In the company of children

I've spent plenty of time around children. I have lots of cousins, I tutored a 2nd grade class during my freshman year in college, and I worked in a pediatrician's office during my college summers. They are cute (most of the time), funny (a lot of the time), and clever (more often than you'd think). They can make you smile one second and want to rip your hair out the next. Some people love them and other people can barely stand to be around them. Whatever your opinion, you can't argue that children aren't important. After all, they are the future.

The children I've met in the slums are among the most amazing people I've ever come across in my life. You read that right. People. In addition to being cute and funny, they are also more responsible than some people my age and know more about "real life" than they probably should. Yet in spite of the troubles they've faced growing up in the slums, they are still children: they giggle when we smile at them and use our subpar Hindi to call them beautiful, they teach us secret handshakes and laugh when we mess them up, they ask us personal questions that only children would think are appropriate, and they argue over who gets to play badminton first in the Asha center courtyard. You'd never know these kids face hardships that most of us can't imagine every day of their lives.

Children in Asha's bal mandal groups come together to learn about various health issues (such as TB, hygiene, sanitation, substance abuse, etc) and discuss the goings-on in their lanes. Each bal mandal has a leadership group - consisting of a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer - that comes up with an agenda for each meeting. Although Asha staff members sometimes supervise group meetings, they are led by the leadership team for the most part. 

Bal mandal members are tasked to check up on around 10 houses in their lane to make sure pregnant women are going in for their doctor's appointments, moms are getting their children vaccinated, children are going to school, and pressing issues are being dealt with. They are respected in their community and seen as liaisons between community members and the potentially life-saving services they can get from Asha.

As we walked through the narrow alleyways of Trilokpuri slum with Lakshmi and Priyanka, we saw how effective these children actually are in encouraging healthy behaviors in their community. Each woman we visited warmly greeted us and eased into a comfortable conversation with Lakshmi and Priyanka about whatever health issues were relevant in their homes. The girls were able to give us a rundown on each home we visited: how many children under 5 lived there, current health issues faced by family members, jobs family members held, whether the children in the home were attending school, and what grade they were in. No one we visited refused to speak with the girls. Rather, they all seemed very happy to see them and comfortable speaking to them about their health and family.

I am so grateful to have been able to spend so much time with these children and just hope that I was able to provide them with a bit of encouragement to keep doing what they're doing because I have faith that all their hard work and determination will one day pay off. When we asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up we received a variety of answers from pilot to police detective to astronaut to doctor to engineer to teacher (the most popular answer). I hope these children continue to be remarkable citizens in their communities while never losing sight of their dreams. 

My GivenGain page is still open for 21 more days. If the stories and pictures I've posted in my blog and my web album have touched you in any way, please consider making a donation to Asha to help provide the resources these children and other slum dwellers need to stay healthy and improve their lives: http://www.givengain.com/activist/62871/projects/1503/. 

If you can't make a monetary donation but still want to help or if you've already donated but want to do more, you can send old books, clothes, school supplies, and holiday decorations (all in good condition, of course) to Asha's head office which will distribute them to the slum centers:

Asha Community Health and Development Society

Ekta Vihar, Sector 6, R.K. Puram

New Delhi 110022

India

All the best,

A

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

Introduction to Delhi slums

The biggest 2 lessons I learned today were:

1. I will never get used to auto rickshaws.

2. No matter what their circumstances, children always seem to exude happiness and that makes me smile.

I was pretty nervous for my first ride in an auto rickshaw this morning for several reasons, the major ones being: how easy it would be for the driver to rip me off because I'm a foreigner and how dangerous Delhi roads are. Given that, I had more trouble opening the door of my flat than hailing a rickshaw, giving the driver the correct address, AND not being ripped off. Except the fact that he didn't know what "You can stop here" meant so he ended up dropping us off around the corner from the Asha office. But since he gave us a flat fee of 60 rupees rather than going by the meter, I'll call it a win. Also, scarves are an absolute necessity here not as a fashion accessory but as a way to cover your nose and mouth so you don't breathe in all the dust blowing your way.

Annie and I went to Zakhira slum after a short orientation. Seeing an urban slum in person was incredible, especially after doing so much research on them for IH887. Words can't really do it justice, so you'll just have to wait until I can post pictures. We spent the first bit of our visit in the clinic, which serves mostly women and children. All of the staff - 5 community health volunteers (CHVs), a team leader, and senior programme assistant - are absolutely amazing. They are passionate about their community and are really proud of the work they do for the women in their slum, as they should be. We were able to sit in on the maternal health visits which was really great because we got to see how programs that we've read about in class actually work on the ground. Overall the women were comfortable with 2 foreigners being in the room during their visit and even let us take pictures of them. We also got to actually feel the baby's head through the womens's stomachs! It was pretty insane.

After a delicious lunch of rice and daal - which the CHVs kindly provided for us - we went on a tour of the slum. As I said earlier, words cannot do it justice but let me try: dirty, crowded, noisy, animals everywhere, dangerous (there was a railroad track right behind dwellings), and the odor wasn't very pleasant in certain areas. Nonetheless, everyone we came across was very friendly and welcoming. I don't know any Hindi but everyone was greeted with a smile and a "Namaste", which were returned graciously. Women offered us places to sit down and those who know English introduced themselves and asked us our names. Their circumstances are incredibly poor, to say the least, but no one we came across let it affect their demeanor and hospitality.

And the children! They are such a delight. They accompanied us throughout our tour, laughing and playing the whole way. They are all so beautiful and full of life, which is just amazing considering their situations. We were able to meet with several of them who belong to a youth group (Bal Mandel) back at the clinic. A few of them know English and we talked about everything from what they do in their youth group to who their favorite hero/heroine (Bollywood actor/actress) is. The meeting ended with me teaching them a little bit of French. We were all upset that Annie and I had to leave but I hope we get to see them tomorrow because they owe me a traditional Hindi song...

I am very excited for my second day at Zakhira tomorrow. I hope to be able to post pictures very soon so stay tuned!

All the best and more,
A