Mera naam Arian hai.

Driving through a slum

Weekly market at a slum. Since the vendors don't have to pay rent for the space, goods are much cheaper than they would be at regular markets.

Yesterday we went back to Zakhira slum and spent most of our day with girls from the Bal Mandal. Rani and Ranku wanted to learn more French so I gave them a little French lesson and they taught me some Hindi in return. The language lessons continued as more girls joined us. Several of them brought their notebooks and were diligent about taking notes. Towards the end of our visit, Zahida pulled out a little tube of henna and said she would do mehndi on my hands because I mentioned to Rani the day before that I liked her mehndi and wanted to get it done. I was really touched that Zahida not only caught that but was thoughtful enough to bring the henna to do it for me. She and Ishrat also painted Annie's hands. They did such a beautiful job:

The henna wasn't dry by the time we had to leave so I had to hold my hands out on the rickshaw and bury my nose in my scarf to prevent the New Delhi dust from filling up my lungs. Annie and I met Siya (our flatmate) at the Asha office so we could head to the market together to buy groceries. Not only did this market have a security guard, but the employees were pretty much store escorts who offered to carry my basket for me and accompanied me throughout the store to make sure I had no trouble picking out what I needed. From the slums to The Ritz of grocery stores. What a day.

In the evening Annie and I went to a reception hosted by BU Center for Global Health and Development and USAID. The rickshaw ride there was torturous because our driver had no idea where the convention center was and had to stop at at least 3 taxi stands to ask for directions. It was all worth it because we saw some familiar faces from BU and met some great new people. Also, the mango juice and samosas were delicious. We ended up taking an actual taxi home because it was late and we weren't too keen on another hourlong rickshaw ride.

Today we spent most of our morning at the Asha office getting to know more of the staff. Everyone there is absolutely wonderful and I feel so grateful that I have the opportunity to work with them. It's no wonder they are able to do such great things - they are all passionate about what they do and really believe in the potential of the people living in the slums. We went on a slum visit in the afternoon with a few Irish businessmen and got a chance to hear about what Asha does from the slum dwellers themselves. It was so incredible to see how proud they are of what they are able to do for their community thanks to Asha's help. Everyone we have come across in these slums is warm, welcoming, and smiling. It's very sad to see the conditions of these slums but it's heartwarming to be around people who are so happy despite lacking so much. To say that the past 3 days have put things into perspective for me would be a massive understatement. 

Bal Mandal. One little girl told us she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. 

We could not get over how bright this little girl's eyes were.

Year 12 students, all of whom aspire to attend university.

Mahila Mandal. It's amazing how committed these women are to improving their community.

Mark playing cricket with the slum boys. It took him a couple of tries to finally hit the ball.

Me tumse pyaar karti hoon,

A