Goodbye India

We started the formal school at the Elephant Village! Last Saturday we passed out uniforms and backpacks and Monday was the first official day. It was really, really cool to see the kids receiving their uniforms and smiling their faces off After 500 years with no school in this village, to see kids finally having an opportunity at a bright future was amazing. It was the volunteers that made this happen, so amazing job to them. The only down part about Saturday was that some of the kids couldn’t be in the school. The parents of the kids have to agree to some terms and if they don’t agree the kid doesn’t go to the school. Also, some of the kids are older and we wanted this to focus on the younger kids, so they could be in almost their entire life. Another reason was that some of the kids were going to be moving soon. It was really hard to see some get it and others not. There’s one kid who stuck out to me from the start and always wants to be by my side, called Farman. When we showed the uniform and the backpack he was so excited and kept saying, “wow, wow!.” When he didn’t get called, because he might be moving next month, he started crying. I know I should just focus for the kids who got in, and I’m super happy and grateful that they got this opportunity, but it’s hard not to want to help everybody.

On Monday I also went to the Elephant Village, to see the first day of school. I loved seeing the kids come up in their uniform and show off their stuff. They looked so proud that it made me feel proud. After we did the good morning song the kids started class and Carlos and I started our class. We also got some great news. It turns out, all of the kids get to go to the school, even the older ones! The ones who were not were still coming to school, just not as formal students. Now everybody was getting a uniform and backpack! So Farman was going to school now! Until 11 we did school work, all of us, and then we said our goodbyes. We sung the goodbye song and then a mini war erupted where everybody threw flower petals at each other. It was really fun, playing with the kids one last time. The volunteers were still going one more day but it was my last day. The kids started leaving and I got pretty sad that they were leaving. I had only seen them for like four days and I was going to miss them. I know that what people are saying is true, it’s not goodbye just so long, but I’ve always hated goodbyes. I’m just telling myself, “I’ll see them again some day.”

            On Tuesday I said goodbye to the kids at the Ambedkar Nagar Center. It was equally as hard as saying goodbye in the Elephant Village. We played a bunch of games with them, which was so fun. We also had them do a candy treasure hunt. All too soon it was time to go and we got up for the goodbye song. When we finished everyone ran up to each other and hugged each other. Now I haven’t been there much in the mornings because I’m usually doing my home school. Maybe once every one or two weeks  we go.  But they still came up to me and said goodbye and gave me a hug. All these kids have had an enormous impact on me and seeing them go is as if a tiny part of me stayed with them. India will be another home for me, I’m not going to be here as much as California, but it’s home all the same.

On Tuesday we also said goodbye to the Young Dreamers. First we exchanged gifts, Surender, their director, gave me a Ganesha statue and some of the kids gave me a necklace. Afterwards we exchanged words. At the beginning no one was willing to share but once one person spoke their feelings, everybody’s words started flowing. Tears were shed because we were leaving. Almost everyone of the Young Dreamers told us to stay forever. These kids will forever have a place inside me, and to drive away looking back at them waving and yelling goodbye hurt. When we first got here we were shy and awkward with each other and now we got to the point where we can share a joke even though there’s a language barrier. To see them grow and learn, to be a part of their lives was special. I learned a lot from them about how to stand up for yourself and to have courage. Never in a billion years could I stand up in front of my community and talk about how a tradition done for hundreds of years was the wrong way to do things, like the did with the dowry. They did that. By themselves. Again, it was really special seeing that. So, I’m going to miss these kids, but I’ll be back.

            When we were first telling people that we were coming on this trip they all said, “Oh, what a great opportunity for the family. They’ll learn so much. ” I didn’t really pay attention to that, I was just hoping that we might not have to go. Now I realize how true those words really were. I’ve learned so much on this trip, matured so much, I’m almost a different person than the kid who was in 5th grade last year. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Guatemala!

Cremations, Taking on the Dowry and Getting to Know Buddha

Last weekend we went to Varanasi. Varanasi is a big city on the bank of the Ganges. The Ganges is the biggest river in India and one of the biggest in the world. Some say it's also the oldest city in the world. Friday was a travel day. First we took a train to Delhi where we waited for 6 hours. We went to a Starbucks in Delhi and everyone was super excited because they hadn’t been to one in a while. We then took a super short plane ride to Varanasi. We went to a restaurant to have dinner and then headed to our hotel. The next morning we got up really early while it was still dark to go on a sunrise cruise on the Ganges. Unfortunately, I woke up pretty sick. I had a bad headache and a very sore throat. We took a car part of the way from the hotel and walked the rest of the way. Surprisingly there were a lot of people out, and it wasn’t even 6:00 in the morning! It turns out the boat cruise wasn’t exactly a cruise. It was a ride in a rowboat. The sun was hidden behind the clouds too, but even though it wasn’t exactly what we expected, it was fun. After about an hour of being in the water, we went to see a temple. Our guide said that it was the most popular temple in India. We walked through crowded, narrow streets full of animal dung. A lot of people are cremated on the riverbank and the ashes are thrown in the water. When we were walking the narrow streets, we saw a dead body being carried past. For me, unlike everybody else, it wasn’t that overwhelming. My senses were at zero because I had a headache, sore throat, a runny nose, and I was dizzy and nauseous. For everyone else, it was kind of a shock. It turns out we couldn’t actually go into the temple but that was okay because we could see it from the outside, or so we thought. All we saw was the top of a dome made of gold.

We headed back to the hotel after that. We had breakfast, which was eggs and toast, and rested a little. Our hotel was pretty unpleasant. It was old, musty, and dark. So, we switched to another one. I think the new one was a lot better and more welcoming. Before lunch we went to the site where Siddhartha Gautama, the original Buddha, gave his teachings for the first time after being enlightened. First we went to his temple and learned about him and Buddhism; I’ll talk about that later. We also went to the ruins of the place where he spoke. The whole place was dedicated to Buddha. There was even a museum that we went in and learned some more. After a long time at the site we went to have dinner at the same place we did the night before.

The next day we relaxed until 10:00, when we went back to the Buddha site to see a giant statue of him that was closed the day before. We had lunch there and then started a city tour of Varanasi. We visited three temples, one about Mother India, a big Shiva temple, and a Durga temple. The first one, Mother India, wasn’t exactly the kind of temple that we were used to. It had a huge 3-D map of India etched in marble on the ground and some paintings of famous Indians. The Shiva temple was my personal favorite. It was located inside a university, actually the biggest university in India and the guide said the third biggest in the world. The temple was really big and beautiful. The thing that’s interesting about Hindu temples is that the outside is usually big and decorated, but the inside is just a plain small room. The Durga temple (Durga is Shiva’s wife) wasn’t that exciting. When the city tour ended we rode a Rickshaw (bikes with carts on the back) to the Ganges for a sunset cruise! Every evening the people of Varanasi have a ceremony of lights and there are about 10,000 people that gather every night. It is so crowded that it’s hard to move. There were 7 priests who lead the ceremony and tons of people following. We took another rowboat out on the water and went to see some cremations, but from a distance. There are a lot of bodies being burned each night and after one body is burned, another is brought in. It was really interesting how they do it. They stack sandwood and put the body under. They light the sandwood on fire and when the body burns, they throw the ashes into the river. It was a good experience, even though it was a little freaky and overwhelming. Varanasi wasn’t as fun and relaxing as Goa or Himachal. It wasn’t as pretty as the Taj Mahal. But I thought it was good in its own way.

Siddhartha Gautama was the main founder of Buddhism. He was a prince, the son of the king of a tribe called the Shakyas. His whole childhood and beyond, his father kept him secluded from the world, so he didn’t have to see the suffering in others. One day, when he was 29 he finally went out to see the world. He saw a very old man, a diseased man, and a decaying corpse. His charioteer explained that all men grow old, get sick, and die. The next day Siddhartha left the kingdom, and his wife and baby to lead an ascetic life. For six years he did that, but he was never quite satisfied. Finally he decided that he was going to sit under a tree until he found what he was looking for. That’s when he became Buddha, the awakened one. He went around teaching what he had learned to other people. He talked about the four noble truths and the eightfold path. The four noble truths are: life has suffering, there’s a cause to suffering, you can end suffering, and how you end suffering, which is the eightfold path. The eightfold path is right view, right intentions, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Buddha said that if you do these things you would end suffering. Buddhism is not like other religions where you worship a god or gods. Buddhism is more of a practice. I thought it was cool learning about a new religion, the 5th most practiced religion in the world.

If you remembered, the Young Dreamers and us had started a new community service project about child labor and the importance of education. We’re helping them keep kids in school until 12^th grade. So here’s the update: we executed it! Let me explain. A couple meetings ago we decided we would have a community discussion, kind of like the one in the Elephant Village, to talk about education. We also decided that the Young Dreamers would lead the meeting. (They also pretty much led the project.) We would also have a pledge that people would sign that said they wouldn’t give or ask for a dowry. On Wednesday we went door to door asking people to come to our meeting. We had the meeting on Thursday at 4:00 and everything went as planned. At the beginning, I was getting nervous because nobody was coming, but at 4:05 the tent space started filling up. Harish, one of the Young Dreamers, opened up the meeting and introduced who was going to talk. We had four topics to touch on, the benefits of education, the importance of daily education through 12^th grade, ending child labor, and the problems with the dowry. It was nice because one Young Dreamer talked for each topic and for some of them a parent talked also. For dowry, a dad and a mom talked! The dad went on and read the dowry pledge out loud in front of everybody, then he said that he completely agrees with it and that he would sign it, saying he will not offer or provide a dowry for his daughter. That was a huge risk on his part because a lot of people could be angered by his words and he depends on them to buy his vegetables every day. I thought it was really cool that he cared so much about this cause that he was willing to speak out loud against the dowry. After the meeting we asked people to line up and sign the pledge. We got 25 signatures! That was a huge success. Although we got 25 signatures, the biggest thing is that the Young Dreamers learned how to do a community service project almost all by themselves. Now when we leave they can continue doing projects on their own. So two projects in India, the first one was bigger than the second, but the second went deeper than the first. One thing that has been deeply engrained in my mind by participating in these projects is this: always take the first step, no matter how hard it seems, no matter how far away the goal is, take the first step and everything will fall into place. If you put your mind to something and try really hard to do it, amazing things will happen.

We leave for Guatemala on Wednesday so my next post will probably be from there. I’ll tell you all about our last few days in India.

Camels and the Festival of Lights

Last Saturday I rode a camel! Yes, a camel! We went on a camel safari in the Pushkar desert. My camel's name is Baba and he is 15 years old, which is pretty old for a camel because they usually only live 20 to 25 years. The camel driver, Jay, was super nice and friendly, and spoke really good English. I could talk to him about a lot of things. Jay was only 23, and he'd started camel driving when he was 13! I loved riding on a camel. I felt super alive when it started trotting, like I was just another part of it. Other than a sore butt, I loved every part of it. The view was also really nice. I could see a lot since the camel didn't go very fast. We camped out in the desert and it was so much fun. It’s crazy how we were camping in the desert and a week before we had been camping in the Himalayas. The dinner, surprisingly, was really good. We had grilled chicken, grilled paneer, bread rolls that were cooked underground, dahl, and potatoes. Sitting around the campfire, talking was pretty cool too. We told stories and talked about our experience in India. The next morning I woke up early to see the sunrise. It was very different than the one in the Himalayas, because we were at sea level instead of 10,000 feet, but it was still spectacular. At 7:30 we packed up our things and rode our camels back to town. We went to a little hotel where we cleaned up and had breakfast. We walked around Pushkar and then went to a natural lake. The lake in considered holy water, where Brahma, one of the three main Hindu gods, the Creator, and his second wife Gayatri had a ceremony. Many people bathed and prayed there. We did the ceremony of prayer that the pilgrims were doing. It consisted of offering seven things: red powder for good health; yellow powder for luck; rice for food provisions; sugar for sweet relationships; flowers for peace; the holy string for safe travels; and a coconut as a donation to the gods. We also went to the one and only Brahma temple in all of India. There were tons of people from all over trying to get in. Since Brahma is one of the three main gods, it was pretty cool to be there. It's interesting though because all the other gods, including the other two main gods, have hundreds of temples around India, and Brahma only has one. The market in Pushkar is huge! I got a traditional Indian boys shirt, for Diwali, and a journal where I'm going to write about every day from now on. We also saw a small street performance of two girls who were extremely flexible and did a bunch of tricks. My time in Pushkar was really, really fun. Later that day my mom got home safely from Nepal. She had been there since Tuesday for a small vacation with a friend. She had a great time in Nepal while we were having a great time in Pushkar.

Monday and Tuesday morning were the funnest I’ve had in a long time. On Monday I went to the YDN center to celebrate Diwali with the kids who go there with the volunteers in the mornings. Turns out some of the Young Dreamers went there too since they didn’t have school. We decorated the classroom, did a type of painting with colored powder on the ground, and played a bunch of games. At one point, for a reason unknown, all of us piled into a tiny room. Chaos erupted, we started playing keep away with a ball and every person in the room jumped on the person with the ball. I was tussling and letting my energy out with boys my age for the first time since August 30. It was really really fun celebrating Diwali with them and I was sad when they left because I knew some of them I wouldn't see again. Tuesday morning rivaled Monday morning. We celebrated Diwali with The Elephant Village kids this time. We did some of the same things, decorated the classes, did the painting with powder, and played, played, played. It wasn’t quite as chaotic as the day before since we had much more space, but there were more kids. It’s amazing how open and friendly the kids are with you, within minutes I had them all over me asking me to play with them. It was really fun, running around with them throwing a ball around. I picked kids up, swung ‘em around, and put them on my shoulder. Some of the little ones ran up to me and put their arms up for me to hold with. In just two hours I connected with them so much, I will miss them. Those two days playing with both groups of kids, celebrating one of their major holidays, was awesome. 

Wednesday was the main day of Diwali. We celebrated it at Kusum’s house. She is Saarthak’s founder. That’s the nonprofit that partners with Young Dreamers. Right when we got there, just after 3:00 we started decorating the house with flowers and colorful streamers, which looks like the tradition here. When we finished decorating we sat down to learn about what Diwali is and what the traditions are. Diwali is the day Lord Rama went back home after defeating Ravan, the Hindu devil. The day he came back to his home everyone celebrated, that day is Diwali. They also pray to Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth. We didn’t really do anything after learning about that. I was actually pretty confused because for two hours we just sat around and it didn’t seem that festive. At 5:30 everybody got changed, the girls into their saris and the boys into their traditional boys clothes. At 6:45 it was time to do the prayer. Everybody took a turn holding the candle and that was really special because it felt right then like I was part of Diwali. Diwali is the Festival of Lights so there are tons of light strings on buildings, and also exploding fireworks in the streets all night long. It was great learning about the main Hindu holiday. I had quite the experience on Diwali.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet and 10,000 Feet

I’m in the Himalayas, a place where some people dream to be. I’m at the top of a tree at the top of a mountain. We hiked for 5 hours to get here and it was really tiring. Now I’ve found a spot beyond perfect and I feel like a part of nature. We left Jaipur last Wednesday and took an overnight train to Palampur. The train had triple bunk beds which I thought was pretty cool because I’d never seen them before. Other than the bathroom, the train was pretty nice and it was a smooth ride. Palampur is a city in Himachal Pradesh (The Indian state that is in the Himalayas) that is 3999 feet (1219 meters) high. In Palampur we walked to a river, walked around a market, and spent the night. There are tons of monkeys there and we had to keep our windows locked because they would come into your room and trash up the place. The next morning we came to Dharamsala, which is the touristy city under this mountain that is 4780 feet high (1457 meters). We saw the Dalai Lama temple! The Dalai Lama is a Buddhist leader who travels the world sharing his beliefs. Lots of people like to hear him speak even if they’re not Buddhists. His temple is a place of complete peace, and when I was walking around by myself in 30 minutes of silence I really felt that. After that we walked around another market and bought some cool stuff, including a jade rock. The next morning we hiked up to see a waterfall. It was breathtaking, it was not only beautiful but it also had an amazing view. I loved it and I was super excited for the big hike after breakfast that brought me here. We camped on the mountain that night in tents. The stars were so cool. I could see the milky way and tons of constellations. It may have been the most stars I’ve ever seen. We were at an elevation of 9,300 feet (2834 meters) and the next morning at 6 o’clock some of us hiked up to 11,500 feet (3505 meters), which was almost cloud level, to get a better view of some higher mountains. When the sun rose up behind the mountains the view was spectacular. I was starting to get a little homesick earlier but then I reminded myself, how many 11 year old kids can say they’ve been to the Himalayas, hiked up a 10,000 feet mountain and camped there. Everything about this trip has been awesome, well, except for pooping in a hole in the ground. I didn’t mention it before but we had actually taken this trip off the schedule at the beginning of our trip to India because my dad thought it would be too much traveling for the group. I’m really, really grateful that we put it back on. I’m at the top of a mountain, in the top of a tree, in the Himalayas.  

There are lots of Tibetans in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama is actually Tibetan. Tibet used to be its own country, but in 1950 the Chinese invaded and basically wiped out all of the Tibetan culture and then claimed that Tibet was theirs. Mao Zedong, Chinese prime minister at the time had the idea of wiping out the culture and starting communism in China. Tibet was its own country, with a broad culture so Zedong took them as a threat. Lots of people fought back and resisted but they were killed. Tons and tons of Tibetans were killed. After a little while, once they saw their army had no hope, they fled their home to come to the Himalayas. The area where we are is called the Dalai Lama’s exiled homeland. He was only 15 when this was happening and lots of people smuggled him to Dharamsala. We went to a museum at the Dalai Lama temple and we read about the Tibetan history. Their whole country, almost everything about them was diminished. It was really sad to see yet again examples of some people that do very bad things. When I was reading about it, it kind of reminded me about World War 2 and the Nazis. It wasn’t quite as big but still, a whole country overtaken. When we were walking around the market we met a monk and talked to him about his life and his history. He was born in Tibet and when he was 11 he fled. For 29 days he and some other people had walked through the Himalayas to get to India. 10 of those days he didn’t have any food. It made me sad listening to his story. A kid my age! Having to go through all that, I can’t even imagine myself going through that. We also read about China taking the 11th Panchen Lama. He was supposed to be The Dalai Lama’s successor but when he was six years old he and his family were abducted. He’s been missing for 20 years now and you see signs of him everywhere around the temple. He was the youngest political hostage and it was pretty hard to even think of a six year old being held captive. The Tibetan story is a sad one and even now the Chinese leaders still refuse to give them their land back claiming that it was always part of China. I hope you all feel this story in your hearts because I certainly did, I was in shock. If I didn’t read it and see it myself, I might not have believed it.

Less than three more weeks in India. I am really excited for Guatemala because I really like it there, I’ve been going since I was two and every time I think I like it even more. I am also really excited to go home and see all my family and friends, not even 7 more months ‘till I get back. I’ve been thinking about it and I’ll miss India, everything about it. The people, the architecture, the animals, even the crazy streets. After more than two months I’ve come to think of India as another home, like California and Guatemala. I’ll also miss the kids we’ve been working with. The Young Dreamers. They’re always so happy to see you, always coming up to you and giving you high fives and hugs. I know there’ll be more kids in Guatemala and Costa Rica but nobody’s the same. For me at least, this trip has gone very, very fast, which is not a bad thing, but still, it feels like yesterday I stepped off the plane in Delhi, and here I am with three weeks left. As I said about a month ago, I really want to soak up everything this trip has to offer, learn everything I can. Our flight is on the 25th and we’ll actually be in the Houston airport on Thanksgiving and probably rent a hotel because of the 8 hour layover. Looking back to a year ago last Thanksgiving, the thought hadn’t even come close to entering my head that a year from then I would be in an airport, coming from India, going to Guatemala. It’s really crazy how different a world I am in now than the exact same time last year. I think I was actually at Science Camp, which is a week long field trip my school goes to. I’m very excited to go to Guatemala, but I’ve come to love India, and I’m saying to myself, “I’ll be back someday.”