capren1028

Greetings from Kaliyampoondi! I am back on another trip to visit all of the Child Haven Homes with my Grandmother. We are currently at the largest home (nearly 300 children + 40 staff + 20 elderly people) which is near a small village 2 hours southwest of Chennai, India. We got here on the 4th of May and have seen a lot of activity within the last few days. We arrived to a many massive piles of bricks stacked in what is usually the children's play area. They are in the process of making their own bricks for a compound wall to edge the property. They had many trucks of clay soil brought in and hired a few laborers to actually form the bricks and then laid them out to dry prior to firing. Towards the ... read more

Well, I have come to the end of my trip. We leave tonight at 3 in the morning. The last few weeks have been very busy and in some rather remote areas, so not a whole lot of internet access. I will try to fill you all in when I get to my Grandparents farm in Maxville, Ontario. I am spending the holidays with the family out there and then coming back to the Seattle area to figure out what to do with my life. This trip has been amazing. I have met so many wonderful people, both at the homes and as traveling companions. This part of the world is one extreme after another - sometimes sad, but most of the time beautiful. I will cherish this experience for my entire life and wish everyone ... read more

We are now at the Childrens Home in Kaliyampoondi, a small village about 2 hours from Chennai. We flew from Dehli to Chennai yesterday morning and spent the better part of the day trying to connect with a doctor who is going to perform plastic surgery for one of the girls at the home who was burned very bad as a child. He was callled into emergency surgery though so we did not get to meet with him and instead got caught in the worst traffic I have ever seen. It took us two hours just to get out of Chennai, we didn't get to the home until nearly one in the morning. Then it took us nearly an hour to get the mosquito nets all put up and make sure there were no ants in ... read more

You heard me correctly - there were roaches on the plane from Kathmandu to Dhaka. It was a horrible airplane experience with a horrible Airline. Biman Airlines, I hope to never fly with you again. To start things off we sat on the tarmak for about a half hour apparently waiting for some VIP's to arrive. Once they boarded it seemed we would be on are way, the engines were going, we got the safety announcement, the VIP's even got some drinks. Minutes later the engines stopped and there was an announcement that they were having some minor technical problems. At one point they even got out what looked to be an owners manual for the plane. Let me say, we were a little uneasy. It was right about then that we saw the first of ... read more

As you can see I am not in India. This is just a quick message to tell you all that we are all okay here despite the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The internet is not that great here, so I will be brief. There is one volunteer in Mumbai currently that Bonnie is in communication with and trying to get her out of harms way, this is difficult thought because the city is in lock down and it's hard to get people in or out. I will try to write more tomorrow. ... read more

This is the most amazing place I have ever been. Flying into Lhasa, over the mountains, was breathtaking. As soon as the seatbelt light went off everyone clammored over to take pictures, it was quite a spectacle. There were snow capped mountains as far as the eye could see. We have spent the last few days wandering around the older part of Lhasa, enjoying the beautiful scenery and wonderfully friendly people. There is a monestary at the center of old Lhasa and our hotel borders the edge of it. We have a great view from the roof of the local people who walk around and around the monestary praying. There are eight of us travelling together and while Grandma and Arjun were doing business, us girls were off playing. We toured a monestary one day and ... read more

New Delhi has been a tangled mix of roundabouts in an endlessly smoky haze. We arrived at 3 in the morning after two very long flights, then after going through customs, getting our luggage, and travelling to the hostel it was nearly 4:30 before we got to bed. We got up at 8 the next morning and I felt suprisingly awake. We visited the Womens Center in the morning and were greeted with Marigold garlands and many shy smiling faces. The center helps young women in the area develope sewing and tailoring skills with a certified 6 month class. It also has a family planning program and a homeopathy clinic that operates 4 days a week. They also provide free education for the neighborhoods children. They sent us away with some nightgowns and hankercheifs that the ... read more