India was one of those countries that it is hard to think of the words to describe it. There are so many sides to India, that to come up with a single word is virtually impossible.
Upon arriving in India, it was decided that we would spend the first day in Chennai walking around and roaming around the city—well that was the plan. Things changed once we got through the port gate. I was out with Amy, Carly, Ed and Ashleigh, and once we got through the port gate we were immediately bombarded with locals trying to get us to go with them in their rickshaws (auto-rickshaws are basically taxis with no doors, all open, and seem like you are in an oversized go kart with a roof). It was extremely overwhelming and we were forced to take two because you cannot fit more than three people in one. So we found two and got in. We told the drivers to stay together and take us to an ATM. It seemed fine, until about five minutes in when Amy, Ed, and Ashleigh’s rickshaw stopped on the side of the road, and Carly and I’s rickshaw didn’t. Their rickshaw had to stop so that the driver could change his shirt, and our driver told us that they were going to meet us at the bank and refused to stop. We got so annoyed, but the rickshaw was still moving so we couldn’t get out. We got to the ATM, Carly went in and got money, and then we told Steven, our rickshaw driver, that we were going to wait for our friends, since we were told they were going to meet us. We waited a few minutes, and then got a BBM from Ed saying that they were going to the Main City in Chennai. We told our driver to take us there. We got there and our friends were nowhere to be found. Steven kept telling us that our friends were going to be at our next stop, but I think he was referring to other SAS students, because at every stop there were different SAS kids. We just wanted to find the friends that we started out with, and apparently that was not going to happen. We lost contact with Ed and realized that we were not going to catch up with them for the majority of the day, so we just went to the different places that Steven was going to show us. There were points throughout the day that we wanted to just leave Steven pay him and just walk around or find a new driver, but he was always waiting for us, to take us to the next stop. It was convenient, but annoying at the same time. We had to meet up with Ed, Amy and Ashleigh at some point because I had Ed’s passport and Amy had Carly’s, and we need our passports to get into the port gate. So after going to the MANY different shops and sites, we made Steven take us to the port. On the way, he had to stop for gas, and all of a sudden he is asking us for money to pay for the gas. I was like “what, we have to pay for your gas?” He said that yes you pay for gas. I was annoyed, but Carly gave him money and we were on our way. About five minutes later, he stopped the rickshaw and wanted us to pay him, before we even got to the port gate. When we first got in the rickshaw we were told that it was going to be $1 to go to the ATM, which is about 45 Rupees. We ended up being in the rickshaw for about three hours, but all of a sudden he is asking us for 1000 Rupees each, about $22 per person. We said No and that we would give him 1000 total. He was not having it and we were getting so mad. I was beyond mad, especially because we weren’t anywhere where I knew how to get back to the port gate, or I would have just gotten out and walked. We gave him 1500 Rupees total because he already got 200 for gas. He was not happy but he was not getting any more. He drove us to the port gate; we got out and got on the shuttle to go back to the ship. We, luckily, found Ashleigh and Ed waiting for us at the shuttle. You cannot get on the shuttle back to the ship without your passport, so Ed couldn’t get back. Amy went back to the ship because she had to pee, so Carly’s passport was waiting for her with them. We got back to the ship finally and then decided to go see a movie.
We found a movie theater at a massive mall and debated on which movie to see. It was so cool because we could go up to these huge screens and scroll through the movies to pick one. It was all touch screens, very high tech. We ended up watching Despicable Me in 3D, which was actually a good movie. I kind of wanted to see a BollyWood movie, but none of them were playing at the time we were there, so we couldn’t. It was still a good time.
The next morning, Ed and Ashleigh left on their Taj Mahal trip and Amy, Carly and I got ready for our home stay. We were going on an SAS trip that took us to learn about Child Labor in Rural India. It was probably one of the most amazing and eye opening experiences I’ve ever had. We were taken to an open field which we later learned was the school for the kids. The kids welcomed us with flowers being thrown in the air and their smiling faces.
We were there for about an hour playing with the kids and teaching them games such as Duck Duck Goose, Hokey Pokey, and the Chicken Dance. They were most excited when we had our cameras and they could see their pictures that were just taken. They thought it was the best thing in the world when we let them hold our cameras and taught them how to take a picture. The look on their faces and their happiness at that moment is a moment in time I will never forget.
We were taken into a “classroom” type setting and the kids got up and sang songs for us. It was so cute. The leader of the program asked for one SAS student to go to the front of the classroom and explain what we are doing, so that the students could understand what we were doing and why we were there, so one girl got up and explained it perfectly so that the students wouldn’t be confused. We are there to see them while we are in the middle of sailing around the world on a ship. Simple as that.
We had to say bye to the kids and that was hard. I didn’t want to leave. The kids gave us hugs and high-fives and watched us leave. We took the bus back to the place we were going to be staying. I originally thought we would be staying with various families, since it is a home stay, but we were all staying in a house, which was kind of like a guest house. It was four stories with about 6-7 students in each room, with my room as the exception with 12 people. It wasn’t what I expected but it was still an amazing time.
We went to the main house for an authentic vegetarian meal. I had no idea what most of it was, but it was actually good. I finished my plate and was so full. After dinner there were two people from Germany who were doing work with the organization, RIDE INDIA, which is a non-government organization dedicated to empowering poor and disadvantaged residents of rural India to improve the quality of their lives. They work to eliminate child labor, promote social justice for women, provide essential medical and educational services, and cultivates economic opportunity throughout the region. They are an incredible organization to meet and learn about. It was such an eye opening experience to learn about these kids’ lives. It was overwhelming to think about these kids that we just met to be forced into child labor, especially since most of them were only about four years old. This organization works to get them out of it and give them a better life.
We stayed up until about 1:30am talking to the two interns with the organization and learned about the things they were doing with RIDE, and also about their lives in Germany and in general. We woke up at 7:30am the next morning for breakfast and then made our way to our next stop. We were taken to a small Indian village in Kanchipuram where we got to walk around and see how the people in the village live. It was an intense experience to realize that these people essentially live in huts. Some of the homes don’t have any doors, they are cement floors/walls, although some just have dirt floors and the straw roof creates walls. The level of living was startling. I knew that these places existed and even though I have learned about them in school, or seen pictures in books, it was nothing compared to seeing it firsthand. The children of the village were so excited to see us and would take our hands to lead us through their homes and village. We saw a temple with service going on. Everyone was so captivated by the service and what was going on. This way of life was overwhelming to take in.
After leaving the village, we were taken to a pottery-making site. We were able to see the labor that goes into it. I had always seen pottery being made with tools that were electronic or something to that effect. These tools that he was using were wooden or things you could find on the ground. He had a spinning wheel made out of wood and would spin it while the clay was int eh center and then sculpt it while it was rotating. The pots came out beautifully and I was in awe. We were then taken to a silk-making factory and were able to go to the room in which the silks were made. They are all made by hand and we saw a man making it. It was crazy to see how much work and detail goes into it. They use a machine that weaves the thread, but they have to rotate the pattern through each row on the fabric. I know this sounds confusing, but I don’t know how else to explain it. Each row has to be lined by hand so the patter on the silk comes out correctly. We were able to go to the silk shop and look around to shop. I found many beautiful scarves and it was so hard to choose which ones to buy. I finally chose some of the scarves I wanted to buy, but it was not easy. I wanted them all.
The next day I was able to go to a Missionaries of Charity Children’s Home. It was an SAS trip and there were only about nine to ten of us that went to see the kids and it was such a humbling experience. We were only there for about an hour or so but we got to spend time with the kids and just take it all in. When we got there we learned that the facility was undergoing some minor construction, so about half of the children were across town at school and would be later on that evening, so there were about ten kids and they had put on their best clothes/dresses for us, and were so excited to see us. They had the biggest smiles on their faces. We brought coloring books and balls to throw around and bubbles. When they learned what bubbles were, you would have thought we struck gold. They were in awe and everyone wanted to blow some bubbles. It’s crazy because when you are playing with them and just talking with them, it is sometimes easy to forget all of the things that they don’t have or don’t know about. It seems like they are just regular kids, with minor disabilities that are sometimes invisible. Then when you see how excited they get over blowing bubbles, or taking pictures with cameras it hits you as to how much they are missing and they don’t even know it. They are still the happiest kids and to see their spirits and how joyful they are to see you it completely overwhelming. We were only there for such a short time, but it was a moment in time that will live with me forever.
The following morning Amy and I took part in a service project in which we went to a Disabled Children’s Home. There were about fourteen-fifteen of us. We got there and it turned out to be a hospital and it is also where the children lived as well, and where they got their schooling. There were many small buildings on the grounds and we were given a tour of each one. We were able to get a sense of how these children live day to day. We were told that for the morning we would be helping to clean up the various rooms/windows and such on the grounds. I’m not going to sugar coat anything when I say that it looked as though it had never been cleaned before. There were dust bunnies that had grandchildren on these windows and bars. There were many points in time in which I needed to step outside to be able to breathe. It was so upsetting that this is where these kids are living/being taken care of.
This facility is the largest of its kind and is home to mentally and physically disabled children. The government was helping fund them but it was very minimal so their access to funds to better their facility is almost non-existent. Their priority is helping the children.
After cleaning we were able to go see how the children were given lunch and help serve them. This was probably the hardest part of the day because we saw what they were given for lunch (white rice with milk, some form of brown rice that one of the volunteer interns didn’t even know what was in it, some form of vegetables which not all of them received, and something sweet (which was some brown liquid)) and how they ate it (all with their hands and some of them even needed help feeding themselves. It was heartbreaking. I almost had to leave the room because I was going to cry.
After serving the children lunch, we were taken to the nurse’s dining hall where we would have lunch. We were given a sheet of paper, which looked like a banana leaf. This would be what we would eat off of. They began serving us some rice, some form of potatoes with vegetables mixed in, peppers, and bread wraps that were kind of like tortillas. In the Indian culture, you finish what is on your plate, which turned out to be very difficult. Oh and you cannot use your left hand for anything—and when you are eating with your hands (no silverware) and trying to break apart the bread it was extremely different and difficult. I had to literally sit on my left hand so I wouldn’t use it. I kept going to try to use it and had to stop myself. About half way through I was already full. I had no idea how I was going to finish it. Everyone was making progress, but every time I looked down it seemed like I had more food on my leaf. I was able to finish most of it, but at that point people were starting to crinkle their leaves and so I pushed my food to the center and crinkled it up. I didn’t want to be rude, but there was no way I was able to finish it, and no one else could finish it because they were just happy to finish their portions. I felt horrible about it and meant no disrespect for their culture.
After lunch we were able to finally interact with the kids. They were amazing. We separated into two classrooms and got to play with them and use the chalkboards to draw or play with the balls we had bought. We played catch and rolled the balls. These kids are amazing and I was so happy to interact with them. After playing with them for a couple of hours, it was time for us to leave. I was sad to leave the facility, but we learned that a dozen of the children and a few adult chaperones were able to come back to the ship and we could give them a tour. It was awesome. They loved the bus ride. A little boy, who has down syndrome, sat next to me and thought my camera was the best thing. I let him sit by the window and take pictures. He had the biggest smile on his face for the whole ride. We made it back to the ship, and after a brief encounter with the immigration officials who were having trouble finding the information on the manifest saying that they were allowed and cleared to board the ship, we were able to show them around the ship. They loved it, almost as much as we did. It was time for them to leave and it was sad to see them go.
We went to dinner and had to digest what we just saw and experienced. It was such an overwhelming day and to see what we saw was intense. It was a lot to take in, but I’m glad I was able to experience it. It really makes you think of all that we have and all that we take for granted. I know that I am guilty of it, but it is the little things that we have that we don’t realize how lucky and fortunate we are. We have clean running water, which is so hard to find while in India, at least the part I was in. We always had to make sure we filled a water bottle before we left the ship, or the trip leaders would make sure that the bus had bottles of water for us or we were going to stop for water that would be okay to drink. It is the little things like this that truly make you think of how these people live and what they have here. Also, street cleaning is a major thing as well. Everywhere we went in India was so dirty. I have been back on the ship for about three days and I finally was able to get the dirt off of my feet. I mean no disrespect to the country at all, that is just my observations. When you step off of the ship, you can see the difference in culture immediately. The people are so nice and amazing and the culture is fascinating. I am so glad I got to experience the difference in culture and meet the amazing people and children. No, I never made it to see the Taj Mahal, but I got to see a different side of India, and for that I am grateful.
Singapore is next, and it is Halloween. I cannot wait to see how this turns out.
Until next time…
I love you all and miss you so much <3
Love always,
Kayla <3 xoxo
