Day 7 - Sooch Village

We spent part of today taking videos of the volunteers talking to the individual children to send back to each child’s sponsor. We thanked the sponsor and give them a little update about their child. The children weren’t quite comfortable with us yet so it was hard to get them to open up. We then rounded all of the housemothers up like we did at Rourkela and after thanking them for their tremendous work with the children, we gave them each nail polish. Purple seemed to be the favorite color but the women were so gracious, insisting the house mother next to her choose her color preference first. Most of them immediately began putting the polish on with big grins on their faces.

I got to know the kids more today. We brought out the coloring books, stickers and pipe cleaners we had bought. The kids go crazy over what may seem like little stuff like this. I was instantly surrounded by dozens of kids begging for a simple pipe cleaner. Hands outreached, begging “Uncle” “Uncle” and pulling at my arms. Funny thing was, they had no idea what to do with them. I made a quick pair of eyeglasses out of them and put them on. Big mistake. The kids now all wanted me to make them a pair. The idea was to get them to be creative and make things out of them. Instead, I was like the guy who makes balloon animals at the country fair as the kids lined up to have me make something for them. Every one wanted spectacles. We also had temporary tattoos which were a huge hit, especially with the boys.

I brought out the several pair of drum sticks I had brought with me along with a couple of egg shakers. I made a makeshift drum set out of a two liter water bottle mostly filled with water (the bass) an empty plastic peanut butter jar partially filled with water (snare), a steel kettle, a steel plate (china symbol), plastic bowl and I set it up next to two PVC pipes running out of the building and a plastic trash can that I could beat on. It made a pretty decent set. The children really had no idea what I was doing at first as I set it all up. As I started playing, about 60 of them crowded around in amazement. I handed out a couple of pair of the extra sticks that I brought and a shaker and got the children into the action. Eventually, I handed all of the drumsticks over to the children and stepped back to watch the chaos. It wasn’t long before they had a pretty decent beat going. I left the sticks behind for the kids, likely to the dismay of the housemothers who will now have to deal with the kids beating on everything in the house!  Video here of them playing.

It was time to start preparing Sooch for Diwali. Lights were placed around each of the 11 home doors as well as the main admin building. We then filled 100 small clay pots with oil and a wick. The pots are placed at the highest point of the house so all of the rooftops were lined with them. The village looked great after dark with all of the string lights and candles. Next up: Ice Cream and sweets time! We brought in ice cream from the town 30 minutes away. As the kids were chowing down, I snuck off to set up the firework display. After they all ate, they were escorted to a field next to my set up. We handed out sparklers to everyone….they loved it. It was then time for the “big” show. I used sparklers to beginning shooting up bottle rockets. The fuses were almost non-existent, each only about half an inch long. Just as I touched the flame to the fuse, it shot off, shooting sparks right by my head. The housemothers came over and got into the action, lighting off fireworks with laughing uncontrollably. The closer the fire rockets came to hitting someone, the harder they laughed. It was so great to watch them cut loose tonight.

Later on after the fireworks, I was walking down the walkway to the main gathering area and noticed 5 girls sitting in a circle singing a song (in complete darkness). I quietly took a seat next to them and listened. Their little voices were perfectly harmonized. I pulled out my camera, flipped it to video and began to record the sounds. I then closed my eyes and let their soft Hindi verses take me away. Beautiful.

Over at the prayer hall (an outdoor gazebo where a lot of the home gatherings take place), music and dancing had ensued. The younger girls showed off some contemporary moves as the housemothers enjoyed classic Indian line dancing. Everyone was having a blast.

This trip has emphasized more than ever that with a loving, nurturing environment, happiness follows. Material possessions don’t factor into the equation. There is happiness all around here. A one year old playing endlessly with a bottle cap he found, another boy running around with a piece of thread tied to a kite made out of sticks and a plastic bag, hoping for just a little gust of wind to lift his creation into the air, even if just for a second. Another, with a well-worn matchbox car, tied to what looked to be several threads of material joined together, pulling the car through the dirt. All enjoying themselves, as all children should. Such a different life than living a day-to-day existence because of poverty, begging on the streets, laboring for a few rupees a day or worse yet, lured into child trafficking or prostitution.

The woods surrounding the Sooch Village home are filed with tribal villagers. As Sooch quieted for the evening, I could hear them beating on drums in the dark night. All around us, invisible in the night except for an occasional flashlight, were thousands of villagers. We had hoped to head into town to check out the local Dewali celebration. Unfortunately, we were advised to stay within Sooch’s walls due to the Naxal activity in the area. Many of them live just outside of the ashrams gates.

Day 8 - Sooch Village

As we have seen at Rourkela and Sooch, the older children take on a parenting role. Ravi is the oldest boy at Sooch and is an example. At age 8, he has become one of the leaders. Without prompting, he quickly steps in as a father figure, retaining order, disciplining the younger ones who are out of line, assisting the staff and housemothers with every request. Santosh, also one of the oldest plays the same role. Today he and half a dozen other kids were building goal posts for their futbol field. After digging holes with a stick tied onto a spike, they used three long branches, to create a regulation size goal.

After some more quality time with the children, it was time to say our goodbyes. All of the children came out of their individual homes walking in a straight line over to the main admin building were we were preparing to get into our car. Silently, all 150 of them stood in front of us, some with a few tears in their eyes. We said thank you and goodbye and we were off, waving hands fading in the distance.

Today, we are to go back to Delhi. The Naxal influence is affecting a number pieces of the communication and transportation infrastructure in the areas in which they are active. A strike by the airline workers caused our original flight to be canceled. Barbara (our travel coordinator) quickly had us on another airline a couple of hours later. Barbara is a travel star. Throughout this trip, she coordinated everything: Every flight, every car, every hotel, every meal, confirming reservations and booking new ones when flights got canceled. From a travel logistics standpoint, this is the easiest trip I have ever taken. I didn’t have to think about a thing when it came to the travel. Barbara made what could have been an uncomfortable situation in a very foreign country very easy.  We split with Barbara in Ranchi and Amy, Susan and I hopped the flight back to Delhi. Barbara is staying India for another week completing work at some of the homes.

Day 9 - Delhi

Tonight, I sit in a hotel in Delhi…my last night in India. Susan and Amy are catching a late night (early morning) 4am flight back to the states so they stayed in the Delhi airport. As I sit in the Delhi hotel restaurant after once again an amazing meal, it’s 1:30am. I am alone and able to begin to silently process the last 9 days. All of the children I have come to know, the extraordinary house mothers and home directors who make this all possible, the amazing people I have met throughout my travels. This trip has been everything I hoped and more. Chai tea in the states will never be as good as the one I currently sip. I will miss the great India breakfasts, the Nescafe coffees (I don’t even like coffee!), but most profoundly, the hundreds of children that I have come to know and the amazing house mothers at Rourkela and Sooch Village.

Day 10 - Delhi

Delhi, like all of India’s large cities, tells two tales.  That of economic advancement and prosperity and that of utter poverty, living literally side by side.  Outside of my relatively posh hotel window, an untouchable woman sweeps the adjacent alley, as a monkey walks across a fence behind her, a rundown and abandoned apartment building sits empty except for the squaters living in its shadow.  Tall skyrises look down on slums housing millions.

I had breakfast in the hotel before heading out to explore.  As I sipped my chai and ate my uttapam and aloo bhaj, my eyes scanned the room.  Europeans and Americans tourists milled about, fresh stringed marigolds placed around their necks, fanny packs and cameras in tow, picking out the most Western food they could recognize from the buffet.  Western businessmen prepared for a day at the office.   I found myself yearning for the home cooked breakfast of the housemothers, the smell of the open fire heating the morning coffee at Rourkela, the children peering into our dining area waiting for us to come out to play with them.   I missed the cities of Ranchi and Rourkela, where a Westerner was not to be seen for days, the locals going about their business while we peered in on their world.  I wanted to go back to my room and go back to bed rather that visit the markets I feared would be populated with Westerners trying to haggle, or the sites I had on my list to check out that would likely be filled with tourists. 

As I hit the streets, it felt like India again.  Busy, congested, full of color and life.  I walked several blocks around Connaught Circle towards a couple of large markets that I had heard about.  Along the way, street vendors filled the air with the smell of spice.  In Delhi, I got approached more often by someone trying to get me to go into their store, use their taxi or cut me a special deal “just for me” than I had in the rural cities.   I purused Janpath, the Tibetan Market and the underground Palinka market, which sold handcrafts, materials and saris, jewelry, shoes and clothing.  I also went into Central Cottage Industries Emporium, which has all fixed pricing (versus haggling at the street vendors).   I picked up some dresses, bindis (beaded stickers that Indians stick on their forehead between their eyes) and anklets for my girls, a couple of scarves from some hard bargaining tribal woman lining a back alley, a hand carved drum that I was pretty impressed with (got him down to $16US).  I think I did pretty well with haggling which is not only accepted, it’s expected and part of the process.  Both parties in the transaction need to feel satisfied with their efforts and the outcome.

After a quick lunch, I headed back out towards The Red Fort only to find it was closed on Mondays so I had the driver take me to South Delhi to Hauz Khas, a relaxed setting of thin alleys sided with contemporary Indian art galleries, upscale boutiques, antique shops and rooftop cafes.  Also in the area are a set of ruins and tombs from the thirteen hundreds which was pretty cool to walk through.  I wound down with a beer at a contemporary hip bistro and some dinner before my waiting cab took me back to the hotel to grab my luggage and on to the airport for my 11pm flight back to the states. 

What an amazing trip this has been.  To see and interact with such smart and positive children in a truly humbling environment, to see such diverse Indian culture, from the cities to the hillsides, from the traditional to the tribal, crossing many religions and cultural boundaries, the bright colors and ornate dressing of the woman regardless of class or status, the chaotic roads, filled with cars, trucks, pedestrians, rickshaws, motorcycles, cows, chickens, water buffalo and goats, the train through the country, the added unknown of the Naxalites activities and the celebration of Dewali “The Festival of Lights”.

I’ve heard people say “You can leave India but India never leaves you”…now I know exactly that they mean.

Why India? Why Miracle Foundation? What made you decide to do this?

Understandable questions. 25 million orphans are living in India—a number equivalent to the population of the entire state of Texas. An estimated 31% of children in India surviving past the age of one will die before the age of five. Children shouldn't have to suffer due to the environment that they were born into. Every child deserves a chance...from the basic needs of survival: food, shelter, health care and a nurturing environment continuing through the chance for education and opportunities.

The Miracle Foundation is local to Austin, transparent and doesn't profit on "voluntoursim". Their low overhead and track record of success means they are truly making a difference.

From a personal perspective, in addition to the impact of making a difference in a child's life, I expect an experience such as this that is outside of my comfort zone to not only be a challenge, but to be a life changing experience.

When most of us, including myself, see a movie such as Hotel Rwanda, or Slumdog Millionaire; watch a news story about an earthquake in another country that may have killed thousands and displaced tens of thousands more or the devastation of the 2004 Asian tsunami; or when we view a program about the poverty and despair in parts of Africa, how do we feel and how do we react? At best, we may think just for a few minutes how horrible it must be to be affected by such an event or how impossible living through such a situation must be. But as quickly as those thoughts emerge, they disappear. The fact is, most of us have never experienced anything close to the magnitude of this level of tragedy, desperation or despair. It is simply unimaginable, and incomprehensible to us and understandably so. We often almost subconsciously deny in a way, the fact that the event or scenario is even reality. As a result, such scenes in truth-based movies or horrific news stories are easily dismissed as we quickly go back to our own reality, to our own way of life, our own struggles. This, I am not comfortable with and is one of the compelling reasons to go on the journey I am about to make.

Toddlers sleeping alone on busy street curbs, just feet from the traffic rushing by, children that should be playing or in school, instead begging passersby for money, kids digging through trash cans in the rail station that they call home in the hopes of finding anything of value. Girls sold into the sex trade at age 12. Living conditions for millions of children and adults consist of a propped up piece of tin as a shelter, no running water and a ditch running down the street that serves as a bathroom. These are realities I will likely see within the first hours of arriving in India. Although I realize that, it is still hard to truly grasp. I think that to see such a different environment, such a different way of life, such a different kind of struggle than we face every day, is important and will impart an ability to view the world in a different light: To truly understand a little better the struggles that so many people go through.

I am not referring to a need to put my life into perspective, or to make me feel better about my surroundings. It’s also not about returning home and feeling guilty for what I have. Although I will undoubtedly benefit from this experience, this is not simply a self-serving excursion. There are a lot of things both in our communities as well as in our world that we can affect, even in just a small way. The more we understand, the more we have experienced and the broader views we develop, the better enabled we are to both comprehend and influence the world in which we live. I expect to return with both this new found perspective, but also knowing I have made a difference in the well being of a child’s life.

Unrest in Ranchi

An violent terrorist organization called the Naxalites have been active in Ranchi, Jharkhand, the part of India which I will be visiting.    The anti-government group brutally beheaded Jharkhand's police inspector on today.  The Naxals (or Maoists) claim to represent the tribes and poor of India and are against the perceived neglect, degradation and corruption of the government.  In response to the esculating violence, the Central Government is embarking on a major offensive against the Naxals.  This could add a little excitement to my already adventurous trip.
More info on the Naxals click here

Miracle Foundation Ambassadors video

Here is a new video that was recently released about the Miracle Foundation Ambassadors who have visited India.

Trip Itinerary

My final Itinerary has been confirmed and we've changed some things:

Depart Austin Oct 10th 10:30am

Arrive Delhi Oct 11th 8:15pm (14 hour flight from Newark to Delhi)
Spend the night in Delhi

Oct 12th - Domestic flight from Delhi to Ranchi. From Ranchi, I will take a train through rural India 3.5 hours to Rourkela.

Oct 13th through 15th - 30 Miles north of Rourkela in the small town of Birmitrapur is the Rourkela Home for Children which houses 100 children.

Oct 16th - train back to Ranchi and Scooch Village - home to 95 children, many under 6. Scooch is made of up 20 cottages set up family style each with their own kitchens and bathrooms. Many of the children here come from the nearby tribal villages. Scooch Village has a large cricket field so I hope to learn the sport.

At Scooch, we will be getting ready for one of the biggest Hindu festivals, Diwali. This festival is celebrated for five continuous days, with the third day being celebrated as the main Diwali or 'Festival of Lights'. The day is filled with candles (called diyas), fireworks and celebrations. This is going to be such a treat to be a part of!

Oct 17th - Diwali celebrations!

Oct 18th - I leave Sooch in the afternoon to fly back to Delhi

Oct 19th - Spend the day in the Delhi area with a late night flight back to Austin

Oct 20th - Arrive back in Austin for rest and reflection.

The Convention on the Rights of a Child

In 1990, The United Nations ratified The Convention on the Rights of a Child.  The Convention acknowledges that every child has certain basic rights including the right to education, health care, and protection from abuse.  In 2000, two additional protocols were adopted prohibiting the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.  193 countries have ratified the Convention including every member of the United Nations except Somalia and, believe it or not, the United States.   The Obama administration is said to be reviving efforts to advocate that the U.S. sign on the the global children rights treaty.
The rights of the child is one of the primary principles that the Miracle Foundation seeks to achieve for the children in their care.

India accounts for 21% of wordwide deaths of children under five

As indicated in this article from today's Times of India, the under five mortality rate is improving but over 1.8 million children under five still die each year in India.   Another nearly 1.7 million children over five die annually.  Most lose their lives from preventable or treatable illnesses.    There is still a lot to be done.

Details from Last Miracle Foundation trip

Here is a blog with some excerpts from the group that recently returned from India with the Miracle Foundation.  Click here.  6 weeks until I will be there!

Simdega Home for Single Mothers / Global Giving

I met with Barbara at the Miracle Foundation Friday to get some of my paperwork in order and to get some more details of the trip itinerary. We will be adding in a visit to the Simdega Home for Single Mothers. This home is in a tribal area of Jharkhand which is in one of the most impoverished regions of India and has one of the highest maternal/infant mortality rates in the country. Simdega Home provides pre-natal care, hospital births, formula, and immunizations for mothers and children.

The Miracle Foundation is trying to earn a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.com, a highly respected website which connects donors to causes that they care about. As part of the Global Open Challenge, the Miracle Foundation has until September 18th to raise enough money to earn them eligibility to continue to receive donations from the general public, private and corporate foundations through globalgiving.com. Money generated will go towards the Simdega Home for Single Mothers. Donate here

'The Weight of Silence' book review

I finished reading The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India last week. Shelley Seale does a superb job of putting a face and name to the children both inside the safe arms of the Miracle Foundation's outreach in India as well as those still living in harms way, on the streets and slums, often exploited and without simple basic needs. She spends quite a bit of time exploring, examining and explaining the plight of poverty in India and the challenges many families face: how we got there and possible ways out. It's full of startling and eye opening statistics. Heart wrenching at the same time heartwarming. Shelley does a great job of helping understand India as a whole. It’s not just a country of despair, but a resilient country full of possibilities; immersed in culture, faith, diversity, and a bursting economy. A tale of two countries where tremendous prosperity bumps up next to utter and absolute poverty. The Weight of Silence is also a story of hope: demonstrating successes of both organizations such as the Miracle Foundation, and the efforts of giving individuals but also the effects of policy and government change. A highly recommended and enlightening read. A word of warning: I take no responsibility if after reading the book, you feel the unstoppable pull to jump on a plane with me to the colorful country of India.

A New Perspective

When most of us, including myself, see a movie like Hotel Rwanda or Slumdog Millionaire; watch a news story about an earthquake in another country that may have killed thousands and displaced tens of thousands more or the devastation of the 2004 Asian tsunami; or when we view a program about the poverty and despair in parts of Africa, how do we feel and how do we react? At best, we may think just for a few minutes how horrible it must be to be affected by such an event or how impossible living through such a situation must be. But as quickly as those thoughts emerge, they disappear. The fact is, most of us have never experienced anything close to the magnitude of this level of tragedy, desperation or despair. It is simply unimaginable, and incomprehensible to us and understandably so. We often almost subconsciously deny in a way, the fact that the event or scenario is even reality. As a result, such scenes in truth-based movies or horrific news stories are easily dismissed as we quickly go back to our own reality, to our own way of life, our own struggles. This, I am not comfortable with and is one of the compelling reasons to go on the journey I am about to make.

Toddlers sleeping alone on busy street curbs, just feet from the traffic rushing by, children that should be playing or in school, instead begging passersby for money, kids digging through trash cans in the rail station that they call home in the hopes of finding anything of value. Girls sold into the sex trade at age 12. Living conditions for millions of children and adults consist of a propped up piece of tin as a shelter, no running water and a ditch running down the street that serves as a bathroom. These are realities I will likely see within the first hours of arriving in India. Although I realize that, it is still hard to truly grasp. I think that to see such a different environment, such a different way of life, such a different kind of struggle than we face every day, is important and will impart an ability to view the world in a different light: To truly understand a little better the struggles that so many people go through.

I am not referring to a need to put my life into perspective, or to make me feel better about my surroundings. It’s also not about returning home and feeling guilty for what I have. Although I will undoubtedly benefit from this experience, this is not simply a self-serving excursion. There are a lot of things both in our communities as well as in our world that we can affect, even in just a small way. The more we understand, the more we have experienced and the broader views we develop, the better enabled we are to both comprehend and influence the world in which we live. I expect to return with both this new found perspective, but also knowing I have made a difference in the well being of a child’s life.