So long it's been since I've visited you, dear blog! Not too many new updates are available this week (can you imagine no poojas!), but I do have a few stories to share. Last Wednesday, we went to a wedding reception with Soma and Mr. Mondal's wife, Mitali-auntie. The funniest part about that night was the unknowing walk to use the "Indian toilet," aka the side of the road, while some of the women jokingly flashed the torch-light on one another. Corby, a sweet 13-year old girl, escorted me around by holding my hand, urging me to sing "English song" for her. I was glad to have her help on that pitch-black walk to visit Mitali-auntie's uncle and the "Indian toilet."
Me, Mondira & Mitali-auntie at the wedding reception
Just this last Monday, a retired Planning Commissioner named Mr. Mustafi (I remember his name by thinking of King Mufasa from the Lion King) came to visit VSSU for one week. He is an older bald man who always carries toffees in his pocket for any children he meets. His smile is very sweet and as much as I enjoy his visit to VSSU, I will be glad to have his room next door vacated because I cannot sleep in the morning with his wheezing coughs and gas. Let's just say the rooms are definitely not sound proof. On the bright side, I have been able to meet the children in the government school adjacent to the Home for Children though, which has always seemed like a distant mystery because sadly, these children do not interact with the Ashok Nilay ones due to caste differences. I have also been able to visit the Ramakrishna Mission, another ashram for destitute children, located in Meetali-auntie's hometown. We took so many sweets and chai tea when we visited her Ma and bhai, or brothers. Can you say sugar rush?
Mitali-auntie's family
JNV Government School Visit with Mr. Mustafi
A day in the Life of Kelu (Monday- Saturday)
Guess which bed is mine?!
Our lovely bathroom and shower buckets!
Look at all those pretty cards on the wall!
9 am: start office by singing the Indian national anthem and drinking chai tea
Soma is hidden behind that behemoth computer...
1 pm: lunch-time (usually some variation of a potato curry and always, yes, you guessed it! rice!)
Most of those are potato curries!
4:30 pm: visit the children at Ashok Nilay on some days, but not before taking more chai...
6 pm: office work finishes so I have time to either go shopping in Lakshmikantapur, see the children, or relax
8:30 Dinner is served in the dining room
You've already seen the case studies from when I went on branch visits, so I'll give you a sneak-peak of the proposal Erin and I have prepared (but are currently in a bit of a rut). Besides these works, I am a beginning Hindi speaker (yay!) and a blogger on the side. This is how I'm spending a wee bit of my time in West Bengal: The Home for Children Proposal abstract:
Many of the children at VSSU's Home for Children (Ashok Nilay) dream of becoming nurses, teachers, or engineers to better their family's economic conditions and contribute to the advancement of society, but they have a difficult time finding the means to higher education due to the fact that they come from backgrounds of poverty and social backwardness. Our goal is to raise enough funds in coordination with [insert organization name] to offer scholarships that cover tuition and living expenses for the children living at Ashok Nilay who wish to pursue higher education. By doing so, the students studying at Ashok Nilay will become productive members of society who will generate economic activity for their communities and families. The project will be conducted and maintained in yearly stages to determine the number of children graduating from secondary school, wishing to attend university. As the oldest children are in class 9, there are still three years to develop the project and raise funds until they graduate.
You can see where the obvious glitch in the proposal is, located inside the brackets [insert organization name]. Once this hole is filled and we make that most-important partnership with a non-profit organization, we can begin to raise funds for these gifted children. What a happy, sunshiny day it will be when the children can have the opportunity for higher education where nothing existed before. Their happiness and well-being is reason enough to do this.
