Hotel Pakistan (Part 2)

Readers please forgive my absence from this blog. I have had a very busy, Internet-free couple of weeks. But I would like to continue right where I left off. Last time we talked about the fun side of visiting the Indian/Pakistani border. I would now like to share with you some of the work that I did while I was there.

The first and highest priority village I went to was Sonalnagar which is currently finishing all of its bio-gas plants. If you are not familiar with bio-gas plants they are concrete structures that enable the user to utilize their own resources for cooking. These natural resources are mainly cow and buffalo feces, and considering many people in the Kutch district are involved with animal husbandry there is no short supply of fuel. This cost effective method saves the average user about half of their monthly income that would have been spent on alternative fuels and fertilizers. It also saves countless hours as the villagers no longer have to search for fuel and can spend their day working and generating more income for their families.

In addition to cooking needs there are very serious water needs. The villages of Guher, Sagunguna, Haji-Bhachudiwandh, Kapurashi, and Khengarpar all need water for various reasons but they all boil down to the same thing. Life. I have always been told that water is the essential element to life. But I was told that in an environment where I could go to the faucet, play in the rain, and even drink from some rivers and creeks. This is certainly not the case here and in Social Change last semester, Professor Jehan Raheem told us that one of the next major resource wars will be for water (Canada has the lion's share when it comes to water) and being here it is easy to see why. The people here are dependant on water for their livelihood and their lives and have not even a fraction of the access that we in developed nations have to this precious resource.

When I return home to Arkansas I plan to float the beautiful and majestic Buffalo River. However this time I will not take it for granted and I will certainly be thinking of those in Kutch who do not have this basic life necessity.

A Fool In the Rain

Continuing with my Classic Rock themed titles I thought I would share a little introspection I had today with you all. Can you imagine going 6 and a half months without seeing a drop of the wet stuff. I know in Arkansas that would be impossible. But today when I was walking home from my workout it began to rain, on June 18, for the first time this year. People's livelihood depends on this rain that only comes once a year and stays just a short while. Tough to imagine driving over the I-30 bridge in Little Rock and seeing the Arkansas River completely dried up but this is the reality that people are faced with everyday here.

This is a river one month out of the year.

So while I enjoyed the Led Zeppelin playing in my head while walking home I also realized that this rain was serious business.

Hotel Pakistan (Part 1)

For those of you following me on Twitter, you know that I posted that I was going to an "interesting border area" on Sunday. Well I purposely left out which border area to reduce potential worries that I could not quell due to my lack of communication abilities. If you could not guess I went to the Indian/Pakistani border. Needless to say it was the trip of a lifetime and if I was to make one blog posting about it you all would be very angry at its length. So the first installment will be all about the trip and the sites unrelated to work that I saw. The second installment will be all about the amazing work that took place on this four day journey. Enjoy!

The trip began on Sunday night at 10:00. Qeetaben, Juslaben (the translator, more on that to come), and myself boarded a non-AC sleeper bus. For those of you that have not traveled this way I highly recommend it. You sleep with the windows open underneath the night sky and the gentle rumble of the engine will lull you to sleep. Unless you take into account the horn of the bus that pierces the night air to let other drivers know, "I am a bus, I am big, I win, get out of my way". Or, since the windows are open, watch out for sandstorms (not the the rave song). At about 1:30 in the morning I was awoken to the sensation of sand hitting my face through the open window (See picture below). The storm got so bad that the buses stopped so I walked outside to snap another pic and just to say that I had been in a sandstorm.

After 8 hours we finally arrived in the city of Bhuj in the Kutch district to board another bus for the two hour drive to the SEWA district office. After grabbing some sleep on my bed for the next four days (a thin mattress on the floor) we headed out to the villages for some amazing work. At the conclusion of the second day my translator asked if I would like to go see a Hindu temple. I did not know what a treat this would be. The temple she was referring to was 2,500 years old and was one of the holiest sites in the Hindu religion (Pictures are not allowed to be taken inside). In addition to that it was literally on the Pakistani border separated only by a small "sea'' as my translator called it. It was surreal being next to such a peaceful place knowing that only a few hundred feet away was a country at war with the Taliban. A country filled with strife, pain, and suffering caused by hatred and extremism.

Anyway, as I walked to take a picture of the temple from the dock I was stopped by two Border Security Enforcement Officers, who were mainly curious as to where I was from but showed little emotion, and they proceeded to tell me the whole history of the temple and its significance. The next and final day I went out to more villages but this time actually stepped foot on Pakistani soil as told to me by my translator. The village that we visited was literally on the border and was so remote that it did not even warrant border police (Although I did see the Border Enforcement office on the way back). It was truly an awesome experience.

The land border between India and Pakistan

This concludes 'Hotel Pakistan Pt. 1'. Please stay tuned for the Part 2 detailing all the important work that took place over the last four days in amazing area of the world. And go Penguins!!!

A Short Blogging Hiatus

Dear Loyal Readers,
As work dictates sometimes I must go out on field visits far away from Ahmedabad and my beloved Internet. This is week will be such an occasion. I will be traveling to the Kuch district about 8 hours away and do not know of the Internet situation. But fear not readers as I will have plenty to blog about when I return from this desert wonderland they call Kuch. See you soon.

-JDS

She Thinks My Tractor's Useful

Today was 'America to the Rescue' day. First, there was me, bringing school supplies and developing projects in the Anand district of Gujarat. Secondly there was that great American hero of industry and agriculture, Mr. John Deere.

On our way out to the first village of Devpura to inspect their need for a motorized handpump to access ground water we embarked on a desert road filled with, what do you know, sand. So the brave band of soldiers we were, embarked in our Mahindra Jeep down said road. Halfway through we got stuck. So the ladies said that the driver can deal with it and we can go ahead and conduct our work while he gets the Jeep out. So we walked up to this beautiful village and nursery. As we were walking we noticed a very large group of women meeting underneath a gigantic tree. No big deal I thought because SEWA regularly organizes large meetings with the village women. However, when we walked closer my translator told me that they were a group of women that SEWA had flown in from Kabul, Afghanistan and they were educating them on to start grassroots organizations. The women greeted me and the very first question they asked me was "What country?". At first I was a little hesitant to respond but being the true blooded 'Merican that I am, I proudly responded "America". They all began to smile and greet me one by one. It was a truly unique experience.

A little side story. In January of 2009 SEWA opened an office in Kabul to teach women about self-reliance and grassroots income so that they could provide for themselves and their families especially since many of their husbands had been either killed by the Taliban or their husbands were fighting with the Taliban and had gone underground to avoid coalition forces and continue fighting. Since January of 2009 three separate women on three separate occasions have served as suicide bombers exploding devices attached to themselves inside the SEWA office. Yet, the staff and members of SEWA remained undeterred and unwavering in their fight to enhance the status of women and enable them to become self-sufficient and independent if need be.

Now back to something a little less serious. We continued with our work at Devpura and finished up in about thirty minutes. When it was time to leave I learned that the Jeep was still stuck. The translator either said that we have to push or they will send someone. I said why not just use one of the tractors. At that exact moment, like the P-51 Mustangs coming over the heads of stranded soldiers in WWII, a beaming green John Deere tractor came over the hill and was coming to our rescue. So I hopped on board the tractor with my driver and the tractor driver towards our stranded vehicle (Which the notion of me doing was apparently funny to the women). Once we got to the Jeep the real fun began as you will see in the video. Also I helped dig out the video which was also funny to everyone. I will figure out why me doing labor is funny to people here sooner or later. Flat also made an appearance to try and help but he mainly just lounged in the shade.

Few of you may know that I have over 200 hours on a tractor both from my job at a golf course and my job last summer. But I left it to the experts on this one.

A Big Thank You

I would like to thank everyone who donated to my project throughout the recent months and all those who will give. I am pleased to announce that we have received the funds here in Ahmedabad for the first part of my project, the Khod water tank. This 100,000 liter water tank provides water for the entire village including drinking, bathing, and sanitary water. The tank recently became unsanitary as massive cracks that had, developed comprimising the quality of the water. Women and young girls were having to walk two hours every two hours to fetch water for their family and their basic needs.

Because of your support Women are now able to have jobs bringing in more income to the household and young girls can now have a chance at an education. I thank you and the people of Khod thank you. But there is much work yet to be done. To find out more about my project and the great work that 1Well does please go to http://www.1well.org/ or click the link at the top left of the menu bar on this blog. Here are some pictures of Khod and what you have helped to fix.

Notice the animals bathing literally 25 feet from the drinking water supply. I assure there was no shortage of flys either.

A Day in The Park

So after my initial debacle with the gym regulars, I have now become one of the regulars to the gym and to the park. All the guys want to hang out and still want me to spot them on the bench press or hold their feet for sit-ups, which I gladly do. Yesterday I decided to take my camera and show you the work-out group and the a little bit of the park that the gym is in. It is a beautiful, litter free area which is a nice reprieve from everyday Ahmedabad. Enjoy.

This same motley crew greeted me only days prior with not-so-happy looks when they thought I wanted to "throw another shrimp on the barbie".

One of the trails in the park.

A lily covered pond with some palms in the back. According to the guys at the gym this is the equivalent to 'lover's lane' or 'lookout point'.

O How the World Works

I post this entry with hesitation knowing that my parents and others will worry about safety, but I want to stress that there is nothing to worry about and that this story has a very happy outcome. I also thought it was important because it occurred on the same day as Obama's "Cairo Speech".

For those of you abreast of international news recently, in Australia there was a group of 5 Indian students severely beaten by a group of Australians. This has obviously caught traction and drawn much outrage here in India. Keep this in mind.

So on Monday I realized that I was in a competition to lose the most weight out of the group of guys so I said to myself, "Its time to get serious". I knew there was a park about half a mile down the road so I thought I would give it a whirl. Boy did I ever. On my last lap however I noticed off to the side of the park but still in it, was a room with weights. The group in there seemed to be a group of males in their late teens, early twenties and a pretty exclusive group at that. But I figured that the park was free so I would give it a try next time I came back to the park.

Fast forward to today. I get to the park and start to stretch outside of the gym. I am getting the regular stares that I get on a daily basis. Also the the same group of guys were there that were there on Monday. They started getting together and pointing at me with not so pleasant looks on their faces. I ignored it and kept listening to my iPod. A minute went by and there was now ten guys staring at me conversing. Then they began walking over to me with the same stern looks on their faces. So I took my earbuds out waiting to hear what they were going to say. The leader of the group, said" WHAT COUNTRY?!!! AUSTRALIA?!!!". Immediately my Twitter sense went into overdrive and I knew what they were pissed about. I said, "America". To which he replied inquisitively, "Obama?". I said, "Yes Obama". They all began to smile, give me high-fives, and invited me into the gym where they all wanted me to be their partner and try every exercise with them. When I left, no joke, they all gave me a round of applause and thanked me for coming. One invited me tomorrow to meet him at 6:00 to work out.

While I doubt seriously that this event had anything to do with Obama's speech, since these guys were Hindi and probably did not see the speech, the moral of this long story is that America has done a 180 degree turn from all accounts, in our international standing. People are not seeing us as war-mongers but rather as progressive and diplomatic. It also does not hurt when the guys at the gym have American flag patches on all their clothes and pictures of WWF stars such as John Cena. I hope you all are inspired and I am as always, proud to be an American.

This characteristic of understanding an open-mindedness are essential to becoming a 'global citizen' in today's global society. The message that President Obama expressed yesterday should and does not apply just to the Muslim world but to the world as a whole. With that I am off to the gym with my new workout companions.

The Hokey Pokey

I entitled this article "The Hokey Pokey" because it describes, 'what it is all about'. Yesterday I went the slums of Ahmedabad to visit the Hamare Bachche Program which means "Our Children".

In 2002 a group of about 500 Muslims attacked a train car carrying Hindu pilgrims here in Ahmedabad. 58 men, women, and Children were killed. This caused such an outrage that between February and May of 2002, officials estimate that over 1,000 people (predominantly Muslims) were killed (Although some estimates range as high as 2,000). The result was that many husbands and fathers were killed leaving many Shantibens (Widows) without a husband, although it is important to note that the women are not called widows and the translation of 'Shanti' means 'Women in Peace' and 'ben' means 'Sister', and children without a father. Also the families were left without a primary wage earner forcing some to relocate to lesser conditions and some children to have to work as young as 10 forgoing their education of course.

So yesterday I went and visited many of these families to deliver checks to them from funds that had been raised by 1Well and its amazing donor base. These funds pay for all aspects of a child's education. I will give you one example of the many I encountered yesterday.

Shakiliben is 30 years old. She has 3 children; Farhana, 18, Ilran, 16, and Irzwan, 13. Their father was killed in the riots forcing Shakiliben to work in a fabric factory for 50 Rupees a day or one dollar a day. Her daughter, Farhana is too old to attend any school other than college which they simply cannot afford so she rolls incense sticks everyday for 10 Rupees a day. All together that means that this household of four survives on 1,800 rupees per month. Now subtract the 1,000 Rupees for rent each month and the 800 (16 dollars) does not go so far for food and clothing, much less the 2,500 Rupees/year for Irzwan's school or the 10,000 Rupees/year for Ilrfan's hostel which feeds, shelters, and educates him or for Faarhana's medical expenses for her stomach condition. In fact Ilrfan,up until SEWA and 1Well became involved, would go to school from 7-12 and then go to work the rest of the day to help supply income to his family. He told me that he wants to go to technical school and become a computer programmer.

These children are made fun of by their peers for not having the same uniforms, lunch boxes, or even a slate board which they all are required to have. The teachers publicly chastise the children in front of their peers and in one case a nine year old girl was made to stand out in the sun everyday for an hour for fifteen days for non-payment of fees. In case you have not seen my blog before the heat index can reach up to 130 degrees. So this work being done by SEWA and 1Well is absolutely essential to ensure that all children have an equal chance to succeed . Yesterday I was able to witness that chance being given to Shakiliben and her family and that is what it is all about.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette Article

Recently several of my classmates and I were interviewed by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for a story about the unique aspect of the Clinton School curriculum known as the International Public Service Project. It is a great article and if you would like to read it please click below.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/260988/