Indian Adventures Part V: Catching up with development

With the craziness of the last few weeks I haven't had much time to read either the newspaper or development blogs I enjoy. I thought the picture from Bill Easterly's latest blog entry was quite interesting, depicting the number of people on various income levels by region. It is a bit outdated (2000 data) but still quite powerful.

The New York Times recently ran an article about an exciting advancement in preventing HIV/AIDS. A study in South Africa found that a vaginal microbicidal gel containing an antiretroviral medication significantly reduced the likelihood of contracting the deadly disease. The most exciting part about this, in my humble opinion, is that unlike condoms, it is solely in the control of the woman and thus very empowering. The second study - of cash transfers to poor families - clearly demonstrates the link between abject poverty and increased chances of contracting diseases. Worth the read!

Lastly, the LA Times recently featured an op-ed titled "Toilets: a simple solution to world health issues." We often time sideline issues of defecation because it is uncomfortable and impolite. The reality is that many of the world's poor don't have access to toilets, as much as 2.6 billion or about a third of the world's population! Today, as I was conducting interviews in the slum behind Guru Nanek Eye Hospital in Delhi, I witnessed a little boy no older than 3 years old crouching in the middle of the alley trying to poop. He seemed totally impervious to norms of modesty and was just happy to relieve himself. The article claims that "in India more people have access to cell phones than toilets." Modesty and odor is just part of the issue. The boy pooped in the main thoroughfare connecting the slum. Every child and adult without a pair of shoes will walk where he pooped (his mom did pick it up with newspaper thankfully). Diseases spread like wildfire in environments that lack proper sewage, leading to almost 2 million preventable deaths. My friend Jehan, who worked in the same office as Teach For Australia when I was in Melbourne, is attempting to address this issue by launching a non-profit titled Who Gives a Crap, which sells environmentally-friendly toilet paper. All the proceeds will fund water sanitation and sewage projects in the developing world.

Indian Adventures Part IV: Serenity in the Chaos

The weeks leading up to this trip were a whirlwind – a haze of flights, short bursts of sleep, and preparation for what was to come. After I finished my exams, Ari and I went to Croatia to celebrate for four days. Then I was off to the States for a close friend’s wedding. Transnational flights are not my cup of chai but for some friends, the joy of celebrating with them negates the hassle of the commute. That weekend my 89-year old grandmother took an irreversible turn for the worst. With her beloved six children by her bedside, singing her favorite Jewish songs and reminiscing, she went to her final resting place quietly in the night. I boarded my fifth international flight in two weeks to get back to the US in time for the funeral. The agony of the flight, knowing what was awaiting me, speeding through the Minneapolis airport, changing clothes in the cab… it all dissipated the moment I walked into my grandmother’s cherised synagogue just in time for the afternoon funeral. Seeing my family, and especially my mom, I knew I made the right decision to come back. My grandmother was and continues to be a major force in my life. My own beliefs and values are often a reflection of the ideals she espoused. I feel truly lucky that over these last years I have spent countless Friday nights, holidays, special occasions and casual dinners with her. She was a remarkable woman!

This last minute trip to the US meant that I didn’t have much time to prepare for India – mentally or emotionally. I knew it would therefore be really tough at times as it would finally give me the time and space to process all that has occurred. The solitude would be both a blessing for reflection and a curse of loneliness. The day I flew out, a good friend and I talked about these whirlwind moments in our lives, the need to process, and the challenges of doing so in a city as big and hectic as Delhi. I would need to find the serenity in the chaos...

Yesterday was a challenging day but today I found my serenity. My great intentions and plans crumbled when my translator had to cancel at the last minute. The city was at a standstill when I left my hotel as it had started to drizzle. Locals found any covering to hide under – trees, tarps, towels, overhangs. As the city stood quietly and waited for nature to pass, I climbed into my rickshaw and headed to my destination. Our wet journey was cleansing and therapeutic. I smiled to myself knowing that I had finally found my serenity in the chaos. Nature has a unique way of slowing us down, letting us zoom out and refocus. The city too – dressed in mud and puddles - seemed reinvigorated from the hot summer.

Indian Adventures Part III: The Road Block

I have found that you will only get frustrated if you try to get somewhere in a hurry - "dheere dheere" is the way of life here. I gave myself an hour to get from my hotel to my meeting at UNICEF, which according to google map should take 13 minutes. The moment I got into my taxi there was traffic somehow. No joke it took us 30 minutes to get out of my street. Some guy had parked his car on the left side of the road. Normally this wouldn't be a cause of a major hold up but because the entire city is under construction for the Commonwealth Games the street is really narrow. Eventually some pedestrian got sick of all the honking and decided to take charge and direct the two-way traffic that clearly couldn't fit in the now-narrow road. I was getting more and more enraged at whomever was going to make me late. As the rickshaws and motorcylces passed us, my car started moving slowly. It was then that I realized that it was the police officer's car that was causing the hold up! He was hanging out schmoozing with the workers as they renovated the building next to my hotel and was totally oblivious to the parking lot he had created. Uch India!

I managed to get to UNICEF just in time for my 3pm meeting with the Education Advisor. He worked for the government of India before so knew the Chalta Firta program from both a government perspective and a donor's perspective. It was a very fruitful and helpful meeting. But what I couldn't get over was the actual building!

The office is located in one of the poshest parts of town, known as Lodi Estates. The grounds are so beautiful and well manicured. This is my walk-by attempt to capture it. Best part- the 200 employees have a massive cafetaria in there and can just call and order drinks whenever they feel like it. A waiter served me and the advisor delicious chai tea.

In DESTIN we often talked about how UN offices are riddled with extra spending. It is no surprise that those jobs are the most coveted - they pay well, give diplomatic immunity, and provide amazing benefits. I am not saying that UN officials don't work hard but it is probably easier to get away with lavish and at times superfluous expenses. I mean- who is going to hold them to account- the tax payers from the 192 member countries?

Indian Adventures Part II: Rotary the World Over

It should come as no surprise that the moment I decided to go to India, I reached out to two powerful networks that I am a part of - Teach For All and Rotary. The former has been immensely helpful in the planning and coordinating of meetings. Several very kind current Teach For India fellows did some leg work for me before I arrived as often emails will go unanswered, but phone calls tend to get quicker responses.

I knew that if I reached out to Rotary Clubs in Delhi someone would be bound to invite me to a club meeting or have me over for a meal. The Rotary Club of Garden City did just that, and more. They hosted me at their installation ceremony at the Crowne Plaza, a beautiful hotel in south Delhi. The moment I walked in, I knew that I was in the company of great people. The key note speaker, a journalist who admitted to becoming jaded and pessimistic throughout his career, called the crowd a "diabetic's nightmare because everyone is so sweet and optimistic". Just a few of those in attendance included the Moroccan Ambassador to India (who was very amused that I have Moroccan ancestory), the Slovakian ambassador, the leading female fashion photographer in India, and many more equally as successful and influential people. I was in awe by this group and weirdly enough they were super eager to talk to me. Several of them wanted me to come to their next club meeting. One sweet young lady told me that she would take me shopping after I complemented her saree.

The ladies' beautiful sarees

Me with Dr. Singh, the new Garden City RC president

It was such an inspiring evening- with amazing food, a world renowned Indian flutist named Rajan, and great conversations. My interactions with Indians thus far has illustrated that people are generally very optimistic about the direction that their country is heading in, and justifiably so. One of the Rotarians offered to take me home from the event as it was getting late. The car ride back - past slums, street children and destitution- clearly demonstrated that India still has a long way to go.

Indian adventures Part I

The Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Delhi would have been great if the guy behind me didn't snore like a truck! Thankfully passport control, customs and luggage were all speedy and painless. Best part of the journeywas that the hotel I booked sent a car for me (read: old Subaru car with barely working AC). When I first walked outside several things were immediately apparent:

• The heat is like nothing I have ever felt before. Tel Aviv is pretty hot and humid in the summer but Delhi takes it to a whole new level with temperatures reaching 105 and 70% humidity. It is also made worse by the amount of dust in the air- you feel like your lungs have a growing desert in there.
• The smell- it is like old rotting something combined with a bit of sewage. Some places are better than others and I have learned to avoid the low land where all the unidentifiable liquids flow
• The driving- there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of traffic laws. The roads are shared by trucks, cars, cows, auto rickshaws, pedestrians and everything else you can imagine. I have still not been able to cross the street myself so tend to walk in a local's shadow.
• Relatedly, the noise level - I have always heard that Cairo has the worst noise pollution in the world but it seems like Delhi is right up there. Everyone honks (probably because there are no guidelines governing driving). In Israel people get riled up when there is honking but here it is just commonplace, no one gets too worked up about it.

I had my first official day today and I was really pleased with how it went. I was supposed to meet the education director from the NGO that manages the mobile classroom program today. However we left it really loose- it seems that Indians are pretty chill about meeting times (have heard that India time is similar to Africa time). I was nervous it would fall through and I don't have time to waste since I am only here two weeks. I followed the directions through the main bazaar, with the help of a nice boy, to what looked like a building from the 1950s that hasn't had a coat of paint or any work done to it since then. I was shocked at its facade; in the States even the most bare-bones NGOs can't afford to let their building reach that dilapidated state as it would be unlikely they would get much funding. A certain level of seriousness and purpose is displayed via the office. In SBT's case, I went down a stinky alley and walked up two flights to a room without much air circulation. It turns out that most of their funding comes from the government and there isn't much of it despite the great work they do. The office also served as a shelter for street children. These boys stay at the shelter for 6 months and then are either returned to their parents or get placed in a more permanent situation if the former isn't possible.

My meeting with the education director was so interesting- he was telling me all about the structure of the program, the need to motivate their parents to send them to school and the value of education, and the challenges associated with fundraising. I could have listened to him talk for hours. But he had arranged for one of the teachers to take me to see it for myself. Using broken English and a lot of hand gestures we managed to communicate. Turns out the teacher, Sudha, is only 25 years old and has been teaching for two years. The school bus turned into classroom stops at 4 sites each day for two hours. There the kids learn Hindi, English, social studies, science, math and some health. Most of these children have never been to school and often times their parents are apprehensive about sending these kids to the Chalta Firta school. Social workers conduct a survey at the beginning of the year to identify the children between the ages of 6-10 in that area and convince their parents to enroll them. The program currently serves about 125 students. At the end of the year the children take an exam to determine their mastery level and the social workers help enroll them in formal schools. Last year they streamlined 102 children into formal schools! The program has been very successful and the department of education wants to create 20 more school buses. One more will be operated by SBT and the rest by other organizations. There is another NGO, Butterflies, that runs the same program in South Delhi, which I hope to visit. Here are a few pictures:

Today's visit to one of the sites was so inspiring, I had to hold back the tears when I first walked on the bus- to think that this small bus could mean a different life path for these 25 children. Most of them would never learn to read or write if it wasn't for the mobile classroom. I don't think an academic observer is supposed to get emotional upon observing her subjects but it was hard not to in this case as it could literally mean prolonging the cycle of poverty or creating better life opportunities.

Leaver's Gift Revisited

As mentioned in a previous post, I along with a fellow Ambassadorial Scholar from the US, Lauren Williamson, organized a leaver's gift on behalf of the RIBI Rotary Scholars. The purpose was to give back to a local charity and show our appreciation for this opportunity we have been given. The leaver's gift and walk-a-thon, the first of its kind, was a success, although we wish that more scholars would have joined in the fundraising efforts and/or participated in the walk -a-thon. It was a very busy time of year for us all but all in all we are very pleased that we could raise as much money as we did for a great cause. Below is the letter we sent to foundation:

As a culminating event of our time here in the UK, the Ambassadorial Scholars have organized a leaver's gift. Our purpose was to both thank the community that has hosted us during our incredible year abroad and raise awareness about one of Rotary's partnering organizations here in the UK, the Leonard Cheshire Disability. LCD aims to change attitudes to disability and to serve disabled people around the world. Our leaver's gift will benefit two of LCD's diverse services - a home for young adults with disabilities in London and the Schools4All in Africa program which builds accessible and inclusive schools so that children living with disabilities are not denied the right to an education. To learn more about LCD, please visit http://www.lcdisability.org/

For the last several months, Ambassadorial Scholars have been raising awareness about and raising money for LCD's important work. Thus far we have raised £1,700 for the organization, 65% of our goal of £2,500. We are so pleased that many clubs and Rotarians have contributed to this great initiative. If you or your club have not had a chance to contribute, it isn't too late. Please visit http://www.justgiving.com/summerwalk to donate safely. Alternatively you can contact us to get the address of where you can send a check.

Our culminating event was a walk-a-thon at Greenwich park on July 4. Approximately 30 participants - consisting of scholars, Rotarians, grandchildren, friends and supporters of LCD - joined us for the 5K walk. The weather, while not always consistent in London we have learned, was perfect! It was a great day and a wonderful way to celebrate our year in the United Kingdom.

We will forever be indebted to our sponsoring districts and Rotary Foundation for providing us this incredible opportunity. And we are equally as grateful to the RIBI Rotarians and Clubs that have welcomed us into their communities and homes. We hope that our leaver's gift serves as a small token of appreciation and demonstrates our committment to the ideals of Rotary.

Gratefully,

Yamit Taragan and Lauren Williamson

2009-2010 Ambassadorial Scholars

Dissertating

It has been forever since I last wrote an entry but frankly there wasn't much to report on at the time. I spent the month of May and half of June in one of two places- the Goodenough library or the LSE library. I remember thinking when I first sawthe academic calendar that there was SO much time to prep for exams but when it came down to it, I felt like I could have used another week to get ready. In the US you may have a few days or a week to study but in the UK system it is several weeks. It is partly reflective of thedifferent structure- all of our exams, even for those classes that were during first term, were in June. It is also expected that you have a greater and richer understanding of the material. All in all I think my exams went well. I just wish I better understood the system when I started as it may have changed my study habits. Here is a picture with my beloved study group, withoutwhom my core class would have been near impossible!

I have also 'finalized' (loosely interpreted) my dissertation. I will be looking at synergies between formal and non formal education and specifically how mobile classrooms in India are identifying and teaching children who have not attended formal schools. This is especially relevant now that the Indian government has passed the free and universal primary education law. It is my hypothesis that these mobile classrooms are serving as important intermediaries between the parents and schools and are key in building trust in the schools and appreciation for education. For more information on the program visit the DIFD website. I will be going to India for two weeks to conduct field research and see these programs for myself. Am really excited/anxious/nervous. More to come soon!