friendly and engaging. When a rickshaw swerves to miss a passing taxi or when a cyclist collides with a merging scooter there's no anger or hostility in their exchange.
Our plan was to make it to Hotel Oasis, but discovered when we called from the airport that due to our late arrival, we lost the room. Luckily there was a desk to make hotel bookings and they helped us to find Hotel Atlantic in Juhu, a beach city close to the airport. We were unsure if we were being cheated by the desk clerks, but gave them the benefit of the doubt and were able to successfully bargain the price down to half the suggested rate. We are trying to get into the routine of bargaining every price, since that seems to be the norm here. A driver picked us up and we made our way to the hotel where we have a room that would be considered seedy in America, but is pretty nice by Indian standards- air conditioning, shower and toilet, and a double bed with clean sheets.
Though we did not go to sleep until after 1am, we were wide awake at 5am. When we made it out of bed and looked out the window, we realized we were a short block from the Arabian Sea. We got dressed and packed our bags and made our way to the beach and were surprised to find many people walking, jogging, and doing calisthenic exercises. We figured we saw enough of Juhu and grabbed the most colorful taxi either of us had ever seen and made our way to Colaba, the 'hip' area of Mumbai that the tour book suggested we visit. Unexpectedly, the hour cab ride was an event in itself. Both of us were glued to our windows and trying to take everything in on both sides of the cab. We saw commuters, vendors, people sleeping on the street. We saw trains stuffed with passengers hanging out the doors and the sale of colorful produce and grains on the side of the road. We saw views of the water, tall skyscrapers and a sea of corrugated tin shacks. We were amazed with everything we took in, and also were amazed by the driving habits of every vehicle on the road.
Our driver dropped us in the heart of Colaba, near the 'Gateway to India' and the Taj Mahal Hotel on the water. We found a hotel and put our stuff down and headed to a delicious breakfast of chai and a masala dhosa for Kate and a cheese, onion, and pepper dhosa for Dan. Three meals later we are still considering it the best meal we have had. We spent the rest of the day walking the entire length of Colaba. We could barely stay awake through dinner so made our way back to the hotel and went to bed.
Due to jet lag we were up at 4am this morning and at 6am we took a morning stroll and stretch by the sea. It was nice to see Mumbai awake as the sky turned from dark to light. We made our way back to the hotel to pack up, had breakfast, and had another interesting (read: scary) taxi ride to the airport via the Sea Link bridge, a new bridge that is not complete, but usable to avoid the traffic of Mumbai.
We've seen and experienced so much in our first 36 hours: the bullet holes left by terrorists at Leopold's cafe (now packed full of tourists), street children who threw fish at us because we didn't give them money, Dan getting a shave by a street barber as locals stared and laughed at the foreigner, and learning the difference between muslim and hindu shopkeepers (the former being more straightforward, less boastful and not as willing to bargain).
Now we are at the airport and we look forward to our flight today as we head to Lucknow – the city that we will call home over the next three months.
Namaste,
Kate & Dan
The plane descends, skimming the corrugated roofs of Asia's largest slum. Walking out onto the tarmac we were struck first by the smell of the city. Not at all offensive, the air is heavy and carries a sweetness. It smells of incense, spices, smoke and the press of humanity.Though we will spend the majority of our four months in Lucknow, we decided to fly through Mumbai and spend a day and two nights here so we can experience India's largest city before heading north. By beginning in Mumbai, we may have begun with the Indian city that is most overwhelming.
There's so much about India that is shocking. Children bathing in roadside puddles, construction workers scampering up bamboo scaffolding, packs of feral animals roaming for food, cows tied to roadsigns contentedly chewing litter, street-children with babies on their hips begging for money...but India also has an incredible charm. The people are warm, friendly and engaging. When a rickshaw swerves to miss a passing taxi or when a cyclist collides with a merging scooter there's no anger or hostility in their exchange.
Our plan was to make it to Hotel Oasis, but discovered when we called from the airport that due to our late arrival, we lost the room. Luckily there was a desk to make hotel bookings and they helped us to find Hotel Atlantic in Juhu, a beach city close to the airport. We were unsure if we were being cheated by the desk clerks, but gave them the benefit of the doubt and were able to successfully bargain the price down to half the suggested rate. We are trying to get into the routine of bargaining every price, since that seems to be the norm here. A driver picked us up and we made our way to the hotel where we have a room that would be considered seedy in America, but is pretty nice by Indian standards- air conditioning, shower and toilet, and a double bed with clean sheets.
Though we did not go to sleep until after 1am, we were wide awake at 5am. When we made it out of bed and looked out the window, we realized we were a short block from the Arabian Sea. We got dressed and packed our bags and made our way to the beach and were surprised to find many people walking, jogging, and doing calisthenic exercises. We figured we saw enough of Juhu and grabbed the most colorful taxi either of us had ever seen and made our way to Colaba, the 'hip' area of Mumbai that the tour book suggested we visit. Unexpectedly, the hour cab ride was an event in itself. Both of us were glued to our windows and trying to take everything in on both sides of the cab. We saw commuters, vendors, people sleeping on the street. We saw trains stuffed with passengers hanging out the doors and the sale of colorful produce and grains on the side of the road. We saw views of the water, tall skyscrapers and a sea of corrugated tin shacks. We were amazed with everything we took in, and also were amazed by the driving habits of every vehicle on the road.
Our driver dropped us in the heart of Colaba, near the 'Gateway to India' and the Taj Mahal Hotel on the water. We found a hotel and put our stuff down and headed to a delicious breakfast of chai and a masala dhosa for Kate and a cheese, onion, and pepper dhosa for Dan. Three meals later we are still considering it the best meal we have had. We spent the rest of the day walking the entire length of Colaba. We could barely stay awake through dinner so made our way back to the hotel and went to bed.
Due to jet lag we were up at 4am this morning and at 6am we took a morning stroll and stretch by the sea. It was nice to see Mumbai awake as the sky turned from dark to light. We made our way back to the hotel to pack up, had breakfast, and had another interesting (read: scary) taxi ride to the airport via the Sea Link bridge, a new bridge that is not complete, but usable to avoid the traffic of Mumbai.
We've seen and experienced so much in our first 36 hours: the bullet holes left by terrorists at Leopold's cafe (now packed full of tourists), street children who threw fish at us because we didn't give them money, Dan getting a shave by a street barber as locals stared and laughed at the foreigner, and learning the difference between muslim and hindu shopkeepers (the former being more straightforward, less boastful and not as willing to bargain).
Now we are at the airport and we look forward to our flight today as we head to Lucknow – the city that we will call home over the next three months.
Namaste,
Kate & Dan
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