Home and Awake

It is Monday morning, March 1st and at 03.25 I thought "blow this...I'm getting up!". So now 2 hours and 1 cup of tea later, I have been getting my day in order, diary, emails, reflecting, LOVING the silence! Yes Frances, I can really relate to that! The new Indian carpet is in the hall, the bedspread, soon to be front door curtain is awaiting measuring and inspiration, the kitchen voile door curtain is the perfect colour match, just needing the curtain rail at some point when we get a chance to go to B&Q or somewhere! So you see I spent my money on useful things! (defensive).

I am still dreaming that I am in India and then waking up confused...weird feeling!

What I am loving...

Cold milk with cereal!
Fresh fruit and veg, last night we ate veg stir fry with jelly and satsumas!
Feeling the rain and breeze on my face
Seeing my friends again (not that you aren't...but you get my drift!)
Mugs of steaming tea and coffee
Lush green grass and spring bulbs poking though
Fresh eggs from my chickens
Silence and reflection
Not having to drink bottled water and apply hand gel...

What I am missing...

My Indian friends who are either working or living in the slum communities day in day out and all that that means...
The big welcoming smiles and open hearts
Colour
Banter!
30 degrees!
Wearing Salwar Kameezes
Hearing the stories

What I am challenged about...

Yeovil Prayer support group?
How can we be more helpful to Asha in the future?
Learning Hindi
Developing a South West Network
Informing others about the work

Home and rested

Hi everyone well we made it home, a few detours via Gillingham but well done Roger for finding the way.
Thank you so much Dick and Julie for the opportunity it really was a most amazing experience. I would call it a complete onslaught of the senses, visual ,sound , smell and emotional, what a great trip.
I am sitting in the living room at home, and do you know , I can hear absolutely nothing !!!!

Home again

We're back in rainy England but it's good to see our cats who seem to have missed us as they're both sat on me!! The whole 2 weeks in India was an amazing experience with so many different diversities that we saw and were a part of. We will definitely be going back and already have plans afoot!! To see a tiger so close in it's own environment was one of my dreams come true - hence a speechless, weepy Pauline!! The people we met were lovely throughout the 2 weeks and I have come away with a high regard for their sense of community and living together. We experienced city life, slum life and rural life and feel very privileged to have been able to do so. Thank you to Dick and Julie, our intrepid team leaders, for showing us the India that you love. You did a brilliant job in leading us around and organising the trip. Pauline xx

Home

Home now, after delay all went well, and we got home about 00:05.  Nice to be home, but also missing Delhi!.   What an amazing two weeks.      Many thanks to Dick and Julie for sheperding us all.   

flight home

sorry to hear your flight delayed enjoy duty free with crocky - don't let him get near the drink - it could all end in tears, crocodile tears. Safe flight, and journey home, looking forward to seeing you all. Wonderful that you were able to go back to Ektar Vihar, answer to prayer. Janet xx

Delhi Airport

Aaaargghgh................Flight delayed 2:15 hours, now expected to leave 16:00.   Could be a late night!

Lots of last minute books. with enough tuk-tuks for our very own convoy methinks.

Crock Wock has made fresh appearances, handing over passports to Passport Control, and tickets at the Check In desk.  They seem to have a sense of humour.

Delhi Traffic

This video shows the Dehli traffic, but is not as frantic as it can be. However look out for the lane changes, under/over taking, Harry the monkey, ladies riding side saddle on motorcycles, crocodiles, beep beep of horns etc,etc, etc ... just enjoy the chaos .... we did :-) & :-O

Westward Ho !

Well here I am, still intact, sitting in a lovely high roof top patio in a rather middle class area of Delhi. Everyone else is still packing, we are due to be picked up for our final experience of the Delhi traffic melee as we head for the airport and home. DO NOT want to leave this climate, surprisingly wind, cold and rain do not appeal, but SO looking forward to a roast dinner, and NO CURRIES !
In short, the 'safari' was a good experience, coupled with lovely fresh, unfume filled and non gritty air . I was especially touched by the wonderful staff. Transport here, early, got to go!!

Crock has a fan

wildlife

Tiger photo credit R Allen.


Scratching post, sharpens the claws.

Pug marks, footprints to you me and Roger Allen.

Crocky on Safari

Final Night in India

Well, final night.  11:07 pm local time.  Today has again been packed, mostly at the last minute.   It was intended to be a free day for sightseeing and last minute spending, not likely when you put Asha and India in the timetable!   This morning we were asked to present a Computer to one if the College Students (funded by the monies raised), great privlege, preceded by a visit to Ektar Vihar Slum to be welcomed.  All went well, particularly as the Police Commissioner also sent three armed policemen to ensure it did!  Julie met up with Reena, who was delighted to see all of us.

Lunch time brought an invitation from Freddy for Dick, Julie, Sue and I to attend a Reception in the evening at the New Zealand High Commisson, along with Kiran and two College Students.  The High Commissioner had arranged a sale of Art by two Indian Artists (who had based their pictures on a recent visit to New Zealand), with part of the proceeds going to Asha.  His wife has been teaching English with Asha for about 18 months.  A great evening, and a privilege.

The afternoon saw a trip to Old Delhi.  The Asha Jeep was parked in the underground carpark.  Not just any car park, an Old Delhi Car Park.  Most of the cars looked as if they had been there for years, and all the roadways had cars double parked, nose to tail, in them, blocking in all aother cars.  Thankfully it all went well, and we did eventually emerge.

Roger, Lorraine, Stuart and Pauline have all returned from the far reaches of the jungle with excited tales of Tigers, Deer, Elephants etc etc, determined to make a return trip. 

Freddy reports Louis as alive and well, thoroughly enjoying every minute of being with the long term volunteers.

Ian and Frances survived their train trip, full of tales of the Indian Railways.  Will they make a return trip in the future…………..

Dick and I both have reports to write when we get back, reviewing the areas we looked at this week, and Kiran would like mine in a format to present to the Home Minister for India, better check the spelling carefully.

Well, signing off for the evening, getting a bit sleepy.

Nigel.

Everyone beginning to regroup.

Having learned the lesson of remembering to keep your fluids up or end up feeling weird, nauseatic and detached, I now find myself feeling more human after a cup of tea, two mango-flavoured biscuits and 1 1/2 hours sleep. The price I paid was having to send my apologies with Dick, Sue and Nigel as we had been invited to attend a function hosted by the New Zealand High Commission, this evening. They will be able to explain more later, but it appears that part of the proceeds of the evening will go to a charity and they have selected asha. Four of the students from Asha have also been invited. No doubt I shall understand more when they return back...whenever that may be!

The Tiger lot have now joined us, but as I was doing my weird thing, I haven't heard any details of their trip except what I have read on here! Breakfast will be animated! Nigel and Sue managed a coffee with Frances and Ian at the Cottage Emporium this afternoon (they have returned from Jodpur and are staying at the YMCA for the last night. We'll meet them at the airport tomorrow.)whilst Dick and I searched for a suitable bedspread to convert into a front door curtain. We got exactly what I had in mind so now all Dick needs to do is create a rail, I shall do the sewing which should be minimal. Before Nigel makes the comment that he had to wait for us to finish....I hasten to add that all remaining purchases were gifts and NOT for me... (A little defensive is she not?)

We shall be picking Louis up on the way to the airport, he seems to be staying in a superb flat with some other longterm volunteers teaching English in Seelampur. It will be good to hear how his week has gone.
Yesterday I managed to meet up with Reena and her children at the Asha Polyclinic as we were unable to visit her in her home due to the prevoius episode. I think it actually worked out better as we had at least an hour together, exchanging gifts, praying together and generally attempting communication although hugs and smiles spoke volumes. We had bought a number of items for the family which included two pairs of shorts for Ashish (almost 3yrs)(which came down to his ankles, but still looked fine as trousers!) and a London double decker bus, which went down well!

For Sakshi (18 months)I made a dress, which I think she would trip over at the moment! She'll grow into it! We also bought her a small soft teddy which was an instant hit! I had forgotten how small the Indian children are, they both looked a year younger size-wise. It was lovely to see them playing with their toys whilst Reena and I talked and Sue and I took photos.

So here I sit, sipping tomato soup...with a definite "bite" to it, feeling a little better although it took me ages to get into the packet which was foil wrapped and sealed...In the end I remembered a sharp piece of metal I had snagged my dress on earlier....sliced open and job done! Remember to ask me about a similar tale re trying to open other Family Planning items from packets....with razor blades....

So much to say, but I don't want to hog all the news! Only one more thing though (!) the children at Tigri have all written back to the children at Birchfield. We are so pleased with their efforts, all written in English...impressive eh? I think the school will be delighted. They even reciprocated by doing two formal group photos!

So home tomorrow, very late...seems strange to be leaving, but it has definitely been a worthwhile trip!

Harry the monkey

Group pic with Taj Mahal in the background

Many pics and vids

For everyone who wants to have a look at some pictures and videos from the first week, please look here: www.facebook.com/anemdo (you need to have a Facebook account)
- reactions to Harry the monkey
- pictures of Taj Mahal
- and more...

Crying Crocodile.

Crocky Wock has had such marvellous time in the jungle at Corbett national park that he was sobbing his little heart out this morning when we left. He really wished he could stay, but with tigers being so endangered we couldn’t leave him unsupervised regardless of his promise of how good he’d try to behave.

We believe this WAS the right decision as we suffered a mysterious DOUBLE puncture soon after leaving the park for Delhi. Both wheels went flat, and I think those were crocodile teeth marks on the tyres. So much for turning over a new leaf Crocky.

Loraine has now become blase about the whole Tiger thing, oh yeah really, yes really. She was the first one to spot the Thurs Tiger which was about 25 feet away from her and this is the Loraine who’s sitting in an open jeep. Pauline just goes speech less and weeps. Go figure .. women are just weird. Roger hasn’t got himself eaten yet, surprisingly. I’ll also leave it to Roger to explain how or why he didn’t see the elephants, but you’d have thought that something that big couldn’t vanish that quickly.

We’d finally sorted the ‘Roger flap’ conundrum. He was strictly confined to a compound by an electric fence (solar powered no less) and surrounded by wild animals that would make a tasty snack of him. At last Loraine was sure of his location; which was generally at the campfire with a beer in the early evening or splashing at the pool in the afternoon. Ah we were all happy wildlife and agree with Crocky, we all want to come back here.

Stuart and the old crock.

From the ladies team!

While Dick has been doing medical stuff and Nigel has been doing banking stuff Julie and I have been using our strengths- chatting to people! We have been to 3 different slums, stood in doorways chatting to beautiful but shy ladies,  admired children in all different shapes and sizes and generally been made really welcome by so many different people. The women in particular are really friendly, giving us hugs and chai!

We visited one place where Asha have only worked for 4 years and we heard about the CHV having to go out to help deliver babies at all hours. (She has helped over 100 births!) We all sat in their 2 room house and when we asked where they all slept there were roars of laughter! Answer- on the bed platforms, on the floor- in fact,  on every available space! We rounded the corner to find everyone cutting plastic with big scissors. this turned out to be the straps or ‘steps’ for flip flops. Bit shocked to realise it takes a day to fill a big bucket. For this they get 30 rupees (about 50p). We also turned round to see the baby with the blade of the scissors in it’s mouth. The slums are a dangerous place for children. we have seen several with bad scarring from burns and cuts. One little boy fell in a pot of boiling rice when he was a few months old- now he has no hair on one side- but a great grin.

This afternoon Freddie took us out to a new settlement, a long way out from the centre of the city. In August 2006 the government flattened a slum with a few hours notice. First the people were all homeless and had to live on the streets. Then Kieran and Asha persuaded them to accept the governments resettlement plan. They bought plots 10 ft by 20 ft out on empty land. Now it is growing into a community with wide streets, fields beyond, a breeze and no slum landlord to cause trouble. They own their own plots. Some have built brick houses, others a simple shack, but there is a good feel to the place. Freddie was so proud of the place- so much better than what they had before. a new community. We met two sisters who have an embryo church meeting in their house. new life in the new community!

Tigger

There are unconfirmed reports of Tigger sightings close to Pauline and Lorraine.  More information to follow as soon as the News Desk has detail.

Answer to Prayer

Did you read the post “Back at Asha” ?

What an answer to prayer, Praise God. We receive a call late this evening asking that we (Dick, Julie, Sue and I) go to Ektar Vihar Slum tomorrow to see the “Slum Lord”.  He has had a complete change of heart and wants to apologise publically in front of everyone, and to those that he forced away earlier in the week.  Apparently he has upset a lot of people with the treatment that the group from Asha received. 

Nigel

checking in and checking out

Well we are attempting to check out of this lovely oasis of calm at the Inn Season hotel, but !!!!!!! they don't seem to be able to let us pay by credit card, so ian has had to hop foot it down to the atm machine which they say is walking distance. ok he is just back now and seems to have collected a tuk tuk driver on the way.
We will shortly be off to Mandore Gardens , sounds very peaceful. and the this evening we catch the train back to Delhi , so wish us luck and pray that we get on the right train or we could end up in Bombay !!!!!!!!

See you all when we get back to Delhi , we hope to see the old town tommorrow so will tell you all about it then.

Lots of love Frances and Ian

Mice and stuff

Met Asha’s pet mouse (see Dick’s post) earlier in the day, when it ran behind my netbook and along the worktop/desk on the Asha Office.  Seems a friendly soul, and not the least interested in computer wiring.

We also find that if you leave Pizza on the desk for more that 10 minutes (still in its box) then a trail of (very small red ones) Ants develops as they start to devour it.  They also itch and bite!

Yesterday morning was spent visiting another Slum with Raneesh, and meeting more of the beneficiaries of the Loan Scheme.  Plenty of examples where employment is being generated through the scheme which is excellent. One lady now employs 26 women, instead of 8 previously, in a catering business that provides food for weddings, birthdays and parties.

On a walk into the heart of the slum we found ourselves walking along a “High Street” of open shops, all piled high with fresh fish in all sizes, with furious bargaining going on as we passed.  A “wealthy” slum where the living conditions are by far the biggest challenge.

The slum occupants are generally all Bengali, and most have the same surname “Mandel”.   Bit like Smith at home.  Lanes tended to be closed in above, up to three storeys high.  Visited a home Screen Printing (Stationery) business which was carried out on the roof (covered over with plastic).  You could easily walk across the top of all the buildings, and avoid the lanes below.

Met with Anil Aggarwal at Asha in the afternoon.  Anil is Chief Manager (Marketing) for Punjab National Bank, and the Lead representative for the Asha Micro Finance Scheme.  Really supportive, and very keen to see the scheme grow.  Very happy with how it works at present, and appreciative of the way Asha select borrowers.   More to follow.