This is Africa!

Hey All, I am writing to you from Cape Town, South Africa aka my new favorite city. I know I probaly say this all the time but I am really having the time of my life here in Cape Town. I absolutely adore this city, both the good and the bad. Cape Town is the quintessential Tale of Two Cities. One moment you are standing in the hub of a booming metropolis, the next second you are in the middle of a virtual shantytown. I got a great look at all of the spoils of Cape Town during our Introduction week. I also got an in-depth look at the legacy of apartheid. The best part of the week was going to Robben Island and visiting the cell of Nelson Mandela! I have included some of my favorite pictures from the first two weeks. This week I started my job at the Cape Town Office of Social Development where I am revamping their all-city poverty strategy and establishing a Social Entrepreneurship Incubator. Everything has been moving super duper fast and I have been journaling most of my thoughts as they come to me, thus I will probaly not be blogging that often or with as much depth as I did while in India. Although, I promise to keep the pictures and short updates coming on a biweekly basis! Miss and love you all dearly. Jen

Back in the USA

Hey All,
I am safely back in the USA. I am in Chicago doing debriefing at Northwestern for the next three days. I will do a final post on India, complete with pictures when I get back to Detroit. Tune in soon for the final conclusion of India 2010.

Falling in love with India……finally

NAMASTE,

It has been rocky but the moment has finally arrived, the moment where I fell in love with India. I was riding to work in a tempo after having woken up covered in bed bug bites and going to the pharmacy and buying anti-itch cream. On the tempo a woman smiled at me, pulled my hair, showed me her mahendi (henna designs on her arm), called me her new sister, and expressed how much she wanted to learn English. That is when I realized that despite the chaos, the discomfort, and the cow poo everywhere; India is a gem. The richness of this culture is unexplainable but I have found a level of acceptance here that I never thought possible with people who I share so little in common culturally.

It has been awhile since my last post, sorry guys but it has been a hectic week. I have gone to the village again and taken a vacation to Delhi/Agra since my last post. I just want to say I took some amazing pictures this week and yall cannot handle them all in a single post so you have to tune in again soon for those Taj Mahal and Lotus Temple pics that I know you are dying to see. Also, the shopping was AMAZING! I cannot wait to show everyone all the stuff I had to bargain my butt off for in the bazaar of the capitol city.

It was amazing to see two great cities of India, Agra and Delhi, and experience the Indian Railway System for the first time. The more beautiful places that I visit, the more I realize that for some reason it is always the people I meet that have the most impact on me when I travel. It is always the interactions with other people that I remember and cherish the most. I met a wonderful woman named Sonya at the train station on the way to Agra, she was a lawyer in Delhi for 20 years and she has been a life coach for the past 5 years. She has visited over 30 countries in her life but will always remain a lifelong resident of India. We talked for a long while about tradition, family, and the caste system in India. It was amazing to pick her brain. Another great person I met in Delhi was Muhammad, an Indian by birth, he went to high school in the United States but has been living in India for 1.5 years now buying real estate and clearing up litigation around it then reselling it for profits in the six-figures (American dollars). He had some very interesting views on the current state of India as well, though I did not agree with most of them. He told me that independence was the worst thing that ever happened to India and that if the British were still ruling then everything would be better, like I said RADICAL. He also said that the slum dwellers were a cancer that was going to eventually destroy India, funny I feel like I have heard a quote very similar about poor blacks and latinos in the US.

I keep coming back to three random thoughts that I want to share.

1. Lost in Translation
   

The longer that I stay here the more I realize just how big of a barrier language can be. Although most of the time there is always a translator with me or someone who knows Hindi, I feel like a lot is being lost in translation. It just seems that stories are not as rich, jokes are not as funny, and pain is not as heartfelt when translated. It scares me to think that I may not truly be addressing the needs of the community because of these lost messages.

1. Ownership and Responsibility
   

This has been an issue as we design our project; we have tried to make sure our organization has a firm hand in it so they can sustain it well after we leave. Everyone seems to understand that this is their community and they have a much larger stake in it than we do. We understand that we are outsiders. On the other hand, we all got pissed at the Taj Mahal when foreigners had to pay 750 rupees and Indians only had to pay 10 rupees. However, when you talk about ownership it makes perfect sense. This is their country so it is only logical that Indians would pay less. We felt like we should not have to pay the tourist price because we had been here one measly month, and that was wrong of us. I am starting to feel like I only talk the talk of community ownership when it is beneficial for me (Ex. When it means less work for me and more work for my NGO) but when it does not benefit me then I want to embrace a "global unity" mentality. I don't really know what I am getting at here but I will try and hash it out later.

1. Girls All Over the World Just Wanna Have Fun!
   

I feel like people all over the world are fascinated by Indian women. We see the beautiful saris, nose rings, and precious jewelry and hear about the arranged marriages and the caste system but there is so much we do not see or hear about so we just assume that their lives must be drastically different than our own. For example, Indian women do not have to cover their hair but most do. As a Westerner, I could say that is oppressive but after being here awhile I know that is just not true. It is actually hot as hell here, and covering your head actually cools you down. I am not saying that Indian women are liberated by any means but I am saying that by being here I am seeing more parallels between their lives and my own than I ever could have imagined. The Indian women that I have met love shopping, jewelry, perfumes, cooking, and doting on their children. Sounds just like every American woman I know, including my own family and friends. Many of the women I have met here, either through work or just on the street, have looked out for me as if I were their own daughter or sister. The spirit of camaraderie here between women is awe-inspiring. Whether a woman was buying me a coke or saving me from a rabid dog, my spirit has truly been touched every time by these women and their kindness.

Random stuff from trip

-I jumped off a moving train in Agra and fell, knocking over a woman and her baby. Forgive me Jesus J.

-We went to a club in Delhi and paid 1000 rupees to drink and get ripped off finding a way home. But we rode the New Delhi metro station to get there which was sooooo nice.

-I fed some cookies to a monkey off the side of the train.
Ok that's enough for now, I feel like I have been typing forever but I promise to update again soon. Only 2.33 more weeks, time flies.
Jen

My Birthday

Namaste,
First of all, I am super exhausted but I feel like I need to make a post about my bday so here goes. This is just a warning in case it sucks lol.
My birthday was yesterday. I am now officially twenty years old, wow. I had a great time on my birthday. Two days before my birthday, my host sister and mom made me a great Rajasthani birthday dinner of paneer masala and some special curry. Earlier that day Didi took me shopping at hati pol, a local bazaar, with my friends. Then there was the conference. We had a conference with students from the Udaipur School of Social Work this weekend and discussed "India's Development Sector: Macro Perspectives and Innovative Strategies". It was really cool to listen to experts present on topics that we are seeing in the field and then share ideas with the Indian Social Work students. After the first day of the conference a couple of people in my program spent the night and presented me with a cake and candles at midnight. It was cute. Since my birthday was on the second day of the conference my new friend Sita from Udaipur sang me a traditional Indian birthday song so that I will have 1000 years of prosperous life. After the conference was finally over, we ate dinner and then went out. The bar we went to for my birthday was called Lal Bagh, I think I spelled that right. It was a really nice spot, picture an outdoor bar in a garden with asian pillars everywhere, couches, a few tables, and plasmas hanging everywhere. The best part was our group which basically consisted of my friends and our translators with their friends, who are mad cool by the way #just saying. After a few drinks we rode out to FS, Fateh Sager Lake to hang out for a bit then we went home. Overall it was a good birthday but I really missed my family and friends at home. Thank you all for your birthday wishes, and I hope to talk to you all soon.

Video from monsoon palace

Namaste,

I went to monsoon palace awhile back and put up some pics but here is a vid I found on my cam. Once again the view is incredible, and im obnoxious while I record lol.

CHANGE OF PLANS

Namaste,
so mid-week post because something big happened........... we changed our project! Yeah, I know yall were all thinking wtf why are you doing a water project when you dont know anything about water, so was I. I love our new project though. We are basically designing an organizational development project for a new internship program at Jagran which will recruit foreign interns and allow Jagran to double their annual operating budget. Thus, they can do more of the wonderful programs I have already told yall about. The program we are designing will be very fun and enriching for the interns while also helping them build projects which are sustainable for the community. Here is a little of our proposal summary which we sbmitted today.
"Goal/Objectives: To reorganize structure of JJVS to maximize utility of future interns by developing a summer intern program. The program will teach interns about Jagran’s programs, with specific concentrations in their field of interest. With knowledge of how Jagran works, they will be better equipped to work on projects with the Jagran staff to develop projects for sustainable development.

Rationale: As interns, one of the things we feel would be most beneficial was having an orientation program that would help familiarize us with the different aspects of Jagran, because they are a very diverse NGO. Jagran’s founder, Ganesh, expressed a lot of interest in developing an intern program to help the NGO better orient their interns so that they can ultimately do better work for Jagran. Therefore, the community that we are helping is the Jagran community, with secondary benefits to the villages, because if Jagran is able to better manage their resources, they can ultimately be more efficient and productive in achieving their goals.

Expected Deliverables / Outcomes: We will develop intern programs for public health, livelihood programs, natural resource conservation and management. The program will include an orientation to Jagran in general, along with more specific programs tailored to the aforementioned topics.

Resources Needed: Translator, transportation to and from field sights, knowledge of Jagran staff members about their programs, Jagran computers/printer, food and shelter in the field, purified water during field visit, FSD site team, internet access, contact with former and current volunteers"
Update more with pics on Sunday, (my bday). Chow!

Week 2 review

Ram Ram (another way of saying hello that is most often used in rural areas),

-Another week has gone by already! I cannot believe the time is going by so fast. I will try to update every Sunday if possible, I would like to blog more but I rarely have time to write down my thoughts much less type and post them.

-Not trying to be stereotypical but seriously I would kill for some fried chicken right now, I have now been a vegetarian for two weeks and I am dying of protein/iron withdrawal.
-On Monday there was a nationwide bandh(strike) because the cost of petrol(gas) has gone up way too much. Thus, there were no tempos(bus-ish type thing) to ride to work. This could have put a dent on our plan to go to Valli, a village 1.5 hours away, for a field visit to view some of Jagran's programs in action. However, my boss got the great idea to drive us to the village himself in the back of an ambulance (I almost threw up on my least favorite team member 10 times). Because there was a strike we had to go through several checkpoints on the way to the village and my entire team was ordered to duck because any sight of foreigners would send the strikers into a frenzy. Also, on the way to the village we found out there was a murder in the night in a nearby village and we might not be able to talk to anyone that day because it was such a shock to the community. The ride to Valli was beautiful, btw the ambulances here have windows in the back.
-We made it to the village and after 7 hours of meetings between my boss and his staff (in Hindi), we finally learned that there was no water or electricity in the village that day so we could not stay overnight. I cannot say I was surprised or upset by the news. I had found out there was no water when I attempted to go to the bathroom. I entered the bathroom and was faced with a porcelain hole in the ground, a.k.a a squat toilet. Now mind you that although I had been warned about squat toilets, I had never used one myself. I will just say it was an experience to be remembered but at least I did not fall in. After my ordeal when I tried to flush the hole by twisting a knob on the wall, as I had learned in training (thanks Chicago), no water appeared. Then I tried to wash my hands in the sink, again nothing. Thank god for Wet Ones. The lack of electricity was a little easier to notice as I sat in a sauna of a room for seven hours in the dark.
-On Tuesday, I went to work at Jagran as usual and they said we would try to go back to the village on Wednesday. Tuesday night, I went to a park near Fateh Sagar Lake, this place has beautiful views as you can see from the pictures.
-On Wednesday we went back to the village and were able to stay until Friday night. I didn't bring my camera with me so I will get pics of the stuff I describe here from my team members and post it later. I will now post what I wrote in my journal on my days there.
-07/07/10 "Today was my first real day in the field. Monday we did not stay the night, although on the way home we did stop by the Guni (traditional/herbal medicine men and women of the villages) Ashram (compound). Only the gardener was there but he showed us the guni's herbal medicine gardens and the guni hospital/pharmacy. There is a great view from the top of the Hospital. There is also a great view from here, the roof of Jagran's Valli field office. I have never seen so many stars, the sky literally looks white at night out here. Today we worked primarily in Microfinance and Livelihood programs. We visited 3 Joint Liability Programs in Jaisamond. This village is near Jaisamond Lake, which is the largest man-made lake in Asia. The view from there is also beautiful. One of the men we met used his loan to open a video store. Another man opened two new shops and bought a car. A third client, this time a woman, was basket-weaving as part of a group income- generating activity. Later today, we visited a dairy cooperative, here in Valli, started by Jagran in 1992. All of Jagran's microfinance and Livelihood programs seem to be run excellently and are making dramatic strides in increasing the quality of life for these people. I am so proud to be affiliated with Jagran, there does not seem to be any other NGO in Udaipur district that's has the trust of the people like they do."
-07/08/10 "Today we travelled with the GPS Team. I met two different families and surveyed their properties. We surveyed how big the properties were, what type of soil was on the property, what livestock was on the property, what the occupation of the household members were, and if the children were in school. After talking to villagers it seemed that there main concerns were leveling their land which is very hilly/rocky, lack of potable water, lack of technology in agriculture, and a lack of education. The 3 goals of the GPS project are 1. To make sure the people know the exact location of their land in relation to the rest of the world. 2. To asset map the community for micro-planning purposes. 3. For further development in the village by Jagran. The GPS Project is so amazing but I was literally about to die of heat stroke. It was really informative though, and I learned a lot! My group is still annoying. I mean must everything be sarcasm! Also, I thought sarcasm was supposed to be funny? These kids just say stuff and pray for each other to laugh, but they cant even get that right. Anyway enough about them (by them I am really just talking about one particular member of my team that I don't care for). I miss you guys! I have not seen a black person besides Brittany for two weeks and it is the weirdest thing ever. No playing cards, no chicken, no family, no air conditioning, no partying. What am I doing here? Oh right, Jagran IS amazing. Getting insight into their organization makes me really appreciate what makes a good team and that will be an asset throughout my life. "
-Ok back to the present. On my last day in the field, I visited a guni at her home. This guni's specialty was treating earaches and toothaches . To treat a patient, she pours a mixture of water and this chopped up plant in your ear and then you lie down for five minutes. After that, she turns you over and the liquid comes out of your ear along with about 5 rice grain shaped particles, which she called germs. I saw her do this to five different people and they all were cured. AMAZING! When I first met her she told me that she had looked upon my spirit before, I really don't know what that is supposed to mean but I liked it lol. After we met with her, we went back to the guni ashram to get a proper tour and talk to some more gunis. Jagran is doing so much to revive the use of traditional medicine in India. When we returned to Udaipur on Friday night we had a workshop with the Foundation for Sustainable Development and our speaker was from the ministry of health. We asked him what the place of traditional medicine was in India's current healthcare system but he just blew the question off. That was kind of disheartening.
-Yesterday was Saturday but we still had to work. It was the end of our observation period and we had to decide on a project and get it approved by our boss. We decided that Jagran was doing an EXCELLENT job in microfinance and traditional medicine with the gunis so they did not need our help in those areas. However, the entire time we have been here the watchword in Rajasthan has been WATER. There is just not enough of it. Since 2006 there has been a severe drought in this area, and the monsoons have gotten weaker and weaker every year. Jagran has been trying to implement home herbal gardens in the villages so that even without gunis people can cure themselves of common illnesses like cough, cold, sore throat, and fever. However, the lack of water for basic needs has made the home herbal gardens project fail. We have designed a project which will be a water conservation and management education project that has many health dimensions. Not only will we focus the education on convincing the villagers to use the water they conserve to water their home herbal gardens but we will also include lessons on sanitation and hygiene. This last bit was added to the curriculum because in the village we often saw people bathing in the same water they peed in, drank, and watered crops with.
-Today I visited the monsoon palace with my host family and it was awesome, check out the pics yourself. I got really lucky my host family treats me like one of their own and I like them a lot. We also went to a temple for a celebration with my Auntie's extended family, that was fun to say the least. We prayed to the gods and ate food blessed by the gods at the shrine. The blessed food consisted of coconuts, rose petals, and this sugary ball thing called sera. Might not sound the best but I must have been hungry because it definitely disappeared.
-I have already written too much and am probably leaving a lot of stuff out but thanks for reading and I will try to post again soon. Also, if you're feeling generous you should call my Indian cell phone the number is 011919352188506.

first week over

NAMASTE,

I am officially now done with my first week of work at Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti. JJVS is an NGO in Udaipur that specializes in traditional health medicine, microfinance, and rural community development. During this week at Jagran, my team and I have just been observing the staff and reading over the last couple of annual reports. We also have been analyzing the case studies of past interns at Jagran. Jagran is like a family, literally. The NGO has two cows and 2 dogs. The big cow is named Dr.Guy and her baby is called Baby Guy, creative I know. The entire staff eats lunch together every day upstairs on the patio. It can be awkward at times because only like 25% of the staff knows english but everyone is very welcoming, warm, and giving. There is a very real sense of passion at Jagran. Even Namra(probaly butchered that spelling) who cooks and cleans the place, is treated as an integral part of the team. I am sure that I am going to like working at Jagran, and not just because of the frequent chai tea breaks. My team and I have discussed a couple of different project ideas with the director Ganesh. We are thinking that our initial idea of doing a microfinance project, might not be needed at this time. Most of the grants for microfinance are now going to for-profit companies and slowly slipping away from NGO's so that may not be a sustainable idea at this time. Tomorrow we leave to visit the village of Valli, where Jagran has done considerable work with community self-help groups and with the gunis (herbal medicine men). We intend to stay and observe in the village for at least 3 days. Hopefully this will give us more of a sense of what Jagran's target community really needs at this time and what the strengths of this community are.

-Funny story. As soon as my boss met me he asked if I was from Africa, nice. Once I told him I was from the US, he said ok. Then two hours later he asked if I had American citizenship. I said yes, I think for like 7 generations now or whenever slavery was lol. Wow, and people wonder why minorities dont study abroad lol, truthfully it was pretty fun. You can't blame people for not knowing, all you can do is educate them about your culture and hopefully they will do the same for you.

-Last night after work we went to a Saturday cafe at another NGO called Shikshanter. Shikshanter was started by an Indian guy from chicago who went to brown and harvard. He decided to move back to India because the US was too materialistic for him. His cafe is basically where all the artsy people of Udaipur come to meet for a meal and where "their hearts can grow". The food was pretty good, spicy though but it is India so what can you expect. All I have to say is SPICY IN, SPICY OUT. Moving on lol, I met a group of students taking a filmmaking workshop at Shikshanter that were from all over India. Some were from Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai. Go pull out a map of India, those cities span the whole thing. I also made a new friend. His name is Mishal(spelling?) and he is a struggling artist here in Udaipur. He showed me some of his work and it was great, very political and radical. A lot of his work is very critical of the modernization of India and the relations between India and the US. I feel like the only reason he did not hate me as an American is because I am not white lol.

-On Friday, I had Hindi class after work at my teacher's house. This lady is loaded! One of the pics above is a shrine in her house to a particular Hindu goddess. Most houses here have at least one shrine inside to the god or goddess that the family chooses to represent them. A lot of people here also fast on certain days to honor that god or goddess. Sound familiar?

Will update more soon, NAMASHKAR(a variation of NAMASTE that is also widely used)!

udai niwas roof

NAMASTE,

pic as promised! this is the from the top of the Udai Niwas hotel in the Old City part of Udaipur where I was having breakfast while waiting for my clothes to be made.

first morning in new home (late)

Namaste,
-the past three days of orientation were very eventful. I will never get over seeing all the donkeys, horses, camels, cows, and dogs roaming the streets. India is like a different world. The people are all so friendly and proud of their culture. The beautiful colored saris, the jewels, the incense, the music, the dancing, the spices, the smells! It is all so overwhelming. During orientation I met with many experts on Indian development work in Udaipur, many of whom had over 30 years of experience in the field. It was weird that these people who knew so much were actually asking my opinion about community development. I feel like I am gaining so much more from this experience than I could ever hope to give. Many of the experts I met with have a lot of pride in traditional Indian culture and values, and some of them also disagree with efforts to Westernize India. There is a saying here that India has enough for everyone’s need but not enough for anyone’s greed. That is so true. 1/6 of the world’s population lives on the relatively small subcontinent of India. If India is going to continue to thrive, it has to stop trying to westernize. The people of India have been sold the American dream but they are chasing it at the expense of their culture, and it is just not sustainable. But who am I to say this? I have experienced the benefits of full economic development my entire life and now I want to deprive others of the same opportunity? I feel so conflicted about development in India because everyone I meet seems so happy here. I have met people with a level of personal fulfillment that is unheard of in the states, so why am I here trying to change their way of life. I hope to come to terms with these thoughts and learn more in my remaining weeks here.
- I moved in with my host family last night and I love our house/apartment. There is a garden/terrace that is beautiful for sitting on early in the morning and late at night. I share a room and bed with Radha, an intern at Seva Mandir in Udaipur. My host mother, Geeta, does not know much English but she is a very sweet woman. Last night she made my favorite dish, vegetables fried in curry starter. This dish is usually cooked after a rain for good luck and is very delicious. Geeta is an excellent cook and she has promised to teach me to cook many traditional Rajasthani dishes. Yay!

first 3 days (late)

NAMASTE,(
-I am nearing the end of my 3rd day in Udaipur. We have been having orientation with the Foundation for Sustainable Development (fsd) for the past 3 days and have been staying at a hotel here in town. On the first day we got selwar kameez sets made, they are very comfortable because it is like wearing pajamas all day! No saris yet, but I think I will get one tailored next week after I have started working. I am so excited to start working tomorrow at Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti and move in with my host family tonight. I met my host mother last night, her name is Geeta, and she seems very nice.
-Udaipur is known as the city of the lakes but many of the lakes are dried up right now. Monsoon season was supposed to have started about a week ago to refill the lakes but it has not come yet. If Udaipur does not have a strong monsoon this year the tourism that It depends on to sustain its economy will dwindle, and inhabitants will have less water with which to cook/clean/drink. It is sad to see places where there used to be lakes, as fields with cows grazing. The beautiful Lake Palace which you are supposed to take a boat to, looks like an elevated building on a field.
- But make no mistake, Udaipur is still beautiful. The city sits in a valley deep in the Aravelli Hills, so you are surrounded by hills on all sides and there is almost always a nice breeze. I love waking up early and going to have my breakfast on the roof of our hotel where I can feel the breeze and get a nice view of the city as everyone is getting up , it is nice to watch the city come alive. There are palaces, temples, and shrines all over the city, and the architecture is breathtaking.
-It is very hot and humid but my senses are so overloaded trying to take everything in that I seem to forget how hot I am.
-the director of fsd here, ROMA, is the daughter-in-law of my host mother so she will be living downstairs from me. Roma is so sweet and has truly looked out for me these past 3 days. She is a beautiful Indian woman about 32 years old and she is a Jain. I call her DeeDee which is a word for sister in Hindi. She is constantly teaching me Hindi words and trying to feed me new things. Today she took me for Indian ice cream, the flavor of which I just forgot but it was sooooo good. It was like a vanilla type flavor with nuts and raisins in it. Yum!

thoughts from the plane (late)

WARNING: For those of you that know me well, you know I am crazy. This blog will not operate like a conventional blog. I am going to say what I want when I want to say it, and it may not make sense all the time but that is ok. I want to document the way I am feeling on every step of this journey and feelings rarely make sense.
I am writing this as we fly over the Atlantic Ocean. I am going in the opposite direction than the one in which my ancestors first crossed this ocean in the Middle Passage. We have a layover in Frankfurt, Germany and in Mumbai before we reach our final destination of Udaipur, India. I am excited beyond words and even if I don’t want to admit it I am also very afraid. I am going to the far side of the world to learn and work with people in a culture entirely different than my own. What do I have to offer them? What do they have to offer me? These are the types of questions that I have contemplated for the past week at the Pre-Departure Institute in Chicago. Still no answer. There are some questions that no class can answer. Some things must be experienced to be understood.
I am going to miss my family so much during these two months. It really is about 6 months because I will only be home for about 4 days when I get back from India before I leave to Cape Town, South Africa for study abroad in the fall semester. My family and I are extremely close but I have to see the world, and on my own terms. I need to see how people live, work, and play all across this planet before I can truly know my place in it. I have been so blessed with so many opportunities in my life and I don’t want to waste a single one of them. Every moment of the next six months, I pledge to be a human sponge. I want to soak up everything. I want to learn from everyone I meet and teach them something as well.
Before this trip, the only foreign country that I have ever visited was Canada. However, I have travelled very extensively across the United States. I have dreamed of this day for many years, and now that it is finally here I am so overcome with thanksgiving to the Lord and to my family for all the sacrifices that they have made for me. I don’t feel like I am on the plane alone, I have the spirits of my grandparents and their parents with me. This will be the first time in India for all of us, and I am making this trip for everyone who can’t make it. I am trying to say something right now but I don’t even know how to articulate it into words. Not trying to sound lofty here but I have to get this off my chest. I grew up in a city with a 65% high school dropout rate. I talked to both of my prom dates and another one of my guy friends in the days before I left for India. As they updated me on everything going on in their lives, none of them are in school or pursuing their passions in any way. These are great guys. Funny, sweet, smart, and caring. What is wrong? I am no different than them, we want the same things out of life. And when I tell them about the things that I am doing they say they are proud of me, but I just want to tell them that they can do it too! Is it too late? My friends and family write these guys off as losers but I cant do it. I see them as victims of a broken system, a system which gives them a chance but secretly hopes they wont take it. I was not encouraged to succeed at my Catholic high school until my senior year when I had already proven myself as a gifted student and talented orator. So back to my point, this trip is for all my loved ones, friends and family. This blog will be your gateway into India.
I am going to post pictures of everything, starting with the ones from my plane. I love AIR INDIA, the stewardesses are all so pretty and they greet everyone saying NAMASTE. NAMASTE is the word in Hindi for hello/goodbye but it is more than that. It really means “I see you” and that “my soul is meeting your soul”. I think that is such a beautiful greeting. To meet someone and see into their soul encourages a spirit of brotherhood in humanity that many of us Americans are missing. My battery is going low but I might update again in the airport in Germany or Mumbai if I have time. Love you all. NAMASTE!

arrived in india

hey,
im safe in udaipur. more update and pics soon.

first day of training

It is 9:00 am and I am in class for my first day of training right now yay! I got the wonderful idea to take notes on my blog so that you guys can see all the interesting stuff I am learning about in my International Development: Community-Based Approaches class.
I. Asset-Based Community Development
II. Country Information and Development Legacies
III. Development Issues: Gender, Microfinance, Environment, Skills Training, and Global Health

UPDATE

Leaving Detroit tomorrow (Friday) to go to Chicago. I am going to drive there with and chill with my best friend Meredith. We plan to go to Six Flags on Saturday and then she will drop me off at my training on Sunday. I will be in training until next Saturday and the next day June 27 my flight will depart to India. The week that I am in Chicago will probaly be pretty hectic so next will be from India!

LOVING SUMMER SO FAR........

Hey all,
I have been home for about 2 and a half weeks and it has been great so far. My grades turned out pretty good this past semester so that is a lot of stress off of me. These past few weeks I have just been applying for my visa to go to India, WHICH IS A PAINFUL PROCESS! I also have been running errands for India and South Africa like every day, it is a tiring thing to get ready for 6months of travel, and EXPENSIVE!!! Also, I have been trying to spend time with my family especially my little sister who will be attending FISK University in the fall, I am so proud of her. Yesterday I went on a cross-state adventure to South Haven Beach with Rebecca which was really fun, she turned twenty today! I am having a blast so far this summer but I really must go do the unpacking I have been avoiding for the last 2.5 weeks lol. I will probaly update once or twice more before I leave for India on the 20th of June, while in India I will most likely update once a week.
Best,
Jen

Weekend at Duke

Hey all,
Its the weekend here at Duke and guess where everyone is going, Chapel Hill of course. i will pass bc im supposed to be staying in Durham.......that is the point of the switch! i have been going back a little too much for comfort. so what to do tonight? call up an old flame? nah let those fizzle. we will see, something is bound to pop up thats the beauty of college, even when ur not lookin for something to do, something to do finds you.

Day One

I don't really know why I decided to make this thing or the real purpose of blogs in general so just bear with me. New age version of a diary? A way to occupy my time during my semester in-residence at Duke? A substitute for something else? I don't know, call it what you want. I found a great poem today by Nikki Giovanni and it is called Resignation that I wanted to share. To love this way seems like it would take one's entire being, not sure if I could do it. Who could possibly be worth all that? Oh well enough of me being dramatic, enjoy the poem!

I love you
because the Earth turns round the sun
because the North wind blows north
sometimes
because the Pope is Catholic
and most Rabbis Jewish
because winters flow into spring
and the air clears after a storm
because only my love for you
despite the charms of gravity
keeps me from falling off the Earth
into another dimension
I love you
because it is the natural order of things

I love you
like the habit I picked up in college
of sleeping through lectures
or saying I'm sorry
when I get stopped for speeding
because I drink a glass of water
in the morning
and chain-smoke cigarettes
all through the day
because I take my coffee Black
and my milk with chocolate
because you keep my feet warm
through my life a mess
I love you
because I don't want it
any other way
I am helpless
in my love for you
It makes me so happy
to hear you call my name
I am amazed you can resist
locking me in an echo chamber
where your voice reverberates
through the four walls
sending me into spasmatic ecstasy
I love you
because it's been so good
for so long
that if I didn't love you
I'd have to be born again
and that is not a theological statement
I am pitiful in my love for you
The Dells tell me Love
is so simple
the thought though of you
sends indescribably delicious multitudinous
thrills throughout and through-in my body
I love you
because no two snowflakes are alike
and it is possible if you stand tippy-toe
to walk between the raindrops
I love you
because I am afraid of the dark
and can't sleep in the light
because I rub my eyes
when I wake up in the morning
and find you there
because you with all your magic powers were
determined that
I should love you
because there was nothing for you but that
I would love you
I love you
because you made me
want to love you
more than I love my privacy
my freedom my commitments
and responsibilities
I love you `cause I changed my life
to love you
because you saw me one friday
afternoon and decided that I would
love you
I love you I love you I love you