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Published: February 9th 2008
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girls on the AFP
my shirt is one i bought in india... My last couple of days in India have been alright. We had our last two days of AFP, which I must say were disappointing. Our program was very poorly planned and we ended up sitting in a restaurant being lectured to for two days. Literally, sitting in a restaurant. We didn’t visit any sites; there was no hands on learning whatsoever. I was overwhelmingly bored for most of the two days, as the speakers mostly talked about nuclear weapons and bashed America. In fact, one of the speakers went as far as to say that people needed to stop being victims from 9/11 and the holocaust. I was the only American in the group, so I was left to defend my country when I wanted nothing more than to take a nap. We are all very unhappy about our program and we will be saying something to TSS about our experience.
The highlight of our AFP was our tour guide. Kalaa is a girl from Chennai that served as our tour guide and translator for the three days. She is 21 and is doing a certificate in college on tourism. She was picked out of a class of 22 to
me & Kalaa
our AFP guide be our guide and she was genuinely so happy to meet us and talk to us. We were able to ask her many questions about life and I found her ideas on men and relationships the most interesting. We asked the average age women get married and she said 20 or 21. We asked if she was married and she said no, she doesn’t have a boyfriend because men will usually tell a woman what to wear or what job to have and she wants to be free. Also interesting was that she wore western style clothing when with us because she said it was more professional. In her normal life she will wear a sari, but she felt the need to wear trousers and a blouse when in the presence of Westerners. She was amazing and I couldn’t help but compare our lives because we are the same age and both in school, but we lead completely different lives.
Anyway, I’m glad that portion is over. We weren’t finished with our AFP until dinner last night, so I ventured out again with a couple of friends to find a hotel with internet. This hotel was much nicer than
the first, but there is only one line of internet so we’ve all had to take turns. We all have research to do, so it hasn’t exactly been convenient. You’d think in a country where IT is such a huge employer that there would be some internet cafes around!
This morning we decided to just walk until we got lost. We are about 45 minutes outside of the city center, and there is so much more poverty here. The streets literally stink. Walking outside is the most foul smelling thing I have ever experienced. There is garbage and sewage and bugs and filth everywhere. People live in shacks made of sticks…or plastic bags…or they just sleep on the streets.
We did run into several groups of young boys playing various games on the streets…they were so happy to see us and Jim actually played some volleyball with one of the groups. As a woman, they didn’t engage with me so I wasn’t invited to play, but I had fun just watching and taking pictures. I feel like today we were in the part of town where white people just don’t venture. We were a spectacle…people were coming out
of their house and stopping their work just to stare at us. In fact, one little boy just stopped peddling his bike, pointed and yelled “white!” And of course being white also means that 1 out of 5 people will come up to you and ask for money. It’s heartbreaking because I’d love to give all of these people money, but I can’t single handedly pull all of these people out of poverty. If I give one person money, I will have 100 people following me for miles waiting for their hand out. It’s frustrating and it makes me hate my color and my nationality and my wealth and my lack of concern for others in my daily life.
I’m just planning on staying around Chennai for the rest of my time in port…I’ll report back when I can with my adventures…
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Mom
non-member comment
streets
These photos are so meaningful, and so much more about real life for those who do without. Love your stories. Wish I was there with you! Love you. Mom xoxo