I'm still here....

... Still waiting for the parts to come in for my computer, unfortunately. Luckily I'll be able to post a few pictures thanks to Ali... :)

Anyway.

Things are going well here, still chugging along... literally, actually. Ali and I have pretty much been responsible for getting Maitri's website to a phase that is launchable. We're almost there, and I'll post the link when we get it successfully launched. We've both become crash-course "experts" in TYPO3 web-editing... it took a minute to catch on, but we're getting the hang of it. I think that we will be managing a lot of the website's content for the duration of our internship, including preparing a monthly newsletter that will be e-mailed to subscribers. It has been a good way for us to learn more about the company and its goals and missions.

We've also written a couple proposals for a project called Maitrigram. This is a particularly interesting project for many reasons. ... We visited a couple of the slums in which this project is taking place last week, which really hit some cords with me.

Basically there are innumerable children who live in these slums that don't attend school. Their parents go to work all day, wherever that may be, for what can't be more than minimal wages. These kids are thus left unsupervised, and the oldest child of the family generally assumes responsibility for the rest of the kids. They have no incentive or motivation to go to school, so they just kind of hang out, run around, do whatever all day long. This inevitably leads to delinquent behaviors that endangers not only them but those around them, including involvement in drugs, crime, and the like.



Apparently, besides doing drugs like 'smack,' these kids are doing drugs like BENADRYL... even toddlers are given drugs by their older siblings, often as an appetite suppressant. It's unbelievable. Being among these kids really hit home with me, obviously, and what was really heartbreaking was the fact that these kids were all-smiles. "Good morning," "Hello," "Hi," they were saying, with grins from ear-to-ear. When we left, they were at the car doors waving, smiling, running after the car for a short distance, seemingly happier than I think I've seen any group of people in a long time. It made me realize how relative everything is; these kids have never known anything different, so when new blood arrives (namely me + Ali), they're completely stoked. They became so excited when Ali pulled out his camera... they were posing, saluting, smiling, loving every minute of it. (I'll post those pictures as soon as possible, I promise. They are so cute.) It was really heartbreaking, though.






MAITRI's involvement has much to do with the fact that the lack of education present in these situations leads to, among other disastrous situations, a high incidence of HIV/AIDS. This project, Maitrigram, tries to address the lack of education by providing an informal educational setting within the slums themselves. They have hired teachers who work in two-classroom settings, teaching these kids everything from basic education/literacy, to health & wellbeing, and basic social development. The problem is providing an environment that entices these kids to actually attend on a daily basis, and beyond the task of developing creative teaching strategies, one of the biggest motivators is providing a mid-day meal. Seriously... providing food will act as one of chief reasons for these kids to show up.



This is a pic of the kitchen part of one of the classrooms... this is also in the nicer of the two slums we visited:



And its nextdoor neighbor:



Here's a pic of me and Ali outside of our office....


The idea is that by instilling these principles, even informally, and particularly at younger ages, they will be motivated to go to government-sanctioned school, i.e. formal education. This, in turn, would reduce the delinquent behavior that results from the lack of supervision and guidance present on a daily basis within the slums.

Again, I'll post more pictures as soon as I can, and I'm sure we'll be back there so I'll take more. My first impression though is one of, well... shock, really. It's so hard to internalize these situations, knowing what I have to go home to. It feels good to know that I'm part of an organization that is doing everything in their power to make profound changes.

Even today I experienced a similar heartbreak. Ali and I were in a rickshaw on the way to work, as usual. It is very common for people--adults and children--to approach vehicles on the road asking for money. Some of them have newspapers or flowers that they'll hand to you, walk off, and then come back hoping that you'll give them money and keep their token item. When you don't give them money, they'll take back whatever it was that they gave you and move on to someone else. It happens frequently and I've been told that a lot of them are nothing more than a charade, so it's important for the most part to not give anything out.

Today, however was a bit different. We were at a stoplight for an unusually lengthy amount of time, when little boy approached my side of the rickshaw. I have no idea how old he was, anywhere from 5-8 years is my guess. He was so, so thin, completely dirty and unkempt, barefoot, and holding two wrapped bunches of roses. He handed one of them to me, which I declined, and he proceeded to put his fingers to his mouth indicating hunger. I continued to decline/ignore the situation (which I hate doing), and the kid kept on begging. He bowed down and kissed my foot, stayed bowed down, stood up and made the hunger sign again, before he walked away. At this point I still had the flowers, and the stoplight was still red. I was waiting for him to return and take the flowers back from me per usual, and when he returned, he did the hunger sign + bow routine once again... then the light turned green, the rickshaw started to go, and incredibly, he didn't take the flowers back from me. He just stepped back, walked behind the rickshaw, and watched us take off. I couldn't help but turn around, in utter shock that he didn't take them. His empty gaze was so permeating.... and it was SO bizarre that he didn't take the flowers back. Ali was shocked by this as well, which is how I know that it was really strange. And heartbreaking. (I know I've used that word like 23 million times in this post, but it's the most accurate description I can come up with.)

[The flowers are now in a vase/cup on our desk. Kind of a depressing reminder to look at, but an important one, I think.]

So that's that, for now. Many more words and pictures will come. I love and miss everyone! I feel so lucky to have the family and friends that I do... my appreciation for life has easily doubled, even in the last week.

With this resigned letter I sign....