Religion in India

This is a short video that I recorded one of our first mornings after arriving in Sohna. They start this singing at 4:30 every morning and it goes on for approximately an hour to an hour and 1/2. Imagine being so devout to your religion that you arose every morning at 3:30-4AM everyday to go to the temple to pray and sing. We as a society moan and groan and have a hard enough time getting to church every Sunday morning. I think it would help if this guy has a more appealing voice that the villagers of Sohna could wake up to but that is just me. They may think that his voice is very stimulating. This temple where the singing and bell ringing is coming from is actually just over the embankment from our hotel. It is the temple that has the hot water springs. No matter where we traveled in India the story was the same. Everyone is very committed to their religion and that is represented by their devotion both morning and night as well as the ornate temples and mosques located throughout every city and village we passed through. There were also many temples on hilltops so that they could be closer to the gods and there were like a zillions steps that lead to those places of worship. So you can kill two birds with one stone get a killer workout and pray to the some 32,000,000 gods. They all must have buns of steel doing those steps every day! We have seen many many many gods and I am sure we will see many more. At the top of all these steps you see in the picture is a temple.....god bless them it must be like entering a triathlon every day or they have a lot to repent for.

The beauty of toilets in America

This is why you appreciate the toilets we have here in the US. I stole this picture from Kim & Sean's Blog. This picture was taken while we were in India in one of the many rest stops we visited. OK I again ask how do women with 15 yards of material wrapped around their entire body manage to use these things without getting it everywhere! There has to be a science to it......it just boggles the mind. I mean I had a hard enough time with my basic clothing to not make a mess of everthing. Thank goodness for our bathroom system. Sean I remember tried to Indianize himself and use the water system located in the bathroom stalls (as they do not use toilet paper they wash themselves). He came out of the bathroom soaking wet he apparently turned up the pressure of the water and when he tried to use it it was like giving himself a personal powerwash! Quite funny. would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that.

Last day in Chahalka

2/2/09
We had breakfast on the farm and then Linda went on her way to the hospital facility (rat infested) we were at yesterday to do more NID work then do her massage therapy for the children stricken with Polio. She is so brave to stay with the rodents yikes. She is planning on doing 6 patients a day (hour each). We are all going to miss her especially me. we have worked side by side most everyday passing mortar. Linda what a fascinating name that was to the villagers. They would say her name over and over again. I think they liked the way it sounded. Anyways Linda is a true Rotarian. She has taken 2 months off of her life to give to people less fortunate in India. Doesn't get any better than that. We are all proud of you Linda!! We worked in the village today although I had to stay back in the morning as I was having stomach issues. I was able to pull it together by the afternoon though. At the end of the work day we played jump rope with the village and then we handed out gifts for the children and provided the soap to the girls for their new shower facility that Naswa Resort donated. They were so happy to get soap and lotion. It was a nice touch with the new bathroom facility. It was like we were handing out gold pieces they were thrilled. The caps from the Fisher Cats went over well with the boys they were all beaming and the girls looked beautiful in the scarf material that Keepsake Quilting donated and the scarves that Kristy gave me. The material that Cheryl Bonner gave was given to the woman of the village to be used as they saw fit. Crissie also did the unthinkable. She trade her baseball cap and watch for the brick layers scarf that he had worn each day for the past ten days. He was quite sure he got the better deal but Crissie was sure she got the better one. I just hope she doesn't end up with lice!! She wore that scarf proud though. The villagers were appauled. They called the brick layer a black man. They did not seem to be impressed (mostly the guys were bothered by it some of it may have been jealosy) The women of the village presented all of the women of our team with a beautiful scarf and the men were presented with a turban. Here are villagers that have nothing giving us gifts. It was very humbling. At around 6-7 we headed back to the farm for dinner. I am still not feeling quite to par. Eating very sparingly but that does not seem to help so I need to start the Cipro. Bags need to be packed & on the bus by 7 for we are headed to Delhi for the day then in the evening we take the train and head to Ramthambor. It is 11:45 so I need to get to bed.

February 1st is NID in India

2/1/09

Today was NID in a village about 1 hour away. All along the way the yellow banners were hung wherever we went which advertised for the days event. The village was larger than I expected. We first went to the hospital where Linda will be staying for 2 weeks upon our groups departure. She will be doing massage therapy for some of the children who have been inflicted with Polio. She will stay right at the hospital I think. We took an abbreviated tour. There was a poster hung that said "Save the girl child". When I asked about it I was told with the technology of ultrasounds mothers were finding out the sex of their baby and if it was a girl terminating the pregnancy because the girl child adds nothing to the family unit. The male stays with the family and helps to support it financially. Upon meeting the dignitaries they had us go to a small village to do immunizations for about 30 min. Then we went back to the hospital for a ceremony. They bused in a bunch of kids brought in from the slums for vaccination and had the star cricket player from India there to promote the NID by providing photo ops and having him do the drops as well. After the ceremony we headed to the village where we would spend the day. ½ the group worked the first village & ½ worked in a second village. Sean and I worked together we walked to the 10 different stations that were set up all around the village. They had a hard time understanding why we would want to do the work of immunizations so they had Sean and I just inspecting. Upon returning to the main building we started at they put us all in a room in the back of the building. When Sanjev showed up he asked what was going on. When I said that we haven’t done anything yet he immediately scolded the two guys that were working with us and took us back out to one of the booths off the beaten path and drummed up a ton of children to be vaccinated. So I was able to do quite a lot. It was a powerful feeling and it felt good to know that I was helping to prevent each child from contracting Polio. I was able to save a few vials one for me and one for the incoming District Governor Michael Swinford. Traveling around India you can see the prevalent signs of Polio on the streets where people are hobbling around on their hands because their legs are not working. It is very sad and humbling to see them trying to get around and function in society. Upon returning to the main building 5 girls were off to the side and one of the officials came up to me and asked if I would come over and meet with them as they would really like to meet me. I went over and met with them of course they did not speak English so I just shook their hand, smiled and said Namaste. Then we went back to the hospital. Sean and Kim went to use the facilities while the rest of us went to another building. They ended up taking their own tour of the main floor of the hospital where they said there were rats the size of chipmunks as well as blood stained beds in the hallways. Upon eating lightly we headed out. When we headed for the bus there were about 6 monkeys picking through the trash so I was able to get a picture. Apparently they were eating the trash from our lunch plates that the doctors from the hospital had just throw out on the ground. I couldn’t believe that these educated people would do this. All in all it was a very worthwhile day and I am glad to have been a part of it and I now have a better understanding of how an NID works and how Polio is spread from one person to the next. We are headed to the farm for dinner so I need to run. While we had dinner we got a chance to talk with the doctor and someone who works for WHO(NGO)about the day. They explained that the reason we did not do as much as we thought we would be doing is because the Rotary clubs in India do not do much in the way of hands on just write checks. So they assumed the same from us no hands on. Sanjev did explain that our presence is very powerful and has a huge impact on impressing upon the villages that this is important. So important that we would travel half way around the world to participate in this day. They were very appreciative that we had come. They are looking at doing an NID every 6 weeks. It is tough to determine dates way in advance for as Polio cases crop up they need to incorporate those specific villages with a heavy presence.

Bong smoking in India

Smoking a bong is a very common thing in India. When you drive through villages there are men sitting out on the front stoop of their businesses or homes smoking these very large bongs. I never saw any women smoking. They don't have time for they are off doing all the work (that of 10 men) In these bongs I am not clear as to weather it is primarily tobacco they are smoking or otherwise as you see men sleeping a lot in their rope beds, again in front of their homes or businesses! We all got our try at smoking a bong the women's was tobacco (and the bong was much smaller) I have not gotten a straight answer as to what the guys were smoking! Yes that is our illustrious PDG Chris Parkinson having a pull.

Day in Delhi

1/31/09
Today we spent the day in Delhi looking at a project that was completed a couple years ago. It was a technical center for girls that teaches them computer, English, henna, beautician, painting, making garments and embroidery. They have put 1000 girls through the center so far. The girls did henna on all of the women of our group then they did a public presentation in front of all the villagers as well as us. Then the students performed various dances and things for us. It was great. Then we headed to a restaurant to have lunch with the Delhi West Rotary club. Upon getting on the bus I started to feel ill. It was all I could do to keep it together until we stopped. Upon arriving I immediately jumped off the bus and headed for the facilities. After my stomach calmed down I joined the rest of the group. They provided us with a huge lunch and their wives came as well. We met an ambassadorial scholar from the US who had been in India since July. She is due to leave in 2 months. After leaving the restaurant we headed to a do some site seeing of a temple with a tour guide. After about 5 minutes we stopped to get some cameras for some of the people in our group. While waiting on the bus I again needed to use the facilities. I asked Ragu if he could find me a bathroom. He ran around going from business to business trying to find me one. He finally found one on the 5th floor of a nearby building. At this point Ragu was my night in shining armor. It was all I could do to climb the stairs. Upon arriving at the facilities it was worse than a porta-potty. Crissie came with me and upon looking at the facilities I looked at Crissie & said no way I can't use this! but she encouraged me to use it anyways "You can do it!" I had to be brave. It was the most disgusting place I had ever been. Cockroaches climbing everywhere...I held my breath and held the walls!! Then I found out the toilet did not flush I said OMG! Crissie informed me I needed to fill the bucket near the toilet with water and throw it in the toilet. Upon doing that it went everywhere. What a mess! so there I am with my little tiny Kleenex trying to clean up my mess......It was pathetic. I knew there was no way I could stay with the team so Sanjiv, who had already headed back home, turned around and came back to meet the bus in New Delhi in the UN section. Sanjiv was a true gentleman for upon picking me up we headed for the 5 star hotels to use their facilities. We passed the palace where the President lives as well as the UN. This section of New Delhi was so beautiful. Upon entering the 5 star hotel they checked the car for bombs. I went into the bathroom and was met by 2 attendants. They had mahogany toilet seats and gorgeous marble floors. The attendants opened the door for me so there I am in the bathroom with 2 attendants waiting outside the stall to service my EVERY NEED (when all I wanted them to do was wait outside) and me in the stall trying to be ever so quite. I think if I had asked them they would have accompanied me into the bathroom stall. Upon exiting the stall they got my soap for me, turned on the water and then handed me a towel to dry my hands. We went to the restaurant and had lime fizzy water with sugar and salt added to try and settle my stomach. It was actually quite good. After leaving we had to stop one more time at the Crown Plaza. Sanjiv said these places get $700-$800 per night. They were awfully beautiful. I would feel guilty staying in one of these places for less than a mile away, people are living in tents made of plastic, sleeping in the dirt and picking through the garbage for food. Apparently I was not alone in feeling ill. Sean and Chris both come home under the weather as well.

3 levels of poverty in India

After some thought and consideration I have come up with 3 levels of poverty in India that is evident to the naked eye; Poor Very Poor and Dirt Poor. One can be poor and struggle to put food on the table and live in a modest one room shack made of clay or cow dung and have a motorcycle as a means of transportation and several personal belongings including a change of clothes and a blanket for the cold nights. Then there is very poor where they are living in a tent , have a couple of personal belongings including a ripped and tattered change of clothes and if they are lucky they have a bicycle as a means of transportation but still struggle to feed the family at least twice a day many times sending the children out to beg or teach them to be acrobats to perform and then ask for money. The children are at risk in these environments. Then there is the dirt poor they live under plastic tarps or nothing at all have no belongings to speak of and live from one trash pile to the next searching for any scrap of food they can beat the pigs or cows to and resort to begging for food or money from strangers. This environment also puts the children in a very vulnerable position with no shelter or food for them to speak of.