Omit Has Dreams

The past few weeks Hannah has been holding interviews with some of the children and women in Lakhtokia. She is doing this to help us get to know them better so that we can identify their wants, needs and challenges. Hannah is a natural with everyone, I am not surprised that she easily got people to open up to her even through a translator. Her energy and compassion just shines; when she came back from a trip to the slums last Wednesday I could tell that some of the stories had really affected her. She said she had talked with one of our favorite children named Omit, a boy we all love to bits. One thing Hannah and I have noticed is the stark contrast in his personality when we see him on the street versus in the slum. We have both run into him a few times while he is out picking recyclables and he hangs his head, diverts his eyes from ours and seems full of shame. It breaks me. I have had this happen and then seen him in the slum literally five minutes later; he runs up and gives me the Omit smile and a huge hug. Like he is not the same boy, and I couldn't understand why this was. What Hannah learned made us both break down in tears as she recounted his thoughts:

"Omit has lived in the Lakhtokia slum his entire life. He is an 8 to 9-year-old boy (he does not know his exact age), he has an older brother, and his other two siblings have died of unknown causes. His dad was a victim of human trafficking one year ago. He has no idea where his dad is or what his dad is doing. He does know one thing: “I will never see my Dad again.”

Most of Omit’s time is spent picking up trash. The money he collects each day supports his older brother, his mom, and himself for the day. He said in an average day he can collect anywhere from 20 Rs (37 cents) to 100 Rs (2 dollars), and, “if I am lucky, 200 Rs (4 dollars).”

Unlike most boys, Omit does not sniff dendrites. He did not explain why but I assume it is because he spends most, if not all, of his day wandering around Guwahati with a massive bag on his back sifting through the dumpsters and does not have time to get high. Like most other people in the slum, Omit is very scared of the police. But he continues to work hard to support he and his family.

Every interview that I did, I asked people, “What is your biggest dream in life?” When Trideep (the translator) asked this question to Omit, he sort of sat there for a little while thinking. After ten seconds of what looked like intense thoughts running through his head, Omit said, “I want to be a good person. I want to be different from everybody else.” Trideep then asked him, “And how will you do that?” He sat there again, thinking very hard about how he was going to be different. “Hmm… hmm…” and then his Assamese poured out. Trideep turned to me and said, “Be prepared: He said, ‘I haven’t quite figured that part out yet.’”

And so it goes.

Pratyasha is here for this: to help those who are stuck in this cycle and cannot get out, to help Omit learn how he can become different from everybody else, to provide opportunities that can help kids accomplish their far fetched dreams. Now you understand why Omit is so shy and ashamed when we run into him on the streets as he throws cardboard into his trash bag. He wants to be different, he is not proud of where he comes from, or how much trash he collects during the day. Omit wants something totally outside of this. Instead of being graded on the quality and quantity of trash he collects, Omit wants to be graded on the knowledge that is inside his churning brain.

I collected a ton of stories. And after this day, I realized that every single person has an amazing story to tell in the Lakhtokia slum. Girl, boy, woman, man, young, old, jobless, student, shack owner, tea stall worker, and trash picker: they all have some sort of story. They all have something to relay. And they were all so happy to tell someone.

Just the fact that someone was interested in what they do on a day-to- day basis meant a lot. They do not care what I do with these stories. But they care that I want to know about their life, where every day is a constant battle.

Sending smiles from India,

Hannah"

Omit

Photo courtesy of Operation Smile- Peter Stuckings 

Operation Smile/Pratyasha Foundation

I have probably written this many times before but I consider myself extremely lucky to work for an organization that knows and supports the fact that in the free time I work with the children in Lakhtokia. Last year Operation Smile offered to send their photographer with us one Sunday to see what went into our weekly meals. I happened to be out of town that week but excitedly said yes to their offer. What Peter Stuckings was able to capture so perfectly told the story of what Sundays are like for us in Guwahati. 

 Every Sunday morning we prepare and cook 5.5kg (12lbs) of rice, 9 litres of dal, a load of in-season vegetables and 80 bananas. We cook in our kitchen (okay when I say 'our' I mean Rosie and Hannah's flat which I lived in as well up until recently) and it takes roughly two hours to prepare 80 meals. On average this costs 550-650 rupees or around 12-15 cents per child. 

After the food is finished cooking we load it up in a vehicle or auto-rickshaw. With us we bring re-usable thali plates, 100% biodegradable leaf plates, soap, clean water, and a little extra salt for taste! We arrive at this small Hindu temple which we are allowed to distribute food from. It is located in the railway slum of Lakhtokia, just on the edge of the tracks. 

 The kids love helping to distribute the food to one another. This is something we have never asked them to do, they just jump up and help. Every now and again with certain kids I can tell that they want help because they want some type of control (especially of the bananas) but mostly, they just give their time and manage to muster up as much patience as they can with the crowd. They have become some of our biggest advocates and help keep track of all the equipment. 

  Then it is picnic time! After hand washing, the kids get in line, as best as we can manage,  and then all sit down together to eat. Every single week I look out and see them sitting and crouching, chatting away, giggling and playing and get filled with so much happiness. They are typical kids, some don't want veggies, some want more salt, somes eyes are bigger than their stomachs, some have a huge apetite and EVERYONE loves their banana. 

 After the meal is over the kids are encouraged to wash their hands again. Many of them stay and play, talk with us, sing, practice a tiny bit of English and all around just have a good time.  

The weekly meals serve two purposes: 

To give a child a healthy warm meal

To create a strong relationship with them and their family (especially the mothers) based on love and consistency. This is key in getting them to participate in other programs and setting the path to help them break out of this level of poverty. 

Honestly, sometimes I am so scared that all of this will crumble beneath my feet. Every time I am around them though the only thing I see crumbling is the cycle that living in a slum creates. Thank you Peter Stuckings and Operation Smile for capturing this process, the very basis of our program on which so much is being built!

All photos in this entry are compliments of Operation Smile- Peter Stuckings, please do not use these pictures without permission. 

730 (Seven Hundred and Thirty) Days

Has it really been two years since I moved to India? It's interesting how sometimes you begin to measure time based on major life events as opposed to the calendar year, I wonder for how long I will reflect back on May 2nd as the day that everything changed.

My first three hundred and sixty five days were some of the most life altering I have ever experienced. They changed me so much that what was originally supposed to be a temporary six months here has clearly become so much more.

The very beginning of my second year here left me wordless as a group of pediatricians stood up and stepped into the slum for the first times in their life, giving free health check ups to all of our kids.

My emotional bond with the children in Lakhtokia grew and grew making me submit whole heartedly to the transformative love I was witnessing. 

I started spending more time getting to actually visit the inside of the homes of the ones I love. Each time we step into one of the homes I am humbled like never before.  

In June the amazing doctors at Wintrobe recognized and diagnosed one of the mothers with tuberculosis, despite that we found so much hope in that moment. She and I met each and every morning for medicine until she was declared free of tuberculosis. She will always remain one of my favorite women and her daughter steals every person's heart she comes across. 

The kids in the slum invited us to celebrate Eid with them in August, we felt welcomed and loved in a way we had not experienced before. 

In the fall I traveled to Silchar, India where Operation Smile created 99 new smiles, Mount Frere, South Africa for 34 new smiles and Cebu, Philippines for 180 smiles! What a busy season it was!

This year the government has razed the slum multiple times. I can't describe adequately how hard this is to see. It affects the children so much to have their tiny bit of stability literally knocked down in front of them. This action makes us stand by each other even closer and motivates us to help the kids and their families to find a way to break the cycle of poverty.

In late January I travelled with some of my coworkers to carry out a local mission at a tea estate hospital in Chabua, Assam, India and 73 new smiles later, it surprisingly ended up being my favorite mission I have been on (even though they are all incredible.)

In February Hannah started taking a handful of our girls to a local evening school. It has been a huge challenge and there is still so much to do in order to get them motivated to continue on and grow but it is the realization of so many dreams. One of our star girls, Khusitan, will actually be starting full time, regular school in the coming month!

My dad visited in March and we celebrated Holi together! Having him here to see and share everything was absolutely incredible. It passed by too quickly but I am so grateful for that time we had.

I most recently took a little vacation  to South Korea where I was able to step back and refresh my spirit. I spent a lot of time there finding peace, filling my belly and (temporarily) satisfying my never ending obsession with Asia. 

This past month Hannah, Rosie, Kelly and I have been working hard to incorporate Pratyasha Foundation and to apply for non-profit status! Of course, the work we actually do does not change at all but it means even more doors will be opening and that we can (and will) continue to grow. Getting to know the children we serve on a more personal level has been the biggest blessing of this year, motivating us all to give everything we have to continue to love on them. I anticipate a lot of very big and very positive changes in all of our lives. 

Over five thousand patients have received surgery in Guwahati at the surgical center since I moved here in May 2011. The total for Assam is nearing 9,000. We are so close to our goal of making Assam cleft free! The staff I work with has continued to grow professionally, becoming some of the most expert cleft care providers in the world and the patients... oh the patients! My heart explodes on a near daily basis thanks to these cuties! 

It has most certainly been quieter on this blog over the last 365 days. Not only have I been occupied with all of the above, but there have been a lot of challenges that I haven't shared on here. This year was extremely difficult emotionally and personally. I lost my grandmother, friends and the sense of family that I grew up knowing. When I visited home this past year things felt different, but that is life. It is fluid and ever changing; I think the last year was proof that life does not pause back home when I'm gone. No, things change, some for better some for worse. I guess that is where the shock comes in when you drop in and out of a place/sense of life you used to know so well. In North East India over the last 8 months, we have had major power supply problems, the internet availability and quality has also taken a dive. Skype doesn't work for me anymore but I have found other amazing applications like Viber that help keep me connected. (I highly recommend downloading Viber if you have family abroad.) It has been an emotional life saver over the past month. More times than ever I have found myself saying "India wins again!" But mostly, it has been quiet because there are just so many beautiful things happening here. Things that leave me too exhausted to type at the end of the day but beautiful things none the less. Here is to seven hundred and thirty days, and countless more to come. 

To Sweden, With Love

I would consider myself incredibly lucky to work for an organization that cares so much for the communities they reach out to. Operation Smile does not monetarily support Pratyasha Foundation but in their own way, they have made this all possible. If I wasn't here with them, none of this would have started. Even the founders of Operation Smile know about Pratyasha and love it. They love that a community as a whole is changing lives in many different ways. They recognize that the need here is vast. The constant flow of volunteers coming through our surgical center provides many helping hands. Yes, there are many people that come through and help but the volunteers that come from Operation Smile Sweden have a particular place in the hearts of us and of the kids in Lakhtokia.

It all started with Gunilla, a nurse anesthetist from Stockholm, who happens to be a volunteer and board member of Operation Smile Sweden. She has been to Guwahati several times and in January 2012 she came with me to the slum for the first time. Ever since then, every single volunteer from OpSmile Sweden that comes here to the center (and there are a lot) arrives already having heard about Pratyasha and they come ready to help. Sometimes they come with donations, I can not even imagine the over weight charges they incur, clothes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, hats, shoes. They come to give their time all week at the center and then they desire to give even more, using their free time to help in the slum. Every. Single. Volunteer. They're not asked or expected to help with us too. They just desire to. They have somehow come to love these children before even meeting them and when they come back, they come even more emotionally invested in our kids. I have never met a person from Sweden who does not have a huge heart and who has not positively affected our project.

Gunilla, Louise, Lousie's whole family, Ulf, Andrea, Rikard, Michel, Olivia, Jorund, Liisi, Petra, Annki, Birgitta, Chris JJ, Peter, Chris C, Ellinor, Patrik, Ingrid... and so many more. You have each contributed in your way and give us the drive to always move forward. You fill us with motivation and you often leave me humbled by giving so much when you have so little time.

So I give a simple Thank You to anyone and everyone from Sweden and the surrounding area who have supported us because I simply do not have any other words... you leave me speechless.

"Undrar just vart livets räls tar oss båda...Tacksam för allt jag har.." 

 "I wonder where the rails will take both of us. Grateful for everything I have." 

A Week in Korea Part 2

I have become quite accustomed to traveling by myself over the last couple of years and really enjoy it. I like the ease of getting to do things on my time, see what I'd like to see and I like the added challenge that being by yourself creates. However, every now and again I am caught in a moment, an experience that is so incredible, and I just look around and wish I had someone I loved by my side. I could be swimming in the ocean off a remote island in the Philippines, standing at the top of a tower in Seoul, nearly dying on a hike in the jungle or giving a huge hug to my kids in Lakhtokia and sometimes I just feel like I want so badly to share those moments. None of this makes me any less grateful for every single experience I have had on this crazy journey, nor will it keep me from moving forward and exploring every corner of the earth I can reach. I just think that as I'm getting older I am realizing that life is really, really awesome (I already fully believed that) and that maybe getting to share that life with someone is getting back on my list of future dreams (the revelation). I guess my last few days in Korea when Bree was at work or when I travelled south by myself made me think about all of this again!

On Wednesday I took the train down to the southern city of Busan. It is the second largest city in South Korea but it feels worlds different compared to Seoul. I stayed in a hostel called HiKorea, and I highly recommend it! The staff was super friendly and because it is kind of off season, I had the whole room to myself! I went to Busan to see the beach and it was beautiful even if it was freezing cold. Busan is on the East China Sea and Japan is really really close. I had the urge to jump in and swim to Japan but obviously, that's just crazy! I ate sushi that night in the biggest mall in the world, I found the mall itself extremely overwhelming so I didn't walk around at all but boy did I enjoy that dinner.

The next morning I woke up and headed for a full day of temples. The first stop was Beomeosa, which is a city temple but nestled in the hills. I expected it to be really busy there but actually it was quiet, peaceful and relaxing. I wandered to each small prayer room, drank fresh mountain water and spent a long time walking around listening to prayers echoing into the forest. I had the free temple lunch which was basic and delicious before going to Haedong Yonggungsa which is on the ocean. All I can say is... I was filled with so much excitement when I turned the corner and saw the temple! It was unlike anything I have ever seen. I LOVE the ocean and/or any body of water so the combo of a temple and the ocean was almost more than I could handle! The downside was that as opposed to Beomeosa, Yonggungsa had huge tourist groups walking through it so it was actually a bit difficult to find peace there. There were a few quiet spots but mostly there were a lot of people, wandering around everywhere. I soaked up what I could and then it was time to part ways with Busan and head back to Seoul. 

 (In Korea, a left facing svastika is used to identify Buddhist temples and is thought of as the heart seal of Buddha. It is an auspicious symbol that is seen throughout Asia. In Hinduism it is usually right facing)

Fresh mountain water. Yes, I drank it! 

Baby Buddhas

Temple food!

Yonggungsa... breathtaking

Friday I found myself winding up all of the little tasks I had. I wanted to get people some souvenirs, go back to Jogyesa, and a few little cafes so it was filled with a lot of walking around Seoul! When the sun went down I took the metro and then a shuttle up to Namsan Tower, the highest point in Seoul which overlooks the whole city. The view up there was awesome but don't get tricked into buying an expensive ticket up to the observatory  There is a great observation deck that's free, it is also where people come with their loved ones to leave a lock with a message on it. I didn't leave one, but how fun would it be to do that and then come back again sometime in your life and find it? This was definitely a moment I wished I was there with a partner, I am not romantic usually but this was just so sweet! 

A second round at Snob Cafe in Hapjeong

Thousands of locks line the observatory deck

Namsan Tower

Saturday morning Bree and I woke up and headed to Cafe Street in Bundang! It involved transit through Gangnam (like the song hehe) and one of the fanciest subway tunnels I have ever been in! It was rainy that day and I had my luggage with me so we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked but we had an awesome breakfast of sweet potato and green tea lattes and Belgian waffles. Oh my, were they yummy! Then on the way to the airport we stopped and got some last macaroons from Laduree. Those babies lasted me the whole way back to India! 

Korea was amazing, I loved learning how to read it and I am continuing to study and learn how to speak it so I can go back someday! It was a great week and I am so grateful for amazing friends all over the world that let me crash their homes and explore their countries!!

A Week in Korea Part 1

Last week I took my last trip for what could be quite a long time (more on that later) and the destination was South Korea! I never would have thought to visit Korea on my own but I have a few friends living there teaching English so the idea was sparked in me when they moved there. The timing worked out so well last week with a long harvest festival/holiday here and India, great ticket prices and it coincided with the cherry blossoms coming into bloom! 

The evening I arrived to Seoul, Bree and I immediately headed to Hapjeong to drink tea and have a sweet at Snob Cafe, because we like dessert first! Then we wandered down the street to Hongdae which is a huge busy shopping area filled with lots of expats and army folk. We had dinner, did a little shopping and headed home. Bree has the cutest little Korean apartment!! 

On Sunday we woke up and headed to Hangan Park at the Han river to see a cherry blossom festival. I just about cried the whole day, the blossoms were so beautiful and I couldn't believe I was finally getting to experience something like this! After the festival we took a metro then the bus to Petite France in Gapyeong. The whole little village is themed after the book The Little Prince, this story is very close to my heart as my Aunt Sharon gave me a copy for a birthday one year and it is one of my only childhood books that I have kept. We walked around there for quite sometime before heading off to Itaewon (I think!) for a dinner of yummy thai food! 

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye" 

On Monday I headed to Jogyesa Temple, a buddhist temple located right in the city. I have been to many Tibetan buddhist monasteries here in India and a couple of buddhist temples in Hong Kong and every where is a little different but South Asian buddhism is quite different from the Tibetan branch that I am accustomed to. The biggest difference is the architecture of the temple, then the fact that in Korea there are not prayer wheels or prayer flags and not nearly as many incense being lit (all of these are ways to send your prayers into the universe.) However, the spirit is still the same there and I sat inside the temple for nearly two hours during prayers and was completely floored by how strong and powerful the prayers were. I don't discuss my spiritualism much on here but Buddhism is a form of faith I connect with on many levels (though I could not call myself a Buddhist) so being there during prayers really moved me. I met some very sweet volunteers there one of which spent a few months in North India in McLeod Ganj where the Dalai Lama resides! After Jogyesa I walked to a little traditional tea shop where a few monks bought me cakes and Korean tea then parted ways. I walked down the road a bit further to Gyeongbokgung Palace just in time to see the slightly cheesy "changing of guards" performance that they do in front of the palace every hour. I headed inside the grounds and walked past the mass crowds back into the gardens and far building and found peace and beauty. Being in Korea felt like fulfilling a long time child hood dream. The architecture, people, food, language, everything. I sat in the garden for a while and just took time to thankful for the experiences I have been able to have over the last few years. 

 Paper lamps are being placed in all of the temples in preparation for Buddha's birthday!

 Jogyesa 

At Gyeongbokgung Palace 

The sweetest little cafe! Look at the wrapper on those Macroons!

Tuesday I spent most of the day wandering the shops of Insadong and the alleys and houses of Bukchon Hanok village. These homes are built in traditional Korean style and it feels like being in a different world, yet you can see the high rise buildings of Seoul in the distance. I felt a little bit like a creeper because people do actually live here, it is a neighborhood but there were a handful of other people walking around as well and there are maps specifically for going through the village so it is commonplace. But still, I felt like a peeping Tom! 

Happy Holi 2013!

Earlier was the big festival of color known as Holi!! Holi is a celebration rooted in Hinduism but honestly it has become very mainstream and is celebrated widely all over the country. In some places (especially cities that have big ties to Krishna) the celebration goes on for something like 16 days but here it has two main days: The first is when people throw color on each other and the next day is usually more 'natural' substances like mud and, well, other sorts of waste. Last year I didn't have a very good experience on Holi. In fact, it was probably the single worst experience I have ever had here. Looking back on that blog entry, I definitely sugar coated the experience for the sake of remaining positive but over time it has sunk in that my friends and I were very lucky nothing worse happened to us, and I can't even describe how frustrating/difficult Holi was last year. This year my dad was in town for the celebration so I was determined to learn from my mistakes and make it a good, positive experience for all!

 Pre-Holi

We started by visiting the house of three girls whom I work with, Sharon had mentioned that she loves playing Holi but didn't have anyone to play with so dad and I offered to come over in the morning! I am so glad we did because it was so fun. On the scooter on the way to their flat we got some color thrown on us but not in the forceful way it was done the year prior. We then played for a but on the roof of Sharon's house before moving on to stop number 2! 

We then moved right along to the apartment complex that I used to live in (I just moved recently) to get my coworkers! On their roof was quite a celebration! It definitely wasn't safe to have out cameras up there because the kids were spraying color and beer was being poured on people (that was the point that dad and I decided to leave.) 

After stop 2

We then planned to take a break until the afternoon. We got back to my apartment when I was greeted by my neighbors. Apparently the young daughter had been anxiously waiting my return and had saved some powder specifically for me! She had been very disappointed that I had escaped her in the morning! Between the neighbors and the security guards I got absolutely covered in powder and colored water, it was caked on me and in my hair. The neighbors then asked dad and I to come for lunch (after cleaning up) and of course we obliged!

Soaked!

The last plan of the day was to head to a friend's farmhouse on the bank of the river. It was a rather big gathering but everyone there came by invitation  it wasn't open to the public so I wasn't hesitant to go. After last year I had decided I would only play at homes with small groups but I was pretty positive this would be okay and it was! There was music, color, dancing and it was so fun! I got to play color with a lot of friends and was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the night. It was so awesome to be able to share this day with my father, I never would have dreamed of it previously! This year was a complete turn around from the last so I think for now my faith is renewed in Holi!!

At Ramsa!