Phalodi

Nice old man in village near Kolu

Erik and I with some villagers and a camel carrying a ton of sticks!

Maga Ram and Avinash! 

Jakeer and I enjoying ginger coffee! DELICIOUS!

Jakeer with 50 rupee bill and 1 dollar bill.  50 rupees=1 dollar(approx.)

MOM-ji and Me in India Photos!

Mom and I have taken so many photos since she got here (like 1000) so here is just a small sampling.  I still have to go back and post photos from the rest of my time in Phalodi, then back in Jaipur and then all the different things with Mom. So, these are just a few to wet your appetite! 

Christmas Eve bonfire, Kodaikannal

Mom and I eating "butterfruit" (avocado) on the way to Kodai.  The woman told us it "takes like ice cream."

Chai in Jaisalmer with Erik bhai, Vimla-ji, Surjan Ram-ji and Maga Ram-ji

Jaipur family! 

Mom and me at the Taj Mahal, Agra.  So beautiful.

Back in Delhi

Mom and I are back in Delhi after a week in South India.  We had a fantastic time, full of lots of experiences and adventures.  There is so much to tell and so many photos to share.  We had a long day of traveling so I'm going to try to just upload some photos now and then write more tomorrow.  I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas.  Mom and I celebrated in Kodaikannal, which was an incredible experience.  Tomorrow night we head back to the United States.  I can't believe it, but I am very excited to see family and friends and celebrate the New Year together.  As I said, I'll write more tomorrow.  Until then, good night and much love to all.

South India

Hello! Just a short update because we don't have long internet access. But, I wanted to say that we had an excellent visit to Agra, Delhi and out to Western Rajasthan. We had so much fun, and mom got to meet so many people who hold a very special place in my heart and experience in India. I'm excited to put up the photos asap. We traveled by overnight train from Jaipur to Jaisalmer with Erik. This was a crazy experience, as we were waitlisted (which I didn't realize until 3 hours before the departure time) so we had to get to the station early, I had to push my way to the front of the line to get confirmed seats. Then, we realized we only got 2 confirmed seats and were supposed to share one berth for sleeping. And, not only that, but our car was FULL OF 7-9th grade school boys!!! Yeah, crazy! And, the train was freezing and about 3 hours late. But, we made it and had a great reception from Maga Ram, shared delicious meals at his home, Vimla-ji, Surjan-Ram-ji and Khushal came to meet us, and it was great. And then, it RAINED IN JAISALMER!!!! CRAZY!! After Jaisalmer we headed to Lathi to Vimla's house. FANTASTIC TIME! Then after an overnight we went to Pokaran and then to Phalodi. Mom and I had a fun shopping excursion with the women of URMUL in Phalodi. Then a great send off from Phalodi and another night train to Jaipur. A few hours in Jaipur, a great meeting with Dr. Meeta Singh at her home, then a bus to Delhi, overnight in Delhi, then 430am wakeup and transport to airport and flight from Delhi to Chennai. Now, we are in Chennai. It is so different than North India. For one, its hot here now! Palm trees are everywhere, people look and dress different, different language, everything. We are excited to explore South India for a week before heading home. Sorry this is a rambling mess of a message, but I wanted to give a quick recap. More details and photos to come.
Love to all and happy holidays. May everyone have a blessed and peaceful Christmas shared with the ones you love.
Love from Hannah and Sue Ann

SHE'S HERE!

Yes, that's right, Mommy-ji Sue ann is in INDIA!!! We have had jam packed days since she has been here. On December 10th after finishing up my classes and semester, I got on a bus from Jaipur to Delhi. Then, once in Delhi I got a rickshaw to take me to the hotel I had booked for us. That rickshaw took some time, since neither of us knew where the hotel was located exactly, and also because we had to stop for gas. Then, I went and got some fruit and snacks and cleaned up before taking a taxi to the airport at 9:00pm. Mom was supposed to get in at 9:45pm, but he plane was delayed almost 2 hours because of snow in Chicago. But, since I had no way to check that before going to the airport, I was there 2 hours before she got there. It was alright, but the waiting area is closed off now since the Mombay bombings. So, I waited outside along with all the other anxious family and friends waiting for their loved ones. I enjoyed some hot chai while I waited. Then, finally she came through the doors and I was sooo excited. We headed back to the hotel, all the while catching up on everything from the past 3 1/2 months. During this time, Mom was pointing out things like crazy traffic, cows in the streets, the people everywhere-things that I have now become accustomed to, but which are very surprising when you first arrive.

The next day we got up early, had some breakfast and then headed to Agra. We had a really nice driver named Sanjeev, who shared helpful cultural commentary while carefully navigating us to Agra. We visited the Taj Mahal, which is BEAUTIFUL!!! It is like everyone says-breathtaking, beyond words, just spectacular. We had a great dinner out and also Mom had her first chai of India on the street from a vendor.

The next day we got up early and headed toward Jaipur, with a stop at a Bird Sanctuary on the way. The Bird Sanctuary was AWESOME!! We rented bikes and had a great time biking around and looking at birds-like storks, cranes, snake birds and kingfishers. I can't wait to put up the pictures. The storks were unbelievable-there were so many of them and they were all nesting.
After the bird sanctuary we continued on to Jaipur. Then in Jaipur we went over to my host family for Mom to meet everyone. They love her and it is so funny and fun having my families meet. We stayed over late and then Papa-ji and Vinita Bua took us back to the hotel on their motor-bikes. Mom was so scared and held onto Vinita Bua really tight-it was pretty cute and funny. When we got back to the hotel mom got to meet Erik, Grace and Molly. Grace and Molly were leaving the next day for Delhi, but Erik is traveling out with Mom and me to Jaisalmer to meet all the NGO friends and family.

Yesterday we got up early at 6:15am to go running in Central Park while Papa-ji walked. Mom had brought him a track suit from the USA and he was wearing that and it looked great! Then we went to the house for chai and then walked back to the hotel to get cleaned up. After cleaning up, we headed back to the house for breakfast-which was delicious poha, and then Mommy-ji, Mom, Akshay and I went up to the roof to fly kites!! Akshay is really good at flying kites and he even cut someone's kite! We were totally impressed! Mom did a good job helping reel the kite back in. After kite flying on the roof, we headed to the old city for shopping! It was quite the adventure and experience. We bought sooooooo much stuff and had lots of laughs. After shopping, we went back to the house and then the hotel to drop things off, had a little short rest, and then headed back to the house to go to Raja Park for a few more things. Mom got to try her first samosa also! Oh, and in the old city we had buttermilk lassis! They were DELICIOUS! After all this shopping we did a little bit more by Ganesh temple on our street and then had a great dinner of palak paneer, dal and rice and roti.

This morning we got up at 6:15am again to go run in the park. Then, chai at the house again, and then back to the hotel to pack up and check out. We moved a lot of our baggage to MSID to store while we got out west. We leave on a train tonight for Jaisalmer. And today during the day we are going to do some Jaipur sight seeing. Also, for lunch today we had gatte belle, and garlic chutney-my favorite dishes!!!

Its great having Mom here and she is being quite the trooper-she is wearing me out and I don't even have to adjust to the time change! I feel very lucky and blessed to have this time together.

I'll try to put up pictures if I can, but my internet is not really frequent now, so they might have to wait til we get back to the United States.

I hope you are all happy and healthy and enjoying winter and getting excited for the holidays.
Much love from India!

Field Visit with Krishna-ji

Krishna-ji

Muslim family 

In the desert

Krishna-ji and Self Help Group leader

Field visit

Phalodi Kids

Playing "Red Light, Green Light" on the roof 

Vinu and Mamta!

Boys that attended a Youth Training Workshop at Phalodi campus. At first they were so annoying and wouldn't leave us alone, but then we talked to them and they were nice, sang songs and then the rest of the night sent us little pictures and messages they drew on pieces of paper through the door crack calling them "postcards." 

Neighborhood kids

VINU!

Back in jaipur

Hello everyone!

I'm back in Jaipur now.  Today Erik and I are making a presentation to the rest of our peers about our time with URMUL.  We are very excited to talk about all the amazing work and people we met and saw over the past 5-6 weeks.  These next few days are full of wrapping up the semester, getting ready to go home, etc.  Then, on December 10th, MOM COMES TO VISIT!!!  I can't wait!  We are going to visit the NGO family, my Jaipur family, and then head south for some visits and fun.  I CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE MOM! And introduce her to India and re-see it all again from her eyes.  

Our time with our NGO wrapped up really nicely.  The last day we traveled with 40 URMUL staff to Luckanrsar (sp), where all of the URMUL family organizations were gathering for an annual meeting.  It was great meeting workers from all of the 8 URMUL organizations. Then we took an overnight bus from Bikaner to Jaipur, got into Jaipur at 5:30 am, went to our hotel, kind of tried to sleep and then went to school!  

I'm write a longer update soon.  Much love to everyone.

Photos from Phalodi

SURESH! and other little kids in the back

Neerma, me and Mamta!

siblings

cute little girl, but for some reason she was always crying.  we tried to be her friend though, and in this picture she looks cute.

KAVITA!

Thoughts

2, December 2008
10:30am
Phalodi

Happy December everyone!
I can’t believe that time has flowed so swiftly and we are now in the last month of 2008. I’m wondering if snow has begun to fall in Colorado and Minnesota, if the skies have turned gray, the ground cold and the air biting. I hope that the winter isn’t too harsh and that it isn’t keeping everyone locked up inside. I have to admit that I am quite happy to experience only half of a Minnesota winter this year. The days here have started to turn a bit chilly in the evenings and mornings, but as soon as the sun is out the heat is here! All of the Indians we are with are wearing long sleeves, jackets, hats and shawls, because this is their “winter,” but to me it feels like the best time of fall-when you can wear a few layers, but by mid-afternoon you’re in your t-shirt and pants soaking up the sun. It’s a time when the air is crisp but the sun is still shining full and warm. I think back to when we first got to India and every little movement caused a waterfall of sweat. It’s nice to be beyond that time, especially since we are living out in the desert of Western Rajasthan. Erik and I talk about how hot it must get out here in the desert-we can’t even begin to imagine. After experiencing day after day of cloudless skies, we are started to learn what it must be like to yearn for their rainfall and the time when crops grow and water is plentiful. There is a song in Hindi that we listened to out in Jaisalmer with Vuta-Ram that goes “Mausam bhiga, bhiga hai.” When we asked Vuta-Ram what it means, he told us that it means, “The weather is nice and good.” But, as we learned more Hindi, we discovered that it actually translates, “The weather is wet, wet.” As the world is more and more coming to realize, water rights, accessibility, and distribution is and will become even more one of the biggest issues we face as a world community. Living with the URMUL community in the Thar desert, I am seeing exactly how real this issue is. Some of the examples of water issues we have learned about and observed from our time with URMUL are:
-Part of the reason why URMUL was created was to provide income generation outside of the agriculture sector, because with droughts (like the ones experienced in the late 1980s) agriculture is not a secure source of income for families.
-The massive water pipes that are just outside of Phalodi proper that carry water from Punjab to the city of Jodhpur.
-Water tanks that have been built by URMUL in villages that catch the rainwater and provide drinking water for all of the months without rain.
These are just to name a few.

Two days ago Erik and I had the opportunity to discuss some of these issues with Arivand-ji from URMUL TRUST. URMUL Trust is the parent organization to URMUL Samiti. Arivand-ji had been with URMUL Trust since it’s inception in 1986, and before that he had been working with URMUL Dairy as a government servant, so he has more than 30 years of experience with development work in India. The meeting was extremely helpful and informative. Arivand-ji told us that the role of NGO’s is now shifting as development shifts. In the 1980s and 1990s, NGO’s often had to take the role of delivering services-such as education and health care. But now, as the government has improved these services, the role of NGO’s should be to empower communities to know their rights and demand them. He told us that the goals that were set for URMUL 10-15 years ago are met, and so now it is important to restructure and reanalyze the organization, its strengths, needs, and goals. All of the organizations in the URMUL family believe that change must come from the community. Arivand-ji told us that in the beginning they invited any of the local community to come and talk about what their community needed and wanted-that all voices were heard and valued. This still continues today as a big part of URMUL’s work is empowering local leaders to advocate for their communities.

Some of the challenges that URMUL faces are funding, capacity, and technology. First, funding is an issue because URMUL is always reliant on outside donors to provide the funding for their programs to continue and exist. Arivand-ji stated that in the past 10 years or so, development funds to India have slowed because in the global community India is seen as a country on the rise-it even has millionaires. Arivand-ji also stated that in the past 10-5 years, the youth in countries like the Netherlands, which used to be one of the biggest donors, have started to demand their own rights and demand funds for services in their own country. Erik and I have also seen the power dynamic that exists between “richer/developed” countries that have the funds and “poorer/developing” countries that need the funds. (I intentionally put richer/developed and poorer/developing in quotes because I do not think these are accurate or helpful terms. First, the do not accurately describe the current situation. Second, there are “developing” parts of the “developed” countries. Third, the terms richer and poorer only refer to monetary status and not to other indicators of well-being. Fourth, the status of richer and poorer does not necessarily describe the situation for all of a country’s population-it is merely the GDP.) For example, the Save the Girl Child initiative that Erik and I were studying in Jaisalmer ran from January 2006-July 2008, but then finished because funding ended. During this two-year period over 150 villages were organized and worked in by URMUL staff. The relationships were built, the seeds for change were planted, but now the project has stopped. Even though URMUL staff maintains relationships with the villages, they need funding to continue the work. When Erik and I met with Dr. Meeta Singh a couple of weeks ago, she stated that she really thinks that now is the moment when change can take place, but the moment has to be seized. For the project to be sustainable, villages need longer-term contact, but this isn’t possible without more funds. And the people who hold the power to more funds are in other “developed” countries. To me this creates an unfair and unjust model of development. I am not sure exactly how to change it, but I don’t know if as long as the “developing” world has to rely on the “developed” world for funds and support if sustainable development will ever take place. I do believe in international solidarity, but it is my opinion that making “developing” countries ask for money and support from “developed” countries is a continuation of colonization and a perpetuation of a hierarchical world order. There is an unjust power imbalance. I’m not sure if my feelings on this are correct or not, but I do think that their needs to be a new model of development. I’m not sure really what that would consist of, but development has been evolving the last 50 years and I think its time for it to evolve again.

All of these complex tensions were highlighted again for Erik and I yesterday when URMUL was visited by Lord Nigel Crisp and Lady Sian Crisp from London, England. Lord Nigel Crisp is the chairman of the UK based organization, Sight Savers International that works on eye-care around the world. Their slogan is “Saving Sight, Changing Lives.” URMUL Samiti was chosen for the visit out of 42 Sight Savers projects in 5 states of India. So, it was a huge privilege for the URMUL staff, and especially the field workers that work in the area of eye-care that they were chosen as an example of a Sight Savers success story. In preparation for the visit URMUL was cleaned, a “special” breakfast was prepared (and by this, I mean there were things that are presumed to be Westerner breakfast items-some of which are true, some of which are not-like fruit, tea bags with sugar cubes (not masala chai, like we normally drink), potato chips, and biscuits (cookies, but the Brits like to call them biscuits, and so Indians do too)), chair were set up meeting hall (we normally all sit on the floor cross-legged), bottled waters were bought (we normally drink well water), and orange juice was served (We NEVER have fruit juice, because it is too expensive). It was interesting being an “outsider” on the “inside” for this experience. You could feel the nervous and excited energy from all of the URMUL staff upon the arrival of the Lord and Lady. With them were also Elizabeth, the head of Sight Savers India, and 4 gentlemen from the regional Sight Savers office in Jaipur, Rajasthan. After a power-point presentation highlighting the history of URMUL and the progress of the Sight Savers program at URMUL, we had tea and the “breakfast” and then went on some field visits. Erik and I asked to and were allowed to tag along! We first visited a village and were led to a big dirt hole. When we got there a young man was pointed out to us. He was working alongside all the other workers, but the difference with him was that he held a stick to find his way. He is blind and before URMUL started working on eye-care in 2004, this man had just been sitting at home. Now, he is able to participate in work, contribute to the income of his family, and he has been a source of pride for the community and an inspiration to other blind and handicapped people in the community.

The first step of eye-care work in the communities is to set up diagnostic camps at schools and in the community to screen everyone and have their eyes checked. From there, some people are referred to hospitals. Some have eye surgery, some are able to recover without surgery and then those who are totally blind are worked with to increase mobility. This young man had been found during one of the screenings in his villages done by URMUL. Then, he was worked with one-on-one with an URMUL field worker to learn how to walk with a stick and get around independently. It was so amazing to see all of the pride in the fellow villagers as his story was told.

When we left the village one of the cars in the caravan got stuck in the sand, so we had to dig and push it out. Lord and Lady Crisp went to another village to meet a woman who URMUL works with. After that all of us visited Surjan Ram-ji’s village so that the visitors could see the weaving process. Erik and I also visited our friend Teena, who we met the last time we went to Surjan Ram-ji’s village. Teena is an amazing woman, who is tall, confident, hilarious, and full of life. She now calls us sisters and when we were about to leave, she made me stop so she could but makeup on me and give me a packet of bindis.

Then we made a stop at another village to meet a young boy of 14, Mahesh. Mahesh is totally blind and three years ago was diagnosed at one of the URMUL camps. After that he was assigned an URMUL teacher who started teaching him mobility as well as reading and writing Braille. He also helped get Mahesh enrolled in school, which until that time had been very hard since the school didn’t have the resources to teach a blind student. The URMUL field worker then started going to school with Mahesh to help the teacher, teaching Mahesh Braille, and also teach one family member and one peer group member to read and write some Braille. Two people in Mahesh’s life are being taught Braille so that he will have continued support when URMUL staff no longer works with him. This is in order to ensure the sustainability of the eye-care efforts. Mahesh also presented Lord and Lady Crisp with letters of welcome that he had prepared on his Braille maker. In just three years of working with URMUL, Mahesh has started going to school, has learned to read and write Hindi Braille, has started learning English Braille, has become the top student in his class, and has been able to read books for the first time in his life. Many members of the community gathered for the visit and I could see how much pride all of them had for Mahesh’s accomplishments. Mahesh said that this time with URMUL has taught him self-confidence. He also said that once he finishes school, he hopes to work with and teach other sight-impaired children how to read and write Braille.

After all these visits we headed back to URMUL, had some lunch (Indian style-the others went back to their hotel), and then said goodbye to the visitors. It was a really interesting visit-Erik and I were extremely impressed to see all the work that URMUL has done in the area of eye care and rehabilitation. But, we also felt conflicted about the power dynamic that existed between this Englishman and his organization holding the funds, and the URMUL staff hoping to receive them in order to continue their work.

Last night Avinash shared with us the photos from the day, the power-point presentation, and of course some Punjabi songs. This, of course, led to some Punjabi dancing!

Erik and I have also made the decision to extend our time with URMUL a couple of days to attend the annual URMUL meeting which will include staff from URMUL Trust and all the URMUL family organizations. We will travel to Bikaner with URMUL staff on December 6th attend the meeting and night time culture event and then head to Jaipur on December 7th for our semester wrap-up sessions.

Also, Erik and I are currently working on a proposal for Surjan Ram-ji, the chief executive of URMUL Samiti, to travel to the United States for a cross-cultural exchange. We are hoping to hold interactive discussions as well as exhibitions of the URMUL products. So far we have contacted our universities in Minnesota and California, as well as my home in Colorado. Everyone has expressed interest and enthusiasm. Now, we are just working on the funding side of things. If anyone is interested in helping plan/host an event/attend an event/be involved in the planning of this exciting opportunity, let me know.

Well, that’s all for now. As always, feel free to ask any questions or be in contact. Sending you and all of yours lots of love, happiness, and warmth from India.
Much love,
Hannah

Ps. I just realized that I didn’t answer the questions that some of you have asked about the bombings in Bombay. I really don’t know too much about everything, so yesterday I talked to some of the staff from the Sight Savers office in Jaipur. I asked them if they think the terrorists were from Pakistan or an internal group in India, or what they think the bombings were all about. George, the director of the Jaipur office, told me that what he believes has happened is that terrorism has shifted from being someone of militant groups with a purpose to becoming an industry. He says that terrorism is now an industry and that since nothing really seems to make sense and there are continuous, and somewhat small attacks, it seems to be driven by something else. He thinks that arms dealers are probably behind most of it, because if a war or armed conflict were to break out as a result of these bombings-like along the Pakistan-India border, then those who would benefit would be the arms producers and dealers. He also agreed with my opinion that the only reason that British and American passports were being checked was to arouse attention in those and other Western countries. Immediately after I heard that Westerners were being targeted, I looked at the numbers of those killed and found that out of 183 killed, 23 were foreigners. While this is extremely tragic-as any death is-for their families as well as all communities, I do not think that foreigners were targeted for any reason other than to get media coverage in those countries. As George mentioned, and I agree with this, we have to look at these bombings from deeper perspectives and not just on the surface. We have to ask the questions like, why was only one of the terrorists kept alive, and why as soon as he was caught did he start reveling information?; How did all of the anti-terrorists officials happen to arrive at the same time together?; Why was it at the Taj?; Why was it at the scale it was at?; Where did the weapons come from?, etc.
As I have said, I really don’t have very much information on the bombings, and so I am of course open to hearing other opinions and standpoints. However, I do think George is correct to say that we need to think critically about these attacks and not just respond out of rash emotions or racial and religious stereotypes and scapegoating.
Whatever the case may be, these are serious and important issues for all of us as a world community to look at, study, and deeply and compassionately analyze.