A Quarter Century!

What an incredible birthday! 3 days of endless celebration, people in the house, sweets and treats and lots of musical beats!Dec. 6 we hosted a party with about 14 people. Guitars and drinks made the party last late into the night, with several people staying over. I love having an open home. I love waking up with a home full of people!
Dec. 7 One more was added to the bunch, Andres from Honduras came to couch surf. So 6 of us ate a delicious brunch together. More friends arrived and took Sunny and Andres to a fort somewhere in Delhi. I slept a glorious siesta until they came back and we cooked a stellar dinner.

That night, the clock struck 12 marking the start of my real bday day. Sunny walked in on cue with a candle lit chocolate cake singing happy birthday, while Andres (still on his first day in India) slept off the jet lag in the outside room.
Midnight cake! and so many thoughtful gifts! what a lucky girl!

10am the next morning, Maria, a Spanish friend living here until April as well, arrived with a cake she made for me! from midnight cake to breakfast cake, the sugar infusion had begun! what a wonderful way to start the day, full of friends and food.

We all took off for our respective jobs, Andres came with me to Jamghat where we met the website design team for a 2pm meeting. The kids had made several Bday cards for me, and each came and wished me happy birthday. Right then the other children ran in with more cake, Sunny, the secret creator of the surprise party, following close behind, and an impromptu party began, putting an end to any productive work that day! Quickly the kids decided it was a good idea to shove whole pieces of cake into Didi's mouth (that's me, didi means sister). So in a matter of 10 minutes i must have eaten about 5 squares of sickly sweet white cake, heaped with icing. the icing soon decorated the floor and our faces. The fun and giggles behind the chaos made the day extra special!To finish the bday, people invited themselves over that night as well. The whole group consisted of incredible musicians, and we sang the night away, in English, Hindi, Sufi and Spanish.Awesome.

Mixed in all this fun, were loving calls from afar, from those i think of daily and miss dearly.

So much love to you all! thanks for marking my quarter century with such thoughtful gestures!

Ins and Outs of Hindi

wow, how did a whole month go by without me writing?
it's not that there's nothing to say, so much happens each day, it's just finding the time and the interesting things to write about. I"ll just write and see what comes out!

Jamghat has become entirely satisfying. I've been given so much responsibility and trust, i feel totally invested in it and love every minute. Everyday I go to the boys home, where 15 former street children live, and meet them, play games with them, work on the computer while they show me pictures they've painted. It's become a home away from home and I'm so attached to each of the boys now, I'm imagining a very teary goodbye in a few months!

These boys are my main Hindi influence. They don't speak much English at all so the necessity for me to learn Hindi is high. and it's coming, slowly slowly, dhire dhire.
The highlight of yesterday was that I carried out a conversation with Ali, all in Hindi! simple answers from my side, but i really understood what he was saying!

I think what has happened is that the children in Jamghat have learned my current vocabulary. So when they say something that i don't understand (evident from the blank look on my face and simple response "kya?", 'what?'), now they immediately slow down and use the words i know to explain their question to me. It's incredibly satisfying and our relationships are growing because of it.

so one interesting thing in Hindi: the word for yesterday and tomorrow is the same, "Kal". Do you think that affects people's concept of time? Sunny says no, because the verbs that go with the word are conjugated to imply past or future. So I suppose it doesn't make much difference to time perception, but i do enjoy the ESL mistake of confusing tomorrow and yesterday!
"You will go to home yesterday?" "Tomorrow was Sunday" :)

Another part of language and culture that i like here is that everyone is either didi (sister), bhaiya (brother), uncle or auntie. When I run down to the little corner store to grab 3 eggs (1 egg = 3 Rs, 1CAD=40Rs), uncle is there in his button up shirt, lungi (like a checkered sarong), and slip on plastic sandals, shyly and humbly selling small items each day.

Recently he has worked up the courage to ask me my country, "Madam, you country name is?" but looks away quickly after asking, seemingly nervous that his English isn't good enough.... "Canada, lekin abhi mera ghar India me, che mahina" (Canada, but now my home is in India, for 6 months), I respond with uncertainty, as my Hindi is much worse than his English!

When the language barriers remain, like with my cleaning woman, we find other ways to converse. Mostly we ramble in our respective languages and then laugh at the other person when they continue to stare blankly back! The maid started this, not me.

So the language is coming, and with this, more comfort in my surroundings. It's so satisfying to switch to simple Hindi with street vendors and see the surprised smile that comes over their face..."Oh madam! you Hindi speaking?!"

"Nahi bhaiya, sirf toda toda" (no brother, only a little)

Fun fun!

hugs

Today I helped a boy decide what day he was born

Very rough estimates say there are between 100,000 - 400,000 street children in Delhi (children and youth under the age of 18 making a living on the streets without parental care). It's something people here have grown up with. At nearly every traffic light there are children begging for money. Some sell flowers or magazines, some drum a beat while their sister or brother does gymnastics on the pavement. It's everywhere. Some children are rented out to beggars for the day, to increase the sympathy and gain more money.
These are children with every capability of you and me, they simply don't have the support or opportunities to take part in society in a self sustaining way.
It's heart wrenching to think about and is at first heart wrenching to see. But the saddest thing of this whole issue is how quickly I've become desensitized to it. I can understand why the problem continues, because everyone is desensitized having seen it their whole lives.

Not quite everyone. There are a select few that devote their lives to these children, and it's these few that i'm getting to know by volunteering with a dedicated NGO.
JAMGHAT: a Group of Street Children, is a small organization that seeks to rehabilitate children on the streets. They approach this issue in 4 ways:

1. A Home for 15 boys where they receive shelter, food, clothing, education or vocational training (they choose their path through conversation and guidance), health care, counseling and a place to be a child in a safe community
2. A Day Shelter where 50 street children visit daily. Here they receive a meal, bathing facilities, counseling, health care, and space to be a child.
3. NightWalks are meant to sensitize the public to the realities of life on the streets.
4. Theatre is the means to create widespread awareness and to generate some funds. The actors are both college student volunteers and the street children, so it also serves to create memories and self confidence while giving a voice to those that have the experiences.

I've been given lots of responsibility while i'm here, which is an honor, feels like i can be useful, and is overwhelming. One task i'm working on with a couple others is to open a home for 10 street girls. Currently girls are only attending the outdoor project, there is no permanent home for them. So hopefully in just a few months, a few girls on the streets will have a place to be!

Most days i'm at the boys home, which is the office. They are so sweet! and so determined to teach me hindi. They range in age from 5-20, each with their own story. Most have run away from unfortunate or abusive homes. Before coming to Jamghat they were beggars on the streets. Several were addicted to drugs, some had limb threatening injuries that were treated immediately, all have emotional wounds and scars to cope with.

But it's not a sad place to be, not at all. The success stories of these boys are incredible. The boys choose to come to the Jamghat home, no one forces them. They decide, at the age of 6 or 15 or 10 to turn their lives around. And they do it. They break drug addictions, they go to school, they get training and jobs, they work through emotional damage with regular counseling, they play together and create trusting connections with each other as brothers, they smile and shine and many offer endless hugs. It feels like a healthy community.

I'm still new to it and only understand a fraction of what's going on, as it's all in hindi generally, but i'm getting into it and feeling happy about by role. The experiences are life changing.

Today I sat with an 18 year old boy named Anwar and helped him make a resume. We had to expand his experiences to make it fill the page - he's had a couple jobs, but no schooling at all. He has no contact info or references other than Amit, the founder of Jamghat. So we added in an objective, some hobbies, and other life experiences ...then we got to date of birth. i looked at him and he looked blankly back.
"When were you born?"
"I don't know"
"Well when do you want to be born?!"
"Ummmm December seems like a good month"
"Check, and on what day?"
"mmmm, maybe the 3rd?"

We now celebrate the birthday of Mohammed Anwar on December 3rd (1990)

love lauren

ps. google jamghat and you'll get lots of hits (from google india anyway)
or try this page jamghat.blogspot.com it hasn't been updated for awhile but you'll get a sense of the organization

One Week In

i am getting partly settled here. it's taken awhile to get my sleeping on track and to get reacquainted with the Indian way. I was super reluctant to go out for the first few days. Wary of buying things, bartering with limited hindi etc.
now that i've been venturing out more, i've re-realized that i never have to go far to find the things i need! for instance, as i write this, there is a man walking down the street with his cart full of vegetables. i can't see him, but i know he's there because as he walks he shouts out what he's got for sale. all day he'll roam the neighbourhood. people know their veggie vendors and relationships are built. that's how i see it anyway.

i've been enjoying the old man who owns the little corner shop down the street. i learned that it's good and fine to call all older men, uncle and women, aunty. i love that about India; everyone is your brother or sister (the street kids i'm volunteering with all call me didi, sister), uncle or aunt. it's lovely. and makes this huge city a little more friendly feeling.

i've just started with an NGO called JAMGHAT. it's super small, which i like, and full of incredible, good hearted people. i've jumped in just as they are getting a play up and running for the next month. so i've met a lot of students who are volunteering as actors (incredible amateur actors, my god!) and i've started meeting some of the street boys, who are just lovely.
the day i arrived, one immediately took me by the hand and led me around introducing me to everyone! they are dedicated to teaching me hindi, so with any luck i'll be able to talk to them properly in a couple months. i hope!
Amit is the founder of JAMGHAT and he is wonderful. in our first meeting he told me of various projects he would love help with, one of them being to open a 24hour home for girls. there is a donor who has requested this and and has the money for rent and food, we just need to make it happen. so he offered that as a job for me. crazy. can you imagine giving that responsibility to someone you'd only known for a few minutes?!
exciting

so i'm just trying to figure all this out. and i think it will be good once i get into it a little more and feel like i have more of a role. i don't do well while floundering and finding purpose.

do keep in touch! post comments, they mean alot to me.

lots of hugs
lauren

Getting ready to go

I'm off on the trail of living to the fullest again. In the way that I know how to do it anyway!
I have a place in Delhi, I have a couple NGOs that are happy to have me volunteer with them, I have people expecting me, i have more places to see ...but more on all that when i get there.
For now I'm saying goodbyes.
For now I'm packing.
For now I'm trying to live in the moment and Be Here.

I've had some questions about life and purpose and 'Right Choices' lately. It seems to me that an exorbitant number of young people in my generation are madly searching for meaning in their lives, myself included. We've got So Many Choices that we don't know where to begin. I begin by meeting people and trusting that my path will come from following my heart. Not an easy maneuver on the best of days!
I had expressed some of my own questions and concerns about this trip to a good friend, Carmen, at my goodbye dinner in Edmonton the other night. The next day she sent me a quote that puts the questioning to rest, or rather, makes the questioning Life Giving. The main purpose of this particular post is simply this quote, so read on, ponder and let me know where it sits for you.

Lots of love from me to you!


"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

all over the map

well i kind of fell off the blog wagon..so much has happened since I last wrote, i'm not even sure what to include now!
point form catch up: varanasi - Yamuna trip - amritsar -delhi - CANADA!

VARANASI
- ancient, narrow winding that are hard to walk down cuz they're so full of people and still scooters somehow get through
- many sets of stairs down to the Ganges (Ganga) River (called ghats) where people are bathing, praying, making offerings and burning bodies.
- yep burning bodies. at the burning ghats. fires have burned continuously for thousands of years, day and night cremating bodies. if you die in Varanasi you're freed from the cycle of rebirth. so it's a popular place to die.
- visited an amazing university and the hospital, where my travel partner was checked in with malaria...he recovered...but i had to leave him there while i took off for a scheduled group trip starting in Delhi

YAMUNA RIVER TRIP
the group trip was with an enviro organization called Swechha, based in Delhi. They do many amazing things, one being education on pollution of the Yamuna River.
Yamuna is as sacred as Ganga, and equally if not more so polluted once it goes through Delhi. In a short stretch, Delhi pumps out 80% of the total pollution of the whole river. They call it black Yamuna...and it's literally black with bubbles of methane burbling up. Delhi kills the river. There is no dissolved oxygen in it when it leaves...and there are many many millions of people downstream that rely on the river for survival. Unbelievable.
The trip was 12 days long. It started in Yamunotri ( origin of the river in the Himalayas) where the river is pristine and beautiful, and ended in Agra (Taj Mahal) where the river is severely polluted. We travelled in 3 cars (16 of us), stopping to camp beside Yamuna for a week through the mountains, visiting villages and religious sites that are all situated near or on the banks of the river, pairing up with a US circus troup that toured India for 6 months doing an environmental circus show in slums and small villages (DreamTimeCircus), and generally found a connection with the river that is impossible without spending time bathing in her and paying close attention to the relationship between landscape and human use and her ecological changes.
Quite incredible.
It's alot to describe in written form, but do ask questions if you're interested. or even good swechha...they do awesome work in Delhi.

AMRITSAR
This is where the Golden Temple is...the most important Sikh Temple in the World
- Met up with Dylan..to see his blond streaked, lungi wearing, ears pierced, moustache twirled self in fine standing!
- enjoyed the laid back, most welcoming of all people atmosphere of the golden temple
- ate in the langar - an enormous hall with endless quantities of food for anyone under the sun that wants a meal. it's the largest volunteer run service in all of India. Quite something to see! and tasty to eat!
- one night i went to eat and MR. Paul Singh appeared in front of me, as if he was expecting me, and proceeded to show me around the whole temple grounds. He took me to a small Sikh ashram (him barefoot, me in his sandals...he'd have it no other way) for another meal, and there an incredible woman revealed the beauty of Sikhism to me over about an hour. Her passion and devotion was so inspiring....the whole experience answered questions I'd been having and prompted new thoughts about how to act in the world.
Everything happens right when I need it to.

DELHI
I ended up here for a long time because I made a few friends on the Yamuna trip that I wanted to spend time with. One of them being extra special and worthy of me returning to India in September to spend more time with him! Following my heart. And it feels great!
So I'm looking into volunteer options in Delhi and all kinds of opportunities are popping up.
I'm devoted to living an exciting life ans making it into exactly what i hope for it to be! No 'givens' or 'shoulds'. That's where I'm at. To make every day full of learning, loving, and truly living to the fullest.
This decision feels like the best way I can live to the fullest. It feels Right. and that's exciting!

CANADA
I"m home now!
Arrived in Calgary to the warm hugging arms of mom, dad and grandma, on the 19th of April.
SPent time with family in that city..headed up to Edmonton to catch up with friends for a few days, then moved out to Dinosaur Provincial Park (near Brooks Alberta) where i'll be living and working for the next 4 months. It's an awesome job...guiding people through the badlands, pointing out amazing plants and dinosaur fossils!
Since being home I rid myself of: lice, Delhi belly, parasites, and a canadian cold i caught on arrival. Still have to deal with the cavity i created ...i think on indian sugar chai.

Ahhh the joys of travel.


Dylan and I figured out that in 3 days we landed in 5 countries and spent enough time in each to eat a emal and drink the water...so it's no wonder the ol' body was a bit confused once i got home. (from India - Bangkok for 2 days where i played with dear cousin Teyana. Then up to Korea for 8 hour layover where we had time to meet 2 friends teaching english, take public transit, eat kimchi, and get back on the plane. Next to Seattle for a couple hours, and finally Calgary.)

So i'm quite settled back into Canadian routines. It took awhile to want any food other than daal, roti and curd...but i'm regaiing an appetite..mostly for sweets unfortunate for my health!

happy and healthy and hopeful to hear from you when ever you get a chance!

Thanks for following my travels. it meant alot to know you were thinking of me and with me in some way.

Be well and try to have a little dance in the streets now and again, it really livens up the day!

Lauren

Correction

Wow, this place is phenomenal.
Kutchi people are just incredible.
So giving and so warm.
Last night I ended up in village 2 hours from my hotel at 6pm. The sun was about to set and I would be driving alone on a moped through the desert. NOt ideal.
This was all discovered while sitting in the home Sufiya, a Mutwa woman, drinking chai. Her brother (english name is Aladdin) came in and learned of the predicament and started offering options...i was most welcome to stay there of course, or he would ride with me and come back that same night in his brothers car.
I opted for option 2 and we off into the desert. Me driving, Aladdin on the back.
As darkness fell, the wind started and a good ol desert sand storm whipped sand into our faces. Fat rain sporadically splatted down..at which point Aladdin stopped predicting what turns in the road would holdfor wind and weather because this was too unusual. Rain doesn't start until June here.
Needless to say I was sure glad not to be alone.
It was safe enough. Though there was lightening in the far distance, Aladdin was singing Kutchi folk songs into the night, so it eased all worries and made for a mystical, memorable night!

The wedding was also memorable. I was taken under the care of several rabari women for the whole night. WHOLE NIGHT> the wedding didn't start until about 11pm, then continued for many hours into the night. I was taken to a bed at one point...and gratefully took the chance to sleep a few hours.
I learned chapati rolling and had hindi/gujarati/kutchi lessons from a young girl who would tell me the name of my simply drawn picture..tree, flower, foot, house etc.
in the morning i was woken up by Vanka Rabari, the man that invited me, so I could watch the goodbye. After a night of ceremony in the woman's village, it was time for everyone she grew up with to say goodbye before she was taken with the men to her new husband's village where she will start a new life in his mother's home.
seems difficult to me.
and apparently for her too as the goodbye consisted of women singing constantly, I think verbal support for the bride who was hidden under a thiick black shawl the entire night, and the bride wailing in sadness as one by one her village said goodbye. Many women were crying also.
Not the 'happiest night of on'es life' like we hope for at home eh?

The correction I wanted to make from my last entry is about the rabari being nomadic. SOme are, but they are to the east of here...noted by men wearing all white, white turbans too , and women wearing all balck. Thesee rabari are settled in villages. The men wear white clothes but dark turbans (red for weddings). The women have elaborate embroidered tops and more colorful shawls over their black embroidered skirts.

Many memoreis from amazing Kutch. I must come back some day. But for now, onwards to Varanasi!

Avjo,
Lauren