I love India, that is all there is to it. Some people have told me it's a place where one either loves it, or hates it...no in between business. I don't really know if that's true, but you know which side I'm on already.
This post will be about some of the most meaningful things I've experienced so far.
There are many volunteers opportunities around here. I'm still trying to decide between two, both dealing with children. The first one is called the DESIRE Society: http://www.desiresociety.org/
This is an organization concerned with the well-being of children with HIV/AIDS. Many of the children come from families where one or both parents are also positive, not to mention they don't have the means to pay for medication/treatment. So the organization takes in these children in an attempt to give them a better quality of life. If you are interested, you can contact them, pass along the information, or donate money as well, they need every little thing they can get.
We got a chance to visit the Desire Society in Hyderabad. We were shipped off in our CIEE bus, not knowing where we were in the city (this was still early in our stay), when we finally arrived to our destination. We walked through the gates and met the woman in charge. As she was explaining the organization to us, we saw the children start to come out... all wearing these winter hats that reminded me of the U.P. to be honest. (It was the very beginning of spring here/ end of winter, so it's cold here for India... it does actually get to 40 or 50 degrees F at night.) Anyway, it was pretty adorable. They were all sat down on blankets on the ground and waited for us to finish talking with the woman. It was their snack time, so we handed out pieces of apple to them. I won't lie, I'm not the most comfortable around children...I'm just not around them all that often. But these boys and girls just broke my heart; they were so young (ranging from toddlers to adolescents) and had to deal with such a terrible thing. It was in the middle of this thought when it was announced that they were learning dances... a dance teacher volunteers their time to come and help the kids learn something new. One boy stood up in front of all of us, music with a heavy beat started, and he just moved. Seriously, these guys (and girls) had way more moves than I'll ever have... it was pretty amazing.
After they were finished, we tried dancing for them, which was a failure and evoked a lot of questioning looks from the children hah... but at least we tried. After that we hung out with them for a while asking each others' names and playing some small games. We were disappointed when we had to go.
The next place we visited (different day) is called the Safrani School and is about 15 minutes by rickshaw from our university. This place offers opportunities for widows, who sometimes have very little options after their husbands die, to learn a very incredible and valuable skill... weaving. There is a very small wrinkled woman who works there and seems to run things... and she is the best individual in the world. She is so knowledgeable and giving; it makes me want to have longer conversations with her about her life and life in general. Some of the fabrics they make there take 6 MONTHS to finish. And some of those fabrics are only strips... it depends on the method of weaving and the materials/intricacies of the fabric. Needless to say, it was all beautiful. We were able to see some of the women at work... the devices used to weave are very difficult to describe and sadly I have no photos, but one definitely must be skilled to do it. Some of the women come to the school knowing absolutely nothing about weaving, and apparently in about half a year they are experts. The area where they need volunteers here is actually not at the weaving school. This place also runs a children's school, from nursery up until class 7 or 8. These children come from very poor backgrounds; quite often they are the first in their families to be educated at all. Here we would help them with their school work and help teach English.
It's overwhelming with everything there is to do here. I've finally figured out my classes, 16 credits in all, which are as follows:
Conversational Hindi, M-Th mornings
Kuchipudi Dance, M & W after Hindi
Women's Issues in Contemporary India, M & W afternoons
Human Rights in India: The Socio-economic Context M & T evenings
I also just received my sitar... which you had to buy if you wanted to take lessons (W & Th evenings). Kind of unfortunate, but hey, I now own a sitar! Bringing it back home with me mayyy be an issue... I already have a worrying image of myself in mind... sun bleached hair, dressed in a kurta, huge sitar on my back, along with carry-on backback and a medium and small sized suitcase to check in.... uh oh. Ah well, if that turns out to be my largest problem throughout my time here in India, I will be very pleased.
This post will be about some of the most meaningful things I've experienced so far.
There are many volunteers opportunities around here. I'm still trying to decide between two, both dealing with children. The first one is called the DESIRE Society: http://www.desiresociety.org/
This is an organization concerned with the well-being of children with HIV/AIDS. Many of the children come from families where one or both parents are also positive, not to mention they don't have the means to pay for medication/treatment. So the organization takes in these children in an attempt to give them a better quality of life. If you are interested, you can contact them, pass along the information, or donate money as well, they need every little thing they can get.
We got a chance to visit the Desire Society in Hyderabad. We were shipped off in our CIEE bus, not knowing where we were in the city (this was still early in our stay), when we finally arrived to our destination. We walked through the gates and met the woman in charge. As she was explaining the organization to us, we saw the children start to come out... all wearing these winter hats that reminded me of the U.P. to be honest. (It was the very beginning of spring here/ end of winter, so it's cold here for India... it does actually get to 40 or 50 degrees F at night.) Anyway, it was pretty adorable. They were all sat down on blankets on the ground and waited for us to finish talking with the woman. It was their snack time, so we handed out pieces of apple to them. I won't lie, I'm not the most comfortable around children...I'm just not around them all that often. But these boys and girls just broke my heart; they were so young (ranging from toddlers to adolescents) and had to deal with such a terrible thing. It was in the middle of this thought when it was announced that they were learning dances... a dance teacher volunteers their time to come and help the kids learn something new. One boy stood up in front of all of us, music with a heavy beat started, and he just moved. Seriously, these guys (and girls) had way more moves than I'll ever have... it was pretty amazing.
The next place we visited (different day) is called the Safrani School and is about 15 minutes by rickshaw from our university. This place offers opportunities for widows, who sometimes have very little options after their husbands die, to learn a very incredible and valuable skill... weaving. There is a very small wrinkled woman who works there and seems to run things... and she is the best individual in the world. She is so knowledgeable and giving; it makes me want to have longer conversations with her about her life and life in general. Some of the fabrics they make there take 6 MONTHS to finish. And some of those fabrics are only strips... it depends on the method of weaving and the materials/intricacies of the fabric. Needless to say, it was all beautiful. We were able to see some of the women at work... the devices used to weave are very difficult to describe and sadly I have no photos, but one definitely must be skilled to do it. Some of the women come to the school knowing absolutely nothing about weaving, and apparently in about half a year they are experts. The area where they need volunteers here is actually not at the weaving school. This place also runs a children's school, from nursery up until class 7 or 8. These children come from very poor backgrounds; quite often they are the first in their families to be educated at all. Here we would help them with their school work and help teach English.
It's overwhelming with everything there is to do here. I've finally figured out my classes, 16 credits in all, which are as follows:
Conversational Hindi, M-Th mornings
Kuchipudi Dance, M & W after Hindi
Women's Issues in Contemporary India, M & W afternoons
Human Rights in India: The Socio-economic Context M & T evenings
I also just received my sitar... which you had to buy if you wanted to take lessons (W & Th evenings). Kind of unfortunate, but hey, I now own a sitar! Bringing it back home with me mayyy be an issue... I already have a worrying image of myself in mind... sun bleached hair, dressed in a kurta, huge sitar on my back, along with carry-on backback and a medium and small sized suitcase to check in.... uh oh. Ah well, if that turns out to be my largest problem throughout my time here in India, I will be very pleased.
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