Power of inspired students

First a huge congrats to the students that are finishing up their last exams and graduating from PDHS - you are an incredible group of students that will be missed in the clubs, sports, classrooms and hallways of our school.  This blog is for you, because it was largely graduating students that led the charge to make this possible.  

This year at my school students under the leadership of the We Action Team and Student Council decided to adopt a village through the Free the Children program.  They raised over $2000 through a coffee house, tye-dye making, and a penny drive, and their actions inspired us to go to the village they were helping ( we also happened to be in the neighborhood).  Thus the day of awesomess began...

Yesterday we visited Bagad, our adopted village.  There have been very few solid opportunities on this journey to get off the tourist tract and catch real sight of people just living their life completely void of any evidence of tourism...today was one of those days.  We hired a car and left off for the general direction we thought the village to be, knowing it was 85 km away and in one particular district of Rajhastan. The driver, through translation from our hotel owner understood this was not just a typical day of sightseeing, and made a last minute tsn turning point decision to call his brother in law to come with us and translate.  We stopped at least 5 times for direction and clarification as we drove further into beautiful Indian country side - away from the crowds and the honking into seas of sheep, goat, cows, oz and buffalo.  The sarees got even more beautiful and colourful, even the ones worn by women working in the fields...imagine your grandmother putting on her nicest party dress and then sending her to plant crops and turn the soil with nothing more than an axe...this was a very common scene.  Throughout this day I was reminded how lucky i am to be norn a woman in Canada and not elsewhere in the world.  We arrived in Bagad - a rural agricultural village of 300 homes after about 2.5 hrs ( including one chai break :)) and were greated by friendly smiles and namastes (hello) largely thanks to Pintu our translator. We went to the school that is still under construction and spoke with the head builder about the building, me to we groups that had visited and about living in Bagad.  His story was typical rural village....not enough jobs so many men go as far as Mumbai for work leaving women to take care of livestock, crops, and the home. There are 4 wells but they are very old and sometimes dry up and are not always clean so women and children go to the deep well 2 km away for good water.  There are no vehicles so they walk.  There is an elementary school but it is not big enough for all eligible students to enrol, so some miss out..but this will change when the new school house is finished (it will have 8 classrooms, one for each class). If students want to go to high school they have to move to Udaipur (2 hrs away) and live on their own (imagine some of our gr 9 s on their own!).  The school will have sanitary toilets and has a drinking water tower that filters the water so it will be clean.  This is great because the man said many people in the village often get sick from the water in the wells.  It also has a small building for the headmaster and a small temple.  We spoke to some students - one gr. 5 boy named Suresh who wants to be a police officer in Udaipur when he grows up.  We asked how he would get money to go to college and he said hard work.  I asked work where and he said he would help in the fields.  He brought us to his house where his mom offered us chai. In the house there are 3 enclosed rooms and kind of a porch area that she cooks on over wood fire, the ox live, and there is sitting area.  In the house lives Suresh, his mom and dad (who is paralyzed so can't work), his brother and baby sister, his grandparents, and his aunt and uncle.  He loves playing soccer and also really liked using our camera!  Another student we spoke to is attending University and wants to be a science teacher. He has lived in Udaipur since he was 15 on his own, but like others was back in his village for summer vacation.  Other students got excited when i asked about Me to We canadians visiting in March because i guess they played volleyball and soccer with them and had a great Time.  The contractor also liked when they were there because they helped make great progress on the school which they have been building since 2010 - there were still at least 3 workers being paid 300 rupees each day to work on it.  Free the children has also built a 2 room community hall but no one knew what it was for and as of yet they didn't really appear used....typical development flaw - great building, no additional funding for programming to make use.  We only asked a couple people as it was on the way out of the village, so maybe there was more going on then they knew?  We stopped at a fort built into the side of a rocky hill in the 1700's that has the "great wall of India" second largest after wall In china.  Lastly after spending an awesome day chatting with Pintu he took us to his home where he lives with his parents and extended family. There are 15 rooms of the house and we met at least 2 aunts, 5 cousins and I wasn't super clear exactly who all lived there....lots of families! We had Chai and made fun of Pintu for being so lazy and relying on his mom to do everything ( he is 27).  He is sad he hasn't found a wife but is finding it difficult because he is inthe upper Brahmin caste which is a very educated caste and he has to marry a Brahmin but he doesn't like school and didn't go to university, so girls don't choose him ( or their parents don't choose him). 

It was an incredible day and I can't wait to share the photos ( matt was super camera man)

I get such pride to see students taking on challenges so much bigger than their day to day, those who feel a desire to understand and help places and people that are so far away but still in their global community. I know and share with them the flaws in charity and development but I think the fundamendantal action of working hard purely independent of self gain is incredible and cheers to them for doing this!! 

Oh and Pintu is very jealous of the new school and thinks we should raise money to build one in his village...haha.  

Welcome to India

Today as I was strolling through the narrow stone streets gazing at shops in architecturally beautiful 300 yr old buildings at colourful sarees and other clothing, silver jewellry, and paintings, I kicked a pile of cow poop...welcome to India.  We have spent the last 4 days in Jaipur, Rajasthan overcoming stomach issues trying to convince our bodies that they could handle rich northern Indian cuisine, and the heat...welcome to India.  Honking cars, trucks, buses, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, and motorcycles are enough to drive us crazy and certainly led to a headache or two...yes we know you are there, we are looking right at you, no honking necessary...welcome to India.  India is a place of extreme for us...extreme heat (has been 40 almost every day), extreme population density (over 1 billion people and quickly growing), extreme chaos, pollution, filth.  But it also is extremely beautiful when you see pass the negatives, there is incredible history of a civilization more than 2500 yrs old, and architecture from the 1500's. Woman's clothing is stunning - bright, mirrored, embroidered, and provides colourful contrast in streets filled with filth, cows, pigs, people deficating on the sidewalk, and urinating into gutters. 

In India the cows are sacred and take their fixed place in society wherever they wish - often in the middle of the road.  They are fed, healthy and in some cases I have heard their feeding takes precedence over women in the family.  

India takes time for the shocks to neutralize and for the details of the life here to digest.  I'm not sure we are there yet, but getting closer. Yesterday we arrived in Udaipur. It is known as being a romantic city because of narrow lanes, "sparkling" lakes and palaces. It is a city of artists evident immediately by the design of hotels with stunning courtyards and beautiful rooms, also in the French cafe where we enjoyed cappuccino's and French toast!  We ate dinner in a restaurant on cushions 

In an open air alcove overlooking the lit up lake palace...it was lovely.

Today we head into the village of Bagad. This is the adopted village of students and staff at Paris District HS and I look forward to the opportunity to bring to camera someof the benefits of their charity efforts.  Stay tuned...

The art of bus travel according to me.

To travel on the cheap you find yourself on A Lot of buses.  Some are quite fancy - like the one I am on now...VIP apparently with cushy seats, tv (usually showing movies from the country of travel...hilarious), and a toilet. Some are dreadfully crowded, uncomfortable and usually make for the best stories because fellow passengers can include chickens, bee hives, goats, etc.  I once travelled on a bus in Kenya where I had to crouch down and close the blinds because on that stretch of road rebels were known to shoot at the busses.  And in Nepal I was riding on the roof with a small Nepalese child on my lap when the bus started to slide off the side of the road and everyone jumped off the top. I would have had to throw the child, and chose to instead stay put and hope the bus didn't in fact go off the cliff...it didn't. And so, through extensive experience, I would like to believe that buses are an area of expertise for me.  Making the long often terrible rides more bearable is key and requires more than the obvious snacks, tunes, and solid reading material.  During the day it is naturally a great time to gaze out the window and ponder the area you travel in....what would it be like to live there, what do people do for money, how do they entertain themselves...etc.  I have also done some serious personal life coaching during these idle hours. Also, a great place to meet and chat with a local - even in broken English they can be a wealth of knowledge about a region.   Overnight buses are where the biggest challenge lies.  Night buses are great for budgets because you get hotel and transport in one...but can be killer if you can't sleep.  Here are my tips:

1) bring a sarong, blanket or sleeping bag on board - if you are in a warm country the bus will be frigid.  

2) use your travel partner - the double head lean is a very comfortable way to sleep (especially if you have  pillow or bunched sarong)

3) no shame- getting sleep is number one priority for me no matter how I get it.  A great way I have found is to let one person lie across the seat while the other goes on the floor in front (where your feet normally goes) - people might stare for awhile but once you are snoring and sleeping like a baby they will be jealous.   Obviously snagging 2extra seats to lie across is a bonus.

4) watch your backpack. Night buses (and trains) are notorious for thieves.  I suggest either padlocking bag to your chair, putting your leg through the arm strap or using it as a pillow.  On a train from France to Italy I had my bag stolen right from under my legs.  

5) pack your own t.p. when going to toilet at rest stops - often squat toilets or regular toilets with no seats, often sketchy and rarely providing t.p.

17 hours into our trip....and honestly despite using all of my tips my sleep last night sucked.  But, started the morning on KhoSan road with a coffee and street pad thai at 6am!  I have been talking about Bangkok street pad thai for 10 years! Matt finally got to experience the deliciousness for 30B = $1.

Sawadeeh kha

From the southern beaches to the northern hills of Thailand we go.  Seperated  by 2 minibus, 1 ferry and 4 buses of varying quality, a taxi....and 27 hours of travel time, oh boy. Needless to say I have time to write a blog or two. 

First an update of where we have been.  We started our visit to Thailand in Krabi, one of the places I wanted to go last time I was here but didn't get a chance.  We stayed in one of the shadier hotel rooms of our trip that you had to walk through the kitchen of the restaurant to get to. Room was a little moldy and a cockroach did jump off my bag at one point, but the bed was ok (no bed bugs despite a thorough check), the fan worked and at $10 the price was right.  Took a ferry out to Krabi Island to Railay Beach,

https://picasaweb.google.com/115423077873426429468/Thailand

famous for breathtaking limestone cliffs and rock climbing.  As this was our goal we tried not to be too deterred by the garbage strewn beaches, and the less then friendly customer service and focused on sunshine and an adventure.  Matt and I signed up for a climb which included about a minute of advice for us which apparently

constituted as our beginners lesson. Climbing is incredible. Firstly our surroundings were breathtaking, but the act of physically moving your body up a rock face that looked unclimbable to us was exhilarating.  We were initially discouraged that they had chosen a 6b+ route for us to learn on (not a beginner route) but in the end were thankful as we had to push ourselves way harder to reach the peak.  We only managed two climbs each over the 2 hours but that was enough to have ripped the skin from most of our fingers and tested the muscles in our arms.  I would love to have been stronger and more skilled to try some of the other routes people were doing!  Due to the lack of cleanliness on the island, Matt unfortunately got food poisoning resulting in a slightly longer stay than

expected, but allowed for me to do some exploring of some of the less crazy parts of the island.  I also woke up at 530am to catch the sunrise and was rewarded with being the only tourist awake.

  Next we went to Ko Phi Phi, an area made famous in filming Leonardo DeCaprio's "The Beach", and then notorized as one of the sites hit hardest by the December 2004 Tsunami.  I was here in 2002, as a much different traveller.  This was the first repeat site from my first trip and I was so excited to see what had been rebuilt and how the island had changed...but what I think subconsciously I wanted was to go and relive old amazing memories.  I learned an important lesson - don't try to relive the past, it only sets you up for disappointment. The part of Phi phi we stayed in is overrun with poorly planned tourism. Streets and alleyways cluttered with bars, hotels, cafes, tour shops and souvenir shops. At night trained monkeys, funnels, and bar promoters were a major turn off for me....elements that might have made Phi Phi even better in 2002?  It is disappointing to see the damage being done to a beautiful natural environment at the demands of tourism - lack of waste management, water shortages, damage to coast and marine ecosystems.  But we were determined to make new memories from Pho Phi and took a long boat to a more remote unspoiled beach, as well as took a boat trip to see some of the beautiful parts and appreciate the azure waters and cliffs that made the islands famous.  

   

AND, I did drink one bucket for old times sake.

And then after almost 4 months of travelling we decided we needed a few days vacation :) so we found a small resort on Ko Samui discounted or low season and chilled out.  Pool and beach, swimming, reading and kayaking. Refreshed and ready for next two and a bit months!  

   

And so that brings us to the bus. Reminding me of a blog that I have meant to write for a while....the art of bus travel....stay tuned.