A Sewing Lesson

The other night a few friends and I began to discuss education, ingenuity, and culture. How we as Americans are falling behind in education and intellect, yet how we continue to produce ingenuity- the new, the creative, the inspired. And we are puzzled and we commend ourselves. And it’s true, there are great minds here, but that is not what divides us. There is genius in every culture, in every race and in the expanse of the major religions. There are those who stand apart, because we can rightfully distinguish them as Great.

What we create, others perfect. What we envision and cultivate, others produce rapidly and with excellence. We create functionality and it is genius. But why? How do we continue to lead the world in progress and development, in simply foreword thinking? In the midst of a great recession, where true, Basic Need is Here; we are still prone to ingenuity. It is the fabric of our social character to dream and to aspire to something greater, because it’s possible. So we dream, whether individually or corporately, we strive. For in countries like India, mobility is not reality, it’s not even an ideal. There is no safety, no cushion in their financial state and so they look to be sustained and the solution is work. To work longer, to worker harder, and to work younger. It is in that same longer and harder and younger that we allotted the time to creative.

But look

things are changing. And in this one classroom hut, mobility is being institutionalized. This is REAL. It takes little to change the world. But it takes the most valuable possessions we own; our time and our money.

So Give. Whether you come or you donate, you’re not giving just HOPE, you’re giving New Life. There is no excuse, really. There is opportunity to do Good. Every moment is a decision to either do Good and in that choice, we are either sewing ourselves more tightly to that Good or we are separating ourselves even further from it.

Charity

The questions that surface when we are approached by Charity are numerous and varied. It is something personal, it requires us to think and give beyond ourselves. Because charity does not expect a payback, so we give with intent. And we expect results, we expect good to come from our effort. We expect generosity to be repaid with the currency of progress, of development, of health and wellness, with a smile and with unspeakable gratitude… .

But what I’ve learned is that often times our expectations fall far below what we envision. Its what we read about, its what we [only after the fact and once we have finally seen to calculated results] admire in the silent giver, the unnoticed servant.

Hosted a little fundraiser this weekend with some friends.

Here are some favorites from the photobooth

Thanks Everyone for the Support. All funds have gone

to our Project Rhino Learning Centers

This week and for the last few months I have been plagued by the question of uncertainty, what happens when a student walks away from our learning centers? We often call them ‘drop outs’, the connotation of which expresses one who has given up, who has thrown in the towel, one who is ungrateful and lacks motivation. And I would have said the same thing, but now I know their story, a story that explains why until now they have had no education… how do you communicate to a child or a family the Need for education and its fruitfulness when a child’s basic NEEDS are neglected?, but we have to Try, its the only way change will be come a discipline. And this why I am proud to say that we are dedicated to the Holistic treatment. It is remarkable to communicate to a community that they will be given education... yes, but that they will be given healthcare and nutrition, simply for showing up. That's the fun part of my job!

What I know of our students is their dedication and their gratefulness almost to the point of disbelief. “why?” they ask. Why would anyone care and what have I done to deserve this? And then, once we have satisfied the “why’s”, comes the “how?”. How do I balance this? How do I attend school, excel and still work to help feed my family and myself. How do I focus when my stomach pants for nourishment and I am sick from the leaky roof that drips and floods my room at night, that dares me to sleep and infests my body with impurity?

The struggles, the barriers are not common, they are not even believable until you go and you sit with a child. You sit across from their home, a home in the slums. Another terrible word and another misrepresented connotation. It is not dirt and grime or even scary. But within the walls of the slums there is genius and there is strength and there is the greatest display of endurance and resilience I have ever known, and I expect to ever know.

So, is there Hope? Absolutely. For if we refuse to hope then we diminish the ability to act and it is in movement that miracles take place. It is a partnership, a marriage of sorts, because without the two, we hobble and we stumble. We must believe, we must have faith and in that we have the confidence to Go, to Do. And it is in the doing that we find structure to our Faith.

I never knew the true value of education until now, for in our society if you are simply talented or hardworking, you will succeed. Yet to be given education freely, to be expected to participate in school and to be pursued. That is beautiful.

The obstacles might be many, the mountains of struggle seem too daunting to climb, and those who expect you to fail are a plenty. Yet no one can take away your right to education and therefore your right to live well… This is what we want for our learning center students and this is what we want to institute among the poor and disadvantaged communities of India. May our students know that it is their human right to pursue education, to deepen their understanding of the world in its fullness. And may we as administrators and teachers and leadership demand excellence and honesty and integrity in that which we teach and the knowledge we encourage our students to pursue.

Pieces

I sat with a good friend yesterday. Over dinner, we chatted for hours, those conversations that change who we are and in response the world changes, because forevermore we will approach it differently, a little more tenderly, and with an awareness of the other, calculating in the lives of those we have just come to know, whose circumstances humble us and where are only response is gratefulness.

Just some of my favorites from our Learning Centers

It seems funny now that I am back, I have had no shocking transition or acclamation process, yet in conversations such as those from yesterday I am coming to apply what I have learned in my time in India. Its like my 7 weeks of observation and engagement left me with pieces. Like a puzzle, my heart and mind and soul are a scattering of unidentifiable pieces. Yet as I am back these pieces are coming together. I think it will take a lifetime of piecing together, of rearranging, yet the picture will be made clear and in so doing I will be FULL. For in the perfecting of the puzzle, I will reconcile what it means to BE here in the land of plenty, of ingenuity, of progress and accessibility. Where all things are possible, where dreams become reality. I will reconcile who I am as one privileged with who I have come to admire, those who live without privilege and in so doing make life beautiful, because it is not about the menial, but it is about staking claim on what is real, what is worthy to die for. For faith, for family, for love, and for goodness.

I wont argue that ignorance is not bliss, it is, most of the time. To be guarded from pain, from heartache and need, to be blinded from suffering is quite a nice place to be. But there is only so long that we can live without this knowledge, without this understanding and yet still be complete and yet still be good stewards of that which we have.

Katabon Learning Center Students [December 2010]

I will stand and I will argue and I will fight for this great country, because that is what we are GREAT. But we are not perfect… we are far from it. All is at our disposal and all is accessible. We define what is good and what is bad, what is success and what is failure. We establish the movement, spark the revolutions. And it is in this, this role as leader that we have great responsibility. As a country we recite and claim to attend to some of the most beautiful and idealistic notions of human rights. To be free, simply for Being. To be heard, simply because you have a voice. To be granted the right of happiness, simply because we recognize it has a human entitlement.

The Soles of My Feet

So, since my arrival in Kolkata I’ve had this irritating nuisance. Often times leading to light harassment by the team in the office, or utter embarrassment when I discover the children of the slum schools are uninterruptedly starring at my dirt stained feet. I scrub and rub and wash Daily, but nothing has cleaned me from the dirt smudges that coat the soles of my feet. But what I’m coming to discover is that I don’t want it to be washed away. It is the India with me, the India that never leaves me. It is the India that leads me.

I have never gone hungry, yet you feed me.

Your stomach pants for nourishment, yet you give. Though it is simple, you are unashamed.

Though there is little, you take care to be excellent. Hours of preparation, of meticulous grinding and measuring of spices for the enjoyment of others. Whether I am a well planned out visitor or a last minute guest, you welcome me as one expected and you bathe me in care and attention.

thanks for the photo Lizzie!

I miss you now; now that I am gone and I look forward to greeting you someday soon as my old friend.

Finger Food

So I sit here in Kolkata, just a few days before I depart and I am expectant. Expectant of family, of hugs, of warm greetings, and of conversation. I yearn for a comfortable bed to sleep, to be able to shower without mopping the water into a ‘drain’ and of walking the sidewalks without incessant horns blaring from the ever-trafficked streets. But what I anticipate the most is the story I get to tell you. A great story of the love that is here, of the life that is so raw and beautiful and FULL.

I cannot help but smile when I think of how I get to introduce you to those who have taught me the true nature of service, who have spoken words of life though they are close to death, children who have taught me strength.

I sat yesterday at one of our school, not a new learning center, but a school of several years. The children are from the slums and they sit on cement floors. But I am in love. We signed each others drawings, we made paper roses and marker towers. We played, we sang, we sat over chai and ate biscuits. It is moments like this that the time passes and worries fade away and the world outside seems to not exist and the happiness that we know NOW is the greatest joy we have ever experienced. I am a world away, actually an entire day from home and it is Christmas. But my heart is Full and I am home among children, children who do not ask questions or credential you, but invite you to sit and in that gesture, I am Dede [I am sister].

I eat with my hands and its fun. A lot of effort and little bit of strategy is necessary in the washroom, but its some sort of game or adrenaline rush, the kind of game where you never know how it will turn out or if you will get out clean. This is India without apologies or shame, it’s the way we are. I have sat to dine with Doctors and Missionaries, with Children and Businessmen, and together we all cup our meal in our hands, we smack our lips, and we lick our hands clean.

There is little room here, in a city of 18 million people, space is a luxury for the few. So we hold hands, we bump shoulders and we hope that the path ahead of us is clear of obstructions

A Katabon Christmas

So its Christmas time. It’s kind of hard to believe. The only carols I hear are those whispering from my faulty computer speakers, and the icons of Christmas- Santa Clause, Reindeer, Drummer Boys and Snowmen - are only scarcely recognized, dispersed thinly throughout the city.

What I miss the most is the utter attack on the senses of Christmas. The bitter cold of “the Season”, the infusion of peppermint, gingerbread and pumpkin spices. N’Sync Christmas album looping in storehouses and malls.

But today we were invited to a different sort of Christmas program. The likes of which are not intended to flatter you, there are no programs to follow along to, no orchestra to choreograph the scenes that will inevitably play out or a musical serenade inviting us to sit, to be still and to listen.

Yet all are welcome and all are encourage to participate. There are no auditions or means of filtering the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ performers. That’s not why we are even here, and it’s not a part of the story. The intent was to Come and to Hear and See that Jesus, Lord, came for all and so we all participate in this thing called Christmas.

Our Katabon Learning Center asked us to join in their Christmas program, to join along in songs of the season. Sitting with legs crossed on a cement floor, we became a part of a community. As I said goodbye, a goodbye that is certain for this trip to India, my heart sank. We had become like family.

They are people with little, but little is all they need. They have given their lives for the lives of others. Educated and intelligent, those who once had privilege, now voluntarily sacrifice for the well being of others. They are changing the world, yet they live in one corner of a slum that was never intended to be their home. I want to sing their praises, make known their names, but all would be in vain, for their one response would be the touch of their heart and a pointing of their finger to the skies.

I have glorified humility, I have been in awe of it, but today I know it and it is defined by those who hold their hands out – available for the leading and open for the giving.

Train Runners

I spent my childhood observing the systematic nature of society, of home, of school and church. Each context unique, with its own inherent purpose, most of the time each has its days of use and hours of ‘operation’… you know, the neon ‘open’ sign sorta thing. Whether through observation or an audible inquiry, our childhood and adolescence are spent understanding rules and regulations, becoming aware of boundaries and the non-verbal queue that protect us from embarrassment and foolishness.

In college and on the cusp of adulthood, we are thrown into the system, expected to assimilate. Yet we are a society that stands on the foundation of independence. We place the concept of independence and of liberty on a pedestal and we worship it. It is our drive and our excuse; it is our purpose for and our reason against.

We are a society of contradictions. We attend to the precepts of equality and of liberty. Yet every sector of our society is filtered through structures and systems that dilute our freedom [the Indians laugh at this]. We demand equality and justice, yet those that survive in our society are those that embrace raw competition, which inevitably places others below us. To gain more, others must loose. To be the best, others must be less than.

We live by this social movement, conscious or unconscious. We pat ourselves on the back at the conclusion of the day. And find relief when we have discovered or role, our purpose in this system. Yet the longer I live here, my idealistic understanding of the world, of society, of structure and norms are slowly crumbling. Because it is in the life of the poor that I have experience service and an attitude of giving. It is in the slums and among the poor that I have seen a social responsibility like none I have experienced before. A child is left abandoned, and the community takes on the child as its own. Throughout the week I visit schools, where children with nothing, share everything. One boy, five years old, without parents or a home gave me his one possession, crafted by his own two hands. He handed me a snowflake, his only toy, made just minutes before. And then he left, leaving to work the trains and sleep on its platforms.

I sat with a kid the other day, chatted with him about his life and in those 15 minutes my theology on the world, my surety of right and wrong was shattered and my deep well of answers, collected from years of experience, was instantly dried up.

We say drugs are bad and will only harm you, we say they are for the weak, for those who cannot cope and want to escape. We say deceit is a tool of the corrupt and those who are unwilling to work for that which they have and for that which they long to posses. We say that family is something to value; it is in family that we understand our identity, by understanding our past and drawing from our heritage to cultivate our future.

We say all these things as if they are truth, as if they are certain. Yet what do you say to a child who has been abandoned and who has been forgotten? What do you say to a child who has raised himself since infancy, surviving on the scraps and garbage of others? What do you say to a child addicted to drugs, because sniffing adhesives is the only thing that erases his pain from hunger? How do you rebuke a boy, who peddles cash, simply to eat? I don’t know what to say, but I am unwilling to say they are wrong or to ask them to change without a means to provide.

This is the story of the boys from the train platform, but not told in its fullness. Because if I was to leave it at this, you would not know of their great strength, their relentless love, and their true honesty.

I have found it difficult to express the nature of my three hours with the boys who live by the train system of India. It is a day I will never forget and conversations that will burden the depths of my soul for a lifetime.

But what I know, is that more than ever I am willing to overcome for their sake, I am willing to speak and act for GOOD, for peace, and love because it is the lives of these boys, boys who hold nothing, not one possession, who crave goodness. More than ever, I am not trumped by the darkness of humanity, for I have learned a lesson…

When you have nothing left, our only possession is our soul and the choice to embrace life with joy and to once again place trust in others, because without the risk to love and to trust, we are empty. These children have nothing, all that was once there’s and all those things that we ascribe as a child’s entitlement have been stripped from them and what is left is a smile, and behind that smile, Strength. The strength of one who at the tender ages of their childhood, refused to be abused and exploited, because in the depths of their soul they know they are worth so much more.

And one after one, these children glowed when asked to be enrolled in our education program. They have fended for themselves for years, taken every responsibility and now they are asked to be given something, to be expected somewhere. It’s Magical!

Splashing in the Rain

With five minutes to spare and a last minute decision to bid farewell to the city, I grabbed a petite snack of banana’s and fried eggs and haul my luggage of books, pens, and a half charged camera to the hospital entrance for a day away; a day at a village clinic.

In the cradle of my elbow, a roll of fresh toilet paper is lodged. A source of absolute luxury to foreign travelers in a country of squat toilets and water buckets. On special occasions, a lantern is a necessary companion in the dark of the night. I am thankful for the rain today, in the midst of laziness, I simply settled on the idea that… ‘Of course its just a splash from the rain puddles.

This city becomes a playful wonderland in the rain. It is a renewal and welcomed furlough from the incessant scent of fire and exhaust, cooked Samos’s and the aroma of unyielding fresh chai. But today it is not simply the rain that has washed me clean of the dirt and grime of the streets, but it is an escape to the villages and a backseat view of a tropical jungle.

In a community that lives by the land, the rain is a welcomed companion; a source of life. It is the rain that eases the tension of a mother’s anxious heart. There is no resting peace for those who must provide for the nourishment of their child. The only relief is the presence of rain, and its certainty of life.

The view from my window is marvelous…whole communities lace the two-lane highway on bikes and peddled carts. Bicycles anchored with harvested grains and ripened produce. The rich fabrics and bright colors of those working the fields enrich my backseat view, and I watch in wonder as bamboo baskets lay uninterrupted upon the heads of men and women, holding upon their heads their ration for the day.

We walked the streets of this small village, cradling the highway and nestled in a strikingly lush valley of vegetation. A small team of hospital personnel converge on this village twice a week as healers and miracle workers. But it is not a miracle of the dead rising, the blind seeing. No, it is the miracle of those who hunger and thirst for goodness. I sat among the 30 patients that would seek our wisdom, presence and provisions. A two bedroom clinic serves as a medical facility, but more importantly it is a symbol of compassion. To be cared for simply because you are thought of as having value, and the worth to live and to live well. That is what our clinics do, they satisfy the need to be known.

I have seen this played out throughout my time in India and when I think of it, it is a truth throughout my life. Those who are thought of beyond their lot in life, beyond the predestined future that the world designates upon them… it is these people who will soar, who will build mountains and part the sea’s.

Today we visit a school, a ‘slumdog millionaire’ sort of place. Where young boys, for 8 hours a day, no longer worry about pedaling cash, or being chased from trains – their only source of shelter in the blistering heat of summer and the bone chilling cold of winter. They are free to be young once again, to discover for the first time what it is to be cared for, to be nurtured… to be disciplined. They are unpacking the myth of family and the legend of ‘home’. They are known, they are accounted for, they are expected and they are missed.

As a teenager, I simply wanted to be forgotten, to fly under the radar when I was breaking curfew or got “lost” on the way to school… In Bakersfield, you could blame it on the fog and so we did. But for these boys and for the first time, they are not forgotten, but expected. Their place is set at a breakfast table each morning, this is a table of great honor and today I sit with these honored guests. Today I will enroll them in school, place a nametag around their neck for tomorrow they will be adopted, adopted for $1/day. This is the miracle of our learning centers, for the first time a child will be welcomed into a family, whether it is simply through written letters, an exchange of photo’s and a birthday gift. And once again, these boys will be known and their story told and their stocking hung. Thank you to those who have adopted the children from our learning centers, today I get to tell them of your great kindness. Here are the photo’s of a few from our last visit…

Yawning through the Dawn

Its early, but not so bright here at dawn in Kolkata.

There is something remarkable about the morning, especially in a city where work is life, it is work that preserves us for the next day. Despite the playful cries of children, the howling of dogs, and unidentified bangs that orchestrate my dreams each night; at dawn All is at rest.

For six days a week, before life takes motion, a miracle takes place, cultivated by simple hands and driven by the vision of one who can only be thanked through prayers sent to heaven. What seems like a small operation, is nothing less than a revolution… simply concealed in the texture and silhouette of rice and lentils.

For these 6 days and for the last 30+ years the hungry have been fed and today, we woke with the setting of the moon to witness a raising of life. In a few hours and a picturesque drive among the cauliflower fields and fish markets of West Bengal, 25,000 people were fed.

I think on my life, on the awe-inspiring moments where, despite the life that races around us, God stills us and for a moment time stops and we breathe and in that breath we are sustained. We are sustained beyond that moment or this day, it is in that breath that we transcend.

Today I was mesmerized. Today, I transcended. I have worked and prayed, laughed and cried in this job. I have only a small role, a minor contribution, but for three years I have been saturated in the stories of Kolkata. Stories of need and provision, of sacrifice and sustainability. Today, I witnessed the simplest of acts… the sharing of food. But it is in this act that the poor of Kolkata are rising, rising from poverty, from hunger and from need. It is in this act, instituted on one street corner 50 years ago, that I now know Hope.

Kite Flyers

I love children. To some, this phrase seems universal, but to a youngest child, kids are a bit of a mystery to me. I seemed to have skipped the stage of pleading with my parents for a baby of my own and the idea of children has always been mildly intimidating, I guess it’s the fear of the unknown. But a strange transition occurred around my 25^th birthday… I came to love babies and now in India, I’m a sucker for the little tikes.

Needless to say, the last week has been quite a blast. There are simple truths in the life of children that become distorted as we wrestle with life. I’m not the first to say it, nor will I be the last, but the life of a child is simply beautiful. Why is it no longer appropriate to cry when we are scared or to admit when we’re afraid of the dark. I’ve lived on my own, away from home since High School, but nothing warms my soul like the presence of family and walking into my childhood room still adorned with stuffed animals, a treasure chest of love letters, yearbooks and the journal of a teenage dreamer.

Children see the world with color and smudged lines, where the dictates of life and living are a little more malleable. Have you seen a child hold a grudge? Allow hatred to burn in their soul until their only solace is to recoil to their rooms and sulk. NO. Children are resilient and its evident. On Tuesday, we traveled to the slum school of Katabon to profile the 40 children who find refuge in the three rooms of the school. It is where they are free to play, where their empty stomach’s become full and where they are called by name. It is only at this school that these children are thought of beyond their circumstances, where others dream for them and where the idea of future is not fixed, but a path that is yet to be paved.

That night, after we had returned from the school, I came across this excerpt from Dominique Lapierre, "In calcutta kites were favorite toys, as if somehow those scraps of paper climbing high above the rooftops carried the children's ambition to escape their lot, all their need to flee their prison of mud, fumes, noise, and poverty."... I agree

Today, I met Nusrat a 10 month old baby born with a severe cleft lip and palate deformity. On Friday, December 3^rd, her life will be transformed by one simple surgery. Without the procedure, Nusrat will be unable to properly speak and the social connotation of such a deformity will dictate the path of her life, she will find life much more difficult, much more cruel.

You meet Nusrat and you become addicted. Addicted to her smile, her laughter, and her desire to play. She loves touch and anything she can grab with her two hands. Thank you to those who give for babies like Nusrat, you truly transform lives. And, thank you to doctors like Dr. Ganguly who see the worth in each child.

Lost Camera Batteries:(

So, i bid farewell to Katharine and Sandy this evening. An aweful goodbye and one of those strange instances knowing that we will meet again someday. My single goal for the day was to simply take one picture with the girls. It was an epic fail and now they have boarded a train, so I apologize for the grainy photo's of the girls... maybe you'll spot them in there somewhere. But in the place of proper photo's, here is a simple love letter to my friends I drafted the other morning:

When I think on the person that I am not, yet that I wish to be more – I think of Sandy. I idolize those who seem to walk on air. Their steps are soft, the touch is tender, and in their presence you feel comfort. It's like those moments that your senses are tipped off to something familiar and your minds races back in time to a place of great joy- like the scent of cider in the midst of a cold winters day and instantly the memories of Christmas Eve, sleeping on the bare floor of our families soon to be finished home in the mountains of Tehachapi. Too eager to wait for the adornments; the fresh carpet or painted trim, as children we simply new we needed to be home and we needed to be together. So, the family piled into the bottom level floor and the room with the finished fireplace in order to welcome Christmas and our extravagantly dressed tree of homemade ornaments. That is joy and the fresh scent of cider will always beckon me back to this night and the love of family.

Sandy is like that. Being around her is easy and I think I crave it. She is that smell of home that no other building can capture perfectly and the overwhelming peace that paralyzes the body when you’ve embraced family after a long time away. Sandy is in India; it is her epic journey after completing nursing school and in a year of dynamic transition. The Mother House was a place she knew she must go, serve, and maybe even be inspired to Go, to have some of the blanks filled in, in that mental manual of how to live life that each of us writes each day. I don’t know if those answers have come, but what I do know is that wherever Sandy goes, wherever she is led, someone will find home in her. She is quiet, yet strikingly hilarious in her critique on life and living.

And then there is Katharine. I think it is almost a blessing that we don’t live near one another… cause man would we get in trouble. We are similar, like those partners in crime that make life worth living, that seem to make colors brighter and sweets richer because of their energy, because of their laughter. Katharine is a dreamer; she is a penny Tosser into the wishing well. The good in things are exemplified and the bad seem to be swept under the mat to be dealt with another day, a day that usually does not come. You know those people that have that rare gift to make you feel special, like you come to understand those intimate characteristics of why you are so endearing simply because that person is not afraid or ashamed to tell you how wonderful you are… that’s Katharine.

Katharine is an organic farmer in the Okanagan Valley of BC. She has paved a path all her own, without the checklist standards of what makes a young adult worthy or a proven asset. Katharine, I will see you again this year and we will run through the fields of the valley.

Once Considered Trash, Now is a Treasure

This is Tanya, in a classroom of 50 children, she is the life of the party. Her wit is sharp and her smile is radiant.

Tanya attends a two classroom school in the slums of Katabon, Nobadiganta. As we approached the school building, Tanya ran to greet us. Taking each of our hands, Tanya led us to the main classroom and introduced us to her classmates who had been eagerly awaiting our arrival.

It is remarkable to think that this small child so full of energy, was abandoned by her parents at the local garbage, without a means of survival. Tanya was discovered by a woman in the area who has since raised her and enrolled her into school. A child left without hope, now lives with opportunity and love.

It seems like everyday I am confronted with the devastation of brokenness. I have said it before that the need is apparent and it is raw. Yes, this is true. But I think there is something inherent in us that clings to what is good, that seeks out the truth, and hopes for the light of day. So, it is in the life of Tanya that I find beauty, compassion, but most importantly, I have found redemption. Redemption for the bad and the undeserved.

I remember reading or at least overhearing as a child that in our lives, if we can simply help just one person, then the effort was worth giving and our life was worth living. I can say that I have attained to this notion in the past, but in all reality, it is only now that I understand the depth of this truth.

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I ask for your prayers for Tanya and the 610 students that will now receive free education through Calcutta Mercy Ministries and Project Rhino Education. And if you are able, I ask that you give. $1 a day will provide education to a child who would otherwise go without. It would amaze you how these children run to school, often times without the consent of their parents in the slums who would otherwise have them work for the family. These children are craving something more, something better and now Project Rhino is an avenue of opportunity for these children.

Lazy Sundays

Kolkata is a city of energy, a city in motion. From early morning till late at night, despite the seemingly unbearable heat or the relentless monsoon rains, you cannot stop the people of this city. But for one sacred day of the week, the pace of life slows.

Teenage boys reclaim the streets for a game of cricket; the laundry shop converts its rickety ironing board into a temporary poker table for an evening game of cards among the elders and shopkeepers.

So I scavangered for my not so often used camera to capture this such special of all days.

This is how I spent my lazy Sunday…

Meet Sandy and Katherine, my trusted companions of the last several days, and my introduction to Kolkata street food

The city herdsmen?

and then finally an afternoon with the folks of Mcleod Street

and this guy...

Entourage

Meet Rupa Doloi. Yesterday morning at the break of daylight, we headed out to Katamtola village on the outskirts of Calcutta. From the daunting streets of the city, lined with Rickshaw drivers preparing for the morning rush hour, the first aroma of street food seeps into the air, and yet the city remains relatively quiet [for Calcutta standards]. Bablu, my kind car ride companion, a man who patiently waits without complaint of weather or time, in order to take me to my intended destinations, whether the market, Mother House, or for my ridiculous cravings of chocolate and soda pop. Today, Bablu takes me to Katamtola, an unassumingly magical place.

I guess the car ride should have prompted me for what I was to see and learn of India from Katamtolla. The thirty-minute drive was an ever-passing scene of the morning dew rising from a lush green forest of tropical vegetation… simply beautiful. The stench of the fish market introduced us to a wonderland of cauliflower fields and bamboo gardens. Bablu, stops at a marshland, homes lined across this mote of water. A young boy greets us and takes our hand to the village. Approaching, beats of Hindi dance music blare from what seems to be a system of surround sound. It is 7 in the morning and Kadmatolla is Alive!

We are swarmed by children, without question or concern the children seem to have awaited our arrival for playtime. I use my few phrases of Bengali to greet the children, thank them for their hospitality and ask their names. My entourage is loyal throughout the duration of our stay, crowding into small homes, the new school room I am there to see and photograph, and to the small creek where we are to wash our hands after tea and cookies, they stay by my side; my child guardians.

We are greeted by Kali, the mother of this community. She walks the avenues of this village with an aura of compassion, yet undoutable leadership. It is Kali alone that petitioned for a feeding program nearly 25 years ago. Today, Kali maintains the daily distribution of food that is provided by Calcutta Mercy Ministries to the nearly 10,000 residence of this expansive village of West Bengal.

Kali has revolutionized the lives of her neighbors and friends. The health of the Katamtola people has undergone a dramatic improvement since the establishment of the Katamtola feeding line, a program that continues to lessen the financial burden of these families. The trickle effect from simply ensuring one’s nutritional assurance is remarkable. Just as clean water can change the dynamics and sustainability of a community, basic nutrition has proven to do the same. Today, the worries of these people are not for their next meal… that is a certainty, today Kali and her family dream of education, of opportunity.

Rupa will be the first of her family to receive education beyond English. Because of online education, we can ensure that a focus on education becomes the fabric of these communities.

I am better because of Katamtola, I am better because I know Kali, Rupa, Sona, and the countless other children that have greeted me with such kindness, with such joy. I am better because I am no longer a stranger or a guest, but a friend.

Calcutta Dreamin

Meet Kari Westlund. My roommate for 3 days, yet a soul mate for what seems like ages. Inseparable since I arrived, Kari hustled me through months of development in our schools, showing me the ropes and guiding me through a grand tour of the city. From scrunched metro rides and market bargaining to chocolate treat binging and daydreaming. Grand dreams, beautiful dreams, what seems like anointed dreams. Dreams of opportunity, dreams for the children of Calcutta.

Over the last few months, I have slowly and with great struggle, walked through the pages of a great classic, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. In the character of Francie Nolan, a young Brooklyn girl born into poverty, the bruises and beauty of life are illuminated. Francie’s mouth has yet to be filtered and her pure dialogue of life is a sobering reminder of the less beautiful side of society, of the still strong reality of the have and have not’s and begs the question of our predestined future.

In her critique of school, a system that has proven to be a little rough and unjust to poor students, Francie illustrates the simple nature of love in one teacher who has chosen to be just and in so doing, to be unexpected.

“ On a rainy day, she wouldn’t give a lesson. She’d take a block of paper and a stick of charcoal and sketch the poorest, meanest kid in the room. And when the picture was finished, you didn’t see the dirt or the meanness; you saw the glory of innocence and the poignancy of a baby growing up too soon.”

This is the nature of the people, the people I sit with, I work with, the men and women who I’ve only known by name and email, yet today I call them friends, neighbors, office mates and confidants. In just a few days I have come to know greatness, a greatness of character. I have been surprised by Joy.

The City of Joy

“God made man because he loves stories.” As long as we have stories to tell each other there is hope. As long as we can remind each other of the lives of men and women whom the love of God becomes manifest, there is reason to move forward to new land in which new stories are hidden. [Henri M Nouwen]

I wrote my senior capstone paper on the language and life of stories, without them where would we find harmony, where would we ‘define’ who we are and where we have come from. Stories are the structure in which we understand life, how we know what’s next and to anticipate where we are headed. Stories make heroes. For heroes and legends and saints are the exception, the breaking of the mold, they are contrary and revolutionary.

We understand life with a beginning a middle and an end, with small or often dynamic climaxes and characters that drive the narrative. The components are often the same; family, school, marriage, career, children, friendships, challenges, love, heartbreak, death and new life. But every once in a while someone comes along and shakes the norm, does the extraordinary and in so doing, makes a new reference of good, of evil, of strength and love and beauty.

The stories of those of Calcutta will grow in time, in relationship, in experience and in simply seeing. So, I guess now I invite you into the stories of those I know, my acquaintances, my friends.

Unlikely Companion

Today I didn’t shower alone, a small friend joined me in this often solitude of activities…

I guess I am thankful, for without the “Tik-Tiki” my morning would have been simply solitary and bland.