Blogs from Gujarat, India, Asia - page 4

Here I will try to describe a "typical day" at Child Haven in Gujarat. I thought I would write about it sooner, but it took some time to figure out what a typical day is because there always seemed to be something special that changed the normal schedule. Kids go to school Monday to Saturday. They wake up around 5:30, and in winter because it is cold (!), they don't exercise in the morning but they apparently do in thesummer. Then it's time for bathing until 6:30 when all the kids go to the dining hall and have a glass of soy milk produced on site with soy beans purchased from an external source. This ensures the kids have sufficient protein. Then it's time for homework until about 9ish, at least on the girls' side since ... read more

Do they celebrate Christmas in India? Well, in the Child Haven homes, all festivals are celebrated, whether they are religious or not. Already on Christmas Eve, we could feel some real excitement in the air, and in the morning, everyone was up even earlier than usual, despite the "cold" temperature (12 C). We had breakfast as usual but the dining hall was nicely decorated and the children all came to wish me a "Happy Merry Christmas". After breakfast, the children went to their rooms and they came out dressed in their loveliest clothes, kept for very special occasions. They looked beautiful, and very, very proud. I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I arrived here with only 2 sets of Indian dresses and pants, and it didn't take long that the staff here started giving ... read more

"Sister!" This is what I hear a million times a day, and sometimes more! This is my new identity as I am settling into my new life in Gujarat, India. I am here for 3 months, volunteering for a truly amazing organization called Child Haven (please check their website, it is a fascinating story www.childhaven.ca). And with no language in common, or very, very limited English, "Sister" is not just a way to get my attention, it seems to start and end every sentence, is used alone, or in its longer versions "Sister come" or "Sister me come", or even just "Sister" with an intention to say something but no additional words coming out. Sister, Sister, Sister... Maybe they just like the sound of it... So here I am again, in this country that I fell ... read more

So to start with, the trip to Dwarka with my Family was not something I always had in my mind. But to me, it was like a calling last year which I could not ignore. So I sat and read all about it on the web. Found out everything there was to it. But to be there was a different story altogether. I recall asking some people who were actually from Gujarat to give me some tips and ideas as to how I should plan my trip so that I wouldn't miss anything. I started checking the train schedules and was planning my itinerary. A thought popped in my head as to how easy things have become due to web and travel sites for travels nowadays. For the most part, I wasn't willing to make this ... read more

Next stop after Mumbai was the city of Ahmedabad, not so much for the city of course, but because the state of Gujarat has several good wildlife spots, in particular the Little Rann of Kutch and the Velavadar National Park. I was not sorry to leave Mumbai. The city is almost as much of a dump as Calcutta. And I mean that literally. There are piles of rubbish everywhere, and not just piles like "piles of leaves", but piles like mountains. India likes to think it is a first-world country but it is barely a third-world country. It is a country wallowing in squalor. In other poor countries in southeast Asia people may be living a simple or basic existence but usually they aren't literally living in their own refuse. In India that is the norm. ... read more