The Fault In Our Stars...

According to Google defintion, "poverty is the state of being extremely poor, of being inferior in quality or insufficient amount". 

For the most part, we have a general consensus of what poverty is and what it entails. Upon coming on the trip we spent hours talking about it and preparing for what it might look virtually and outside of what we are used to. 

We have been in india for about a week, and we are still shocked on a daily basis of the things we see when walking the streets, from outside the place we are staying to the sites that we are volunteering. On the sidewalk there are groups of families that seek shelter on the pavement.

A new born baby - maybe three to four-days-old lies on her mother's lap as the mother is feeding herself and another young child. 

A man sleeping on the trunk of a tree without covers as flies are just passing and pausing on his body. 

A woman with three kids, lying on a cart and asking passersby for change or a meal to feed her kids and herself. 

Further ahead, countless older and younger men lying on a mat for some shut eye. Another ten steps, four or six for those who are tall, a group of males, young and old, bathing in an open source of water to shower, a water the color of tan with a hint of green that we, as Americans back home could not fathom stray animals or our pet to bathe or drink from. 

I don't know how to articulate how it makes me feel; it makes me angry but I don't want to pity them. It makes me want to stare at them but i know how that feels. As a Black American woman I get stared at on a daily basis, sometimes more than my peers in the group who have lighter skin than me. It makes me want to take care of it but i am not sure on how to do that. 

How can we effectively help our global neighbors? This is an important question because, as a golbal citizen it is our duty to give what we can when we can. That's the essence of love and of loving others. [Of course we cannot forget our own backyard, but this is about our global friends right now.] 

Going back to the question, for me it is with my time, traveling 14-20 hours across the globe to give my time, for you this could be giving your time as well, or donating money, sending out your prayers, encouraging others to take a risk and giving up their afternoon or a vacation time in order to give back. 

What did your mom teach you about sharing? It's caring! We can all care.

In india, lack of resources is evident on the streets -many people do not have jobs. The majority of people here lack financial capabilities, so then they lack food, shelter, BUT not family. And to support their family, some of them, usually women, turn to prostitution.

The workers at FreeSet were forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. Now  they can  builid security for themselves and their family.

The Fault In Our Stars... this is a book title and an up-coming motion picture. I chose this as our entry title for today because four out of the ten of us have read this book and realized how the title is in correlation with the work and what we are seeing in India. We are all start, it just so happens that we cannot shine at the same time. As humans we cannot command things, but we can command ourselves! We can not prevent someone from being poor, or unhealthy -we cannot help everyone, but everyone can help somone. 

 

So I leave you with this quote:

"Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?" [Fulton J. Sheen]

With love we can move montains, so why not use it to help ourselves and those in need. 

Namaste to you! 

Look We Made it in The Telegraph

Check out the hyperlink to see our feature in The Telegraph! Maybe the only highlight of Mango Monday...

Food

The City of Joy

Cuddled in a bed Marlyn, Lauren, and I sit while Ben and Steph are sprawled out on another bed in our dormitory sized room. Today, rather than venturing out in a city where anything can happen we find ourselves at peace, relaxing and getting to know one another. With books at our fingertips and plenty of knowledge in our brains we sit and have conversations that range from the story plot that arised from the books we are reading, the problems that arise in Syria, stories of eating Dominoes at weird hours of the night, and watching comedian acts. 

We have been here for over a week and we have found ourselves getting to know one another, and what better way to learn from one another than having this incredible opportunity to volunteer in an unfamiliar city. A city that we have learned about and are now able to observe women wearing bright and beautiful saris at our every glance, tall and colorful buildings, and loud noises coming from the horns of the busy streets and the elegant Bengali that floats off of the tongue of the everyday person trying to sell food on the street or a mother trying to make sure her children cross the street in one peice. We have learned in this short period of time that Kolkata, truly evokes their title "The City of Joy". Although one of the poorest cities in the world, you would never know it because in the eyes of the people  there is so much optimism and kindness within. No matter the challenges we have faced -like sickness or strange smells. I can accept the joy within the people of this city, but I can't accept the idea that when we walk along the street we are walking in someones home as they feed their children, sleep, bathe, and do laundry. The idea of homelessness becomes this everlasting thought that is thrown in your face everytime you step outside. I may never be able to change how the city of Kolkata runs and the lives of the people here but I can attempt to stay positive and continue to volunteer in a cheerful and giving manner.

As we took a day off from volunteer work, we find ourselves motivated and upbeat about tomorrow being a new day and working alongside the massi's and other volunteers at the houses we have been volunteering at through Missionaries of Charity. I have had the privilege of working at Daya Dan, a home that works with both boys and girls that have cognitive impairments and physical disabilities. It is an incredible place to volunteer because it truly brings a smile to your face each and everytime you enter the building. The beautiful children, positive massi's, and kind sisters make my time at Daya Dan an incredible experience that leaves me breathless everytime I leave. 

Today was a time of reflection for all of us. We were able to embrace one another and learn from one another, not only from our experiences here but in the experiences of our past. We are excited to embrace the culture, people and places of this city for the time we have left. 

-NB

Restoring What Has Been Stolen

Namaskar from India!

      Due to technical difficulty this post is a day late in posting, but as with everything we have experienced here, I've taken what's been thrown at me.  

     All is well with us in the hot, humid, and incessantly honking city of Kolkata! Yesterday we had the opportunity to sleep in since we weren't going to our Mother Teresa houses. Instead, on the agenda was a tour of Freeset, an organization that works to get woman off of the line in the red light district and teaches them skills in bag and shirt making. We took a bus and an auto-rickshaw to get there--public transportation is always an adventure here! Upon arriving, we sat intermingled with the women for devotion before they went off to their respective areas to start the day. David, an intern from the UK, gave us a tour of the building showing us the different offices, sewing rooms, printing areas, and training room. We watched for a bit while women sewed bags with lightening speed. It was an awesome experience to see these women working first hand and learning about the work they do.  

     During our visit, we were fortunate enough to meet with Meena who was one of the first women to work for Freeset when it started in 2001. Today, her role in the company is to visit women who are still on the line and help them see a better future for themselves by working for Freeset. The determination she shows and the devotion she expresses towards these women is beyond admirable. To hear what she had to say about women on the line and the struggles and obstacle she faces was very moving. Allison ended the conversation in a way that was very powerful to me. She said that as a mother of two daughters, thank you for looking out for daughters. Meena, we will not forget yours and the other women's mission. We will carry your message with us always. 

     The visit to Freeset was powerful and very moving. The company's work to help these women is a happy reminder that there are good people and successful efforts to promote change. The entire visit was inspiring and in my opinion difficult to convey in words. Overall, the group had a wonderful time at Freeset and we're excited to share our stories about it with the many people we meet! If you're a Saint Mike's student reading this, look out for some Freeset bags and accessories at the International Market this December!! 

    After our visit, we headed to Blue Sky Cafe for lunch. This was our third visit to this cafe which the MOVE group has been going to for years. We all love visiting it because it offers a variety of different types of food from Indian to Chinese and even American and the people who work there are awesome! Abby and Lauren tried one of the banana, peanut butter, honey, and sugar crepes which looked delicious. You can bet that many of us will be trying the "pancakes" during our next visit! Our afternoon was relatively low key and relaxing. Marlyn, Abby, and I ventured out to buy stamps and postcards which was interesting. Like many things done in India, this was a process done with many different lines to stand in. We had to buy stamps in one line and stand in another to get them stamped and  sent out! After we headed to a shop called Sunshine where we know the owners. We browsed around a bit and enjoyed chai with them. The three of us headed back to BMS and hung out with the rest of the group. A small group of us decided to play Banagrams and munched on snacks we brought from the US (yummm Goldfish!) before heading to dinner. I guess all those years of family Scrabble have finally paid off. Overall, it was a really great day. 

    It's crazy to think we're almost at the halfway mark of our trip. In my opinion it has been amazing and I hate to think about leaving on June 9th! But until then, I'm looking forward to all the experiences to come! Shoutout to my Mom, Dad, and brothers...can't wait to share all the stories in person! Hope all is well stateside!

Namaste,

Steph 

Of Blisters and Beautiful Moments

Greetings from room 114!

Steph and I headed to Shantidan for our second day of working with the girls today.  Getting to Shantidan begins with a 15 minute walk through the waking streets of Kolkata, and then a 20 minute bus ride, followed by another 10 minute walk.  Today it seemed like our normal bus, bus 166, was not running, so we took 213 through to the slightly less hectic part of Kolkata.  In our fourth day here we are all starting to sprout new blisters from sandals that we had previously thought to be broken in.  Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you are constantly sweating! Just gotta embrace it. 

At Shantidan, Steph works with the Rainbows, or the severely handicapped.  I work with the Star girls who are blind and also cognitively impaired.  Since today was Sunday, the girls didn't have any classes or really anything scheduled for the morning so everyone hung out outside.  All of us aunties (volunteers in Bengali) went around painting the girls' nails.  My favorite moment from the day was when one of the blind girls that I work with, who is usually very hard to get through to, put her hands on my face for the first time.  I was singing to her and she burst into the largest smile I've seen on her face that I've seen and kept putting her hands on my throat to feel the vibrations from my singing.  It was truly beautiful.  

From these first couple days at work, Steph continues to realize how lucky we all are in our lots in life.  We are dealt a hand of cards and for some reason, we ended up in the United States with amazing opportunities and supporting families and friends that wish us well in our travels and will be ready to welcome us home with open arms.  The girls we work with are not so fortunate, to say the very least.  It is truly humbling to work with these girls and to realize that many of our hardships are small compared with those these wonderful girls have faced.  We feel truly blessed to be here and to be able to get to know these girls and where they came from.  

Tonight, sitting around with our whole group, laughing about the day's antics and sharing our favorite moments and those that challenged us, I feel the same appreciation that Steph felt.  Being able to sit together and connect with and get to know one another is one of the greatest joys of this trip.  After spending the night eating lots of delciious authentic Italian pizza (in India, who knew??), buying awesome gypsy-like pants, and riding around the night-time streets of Kolkata in auto-rickshaws feeling like you're on some wild and crazy rollarcoaster ride, it's with a happy heart that I go to sleep tonight.  It is only day four, and Kolkata has shown me what an amazing city it can be.  I can't wait to see what the next 2 and a half weeks will bring! (Hopefully no more blisters...)  

Namaste and শুভরাত্রি (goodnight)!

Andie and Steph

The first day immersed in service!

Hello from 9 and a half hours ahead of Vermont!!

Today was our first day working in the homes that we all chose to go to. Ben, Abby, and Julia are working at Prem Dan ( a home for men and women with life-threatening illness and injury), Edmilse and Nicole are at Daya Dan ( a home for disabled girls, and some boys), and the rest of us are Shanti Dan. Alison and I are working with the women, while Marlyn, Andie, and Steph are with adolescents and younger woman. It was really exciting to start our service fully today, and meet some other volunteers! Most of us helped with laundry, interacted with the men and woman, helped feed them lunch, and other daily tasks while we were at the homes. 

For me, the language barrier is something that I need to get used to, and some others are feeling the same way. The women I am working with love to chat, but they are speaking in Bengali which I am unfortunately not fluent in. Just being there with them, helping them eat and bathe, but also sitting with them is really great. I am trying to focus more on being a presence and helping the best that I can rather than getting fixated on the language difference. 

We work at the homes in the morning until noon, and then we head back to BMS, where we are staying, for lunch. In the afternoon, we have each chosen a house that we can work at in addition to our morning choice. Today, we did not go back to the homes, but a few people went to Saint Thomas Church to see some of the novices at the missionaries of charity take their vows. Edmilse, Julia, Ben, and I stayed back at BMS to relax and have some down time after a busy few days. Yesterday when we were walking back from one of the markets, I saw the beginning ceremony for the novices taking their vows through the windows of the mother house. It was really beautiful, because all of their families were there to watch and I couldn't personally imagine taking on such a devotion and life changing event. 

Tonight we are headed to Blue Sky, a restaurant that is very familiar to SMC travelers, for dinner. We went there for lunch the first day, and the men who work there are very friendly and there are lots of food options to choose from. 

So far my experience in Kolkata has been a little surreal and overwhelming, but also very enjoyable. The streets are very crowded and busy, and there is a lot of sensory overload that is going on, but it has been amazing to experience something so different from home. 

Everyone is doing well and staying healthy, and we are looking forward to the rest of our time here!!

That's all for now!!

Namaste, 

Lauren 

Honk Once, Honk Twice: Our First Days in the 'City of Joy'.

Greetings from halfway around the world!

In a city where car horns are just as integral a part of driving as are brakes and steering wheels, the Saint Michael's MOVE crew has settled in and embarked on our three-week journey in Kolkata. Probably more striking than the language of driving (we learned that honking is used to send signals such as 'turning left', 'turning right', 'approaching intersection', etc. to other drivers) and the wet heat, I've been taken aback by the impressively casual organization of the whole thing. Not only are thousands of bikes, cars, rickshaws, buses, people, taxis and dogs moving at once, they're all doing it with purpose and very little accident (that's to say, from what I've seen).

The Mother House (click for photo credit).

Having taken our first day off the plane (yesterday, 5/22) to do some light sight-seeing and rest, today we ventured to the Mother Teresa convent (Mother House) to register ourselves as volunteers. After opting into our assigned locations for the coming weeks, we took the rest of the day to see Sishu Bhavan (a home for orphan children under the Mother Teresa umbrella), visit an aged colonial graveyard, and after lunch travel by bus to Jain temple.

Tomorrow will be our first day engaging in the service aspect of our visit; in the morning, I'll be working at Prem Dan, which is a long-term facility for those struggling with life-threatening illness. Each of us signed up for a variety of homes, and each of these does different work with children, women, people with physical differences, learning differences, and each of these at any point on a physical health spectrum. The Mother Teresa website offers more information on what the organization does in Kolkata and globally.

So far, my impression of Kolkata is one of complexity, in its physical realities as well as its social and political realities. As a volunteer from abroad, I feel conspicuous to the order of obtrusive as my white gangly body tries not to step on too many toes on the bus. When I pass individuals going about their seemingly daily routines, I'm reminded that my presence here is about learning more than it is about making change. I'll wash some sheets, change some bandages, mop a floor or two, but ultimately I'll be replaced by some other volunteer from another part of the world. At best, I can only expect to be humbled and shaped by these next few weeks.

Here's to learning, and hoping that we can give as much as we can in our limited capacities.

'Til next time,

Ben Rosbrook '15

Kolkata next week!

Namaste, friends!

It's spring in Vermont, and this new group of wonderful students and staff is now packing for Kolkata! You can see them here, against a backdrop of barely-green branches. We had just had a dinner of lentil dal and raita at my house.

We've been preparing since October for this trip, learning about the culture and challenges of Kolkata, and fundraising to help our community organizations--Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's life work), Missionaries of the Word (a school/home for underprivileged children), Freeset Global (a socially responsible business helping women transition from the sex trade) and Loreto school for girls. We heard the sad news that one of our partners, Sabera Foundation, had to close their school for girls this winter because they lacked the funds to continue. It's a sobering reminder of the day-to-day reality these children face.

I hope you'll follow the blogposts and comment as we prepare for the next week and then fly May 20.  We arrive in Kolkata May 22 (long flight, huge time difference!) and will stay for three weeks, working with these organizations, and experiencing the noisy, colorful, heart-breaking, beautiful streets of Kolkata and its people. It was 104 F yesterday!

Thank you for your support. We have open hearts for the journey ahead, and feel comforted by all of the folks who send their blessings with us. As Mother Teresa said, "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

Namaste,
Allison

Nicole Buckley, Julia Berberan, Edmilse Diaz, Lauren Dibona, Stephanie Mertens, Abbey Stillwell, Ben Rosbrook, Marlyn Semexant, Andrea Gemme, Allison Cleary