Jan 5

India is a fascinating place. It has an interesting mix of traditional and modern as well as Eastern and Western. Women wear bright colored cloths but there are so many all wearing the same things that it all blends together. Many women wear traditional clothes with Western-style cardigans, jackets, tennis shoes and other accessories. There are also some who actually wear jeans and blouses but they are fewer. Men wear mostly Western-style clothing, usually slacks and sweaters or button up shirts, which they have somehow succeeded in making look Indian. The clothes are a mix of old and new, as well as the vehicles. Everything from carts drawn by animals, auto-rickshaws, cars, bicycles and mopeds fill the streets while pedestrians also walk through the roads, dangerously close to getting hit. There are no traffic laws. Most of the roads literally have no lines and vehicles just fill in the space as they wish. There is no order, no lanes, and this only works because they honk like crazy. This is not offensive but lets other cars and pedestrians know that you are near. There are several drivers for CCS who drive the volunteers around. Today my driver was Sunil and he always makes me car sick! I still have a headache from the hour long ride I took earlier today.
Today was my first official day of work with Mobile Creches. Jackie and I got there, ready to observe and interact with the children. They called us Didi which is how younger people refer to older women in Hindi. The children were so funny. They would speak to us in Hindi and it didn’t seem like they knew that we did not understand. Yesterday we had a Hindi lesson so today we knew some basic phrases. We could tell them things like “bat jaro” and “shamash” which mean “sit down” and “good job!” Because the teachers do not speak English we could not really communicate with them. We just joined the children who sit on the floor around a blue table a few inches off the ground with their blackboard and chalk. I tried to observe what they do so that I can begin to formulate my own ideas for lessons and activities. Surprisingly to me the children sat at the table for most of the time we were there and mostly stayed in their places. I think they sit there for most of the time every day.
Basically it seems like the teachers are mostly day care workers who try to teach some too. They try to get the children to write letters and short words on the blackboards but they mostly draw pictures or scribble. At the end we did an exercise where the teacher would hold up a card with a picture of food and the children would call out what it said. Apparently children love foreigners because they were not at all shy but excited to see us. Most had thick snot running from their noses because the climate is colder than usual here right now and the building has no heating. Their clothes were dirty, but the children are all precious. Their joy and laughter is contagious. I couldn’t stop smiling. What beautiful children! Today we mostly played with them but we will start making plans tomorrow. I am trying to clear my mind of all stereotypes and preconceptions that I have so that I can see clearly. Initially my reaction was a type of shock at the conditions there, but this site is much better than many daycare centers.
In the afternoon a Canadian man who volunteered with CCS years ago and now works in India with a children and women’s empowerment NGO came to speak with us. He told us about what he does and how Vidya helps children and women and it was very inspiring. He has done work with NGOs in several other countries as well so he will be a good resource to talk to. I have already spoken with him about my project and we are setting up a meeting for next week to talk more about his work, and about NGOs in general. He is enthusiastic about chatting with me. He also may have connections to other NGOs in the area that I can get in contact with which do a number of different tasks in New Delhi. It seems that pieces of my project are coming together. There should be lots of access to information about NGOs available to me.