November 4

It's Sunday morning, the only day off from school, so it is nice to be hanging out this morning with internet connection.  Since the English newspaper won't be delivered until later, I thought I'd share
some of the highlights of the past few days. There are always many, which you may never think about in the USA.

Having recovered after two hospital visits this week(tours!), we are happy to report seeing no signs of leprosy in either of us. These are written about in the following blog. I failed to mention that the leprosy doctor we met with has the disease himself. Otherwise, who would treat the lepers? Pretty bizarre concept, huh?

Leprosy Doctor explaining to us the symptoms.

Hospital TB Lab

We brought 40 bright blue backpacks with us from the US. Yesterday, we handed them out
to the students who have had perfect attendance since July, which was the beginning of the school year. There is no school summer break here. Girls attend school year round, with 18 days off. The new academic year begins 7/1. 11, out of 400 students, in grades 1-5 kids, received them. A  total of 32 in the entire school. It was a big day, as many of their parents(20 out of 400) came to school. We took photos with
the students and their parents, and made a big deal of out their perfect attendance.There were even 3 fathers here! That is most special! It was also a time for parents to meet with teachers(our  parent teacher conference).

25 more solar lanterns were distributed yesterday, so we took part in that distribution, as well.
Mothers who received them were told that if their daughters' attendance dropped below 70
percent, they will lose their lantern. Last night, we went back to the same community,Madargate(this is the very poorest community). The population is mostly muslim, very lowest caste, the one the school is most actively working in to implement changes. As a result, great thingsare occurring there. The new lanterns are sturdier, smaller and brighter than the original 100, distributed over the past several months. It is exciting to see these women receive their lanterns, as they have seen the way they light up homes as never before.

Every Sat. night the school shows a movie at the toilet complex there. We went to the movie, which was a 60's black and white hindi film. They charge 2 rupees(4 cents) for adults to watch it. Free for
kids. Instead of paying the $$, the residents sit up on the 6' wall to watch. It was a big night, as 68 people bought tickets. Total revenue? $3 US.

With about 100 kids there(and very  few parents), I thought about the babies being made while they kids were at the movie. Scary thought, as there are tons of babies all over. If they can walk, they wander the streets aimlessly, often naked and alone.

A graduate at the school is the first female here to drive a scooter here in the village.The school bought one to teach those who want to learn to drive. Really cool to watch the graduate, now a village worker, ride her scooter off to work. Her brother bought it for her.

A potential new school nurse is being interviewed for position on Monday. She sounds like an awesome candidate, so I am praying she is and can get here soon.  Our 17 y.o. current "nurse" is doing well, but
truly not qualified for the job. She is a teenager who needs prompting and direction.

We visited another school last week, and found the conditions to be deplorable. Since they don't use t.p. in India, they wash with water that is in a bucket. A rusty bucket, filled with water, sat in the toilet for the girls to use. Our school has hoses, a big step up from rusty paint bucket! There was garbage in their only sink.

Their computer lab consists of 3 broken computers, yet they boast of having a computer lab. Their health care consists of one small first aid kit. No nurse! No facility!Thursday was another big festival. Married women fast, from food and water, for the day. They pray for their husbands to have long lives. At midnight,

they drink a drop of water from husbands hand to honor him. There is no festival held to honor wives. Hmmmm.

Today is big day. 1200 women are coming from their villages to the launch of the Self Help Group program. These women will be using toilets many for the first time. Students will show the women how to use toilets,
as they have only ever used fields. There are no toilets for 50000 families here, other than 89 school has built for top students, as well as the one community toilet.The students will also serve them water, from shared cups. They usually get their water from the village well, instead of from pitchers being poured into cups. They fill water cup, and pour it into their mouth, so they don't drink directly from it.  Another new concept!!!!

We are off to meet with Renuka and nurse about health program, and what sanitation and hygiene mean. It doesn't mean putting new bandaids on the floor! Til next time....

November 1, 2012

We have been in Annupshar at the school for one week today. It seems like it’s been months since we were left the USA. Things we encounter on a daily basis begin to seem like the norm now. No electric, so we use a candle or a headlight to see. The air always smells like something burning, never fresh like at home. No meat, meals are what we are served. I will never like cold white rice, but we eat it two times every day. Nothing is crisp or fresh. Veggies are cooked for hours.  Being unsatisfied after meals? Yes. The good news is we have our secret stash of food that villagers might kill for.
I had a cold diet coke yesterday, with ice, a major treat! Otherwise, it’s water, and it’s not cold.a

As we work on developing the health curriculum for the school, and look at the topic of nutrition, my heart breaks. I choked up today as I thought about this topic, coming from a country where obesity and excess are the norm. There are no girls here that are obese. Because they are in school, at least our girls are not starving.

So much for the food pyramid, healthy food choices, etc. For our 1200 girls there is no food pyramid. We can teach them what that might be about, but for what purpose? They eat what they are lucky enough to be fed. If they are fortunate enough to be fed. Here at the school, students get three meals a day, 6 days a week. This cannot be compared to how American  children are fed. No way…

For breakfast, served around 10 a.m., after being up for hours working before coming to school, they get gruel. Today, because of a special assembly, they got a piece of bread instead. Lunch may include dal(lentils) and rice, or a bun and veg. Before they go home, they get another carb.  No fresh fruit and vegetables, virtually no protein. Drink? Water. No other option.

                                         The school bakery

Mike and I want to provide the girls with fresh fruit, so we are considering 1 banana a week, paid for out of our budget. This would cost $120/month. We want so much more for them, but money is always an issue. We are reminded that if they weren’t in school, they wouldn’t be getting what they now get.  These are the fortunate ones, as so many in the village, young and old, are starving.

So many changes have happened since we were here in 2010:
-The girls no longer have to clean the school. Women are being employed to do that now, resulting in it being much cleaner than it was.
-The trash is now contained and burned, rather than blowing about the field with the kids and wild animals scouring through the garbage.
-The girls can now ride pink bikes(supplied by the school) to school, instead of boys bikes.

-There are 2 new buildings, one for the 200 preschoolers, one for the big girls. The new building has new computer lab, a science lab, a leadership room, and an English lab.
-The girls are no longer sewing 4 hours every day. The school now employees 80 women from the village, who are sewing to produce 8000 suit bags a month for a large company.  Rural development is happening, women are working and earning money!
-There was a first aid kit at Games Days this week
-There are still 135 kids on a school bus that holds 50. Terrifying to think of safety issues!

-Dish soap is now being used in the kitchen to wash dishes. Soaps and detergents are a new concept, thanks to the hygiene program.

We are also thrilled that a solar lantern project was started earlier this year, by a Harvard graduate who is volunteering at the school. Now, 100 families in the very poorest village safely light their homes at night. The recipients of the lanterns are those who have girls attending school regularly. It is amazing how many children are not going to school here, so we hope to motivate mothers to send their girls. Many refuse, even though the lantern is being offered. They will return their lanterns if they decide school isn’t for their daughters.  What is wonderful is that the girls can now read to their siblings at night.

The unschooled wander the streets, half naked, barefooted, with no adult supervision. Playing with stones or squatting over the open sewers to go to the bathroom. They carry heavy loads of wood and bowls of dung home with them.  They work in the fields with their mothers. They are filthy, dirty noses and faces. No hope for a bright future with so many.

Our days fly by. We ask what we do, and what we need to do before we leave here in 21 days. Each day unfolds, as soon as we walk out our door. “Good morning, mam, Good morning sir” is heard hundreds of times, as we’re greeted by big smiles, and outreached hands, looking to be held.

I stop to pull out some thin, simple books we brought along, and 25 girls  gather to listen intently as I read. They repeat the English words and love the pictures. They offer me a seat, so they can see and hear more.  As I move on, I hand out friendship bracelets(3 strands of embroidery thread) and show them how to braid and tie the bracelet on their wrists. (I‘ve now got 10!).

I take a bottle of liquid soap and stand by the water troughs and squirt the hands of the girls that come along,  telling them to wash their hands after toileting. They wash, suds, rinse and are told to see how good their hands smell. The smiles and excitement make it all worthwhile! I teach them the English words- soap, wash, water, smells good.  I  distribute bars of soap to all of the dishes we installed in 2010. They are all gone by the end of the day.

Great news! We had 10,000 bars and bottles of liquid soap donated yesterday, so the intent is to flood the school with soap. We are so excited, as soap distribution has been a 2 year struggle, as we have tried to determine the best option, since we introduced it to PPES.

I follow the kids to their daily teeth brushing, another project we introduced in 2010. I egg them on by asking them to show me their clean, white teeth. They do it so proudly! It’s great this project has taken hold and become a part of their daily activities.

Oh, and then there’s the hours spent in the Health Center. We love it! It is bright, well lit and furnished, and now very well stocked with medical supplies.  I tended to 10 girls in an hour this afternoon. Cut toes, earache,  stomach ache, finger cuts… Infections on cut toes are incomprehensible. It is so dirty, there is no concept of keeping feet clean. I clean the wounds, Neosporin, bandage and tell them to come back and see me the next day.  My goal is to show the girls that I will not hurt them. I use hydrogen peroxide, and they cringe, thinking it will hurt.  They love the fun bandaids from America.

Today was a big school assembly, to distribute trophies to the winners of Games Days. This took place 2 days this week, with 8 area schools participating.  The girls had lots of fun with relays, 3 leg races, sack races, long jump, etc.  Mike and I were among the honored guests who were on stage to hand out the trophies and have our pictures taken at least 50 times with the winners.  There is no end to the things that go on around here.

Yesterday was a day that will leave an indelible mark on my soul forever. We visited a hospital, and witnessed what is seen on documentaries and movies, in real life.  Upon entering the lane where the hospital is, an ox cart with 4 people sitting, and a body wrapped in cloth, was by the side of the road. An old man was laying on the grass on a cloth, obviously in need of being in the hospital.  When we walked in, the scene was indescribable.  Filthy, worn, sparsely furnished, rooms with nothing but an old bed and empty desks for the “doctors”. A dog wandering about. Hospital garbage, to include used syringes, scattered about the grounds. We have great photos of the day. I was left feeling ever so grateful to live in the USA, and hope to God that we never need a hospital here.

Today we visited another hospital, which was worse than the last. No electricity, dark, dirty. We met with the malaria, leprosy and TB doctors.
We came back feeling totally contaminated and ready for a good wash down. Again, incomprehensible conditions. We didn’t want to stay any longer than necessary, knowing that the patients wandering around the lobby were sick, with diseases we no longer have in America.

Do we miss the comforts of home. Sure, but not really.  Knowing the difference we make, makes not having a nice green salad, or ice cream, tonight worth it.

DELHI 2012

We arrive again in Delhi, met by Momraj, one of Sam’s drivers, after a 14 hr flight from Newark. We recognize each other as we make eye contact across the vast line of other drivers holding signs for the river of arrivals.  Few words are exchanged as we greet each other and head to the garage, where the car awaits us.

Every encounter offers an opportunity to better understand India, one glimpse at a time. This presented itself even before our arrival during a conversation with an elderly Indian women, in the seat on the plane next to us, she returning to visit family during the Dawali holiday, from California.  We tell her we are traveling to India to launch a health center at a school for girls in rural Uttar Pradesh. The discussion leads to fundraising. She offers the insight that many Indians are reluctant to donate monies to charities because of the known corruption that pervades both government and non-governmental organizations there. The monies the Rothschild’s, we read in India Times during the same flight, who have been supporting an orphanage in India for years, discovered the management was pocketing most of the funds for personal use. The courts were of no help in recovering any of it, nor in punishing the thieves. Those of us supporting the school have all encountered this reluctance to giving and now we have some understanding.  This is by no means the rule, as the Pardada Pardadi school has many Indian donors, both individual, corporate and foundations. We can insure proper use of funds, as we will maintain control over all donations to the Health Center.

The next day, over lunch at a posh Asian restaurant in Delhi between meetings, Renuka Gupta, Pardada’s CEO, offered an additional explanation, as we brainstorm on how to accelerate donations and what markets to target. For many wealthy Indians, she explains, are newly wealthy, first generation, and therefore, assign a high personal value to their holdings.  Americans and other Westerns have enjoyed wealth for several generations, and therefore, its value is less important, relative to helping others in need.

Delhi, with its new cities of Gurgaon and Noida, is now the 2nd largest metropolitan  in the world. The population is forecasted to reach 28 million souls by 2025. We arrive at Sam’s apartment in the heart of Gurgaon with modern high rise office buildings, multi-storied mega malls and the newly built Metro, as far as the eye can make out, through the ever present haze of pollution and humidity.

The city seems cleaner this time, calmer than past visits.  Are we getting used to it, or is it really changing?  The tent city encircling the airport is gone.  No cows are to be found wandering the new expressway. The mountains of garbage are missing.  Yes, we noticed this change after the cleanup leading up to the Commonwealth Game in 2011, but now it appears to be entirely permanent.  Questions swell.  Where have the street dwellers gone? What about the cows?  We learn of a man in Gurgaon who started an organization that rescue cows and care for them at a pasture on the fringe of the city. 3000 cows and counting we hear.  Still, Delhi retains its Indian charm of honking horns, dust, chaos, beggar children and mothers.

Yes, we are here to change the world, one little girl at a time.  First stop on day one is at Renuka’s home to discuss the progress in hiring a nurse for the school and getting the health center established. Finding a nurse may present a challenge. We plan to offer a Delhi level salary of 25000 rupees ($5000) per year to attract a qualified nurse,  plus room and board.  This is 5 times more than the highest paid teacher at the school.  No takers so far.  Nurses are in very high demand and would much rather work in a modern new hospital with the latest equipment, in a dynamic city, rather than come to our poor, remote village in Nowhere Ville, UP.  The search continues and ideas emerge. Nursing schools are contacted.  Further posting are made, suggestions made. Perhaps we can find an intern, resident, older doctor of nurse who could be enticed to come out.  We still hope to have a nurse or doctor in place before we leave in November.

The new health center at the school we learn is nearing completion.  We are anxious to see it and equip it with the 150 lbs of medical supplies we have brought, along with a laptop computer, for managing medical records.

Before leaving for our next meeting, this with the President of the Pardada Board, we learn that Renuka’s 11 year old daughter, Prayga, has become somewhat of a civic activist.   A park behind their city home at one time had an entrance that has since been bricked in.  Now, to get into the park and its swings, Prayga and her friends must walk to a single entrance on the far side.  Inspired, likely by her father, Indu, Prayga has gathered signatures from friends, written numerous letters to government officials, and had a article written about her cause to make city parks more kid friendly in a major Delhi newspaper.  Indu is familiar with such undertakings, as he is a champion of the homeless across India, and has established 120 homeless shelters in Delhi alone.  After a year and a half of no action by the authorities, Prayga’s cause is reaching a crescendo, as she is threatened to knock out one brick in the wall each day, starting tomorrow, to create a passage into the park. We, along with the local press, are invited to see the first brick smashed tomorrow at 4pm. We gladly accept, delighted to see a young girl speak out in this country. .

We then meet with the head of Ernst & Young in Delhi, a huge supporter of Pardada, and President of the Board. He endorses both our health center and an opportunity to organize a medical relief mission to the school and community in June 2013, with the International Medical Relief organization, out of Loveland, Colorado. We hope to have 40 health practitioners from the US come to the school for a 6 day clinic. We are very excited about this prospect and are working hard to make it happen.

We then meet with the Stanford educated husband of another board member at his home.  His remarkable home is packed with India artifacts. They have a temple room, Navita Festival display and a huge roof top potted plant garden.  Ideas abound on the health center, hygiene project, finding a nurse, immunizations, school management and more. An invitation to the upcoming Women’s Self-help Group meeting on November 4th was extended.  1200 local women will come to the school to start a school sponsored women’s owned diary.  More on that later.

Final meeting of the day was with Sanjeev, a school board member and avid supporter, followed by dinner at the US Embassy.  Sanjeev quickly picked up our medical program cause and started calling doctors while we wove through the Delhi rush hour traffic.  He spoke with 2 doctors who were interested to set up a 2 day immunization camp at the school during our visit!  Plans are made to meet with them tomorrow.

A full first day on top of major jet lag! Ah, to life in India!

DAY TWO - DELHI

The festival of Navaratri, is this week supporting the common notion that India does always seem to have a festival going on.  And like most, this is about good triumphing over evil, complete with processions, eating and in this particular case, fireworks and burning effigies of the bad guy on the last day know as Dussehra.

For those interested:
Dussehra celebrates the Hindu god Rama's victory over the demon king, Ravana, and the triumph of good over evil. The epic Ramayana tells the mythical story of the Lord Rama who wins the lovely Sita for his wife, only to have her carried off by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka.

Ravana plays an important role in the Ramayana. Ravana had a sister known as Shoorpanakha. She fell in love with the brothers Rama and Lakshamana and wanted to marry one of them. Lakshamana refused to marry her and Rama could not as he was already married to Sita.

Shoorpanakha threatened to kill Sita, so that she could marry Rama. This angered Lakshamana who cut off Shoorpanakha's nose and ears. Ravana then kidnapped Sita to avenge his sister's injuries. Rama and Lakshamana later fought a battle to rescue Sita. The monkey god, Hanuman, and a huge army of monkeys helped them.

Following the ‘Smashing of the Wall” event we saw a local procession pass on Renuka and Indu’s street.  Locals provided food to people less fortunate, who came from nearby neighborhoods.  We were the only Westerners there…as is the usual case for us!

After this street party we went to Sanjeev’s neighborhood park to watch a spectacular display of fireworks and effigy burning of Ravana, his son and his brother.  Not only were the giant effigies burned, but they were packed with fireworks!


Wall Smashing:
4 o’clock arrives at Renuka’s house. Mary, Renuka, Prayga, Indu, Sam and myself are there. The reporter from the newspaper arrives. 11 year old Prayga starts looking a little nervous and fidgets in her chair.  She is expecting some friends to arrive but after some time it’s apparent no one is coming. Indu suggests she start, so we all walk to the park.  Here, at the meter high wall, topped with a wrought iron fence is an outline Prayga has drawn of the entrance that use to be there. Earlier, Indu offered her a hammer to strike it, but she protested and wanted something larger, more powerful. Now, she wields a sledge hammer worthy of any burly construction worker or demolition team on a house make-over show. She strikes the wall….again and again.    Afterwards, the reporter asks to talk to the association president, apparently to get another side of the story.  We learn several entrances were blocked off to the park after a child was kidnapped there.   Apparently there is some bad blood with the manager and he inappropriately admonishes Prayga. Indu encourages her not to cry as we now see that this is a real life lesson Indu is passing on to his daughter, to stand tall in the face of opposition.

Dinner at Sanjeev’s house.  Specific plans are laid to organize a 2 day immunization clinic at the school in the next 12 days.  Will it happen?….  We are hopeful and very thankful for Sanjeev’s enthusiastic support.

Notable social/cultural experience during our dinner - While Sanjeev is a very forward looking, well educated, successful business man, well traveled and a big supporter of Pardada’s mission to educate and empower girls, he like many Asian men retain customs that separate the role of men and women.  After arriving for dinner and enjoying drinks we meet Sanjeev and his servants, but not family until Mary asks about his wife and daughter..  Only then does he call them out from the kitchen for a short introduction.  They do not join our conversation, nor have dinner with us.

Tomorrow we leave for Anupshahr and the school.

Pardada Pardadi India 2010

See Your Impact

See Your Impact profiles Pardada Girls and raises funds for the school

Click in the above text to read the wonderful profiles of the girls.

Creating dreams

Finishing up our India blog is going to be difficult, so I‘ve been procrastinating. It‘s hard to believe the time has come to return home. We have 2 more nights in this country, and though we are most excited to be going home, we are filled with so many memories and experiences of the past 4 months. We are most thankful that we have remained safe and healthy. Your prayers, and ours, have been answered.

We are at an island resort at the southernmost tip of India where the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meet. It is very peaceful and quiet here, and without any sunshine it seems even quieter. It feels like the perfect last stop. We are counting down the hours until we reach the train station in Wilmington. We cannot wait!

India is not for the fainthearted. These months have encompassed it all. It has been amazing, exciting, frustrating, overwhelming, and challenging, at times. We’ve dealt with dirt, stench and filth unlike anything we have in the US. We’ve also had so many great experiences we would never have in the US. We have maintained our sense of humor and have laughed a lot. It helps carry us when there is nothing else we can do. Mike describes India as being “otherworldly”, and it certainly is. In the end, though we are left with so many great memories, laughs, and well more than 2000 photos. Mike knows that I wished we had taken more, as we really did not capture it all(there is no way that we could have.) We have enough to remember what was most important, and that is the people we have met along the way. The Indian people are the most friendly, welcoming and hospitable of all.

We have finished our trip with an absolutely perfect week. We have been in Kerala, the southernmost state in the country- “God’s Own Country”. We have been on an overnight cruise on a riceboat, through the backwaters of Kerala, surrounded by small villages, rice patties, and lush tropical vegetation. It was so beautiful and peaceful as we traveled by quiet little villages of people in this remote area. The waterways are a busy place. It is here that people still wash their dishes, their clothes, themselves, and carry their water in jugs from the rivers, traveling in wood dugouts- the only way for them to get around. I suspect the National Geographic has captured the backwaters of Kerala.

We spent a night at Coconut Lagoon, a Conde Nast destination, and one of the “1000 places to visit before you die”. We have been fortunate to have gone to a few of the other places in this book while in India. Coconut Lagoon is an island, accessible only by boat, rich in vegetation and wildlife. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent 2 days in Varkala, on the Arabian Sea, with cliffs that drop to the sea, and a quaint, clean(a rarity!) village with lots of fun restaurants and shops. Tonight, we finish our dinners in India having at a floating restaurant, built on top of 3 very old fishing boats. We’ve had lots of great fish, prawn and lobster this week. We’ve been on more boats than cars this week, and that’s been a good thing.

It has been 3 weeks since we left the school. It is bitter cold there, so we often think about the girls and how hard this particular winter has been for them. There have been many deaths in the region due to the extreme cold. Many schools have closed because there is no heat. There is no heat in the homes either, except with cowdung fires. We miss the girls, the staff and reminisce about them. We have so many wonderful memories.

Mike and I spent 9 months working on our India experience, researching options, talking with lots of people, and learning as much as we could so we could have the experience we hoped to have. We wanted to do something about the human trafficking issue and learned that educating girls is the answer. We worked hard to put our lives at home on hold for four months, and were able to do that quite well. We had the love and support of our kids, family and friends and have been able to talk with some of you, thanks to Skype(computer phone). Since it is free to talk across the world, we don’t understand why everyone doesn’t use it. Technology makes this kind of travel so much easier than it would have been just a few years ago.

We’ve learned so much and have seen several different areas of the country- from the Himalayas in the north, to the desert in the west, the beaches of Goa in the south and Kerala. We’ve taken yoga and learned that it really is the same the world over. We’ve seen too many poor and starving people, begging for a rupee. We’ve loved 1000 children, in whose lives we hope we have made a difference. May the lives of these children who have the opportunity to attend school, be brighter and better than that of their parents.

Though they are amongst the world’s poorest, they are rich is spirit. May they learn that they can dream and have lives beyond what they can now imagine. And may God continue to hold them in the palm of His hand. Their lives are simple and they are happy, as they know nothing other than the life they live, just as their ancestors did centuries ago. The only difference between then and now, is through education they can begin to change their world. We hope they can begin to learn to dream, and that their dreams can become a reality.

Upon returning to the US, I hope to be able to share with you, as well as interested groups, our experience here in India. Mike and I are still two ordinary people, who dreamed about doing something extraordinary. We followed our dreams, instead of just thinking or talking about it, and it became our reality. We have a peace about having been here that surpasses understanding, and a joy in our hearts for having received the gift of touching the lives of people whose lives are different from ours in every way. We look forward to sharing it with you. We have grown to love a country in a way that you can only do by living in it.

I thank God for giving us the courage to follow our dreams...

Reflections from India

As you all are busy preparing for Christmas, I have been reflecting on the many gifts I have received during our time in India. We are in one of the very poorest areas in the world, very remote, with limited resources. We have learned so very much from these people, who are kindhearted, warm and among the most hospitable I have ever encountered.

Hospitality doesn’t mean pulling out the finest china and serving the best food and drink. It doesn’t include having to clean the house, arrange the flowers and spending hours in planning an event for those we love and care about.

In Annupshar, being hospitable means being thrilled that the Americans are visiting in your village. They come to your tiny one room home, with cow dung patties drying out front, while the naked babies toddle about, and small children in torn and dirty clothes roam unsupervised through the streets. The water buffalo, pigs, goats, dogs and cows are tied to trees, or pass by on the dirt road. Hospitality means going to the well to draw enough water to boil for chai, cooked on a fire on the floor of your 5 x 10’ house, built with cow dung. It means any of the villagers who happen to see you passing by, join the others to follow these strange looking people, welcoming us proudly to their village. We smile, say hello or nameste, and we become “friends”. Communication is limited, because until recently Hindi or Urdu have been the only language spoken here since the beginning of time. Words are spoken in the smile, a touch, or with the strange words we each speak that neither understands. It may be in asking to take a photo, then showing it to them.

Our hostess passes small cups of chai, invites us to sit on the only piece of furniture in the house, her parents rope bed. The others sleep on the floor. Preeti pulls out a package of cookies from under the bed that cost 10 rupees(23 cents). We know these are special cookies, saved for guests. We take photos, tell her how beautiful her mantle is(adorned with newspaper, cut with a scalloped edge for decoration). Night begins to fall so we must be on our way back to the school. We are so happy to have come for this visit and to have shared the hospitality of a people whose lives are unlike our own in every way.

As we leave, I pray that God will shelter them, keep them safe and healthy. I also pray every morning as the 600 girls pray their prayers in Hindi at the opening of school, and sing “We Shall Overcome” I ask Him to protect them from all the evils that beset a society where the abuse of women comes in every form known to mankind. As I scan the room where the girls gather, I can only imagine some of the unimaginable experiences many have gone through in their precious, young lives. I pray for girls born of rape, and those who are being raped and abused.

I reflect on all of the gifts that God has given to us, as Americans. They take on new meaning now that we are here:
-For not having to cut holes in my children’s shoes because their feet have grown and we cannot buy a new pair. Most children here, if they have a pair of socks, have holes in their socks big enough to put their foot through. My children had so many socks we would simply discard because they weren’t the right color, a favorite, or didn’t feel right. How these children would love to have had our throwaways.
-That my children didn’t die from typhoid, caused by unclean water, and no medical care;
-That I could help heal a young girl’s infected chin, infected since our arrival, by providing her with peroxide and Neosporin, and showing her how to keep the wound clean . She and I are now great friends, as she seeks me out every day to show me how her chin has healed. The scar will remain, as it was badly infected.
-that my children were not born undersized, or with developmental delays, because I lacked iodine during pregnancy. And, that I never had to beg for food to feed my crying, hungry babies.
-that in America we don’t have to sell our daughters into prostitution, out of desperation. The price? 1000 rupees($20US)
-that we don’t marry our daughters off to an older man, when they are 15, so they are no longer a financial burden. Parents are paid money for their daughters. How much are they worth? Not much, for many in this society. Girls are aborted and murdered here, simply because they are girls. The girls in this school are the lucky ones, for many reasons.
-for being able to bathe our children, in warm bathtubs, with soap, rather than at the community water pump, with cold water when the temperature is 50 degrees(it’s winter here now);
-that we can afford to eat rice. It’s grown plentifully around the village, but the villagers cannot afford to buy it. It is more than they can afford with an average family income of just a few rupees a day. Their diet consists of roti(twheat and water) bread and what vegetables they grow. Girls at our school are so fortunate-they receive 2 meals and a snack/day.
-that we have toilets, affording us the privledge of going to the bathroom in private, rather than on the streets;
-the our elderly, frail and in poor health, don’t need to sit, so vulnerable, on the streets begging from the poorest of poor, hoping to be given something to fill their hungry stomachs.
-that our river, the Brandywine, unlike the Ganges that flows through the village, is relatively clean and safe. Though the Ganges is the most holy river, it is a dumping ground for trash, amongst the cremated remains of the Hindi people;
-that our children don’t have to sift, barefooted, through garbage piles, hoping to bring something home to the family;
-for supporting our children through their schooling, knowing that education is the key to a better tomorrow. It is a major struggle here convincing parents that sending their girls to school, and not keeping them home to work and care for the other children, is in their best interest.
-that my son knows that women should be treated with love and respect, as equals, rather than as a piece of property, with no voice.
-that we will help celebrate Christmas here with the students and staff. I have shared with them that Christmas is the birthday of our God, Jesus Christ, and we have a big birthday party for him. Since there are no Christians in this village, having a Christmas celebration, is a big deal. We’ll be working hard for the next 3 weeks to make this a most special celebration. It will be simple, with ornaments(trees, stars, snowmen and snowflakes) made by the kids. We will give each child a new pair of socks and some candies.

I am most grateful that God has been with me every step of this journey. He is the reason for this season, and this year, being in India, away from my family and Christian community, I will reflect on the simplicity and reason for the season, without getting caught up in the mall traffic and the search for the “right” gift, for us who already have so much and really don't need another thing to live our lives quite comfortably.  I will remember all that I have, all that I have been given, and all that is yet to come.

May the love and peace of the season be with you. With love, Mary