Gratitude

Living here in India for the past two months has been an eye opening experience for me. Just when it feels like I’m completely used to the sensory overload that makes India INDIA—the smells, the noises, the colors, the flavorful food—it’s almost time for me to go home. As I’ve thought about the different things I’ve learned here, I keep coming back to this:

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

                                   ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 “The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.”

― Henry Ward Beecher

I knew before coming here that, realistically, I don’t have much to complain about. Of course, I have my ups and downs to work through, but so does everyone else. However, being in this country and meeting so many wonderful people has given me a whole new perspective on gratitude. Soo...

For: 

answered prayers, again and again

access to clean water 

amazingly supportive friends and family

my uncomfortable 1-inch mattress 

1 pair of shoes, let alone many

the use of all my limbs 

the Book of Mormon and restored gospel

vaccinations and modern day medicine 

the opportunity to get an education

clothes on my back 

a job

unexpected notes from others

new beginnings

my ability to read and write 

trials that teach me

quiet moments of reflection and understanding 

money to buy basic necessities

the chance to travel to new places this year

Return of the Hydraband

Earlier this summer, our team aimed to raise $4,500 to dig borewells in the slums. These will provide clean water to thousands of people who go without it far more often than they should. Although it was a huge task, on the day of our deadline, with one hour to spare, we reached our goal! Drilling started this week, and we were there to see when they hit water for the first well. Everyone was so happy to see such an amazing site.

Because we were excited about the drilling, our oh-so-talented country director, Brook, put together this video to thank our donors and to show off our sweet dance moves:

Days 2-4: Jaipur, Rajasthan

After Agra, we took a train to the Pink City, Jaipur, which is the capital of Rajasthan. I had no idea what this place had to offer before we went, but I later learned it is recognized as one of the ten most beautiful cities of India.  And I believe it now!

It had a completely different atmosphere than Agra—the most vibrant colors I’ve ever seen, incredible architecture, and amazing bazaars. Oh my, the bazaars. I had some serious buyer’s remorse after leaving because I bought way more than I should have. Oh well!

Here are some of the highlights:

Hawa Mahal, Palace of the Winds, is the most famous landmark of Jaipur. It was built in 1799 for the women of the royal household to watch the royal and religious processions without being seen.

Going on a camel ride! It went surprisingly smoother than I imagined.

My favorite site was Amber Fort & Palace, which was built in the 16^th century and housed different rulers.

You can take an elephant ride up and down the steep path if you so desire J

Once we got to the top, we were completely bombarded by merchants trying to sell us things. At one point, there were about 10 of them following us and trying to beat the other’s prices. Even after you say “NO” a million times, they keep going until you buy something. Luckily, we ended up getting some pretty good deals. The idea definitely crossed my mind how successful Mormon missionaries could be if they were that persistent, haha.

Oh yeah, in the same day I rode a camel, I also rode an elephant. Check that off my bucket list. If it wasn’t already obvious, I’m officially obsessed with elephant everything.

The weight of the four of us didn’t get distributed evenly on the elephant, so at one point en route we were literally sliding off.  It’s a miracle we didn’t fall to our deaths.

We visited a Monkey Temple, but stopped before going in. The monkeys were terrifying! This boy who wanted to be our tour guide for the walk up insisted that if the monkeys tried to bite us, he would make them bite him instead. Seriously?!

Now for the shopping. These pictures don’t do it justice, but it was just amazing.

 

Here were some of my other favorite random shots:

Day 1: Agra, Uttar Pradesh

A few weekends ago, I flew with a couple other volunteers and HELP’s visiting Board of Directors member, Janet, to see the Taj Mahal in northern India. Who goes to India without seeing one of the wonders of the world?! Aside from the heat nearly killing us—we’ve gotten used to the mostly cooler weather in Hyderabad—everything went better than we planned. Our flight didn’t get delayed, we all had beds on the train (unlike last time), and the guesthouse we stayed in wasn’t super sketchy.

Besides the Taj Mahal, Agra didn’t have too much to offer, so we’re glad we only spent one day there. Here were some of the highlights:

The memorable overnight sleeper train without AC. This was just the beginning of how sweaty we all got during the next few days.

 

They were all taking refuge from the heat like we were.

I kept thinking of the part in Slumdog Millionaire when the boys steal all the tourist’s shoes. I’m glad that didn’t happen to us.

Agra Fort

Baby Taj

We also got another view of the Taj from across a river, which is where most people see it on Fridays when the Taj is closed to visitors.

There was some smoke coming from the area to the right of this shot, so we asked our auto driver what was going on. He said the Hindus were cremating a body and after they are done, they would likely spread the ashes across the river.

A lot of the tourist shops sold marble piece since that’s what the Taj is made of. This one shop showed us how they inlaid the colorful pieces... So beautiful. So expensive.

The best part of our day was having Mori as our driver. He showed us all the sites in Agra, found us the best air-conditioned restaurants to eat at, searched for a place with snake charmers (we couldn’t find one), and told us cool stories about his two wives—the Catholic one living in Spain, and the Muslim one living there in India. 

Color My World

     You know those students who can sit through long lectures or read incredibly dense books and remember every single detail of it? Yeah, I wish I was one of those people.  I’m a visual learner—I need to see pictures, graphs, and have hands-on activities to capture my attention or else 1) I lose interest 2) I get distracted 3) I forget everything I just heard.

     I’ve seen different primary schools in Hyderabad’s slum communities, and to say they are lacking is an understatement. Envision one room, mostly barren walls, and lots of cute Indian kids. One of our partner NGOs, SAPID, expressed the need for educational murals to assist in the classroom learning process. Given my love of bright colors and artsy things, I decided to head up this project.  In the past few weeks, we’ve complete two schools and will be completing one more before the summer ends, and I’m so happy with how they’ve turned out.

     The district education leader saw the first school we painted and liked it so much that he wants all the schools in the slums to have similar murals, no matter how long it takes. He also said the children were so excited about it that they showed up at the closed school on Saturday to learn.

     It’s been fun designing and painting the murals, but even more rewarding to know that hundreds of kids will be affected by this project. It has been reaffirmed to me of the importance of educating children, especially if they want to have opportunities to have a better livelihood in the future. 

Health Education

     When I decided to come to India with HELP, I knew there would be many opportunities to gain some real-life experience in my major, public health. Upon getting here, I learned that one of the biggest problems for people living in the slums is tobacco and alcohol abuse. Men in these communities earn about 200-300 rupees a day, which is about $4-6, while women earn about half of that. By spending a substantial amount of their already meager income to feed their addictions, individuals and communities are greatly affected.

     We’ve been conducting classes to educate the men and women about the effects of their alcohol and tobacco use. In addition to causing numerous health problems, it often leads to more abuse within families, and it can financially limit them from things like sending their children to school or buying enough food and water.

     Although we hope that every person who comes to our classes will immediately stop using these substances, we know that this is probably unlikely. However, we do set realistic goals with the individuals on changes they can make. I’ve seen how excited many of them are, especially the women, to share what they’ve learned with others, so we’re glad that we’ve planted the seeds for successful behavior change.

     Here are some photos from three classes we’ve had in the past couple weeks:

Our translator, Urmi, has been invaluable in reaching across the language barrier we face while teaching. 

  

 

Bridge Camps

     One of my favorite things about being here in India is seeing so many happy children all the time. They love to wave to us on the streets, smile at us on the buses, and laugh with us when we play together. And truth be told, I absolutely melt when I see kids walking in their perfectly matching school uniforms and larger-than-their-body backpacks.  Although I want to believe that all the kids I meet live carefree lives, I know that’s not the case for many of them.

     We have a great partner that our team is working with called the MV Foundation. They are dedicated to taking children out of illegal child labor jobs and getting them into school. Because the children have to test into government schools, MV set up “bridge camps” where kids who are behind in grade levels can catch up to the levels where they should be.

     For one of our Friday service projects, we visited one of these bridge camps and taught the boys different sports games. They absolutely loved it! These children have all different stories for why they are in the camps, including their parents were killed or commit suicide, or just can’t support them anymore. It was eye opening to be among kids who have experienced so much at such young ages, but I’m glad we could spend even a small amount of time with them to be their friends.

They were SO excited to play cricket. I'm still confused on the rules, but I like it! 

I know I shouldn't pick favorites, but these two boys were so cute.

MV provided lunch for us: rice with ladyfingers (a common vegetable) and a broth.  I learned that many people here eat just with their right hand, and the boys were laughing at how silly we all looked.