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Published: December 19th 2012
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After two 9.5 hour flights and an 6 hour layover that turned into 8 hours we finally arrived in Mumbai. We were greeted by crowds of travelers and a sea of traffic upon exiting the airport. In 2007, I stayed with the Sohoni family and when they found out I was coming back to India they were kind enough to welcome us in their home once again. With the time change we only had 3 days in Mumbai to get in the interviews needed before leaving to work with the younger girls in Banaglore.
India has always been a bit of a magical place for me and a place of contrast contradiction. It's overwhelming yet peaceful, it's beautiful yet dirty, modern and yet ancient; so I was excited to come back again. This time with a bit more of a mission of meeting some extraordinary young women who are making a different in the world of gender inequality than a traveler exploring. And having with an amazing little team of talents women the adventure has been much different.
Our first interviewee didnt quite work out because of timing and scheduling but the other two were amazing. Tia found an
Mumbai, India
One of our semi irritated drivers organization called Point of View which does some very interesting work around women's sexual safety, healthy, and other areas of empowerment. We first met with a beautiful young women named Nidhi. When she was 15 she was told she had a degenerative eye disease and she would lose her eye sight. Through her trials and tribulations and with family support she was the first blind women to graduate with a degree from university and at 27 is now an advocate for people with sight impairments. When you see the footage of Nidhi you will be blown away at her determination, her infectious laughter and her insistent nature to live a full life. We spent a whole day with her friends and her family, who welcomed us with open arms into their home. Did I mention that Nidhi is also a salsa dancer?
Next we interviewed Zulfiya. At 25, this beautiful, independent, modern muslim woman has a Masters in the Arts, lives on her own in a big city, while her family lives over 12 hours away, and works teaching rural women how to use technology and become better journalists in their own communities. I was in awe of Zulfiyas
ability and passion to support young women and women to utilize their unconventional career choices and empower them to become stronger and freer from the constraints of traditional roles that women have had and "should" play.
As you can see there hasn't been any room for jetlag and although the Muslim prayers at 5am on the megaphone were beautiful to listen to, we haven't had much sleep in the last 5 days. It was so incredible to be at the the Sohoni's. They were so kind to feed us, drive us when they could, and give the three of us (+ Passion monkey) a beautiful small room to share while in Mumbai. Even Grandma at 94 insisted on cooking for us and making sure we were comfortable when we were downloading footage and working in their home. As a thank you Tia brought some chocolates from California and I brought the all Canadian maple syrup and pancake mix ( for some reason it's a big hit while traveling overseas I've found, go figure!)
We left Mumbai yesterday at 7am and headed to the airport for Bangalore. There was a confusion with Tia's flight which we all missed (Tia's
flight was the same time as ours but a different carrier according to the paperwork) So she ran to the other terminal that her carrier was at only to find out they had changed it to our carrier. Poor woman had to run all the way back only to almost miss the flight. Thank goodness it all worked out. Other than this the only other thing about our experience in Mumbai that was challenging was that many people think they know where things are but don't, so we spend alot of time getting lost. Thank goodness we can find humour in just about anything.
The taxi from the airport took over an hour to reach our service apartment (aka 2 rooms in a shared apartment) which my Indian family was so kind to help us take care of. It's simple, clean, save, and close to where we are going every day.
Last night we met with Brinda, the woman who started the organization which we will be working with for the next 11 days. We were all unbelievably moved, inspired, and in awe of her. She is a dynamic, powerhouse of a woman and we decided that not
only will we run the group with the 22 girls she has organized to work with us (who are between 11-17 years of age) but we will also be interviewing her, her team, and she will organize one of the women's meetings she facilitates each month. The women in the slum meet each month (normally at the beginning of the month) to get together to talk about issues in the slum and create proactive solutions to their situation. Tia and I learnt right away that Brinda is a natural coach. She empowers the women to make healthier choices that are supported by each other especially around domestic abuse. Brinda says at least 1 women dies each month in this slum alone from domestic violence and she is determined to stop it.
Today we are going to meet the girls we are going to work with and begin what I hope to be a transformation experience for them and what I know will be a unbelievable transformational experience for us.
India just keeps getting better and better.
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Carmela
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Merry Christmas Loretta
Hi Loretta, Olive your blog. It is interesting and you write well. Keep up the good work.You will blessed. I. Pray for your travels to be safe and rewarding. I wish you a merry Christmas. and a Halt fulfilled new year. Love Carmela.