A Year Later

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I said goodbye to the Sangam World Centre team and the amazing Green Tara Foundation family.   

In the Bridger-Teton National Forest

It has been an interesting 365 days since I landed back in Atlanta. There have been up moments and down moments but I think its been a year filled with mostly the up moments. I have had wonderful times with my family, my friends and my lovely Lime Green Giraffe staffers. I even spent a week this past summer helping my sister with her PHD research and survived horseback riding, bee stings and a carb rich diet. 

A year later, I am determined to stay true to the reason that I went to Sangam; the conscience desire to make deliberate decisions about my life. I have not opened the letter I wrote to myself during my final days at Sangam. It arrived here last fall. Maybe I will open it someday. Maybe I will open it when I feel that the impact of my experience as a Sangam Community Program participant has ended but then that moment may never come. 

I believe the places where your soul is still at the critical moments of your life will change you forever. My experience as a Community Programme participant radically changed the way I saw my world. I cant thank my fellow Tare, the staff at the Sangam World Centre and beautiful girls of the Green Tara Foundation enough. I owe you one. 

For more on the Sangam World Centre Community Programme click here.  

Heading Home

Today I begin my 28+ hour journey home with a four hour drive to Mumbai, then an 8 hour flight to Paris and another 8 hour flight to Atlanta.

What an incredible four weeks this has been.

I think meeting the girls of the Ramgar slum was by far the most powerful experience. I will  treasure the laughter I shared with the Green Tara Foundation women at the office during our English lessons. It is true you don’t have to speak many words of a language to really connect. Women are women all around the world.

I will also not forget the difficult moments; talking with prostitutes about their favorite movies while standing in a brothel, leading games for children orphaned by the sex industry, understanding that the reality of life for the girls of Ramgar and the slim chances they have of fulfilling their future plans.

I loved have my fellow Tare, other Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from around the world, who came to India as part of the Community Programme. They are dynamic, hilarious, warm and powerful people making change. I adore them.

I could not have thrived in the Community Programme if it wasn’t for my incredible support system. I am grateful to Sangam and its amazing staff, to my partner who cared for my cat this last month without complaint, to my sister who encouraged me to take the chance and apply to the Community Programme, to my friends and specifically to my best friend who checked in on me via email on a regular basis and to my parents who have always supported my passion that change is possible when we, as a worldwide community, invest in girls and women.

Here’s to my journey home and here’s to processing all that I have experienced.

Here’s to change. 

Photos: Week 4 in Review

Dinner with an Indian family

A classic Indian truck

A fuzzy pic of Ronja and I next to the Sangam lantern!

Preparing for Tare Fun Day

Car trip back from an unexpected project with orphans.

The 4 week Tare hail their own rickshaw!

A much need chocolate fix

Hindi Movie Time!!!

ABCD- Any Body Can Dance- even mine!

Marnye Walla, Walla

Today was my last day with most of the girls from the Ramgar slum. I will see a few of the girls on Monday for Tare Fun Day at Sangam. 

We have spent most of this week talking about hygiene and the importance of keeping ourselves and our clothes and our living spaces clean.  The girls did an amazing drawing of an Indian girl and labeling all of her body parts earlier this week. After they finished their masterpiece, as a group we added the methods used for cleaning each body part.

For our final activity in the unit, I wanted to reinforce the importance of hand washing. When I was in Kenya I learned about Tippy Taps. I had noticed in my visits to the slum that there did not seem to be any easy access to water and soap for hand washing. With a few clicks on Google, I found simple instructions on how to make a personal hand washing station using a plastic bottle and some rope.

After we demonstrated how germs are easily passed from one person to another by touching hands rubbed in chalk, the girls did a great job following directions to make their Tippy Taps. I wanted to make the project as sustainable as possible. So that when the initial water runs out the girls and their families could easily be able to refill the bottle and keep it near their cooking space. I decided to create a soap sling to attach to the bottle for easy use. 

The soap was the unexpected part of the day. When I started opening the boxes of soap to give to each girl, I was unprepared for the excitement and the gratitude.

I choked up a bit and then I started to cry. Of course, then the girls were a bit upset that I was upset. I then told them that today was my last day. I don’t think I have ever received as many bear hugs and kisses from so many people in one minute. It was all a bit overwhelming.

I hope the girls understand how grateful I am to them for letting me into their lives and into their community and for letting them into my heart. Of course, I am also grateful to them for teaching me “Walla, Walla” and the “Alligator” game, a game that I still don’t quite understand but I sure did enjoy screaming and giggling with them at the end of every round.

The Donations are in Use!

Thank you to everyone who donated! The supplies are being used with the teens at the Green Tara Foundation, with the elementary age kids at Deep Griha Society, with the 7th grade class at Anand Gram, with the toddlers at Tara Mobile Crèche and at the Door Step School!

Good X 8

During a self-esteem lesson with the girls, this afternoon, I learned that there are eight different ways to say "good" in India. Well, to say the least, today was a good day multiplied by eight!