Jeff and Gin in India

Sad Farewells

2007-02-01T01:24:00.000+11:00

After three fantastic weeks of fascinating experiences, amazing people and crazy challenges we finally said some very tough farewells to our little (and not so little) buddies at CCD. We've been able to get to know these guys quite well - it's amazing how much can be shared despite language barriers! Miraculously, we finished part A of our mosaic - a big feat which we were really stoked with! As we were working outside the school, we unexpectedly found ourselves with loads of opportunities to connect with the wider community beyond CCD. We felt that this was really important - it was great for us to get to know different people, great for the visibility of the school in the area (which is trying to build it's enrolments), and great for the boys from Muktaneer who helped us and who do not have many opportunities to connect with the community. These were unanticipated benefits to the project, which was otherwise more of an aesthetic and creative project. The community connections were extended on Sunday night, when we invited all CCD connections and the broader community to the school (CCD Academy) to give the boys an opportunity to share some of the creative outcomes of the workshops they'd been involved in - short stories, photographs, musical items, drawings, a huge painted quilt, school based activities and a mosaic launch. The turn out was great, and the boys and CCD staff were really proud. Some of this work will be showcased at an exhibition in Melbourne in May - stay tuned for an email!!

We flew to Mumbai yesterday afternoon - exahausted, filthy and pretty damn wrecked! We're feeling better today, having spent the day hanging out doing our own thing around Mumbai. The fact that we find ourselves in a comfortable hotel has already helped. Would have like to spend longer in Mumbai!

Thanks for persevering with our ramblings, and for your comments - it's been really great to feel connected to home. See you all soon.

Jeff and Gin.

Parties, Pujas, and Plastic Taps

2007-01-22T17:15:00.000+11:00

We're writing this entry in the short window between school finishing (10:45) and shops closing for the afternoon (1ish pm). India time is it's own being, and most of our shopping gets done on our way back to the house where we are staying at about 10pm each night, when streetlife is at it's peak!! So it might be a short one before we have to get back for lunch (LOTS of dahl and rice and vegies).
The last few days have been a real highlight for all of us. We have spent some time checking out a women's self-reliant group which CCD set up about 10 years ago in a local village - Duttapukur. This is a small project where women are taught vocational skills, and then form groups where savings are pooled in order to allow loans for large items such as sewing machines, tractors, wedding celebrations, houses, cows etc. These items would be otherwise unobtainable. The groups also have a strong focus on social cohesion, such that all groups are made up of women from similar age groups and very small geographical locations. This enables them to offer one another social support, especially when significant social issues exist such as domestic violence. In this particular village, we are told that domestic violence has all but disappeared, and we really felt the positive vibe of the place - lush greenery, healthy livestock and children, women who seem much more empowered, better quality housing and a vibrant school and creche. A couple of the rules for connecting with the self-reliance program are that you must vaccinate your children and commit to their schooling. There has also been some very successful family planning education happen, which is evident in the family sizes. This gave us all a real boost to witness, particularly after some time visiting sites of exploitative child labour and learning more about the issues.
We also visited ISW, which is the women's organisation that Friends of Kolkata works with. We spent some time running workshops at a school in Kidderpore for children of the local slum areas. They have been running for 30 years and have seen a number of muslim families commit to sending all their daughters to school (a huge cultural shift!). We particularly loved spending time with Sumi - an amazing artist and designer who has been employed as a result of F.O.K support to teach the girls art and design. They have been making goods such as jewellery which will be sold for a fair price in Oz and the money sent back.
We have managed to weedle our way into the CCD kitchen to alleviate the cooks a bit (much to their chagrin!), and yesterday we enjoyed celebrating Kylie's birthday (one of our team mates) with a delicious meal of pasta (weirdo Indian style yellow penne! - we bought Madhyam gram out!) and vegie spagetti sauce, sponge cake and flowers. Apparently the India way to cook pasta is to deep fry it (of course - we should have known!).
School was chaos today, due to the much-talked about puja tomorrow - a Hindu celebration to the god of education. The kids are pumped and we're looking forward to quite a party!!
The reference to plastic taps stems from Jeff's impressive start to this morning, waking up the hosts of our house at 6am by tightening the plastic tap so hard it broke off in his hands. Amidst a geyser of water we eventually turned it off at the mains...leaving Suhaus with a repair job to keep him busy today! I think they thought it was quite amusing!
Thinking of you all in the midst of Melbourne's weirdo weather.
Lotsa luv,
Jack and Jill (or so we've become known!)

ps. we've fixed the comments so you don't have to have gmail to comment - sorry about that!

It's a rollercoaster ride!!

2007-01-17T23:05:00.000+11:00

It's hard to believe we're a third of the way through our time at CCD where we are volunteering for three weeks, and only 2 weeks left in India - time flies!!
The time volunteering at CCD so far has been a real rollercoaster ride. Our swirly mosaic design is very symbolic of how it has felt settling in and getting used to life in Madhyamgram!

India surely feels like a man's world, and I have really felt this throughout our journeys. In some ways being a couple has been great, as it's meant I've always had Jeff around which has definitely helped with feeling safer. In other ways it's been really difficult, as we are often dealt with as one - namely Jeff. This has been a real challenge and at times very frustrating for both of us. The Friends of Kolkata team working at CCD (a bunch of 9 talented, energetic and amazing individuals) have been great to connect with, and being with the team has allowed us both a bit more freedom - I don't have to feel like I'm burdening Jeff to come out and about with me all the time, and he doesn't feel the burden of needing to be with me all the time. This is so different to our experience of life in Melbourne, and goes very much against the very (sometimes too) strong independent streak in my personality! I think this has been the toughest thing for me, but has provided much food for thought, a great appreciation of what I have in Melbourne and greater learning about myself.

Like I said, we are working with a fantastic team full of brilliant and creative individuals. Some of the other guys on the team have been working with the boys at Muktaneer (the CCD boys home) on projects such as creative writing, block printing and drawing, photography and film-making, so we've had the chance to see the boys coming up with some really fun and creative stories, photographs and pictures - the guys love it!! Our work on the mosaic at the front of the school has attracted much attention from the locals (see attached photograph of some of the CCD crew working mosaicing to the local audience!) which has provided opportunity to chat with them a little bit and they all very excitedly await the next installment! The house where we are staying is about 4km from the school, and we walk or catch a rickshaw cycle van to and from school and the boys home each day, giving us a chance to wander through the market and the streets to and from work - there's plenty to see, smell, hear and taste (mmmm... way too many bengali sweets for us! They are apparently world renowned for their sweets!). In the morning we have been working at the school helping to sort out new resources, and it has been great to chat with a couple of the teachers and learn a bit about their lives. My absolute, absolute favourite times of day are 6:50am (yes you read it right!! I have become a morning person in India!) and 5:30pm when the boys do prayers. The boys stand in lines facing the front from shortest to tallest, and sing their prayers with their hands pointing heavenward in a prayerful gesture and their eyes closed. I am told that the "prayers" are not any specific religion, but a general prayer about tolerance, and good for all (but it's all in Bengali!). But the boys are so earnest in their singing (apart from the odd peek through closed eyes or cheeky wriggle), and particularly in the evenings all the staff join in. It's beautiful to watch and listen to, and reminds me to still myself and refocus, providing some points of plateau on rollercoaster ride that life sometimes feels like!

Photos finally added!

2007-01-16T00:48:00.000+11:00

Just letting you know that we've finally managed to add new photos. Scroll back through to see the images that go with the reflections!!

This photo on the left is Deep Das, the youngest boy in the home, who has become one of my little friends. Today I spent the day at ISW, another FOK Partner in Barasat, where I was able to assit in surveying a site for a Womans Shelter that is soon to be built. It was nice to be able to apply a few of my skills! Gin continues to work hard on resources at the school, and has begun assisting in writing funding applications for CCD - Something she's pretty good at! Continuing to enjoy things here...hope you're all well.

Cheers...Jeff

Early days at CCD

2007-01-15T03:28:00.000+11:00

Apologies that it's been a while since our last post... we've jumped headfirst into things here at CCD, and today's the first chance we've had to find some internet.
We met up with some of the Friends of Kolkata mob in Sudder Street where we were staying(Bad Hotel, glad to leave!) and then shared a cramped jeep ride with 8 people and 15 bags, as we crawled our way the 35km to CCD in Madhyamgram. http://www.ccdftc.org/ccdftcindia/
CCD is based in a 4 storey building that houses offices, and the homes for 38 boys and 3 women, that feed and look after the boys, 24 hours, 365 days a year. The boys are either orphans, or cannot be supported by their mothers at home, and most have some background in child labour.
Madhyamgram is much bigger than we expected, with bustling markets, and shops everywhere. There are some amazing vegie markets, and lots of tasty sweets (misti) to sample.
We're living in a room at Suhaus's home, (think Shoe-house) who is a friend of Swapan the Director of CCD. It's clean and comfortable, though we were initially a bit uncomfortable as Suhaus went out of his way in true Indian Fashion, and installed a western toilet, and built new beds prior to our arrival. Aussies just dont get true hospitality.
We've spent a few days getting our bearings, and spending some great time with the fantastic boys. They're great little blokes, and are loving some extra people to hang out with. They've got an incredibly busy routine of school, chores and study, but we've been able to do some little workshops with them which they love. We spent a day at Sports day, which included fun events like the biscuit race!! (See the attached photo)

Amazingly, we've managed to get a good start on the mosaic project which was just an idea when we left home. On mentioning the idea, we were taken to a local tile shop and bought everything we needed. We've started on a swirly mosaic along the CCD Schools front wall, to brighten the place up a bit. We've been working with a few of the older boys who are great to work alongside, and have been regularly observed by over 30 locals who seem to think we're a bit crazy. We'll keep working on this over the next few weeks , though we're struggling to find good tile adhesive...we'll see how we go.

It's taking some time to adjust to some of the cultural differences here, particularly around gender roles, and how they play out in the organisation where we're working. We've got to keep reminding ourselves that we're operating in a very different culture, and choose our battles.
Despite this, we're really enjoying being here, and feel that our teams contributions to the boys have been really valuable to the boys so far. We're really glad for this opportunity, and are keen to see what the next few weeks brings.

Phase II: Discovering Kolkata...

2007-01-10T00:35:00.000+11:00

We're a little sad that we have now had the last of our train trips across India as far as planned. Train is a great way to travel India - we've met some really interesting characters, including our friends travelling from Nagaland (see earlier blog), heaps of children who are very interested in how different we look (as well as many adults!!), and last night a friendly bunch of teenage boys (not quite your average teenagers from Melbourne's suburbs!). These guys were really keen to practise their English with us, on their nightly train trip from school in Varanasi to home in Mughal. They hunt for tourists to practise with. They have been learning English for 4-6 months (about the same amount of time we learnet Bengali for), but totally killed us in terms of their fluency!! They were keen to talk about Australia, cricket (everyone loves Ricky Ponting - more than any Indian cricketer especially at the moment!!), marriage, future... like I said their English was great! They were also nice enough to let us know that our very late train had had a change of platform, or we might still be waiting in Varanasi for the Doon Express!! Jeff informs me that overnight trains aren't the most comfortable for a nasty dose of the travel bug... but he endured it heroically!! He's on the improve now, hopefully!
Arrival in Kolkata came around quickly. Until now it had been a nervous wait to try and work out whether we would get an English sign at the station of destination, and if not whether we would meet someone who spoke enough English to help us out. This morning we were both asleep when we pulled into Kolkata, and it was a quick dash off the train and into the crazy station that is Howrah (the old name for Kolkata). We were a little nervous, as we had not booked a hotel for our one night in the city part of Kolkata, but with a few quick prayers and fingers crossed, the first place we tried took us in no worries.
Kolkata seems to be quite a different city to Delhi - not nearly as many animals roaming the streets and it feels a little more organised. We even found a park to sit in, and had a chat to a luvly guy named George. Today has been laying low, trying to kick the travel bugs that have been lingering a bit (nothing too dramatic though). We ran into one of our crew from Melbourne. We will all meet up tomorrow to head out to CCD where our work with Friends of Kolkata will begin. Who knows what lays ahead... things change everyday... but regardless there will surely be plenty to experience and learn and much to challenge us! Not sure what our internet access will be like in Madyamgram (where the boys home is), so our updates may become less regular. Thanks for tuning in and reading our ramblins thus far - your comments have made us feel really connected with our ozzie mob.
Lotsa luv.

some more of varanasi...

2007-01-08T19:05:00.000+11:00

After a frustrating morning of persistant touts, being stalked down the street, and dodgy internet cafes, we've finally found a place to update you on our travels. Luvly.
Yesterday we had a full day of touristy stuff around Varanasi, beginning with a 5.30am sunrise boatride along the Ganges. This was a clear standout for us, as we slowly meandered past the ghats, observing hindus as they prayed, washed, swam, stretched, bathed, and in some cases cremated their family members. Needless to say this was an amazing glimpse into the cultures and rituals of hinduism. We have much to learn about spiritual discipline, or even spirituality. Many of these guys wash at this spiritually significant place everyday, summer and winter.

While we sat rugged up in the boat before the sun came up, mothers bathed their small children in the open air. Brrrrrr. We noticed a western woman brave the cold to do her Hindu prayers, but she only braved the cold water for a quick head and footwash. After an hour and a half on the Ganges, we were driven to a few Hindu Temples, and also took a drive around the huge campus of Banaras Hindu University, one of Indias largest universities.
We headed out again in the afternoon and visited Sarnath, which is the Buddhist centre of Varanasi. We really enjoyed this area, and it was a nice change from the plethora of Hindu Temples that we've already visited. The area had a nice feel to it as well, more trees and gardens, and many buddhist monks doing laps...it was all very welcoming.
At sunset we returned to the Ganges, and jumped on a boat to checkout Ganga Puja, the evening hindu prayers on one of the Ghats, complete with lights and microphones. It was a little like a hindu version of the nightly show at Ayers Rock...bit cheesy really, but it was nice to be on the river. (No offence intended!!)

Varanasi surely has its extremes, perhaps more than anywhere else we've visited in India so far. The levels of street badgering was pretty full on, but the streets and markets were fantastic, as was the glimpse into so much hindu ritual. The ganges river provides a peaceful oasis amongst all this, though it is atad eery after dark.

We leave for Kolkata this afternoon, signalling the end of the first travelling phase of our adventures.

The spiritual centre...Varanasi

2007-01-06T17:25:00.000+11:00

Somehow we've managed to make it to Varanasi. As predicted, our train journey was long and drawn out, with the train arriving at 2.30am, 3 hours late. We'd managed to kill a few hours earlier in the evening in the lobby of our hotel, and they arranged a car for us to travel the 30km to the station, which was great... but we were still lucky enought to sit in the absolutely freezing cold for 5 hours! Lovely!
We passed the time shivering, eating sensational potato fritters and attempting conversation with some other indian travellers. Our cross cultural communication skills are improving (I think!?) and the little bengali we learnt in Melbourne has already been useful, even with Hindi speakers.
Eventually our train arrived, and we went straight to bed, sleeping well. We arrived at our station 5 hours late (although our western minds are slowly geting around the fact that there is not late in India!), having met some Canadian travellers (Michelle and Magic) who we decided to make the 30km trip to Varanasi with. We were suprised to be found by a contact from our hotel who agreed to drive all of us to varanasi as part of the hotel cost. The dramas began when the driver attempted to stop at "the office" which was a travel agent, as an attempt to organise our hotels, travel and tours. We protested, and luckily the boss was not there, so we escaped.
We dropped Magic and Michelle at their hotel, and then on the way to our hotel, we were informed that we were going to another hotel. We again emphasised our booking, and miraculously "the boss" drove by on his motorbike and gave the driver some instructions. When finally dropped at our hotel, I was handed a mobile phone by the driver, and his boss informed me that the hotel was fully booked so we could not stay there. I said we'd go in anyway and he hung up. Followed closely by the driver, we checked in, although the driver informed the porter we were checking out in attempt to get our bags back!!
After all this we settled in our comfortable room, ordered a big lunch, and relaxed and slet for the evening.
Varanasi is the city of Shiva, the Hindu God. Hindu pilgrims flock to Varanasi to wash away their sins in the Ganges. It is also where Hindus come to die as it offers moksha - liberation from the cycle of life and death. It is home to many ghats (baths) where many hindu rituals and ceremonies occur, particularly connected to dying. We're taking a sunrise trip along the ghats tomorrow, so we'll include some photos soon. Unfortunately Varanasi is also known for it's darker side, including massive levels of pollution in the ganges, crime and scamming.
Upto this point we've been pretty lucky to escape these elements in our travels, but were warned in broken english by locals in Agra to "Remain Alert" So we shall!

Today we'll take it easy and wander a bit, before a full day of touristy things tomorrow. We're looking forward to it. Hope all is well downunder...we're not missing the heat...though these nights are pretty bluddy cold!

Agra...our return to the city

2007-01-04T20:14:00.000+11:00

After easily finding our train and seat in Jaipur, we settled in for our 7 hour stop start journey to Agra. We enjoyed being in a slightly lower class, with openable windows, and a chance to see the countryside. We discovered the travelling economy that is the Indian Railway, with many hawkers selling chai, peanuts, meals, lollies, chips, pani(water) the entire journey, as well as the odd beggar and busker. The chai here is fantastic, and we don't usually need to be asked twice(although we were a bit disillusioned to see it being made with a tea bag on the train!). It's been warming as the nights have been cold. Despite the chilly nights, the days have been clear and sunny, and quite warm in the sun...(even a tad of sunburn). We've adjusted pretty well to the food, and eating with our hands, although the spice is still a little fiery sometimes!

We arrived in Agra Fort a hour or so late, and amazingly found an autorickshaw driver who again took us straight to our hotel. The nice hotel in the middle of the tourist city was a bit of a culture shock after saharia... but it was great to have a warm shower!

Today we've spent some mandatory time at the Taj Mahal, which is pretty impressive in reality, and we're glad we made the effort to get out here. We're ready to leave the tourists though! We're learning that Internet Cafes are a lovely refuge from the busy streets.
We'll pass some time in Agra this afternoon, and then find our train station, which is about 35km away. Our train to Varanasi doesnt depart until 11.20pm tonight, so we're in for an interesting evening.

The sensational Saharia Organic Farm

2007-01-04T19:49:00.000+11:00

So...New Years Eve. Our normal experiences are parties with friends, lots of food, lots of noise, and perhaps a drink or two. Picture if you can a mud brick shack with thatched roof sitting amongst fields of wheat and mustard, with the resident camel keeping an eye on things from out the back. This was where we found ourselves on Sunday night after taking a bit of a risk in Melbourne and booking a few days at a farm 28kms from Jaipur.
We passed the new year, strangely enough, sitting in a thatched room, watching Narnia in Hindi on a laptop, through the smoke of a fire set at our feet. Similar to last year but different!! (We watched Narnia in Canberra with Paul and Amber just on a year ago when it came out). We were joined with some of the local families, and Bill, a volunteer from England who's Woofiing his way through India. (http://www.wwoof.com.au/)

Saharia turned out to be an amazing experience of connecting with some local organic farming families, and being let into their simple yet amazing lives. Saharia allowed us to relax after some pretty intense days in the city and on trains, as well as giving us the opportunity to share a chai squatting in an outdoor kitchen with local families, taste the most amazing chapatti straight of the fire(drizzled with gee...hmmm), and walk through the fields and learn about their organic techniques. Did you know Cow's urine is great for polishing wood?? Harley...you'll have to give that a try on your next project!! We were thrown in the deep end at a village school nearby, where we were expected to teach 4 rowdy classes English in 20 minutes. Needless to say, we wont be giving up our day jobs in a hurry. It definitely gave us a good taste in preperation for Kolkata. We're stuffed!

We were blessed to spend some time with amazing people at Saharia who shared their lives and their wisdom with us, with inspiring integrity. It was a really grassroots example of community and communal living in action. The families all lived completely self sufficiently from the farm, and the happy contentedness that emerged from this simple living was contagious.

We were sad to leave this amazing place after only a few days. It encouraged us to give Wwoofing a try sometime, and challenged us about living more simply in Melbourne.
We left Saharia on the Camel Cart, a sensationally slow way to tear ourselves away from the place. We caught a local bus to Jaipur, took a wander, and prepared for our train trip to Agra.

Jaipur... it's growing on us!

2006-12-31T18:48:00.000+11:00

We have taken our first Indian train trip, a train from Delhi which landed us in Jaipur at midnight - eek! We shared a train booth with a beautiful old couple, who had been visiting their son in Nagaland, and had already been on the train for 2 straight days, with 6 hours left to their home in Jaipur. The old lady spoke no English, but had the most gorgeous face and manner, and looked like a Naga tribal woman. The man chatted to us about cricket (we're learning a lot about cricket in India!!) and offered us his papers to read. They were delightful, and as they left the woman farewelled us with "goodnight" - her only word of English the whole way. They hopped off the train into the pitch black one stop before us - very brave for 85 years old! Arrived in Delhi, and managed to get a rickshaw to take us to the right place, only to discover there was no room at the Inn!! So out to the stables for us... well not quite, but not the room we were expecting. After some terse words at our original hotel informing them that we had already paid for the room, they managed to scrounge around to find a room for us at a neighbouring hotel. It is busy season in Jaipur!! We got a bit of a vibe for how Mary and Joseph felt!

Despite feeling a bit down on Jaipur (it did have an eery feeling on arrival despite the hotel debacle!), the morning sunshine showed a brighter, happier place, with a view from our room of kids all around Jaipur flying their kites from their roof tops. We've had a slow morning sitting in a park, and catching our breath and finding our feet, and now time to find our accommodation at Saharia Organic Farm (www.sahariaorganicresort.com) for some retreat. We're feeling a bit weary and ready for a bit of down time after Delhi and Christmas combined! Happy New Year all - enjoy the NYE celebrations (who knows what we'll be doing!!).

A Small House but a Big Heart

2006-12-31T18:10:00.000+11:00

On Friday we had the priviledge of meeting a lovely young woman named Janet who works for a small NGO in Old Delhi called Sahara House. I have read a little about the work here and it's beginnings through my readings on Urban Mission. It was started as a Christian Therapeutic Community in the 1970's by a couple of Christian hippies who were living in India at the time, and exploring ideas about Urban Mission and Radical Discipleship (www.daveandrews.com.au)

Sahara House is now a therapeutic communitiy which supports people who are Injecting Drug Users, as well as people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. I was lucky enough (maybe divine intervention!?) to meet a woman at our church who had been working at Sahara House and had just returned to AUstralia, not long before we left for India. She gave us Janet's contact details, and arranged for us to be able to visit Sahara (www.saharahouse.org). Our visit began at the Crisis Centre, which provides accommodation and detox for about 20 blokes for up to 15 days. We spent some time with Kumar, a weathered program manager whose tired look gave him credo as someone used to a long life of grassroots work with the marginalised. Kumar lives at the Crisis Care Centre with a number of other staff. The crisis care centre is open 24/7/365 for people to come and go as they please - a high calling! They have a strong Harm Minimisation and educational approach, and see many relapses as a natural part of the recovery process. The crisis centre also houses and cares for children of injecting drug users while their parents are going through rehab. The children were out having fun at the annual Winter Olympics on Friday! Sahara House also runs a separate rehab centre for women with the same issues. On a Friday evening they run a coffee night where the men and women and children can get together and they have games and music and coffee with anyone involved with Sahara. This is a chance for the families to reunite regularly while rehab is happening. Janet also works doing advocacy counselling and education work with commercial sex workers, as well as working in the outreach centre.

We visited the outreach centre also. This consisted of a doctor sitting at a card table by the river with a number of frail looking men sitting around him. The doctor was dispensing clean syringes (this was their Needle and Syringe Exchange Program). They also see 35-40 clients between 2 and 4:30 each day to dress nasty abcesses which come about as a result of injecting diazepam, a very thick oily substance which is particularly bad for your veins. Of all the staff at Sahara, 80% were Injecting drug users in recovery - an impressive figure. We met a guy who was a counsellor at the home for people living with HIV/AIDS, who was in recovery from injecting drug use himself. Later, at the outreach centre, we met a guy who was now a peer educator with Sahara, not long since beginning his recovery process! They also have a strong volunteer base, mainly made up of recovering users, as a way of maintaining the support and providing meaningful work which is significant for confidence and self-esteem. They were particularly keen that this work needed to be work which harnessed the gifts and passions of people. Unfortunately, they are beginning to reach saturation point in terms of the amount of this type of work which can be offered to people.

I was struck by the simplicity of it all - they manage to provide so much with very basic and simple resources - a doctor at a card table by a river giving out clean syringes. It's easy to forget how simple it can be to support people.
Janet took us back to her small, simple home for a meal later, in South Delhi. Her home is just one small room with a small kitchen (about the size of your pantry) and a small bathroom outside. We really appreciated and enjoyed her hospitality, and she assured us that if we were ever to come to stay in Delhi again we must stay at her house - "I have a small house but a big heart". This sums up the essence of Christian hospitality for me, which was demonstrated both through the work of Sahara House and through Janet's hospitality - no matter how little you have, as long as you have a big heart it will go far.

Discovering Delhi

2006-12-30T15:14:00.000+11:00

We leave Delhi tonight after four fantastic and varied days here, so thought we'd catch you up on our adventures before we leave the hotel. Unfortunately we havent found a place to upload our photos yet, but we'll add some as soon as we can. (just found a good netcafe!!)
Our first day in Delhi was mostly wandering around Connaught Place, where the city centre is basically in the round, focusing in on a new park in the centre. This made it easy to wander around, and get our bearings. Things didnt feel too busy, but we discovered later that CP (Connaught Place) is a bit removed from everything else. We meandered markets, bought chai from boys on the street, and strangely enough...I had my ears cleaned by a funny little man in a park. I'm not quite sure why I agreed to it...I think I wanted to get into the vibe of the place! Anyway, it worked out fine, and I now have immaculately clean ears! I recommend it! We ate samosa style pastries from a street vendor for dinner, and then an auto rickshaw weaved us through traffic back to the hotel. I crashed out early and we slept very well.
Thursday was a little different. We ended up with a driver...not exactly deliberately...and Siwar became our guide for the day. We went to Old Delhi which had the bustle and craziness that we expected of Delhi. It was great. We visited Jamma Mosque, the world's second largest Muslim Mosque, and several other local sights. We went to the fantastic Silk Palace, where we were treated like royalty as we purchased some local clothing...very nice! We visited Ghandi's Memorial, his tomb set in beautiful gardens, with some of his quotes carved in stone around the walls. We ate lunch in an upmarket restaraunt called Lodhi Gardens. Lush setting with 5 star service and jazz playing. It felt a lot devoid from the culture we were in, but I guess Siwar was doing his best to make us feel comfortable! We picked up our train tix from an agent in CP, fantastic service from a guy called Latif, and avoided a minor drama when our driver attempted to claim commission from the agent! Back to the hote for dinner, and we crashed early again.
On Friday we met Janet who Virginia had emailed before we left, and were lucky enough to be shown the work of Sahara House, which is a Drug Rehab organisation working to minimise the impact of HIV in India. I'll let Gin fill you in on this more shortly, but it was eye opening, and we felt blessed to be able to experience this side of Delhi's City life for a short while. I'm about to get kicked off the Net here, and we should check out...so we'll write more soon.
A little sight seeing today, and then we tackle the trains to head to jaipur.
Love to you all.
Jeff n Gin

The beginnings in Delhi...

2006-12-28T23:55:00.000+11:00

We've arrived in Delhi. Our plane landed brilliantly despite a thick orange haze that left the runway closed until minutes before we landed. A very professional pilot! A pleasant rendezvous in Hong Kong on the way prepared us a little for the smells and the atmosphere of Delhi, although still very different. We spent four hours seeing the sights of Hong Kong city during our stopover which was an unexpected bonus. Both flights were really smooth and our biggest issue was nearly missing the plane in Melbourne because we were so relaxed - eek!! We're enjoying a relaxed and comfortable hotel with a lovely garden in which to take our tea, which has allowed us to ease in a bit. Last 2 days have been days of exploring Delhi. We managed to arrive to a quieter Delhi than expected which was pleasant, however peak hour was not far around the corner!! We're experiencing the contrasts of this weird and wonderful city - colour, chai, ear cleaners, markets, very rich, very poor, clean, dirty - but very friendly people. On our first day we had a number of wonderful encounters with a range of Delhi-ites. One in particular showing us to a reputable travel agent (we think - let you know!!) to help us out with the details of the remainder of this part of the trip. Raj, a street curio seller, assured us that he knows of Australia well - he has a friend who comes from Sunshine Hospital and another from Royal Womens' Hospital!! What more is there to possibly know of Australia! He was very friendly despite the fact that we knocked him back on the hand made chess set! More details on Delhi before we leave here for Jaipur in the next few days... thanks for your interest and support and the messages from home thus far...

Christmas Night Pre-departure reflections

2006-12-25T23:01:00.000+11:00

So, it's Christmas night. Our bellies are full and so are our packs. Christmas was somewhat overshadowed with the anticipation of our adventure, but only a few hours til boarding now and we have enjoyed hanging out with family and friends over Christmas - a good way to leave for a few weeks. An early start tomorrow, and hopefully some interesting souls to meet on the plane... who knows??!! Next stop, 8 hours at the airport in Hong Kong (they might let us out if we're lucky!). We're preparing ourselves for the onslaught of Delhi. Christmas in Melbourne's CBD provided some preparation perhaps!? (perhaps not!) We're feeling slightly nervous about what lies ahead - probably fair enough. Reactions from fellow travellers have been extreme in either direction. We had Christmas dinner with a couple of Italian tourists at home in Brunswick - friends of our housemate. They were in awe of India and showered us with fantastic stories and advice and reminded us that we must go with open hearts - nice. We've definitely started to feel excited. Another friendly warning was to give it a chance - it won't be love at first sight! Others farewell us with much more trepidation - "please be careful!". We're sure it will be an amazing and eye-opening experience and can't wait to get started. Talk to you next from crazy Delhi.
Bonvoyage, Jeff and Gin.

Friends of Kolkata

2006-12-16T14:29:00.000+11:00

As part of our time in India we'll be spending a few weeks with Friends of Kolkata doing some work through CCD, which is a local Kolkata based organisation that supports kids that have been affected by child labour. They run some schools, a boys home for boys that can't be supported at home, and they also do a lot of work advocating for the rights of children in India. What we do when we 're there will probably unfold more once we're in Kolkata, but we're planning to help in one of the CCD schools doing some literacy and numeracy stuff. We also hope to work on a mosaic project with some of the boys, to brighten up the space around the school. We'll be going with the flow, and slotting in wherever is helpful. Overall, we're looking forward to the opportunity to hang out with some locals in the place they live, and hopefully get a glimpse of life off the tourist route.

The First Post

2006-12-16T13:47:00.000+11:00

Here's our first post before we head off on our adventure in India. We're busy getting our heads around travel preparation amidst christmas craziness, and very much looking forward to heading off. We're leaving early on Tuesday 26th Feb, flying to Delhi with Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. We'll do our best to post fairly regularly, we'll see how we go finding Internet. Feel free to leave comments or fire us off an email.