Vrindavan

Vrindavan

Our first couple of weeks at Maitri has been incredible and very interesting. The culture here is very friendly, warm, and welcoming. The second weekend of being in India we had the opportunity to go with Mr. Jolly, one of Maitri’s advisors, to the project for the widows, Project Jeevan. The drive alone down to Vrindavan was a really fun road trip with the others in the car. After stopping for breakfast, we made it to the ashram through many back ways covered with monkeys and cows everywhere. When we got to the ashram we just in time to help feed these widows their mid-day meal. This was quite an experience for both Scott and I. The amount of food that there is and seeing the widows all lined up was kind of a hard sight to see. We were handed the rice in bowls and told to go down the lines piling as much as the widows wanted on their plates. We seemed to have a little trouble in moving through the aisles at first, as the regular helpers swiftly waded through them piling the food on the widows’ plates. After letting the widows eat the meal, we then were able to deliver the sweets to them. This experience, although incredibly hard to see, was very eye opening and rewarding for me. It was great to actually be a part of the groundwork that is going on through Maitri, and I really enjoyed seeing how everything happens with the widows.

Khan Market

The third weekend here we went shopping for my first sari for the domestic violence conference, with a co-worker, Priyanka. Priyanka took us to Khan Market and all of the fabric for the saris was very beautiful and so elegant. We went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and the place was very cute. Both Scott and I tried pear juice and had some pasta, which was a nice little slice of home. After lunch we still had to find me a sari, and so we went back to the store where we finally found one that was purple and blue. I don’t wear purple a lot, so it was kind of funny that this is the one that we found that looked good on me. I ended up buying this sari, and Scott even bought himself a kurta. All in all it turned out to be a pretty good day shopping with Priyanka and Scott.

Lodi Gardens

This weekend we went to Lodi Gardens, which is an incredible place. The gardens are beautiful and the architecture of the tombs that are within the garden is exquisite. There was a bunch of school kids within the gardens and I had a couple of these school kids ask to take their picture with me. It is really funny how my blonde hair really gets noticed over here, and I absolutely love the kids that come up to me. They are so adorable, and they call me “Ma’am” which of course makes me feel old, but it is cute of them to be so polite. After going through Lodi Gardens we ended up going to Connaught Place for lunch, and to see the shops and all. Lunch was really good and we ended up going through Connaught Place and seeing what was all there. It was a wonderful day of exploring Delhi.

One month in India

One month in India. I honestly do not know how to fully express the experience. Watching a day in India go by is like witnessing the full circle of life. The entire human experience rolls past within the short period of twenty-four hours. Life, death, abundance, poverty, education, ignorance, warmth, cold, sickness, and health are all in front of your eyes in overwhelming abundance. It is amazing to ponder that India contains, without doubt, some of the oldest, continuous human traditions. In India history is not a dead thing of the past, devoted solely to textbooks, lectures, and cinema screens. It is as living as the seemingly endless mass, and diversity, of people that call India home.

I must say that I love buying fresh produce from the markets. I know this is a simple thing, but honestly it is so much fun. There is something really satisfying about purchasing fresh produce from a guy sitting in a corrugated tin hut who determines his prices with weights and measures. I guess I enjoy the simple things of life here the most. Like knowing how to speak to an auto rickshaw driver, and finding my way through Delhi.

Speaking of markets. There are established markets with stores, and shops. Then there are the sprawling markets that come up and disappear within a day. They are honestly just stands, metal frameworks, carts, tables, and mats on the side of the road, but they are covered with the widest array of spices, nuts, vegetables, clothes, metal work, and trinkets. From every direction come shouts and cries of men trying to attract customers to their wares. Dogs, and motorcycles flirt between the oscillating throng of foot traffic. Then just as suddenly as they appear they are gone. Leaving nothing but quiet slum neighborhoods behind.

If you are ever in Delhi, make sure to visit Chandni Chowk. It is in the old city near the Red Fort and Jama Masjid. Both of which are worthwhile stops. Chandni Chowk is so far the best old-fashioned bazaar I have ever seen. You can find just about anything there. We stopped by on our first weekend excursion in Delhi. We tried visiting the Red Fort, which is gigantic fort built by one of the Mughal Emperors out of red stone, but it was closed that day. We for sure are going to head back. Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in Delhi and is really impressive. It cost 100 rupees to climb one of the south minarets but it was worth it.

My favorite so far has been the Gandhi memorial. From what I understanding it is the resting place of some of Gandhi’s ashes. Muhatma Gandhi is one of my heroes. It was actually a pretty moving, maybe even spiritual, experience for me.

However, my favorite sight so far been the sole elephant I saw through a car window. It was late at night and it suddenly materialized out of the darkness. It and its driver were plodding along next to the highway on their way to Delhi. Camel-drawn carts are my second favorite.

What can be said of the poverty here? It is unavoidable. It is of course not all that India is, but it is ever present. Having a child run up and hug your leg and beg for food is a deeply disturbing, and awakening, experience.

I try to reconcile having to turn away people who ask for money by trying to devote myself to work. The Maitri staff are a fantastically warm and welcoming group of people. They have been extremely helpful and patient with me, as I have bombarded them with questions. Brooke and I have been working on a training module on domestic violence, a literature review for Winne ma’am, data analysis on one of the last surveys, and a report on Maitri’s last conference on domestic violence. The conference was just last week and I feel it was really successful. There was a wide range of guests and speakers. Of special mention are those from the Military. From what I understanding this was the first time Maitri has been able to have Military personnel participate to such an extent so it was a big deal that they came. The speakers addressed topics including the physical and mental health implications of domestic violence, public health responses, legal framework, military and police responses to domestic violence within their ranks, and the neurological context of domestic violence.

Brooke mentioned some of our other adventures, like when we went to Vridavan, and covered them pretty well. We have some more planned that we will blog about later. All in all, life is good.

Three months in India

Aashirwad

The first Maitri project sight that Ben and I went to see was Aashirwad. Aashirwad is a sort of rest home where elderly people can live when they have no where else to go. When we got to the sight everything was under construction and we found out that Aashirwad was first started by Winnie’s father and after he passed away he left it to Winnie. Since then Winnie had decided to expend and improve the program which is why everything was under construction. One change they were making was adding a yoga room so that a yoga instructor come to teach yoga to the elderly living in the home. After we got back from the sight I updated and edited a brochure that included all of the new additions and changes to Aashirwad. I didn’t get to add pictures to the brochure because I thought it would be best to use pictures after the construction was completed.

Old Delhi and the Red Fort

For our first outing in Delhi we went to the Red Fort. It was fun to walk around and see the structures and read about the fort.

After we finished at the Red Fort we went for a tour around Old Delhi. Our guide told us that there is a street for everything in Old Delhi. There is a spice street and a shoe street and a Sari street and so on and so forth. Our guide showed us an old building that used to belong to a rich man and that the man had about thirty wives and that is where they lived. Our guide also took us to see a Jainism Temple. We also tried to go see the largest Mosk in India but they were closing it for prayer right when we were arriving so we decided we would have to come back another day. It was a very culturally enriching day.

Lotus Temple

The Lotus Temple was one of our favorite outings in Delhi. Everything from the grounds to the buildings were clean and kempt. We had to take off our shoes to go inside the Temple. Once inside the temple everything is so quiet and peaceful. There are some people that will sing and it sounds amazing with the acoustics in the building.

Taj Mahal

You can’t spend 4 months in India and not go to the Taj Mahal Ben and I went to go see it while we were on our way to a project for Maitri. The project was in Vrindavan which was just a short train ride from Agra so we left a day early so we would have enough time to visit the Taj.

Vrindavan Widows Healthcamp

When we got to Vrindavan it had been raining so much that we had to take a boat to get to the widows. Once we got there we prepared and served lunch to all of the widows. Maitri provides a healthy meal every day for all of the widows. After lunch was over the doctors gave all of the widows a check up and medicine for those that needed it. They also made a list of all the widows that needed eye surgery so that they could come back later and operate on them free of charge. I helped put together packages of soap, food, medicine, and saris so that they could be distributed to the widows. While we were waiting for the boat to come pick us up we listened to the widows sing. By the time we were on our way home it had been a long and productive day.

DCWA

The Delhi Commonwealth Women’s Association (DCWA) is another Delhi based NGO that provides health care for people at no or minimal cost. They are one of Maitri’s partners and I met some of the doctors while I was at the health camp in Vrindavan. When I told them I was studying nursing they invited me to come volunteer a their health clinic. I talked with Winnie and Sonal about it and we worked it out so I could volunteer at the DCWA a couple of mornings a week. Most days I would either take blood pressure or work in the pharmacy. One day they let me volunteer in the operating room and I got to see a hernia operation. It was a very cool experience for me.

Rajasthan

Mr. Jolly, one of Maitri’s advisors, invited Ben and I to go on a weekend vacation to Rajasthan with him and his family. We drove there all the way there from Delhi. It was a long drive but we got to see and do a lot of fun and wonderful things in Rajasthan that made it worth it.The first thing we saw was the Jal Mahal. It looks like the palace really was floating on the water. We also got to go on our first camel ride. We also went to see the Amber Fort and the snake charmers.

The Children

My favorite part of working at Maitri has been teaching the children. Every day between 3 and 5 children from the slums would come to get help with their school work. Most of the children are the first members of their family to attend school. Since their parents can’t help them with their homework they come to Maitri to get help. I was amazed at how hungry the children are for knowledge. They love to learn! Even after we have been doing math problems for an hour and I tell them it is time to go home they beg me to stay and give them more home work. A lot of the time after we have finished studying we will play games and sing songs. It always gives the children something to look forward to and is a great way to end the day.

Another fun experience with the children was during the Delhi Common Wealth Games. Since all the schools were closed during the games Maitri decided to have activities for the children in the morning. We had to walk through the slums to let the children know about the activities. I saw a lot of the children that I had tutored. It was fun to see them because they would all say hello and hold my hand as we walked around the slums.The activities in the mornings were a huge success. There were so many children that came that there was hardly enough room for everyone to fit in the room downstairs. We played some games and I taught the children a couple songs. Then all the children took turns dancing and singing for each other. It was like a talent show. I also did a small presentation about Christmas. I told them about Santa Clause and Christmas trees and snow. We got crayons and paper and gave them to the children to draw pictures about Christmas. Some of the pictures were very good and we decided to make them into Christmas cards that we could sell to raise money for the children to go to school.

Amritsar

Winnie and the General invited Ben and I and several other Maitri workers to go with them to Amritsar and see some of the sights. The first thing we went to see was the changing of the guard at the India and Pakistani border. As we were driving there we saw a long line of people waiting to get in but since we were friends of the General we got special treatment and got to skip the line and go strait to our seats.

After the changing of the guard we went to the Golden Temple. It was really fun to be there at night and see how the lights reflected on the gold and the water. We didn’t go inside the temple that night but we went back the next day and attended one of their religious services. After every service they change and clean everything. I even got to help polish a statue! We spent the rest of the day shopping. Ben got a turban and I got some sunglasses.

Golf Tournament

The annual golf tournament is one Maitri’s biggest fundraising events every year. The earnings from the event go to the widows in Vrindavan. To help prepare for the event I sent out emails to a lot of the General’s Friends and contacts. Ben was in charge of making several standees for the event and I got to help by finding pictures for them.

The day of the tournament we had to be at the Maitri office at 6:30 in the morning to get a ride over to the golf course. After eating breakfast and the opening ceremonies all the golfers went out to play. Ben and I were stationed at hole #1 which was the long drive competition. Our job was to take pictures of the golfers and inform the golfers that they could buy a mulligan. We walked around the golf course and took lots of pictures of the event. We even got to drive one of the golf carts and they gave us free hats and stuff. After the players were done golfing lunch was served and prizes were awarded to the winners. They also had an auction where they sold two beautiful Kashmir hand made rugs. I think every one had an enjoyable time and it was a successful event.

Time is Flying

It is hard to believe that we have been working here with Maitri for over two months now. In the office, we have had the chance to teach slum children who are receiving no formal education, tutor first-generation students whose parents are unable, plan and design marketing for fundraising endeavors, and visit project sites to really understand how Maitri works, and affects those involved in its programs.

We are currently really excited be taking on one of Maitri's latest projects which is a Social Business Plan to help raise funds for Maitri's Widows of Vrindavan project.

Outside of the office we have been racing around New Delhi trying to see everything we can. We are well behind schedule if we hope to see all the attractions before our time is up in December. We have been fortunate enough to work small excursions into our schedules as well. We have been down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, up to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple and the changing of the guard at the Pakistani-Indian border, as well as to Rajasthan - the land of big turban-like head wraps, lots of monkeys, elephant rides, camels, huge palaces and forts, and snake charmers. Photos coming soon.

Life is good.

The Beginning

Well, the last batch of interns certainly left big shoes to be filled.  And even though my wife and I have a starkly contrasting cultural compatibility to that of the previous interns, we are excited to be interning here at Maitri and living in New Delhi.

I have had a decent amount of travel experience in my life; South America, Africa, and a little Europe, but nothing could have prepared me for the deep, exotic culture of India.  The smells, the sights, the tastes and sounds of the streets here in Delhi are almost overwhelming.  Walking down the street, we've had to dodge cows, hide from mischievous monkeys, and stay clear of camels and elephants.  It is hard to believe that all of this happens within the boundaries of the sixth largest city in the world.  It is different and beautiful.

The office here at Maitri has been very nice.  While we are not able to be quite as social as the previous interns due to our language barriers, the administrators are extremely helpful and friendly, making sure we stay busy.  Currently, I am working on reformatting and populating the new website, which should be up and running in the next week or so.  I am also working on establishing an office network to help streamline efforts and organize projects.  I was given these assignments because I have had (though very limited) some experience with web development and IT.

The apartments that Maitri recommends to us are very nice and in a great location.  We have the President of India's Yogi (Yoga Master) come to our flat a couple times a week to teach us yoga in exchange for English lessons.  A pretty good trade if you ask me.  Life is good.