Email from India Feb 14 02

February 14,2002

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

Dear All,

Well, here we are in Kanchipuram, India. We want to give you some initial impressions about this part of India, and about RIDE – the organization that we are working with. As time goes by, we will continue to write and tell you what we are doing, how things are going, etc.

We are in Southern India, about 80 km SE of Chennai, (Madras). In this part of India, (Tamil Nadu State), the primary language is Tamil. Even though English is spoken as a second language, the accent is so strong that sometimes it is a little difficult to understand, but with patience and a little sign language, pointing, etc., it all works out.

First and foremost, India is different from any other place we have ever been, and we have traveled or lived in many different places in the world. This is a very very poor country. It is very crowded, and very dirty – lots of garbage, poor or no sanitation, unhygienic. While the poverty is overpowering, the real problem is ignorance, and thus, the long term solution really needs to be education. People are ignorant about the problems of poor hygiene, the treatment of women, child labor, and so many other things.

Kanchipuram is small by Indian standards, about 2 lacs, (1 lac = 100,000, thus about 200,000 people). Very crowded, kind of like Times Square in NY on New Year’s Eve. It is hard to describe what driving is like, except to say that mayhem does not describe it. Big trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, 3 wheeled motor cycle taxis (auto rickshaws), busses, pedestrians, ox carts, horses, and more, all going every which way. And every one of these vehicles, except for pedestrians of course are constantly blowing their horns. So, there is mayhem and cacophony! Each time we get in a car or auto rickshaw, we are frightened. This is the only place where we have ever gone where I (Peter) am really afraid to drive, and I (Hinda) would not drive with him if he did.

The food here in Southern India is mostly vegetarian, and very delicious. We are eating all different kinds of things. Here, most people eat with the fingers of their right hand, rather than using a utensil and then wash their hand. It should be obvious to you why only the right hand. This morning, breakfast cost us Rs 67. (66 Rupees). Currently, there are 48 Rupees to $1,so breakfast cost us about $1.38 and it was good, filling, and healthy. We eat in a restaurant next to the hotel where we are staying, and usually there is a supervisor, waiter, busboy who takes our order, brings us the food, cleans the table, etc. At the same time, there are usually 3,4, or even 5 waiters observing and making sure the food is good, etc. We have noticed that here in India, there are usually 2 – 3 people to do every job. One takes the order, one writes the order, one brings the food. The first one brings the check, the second one checks the check and the 3^rd one gives you the check. Perhaps that is one way to get full employment – job sharing!

At least for the present, we are staying in a hotel because it has a western toilet – something that is important to us. The room is air conditioned (after a fashion). The entire bathroom becomes the shower, so make sure the toilet seat is up, and anything that is soluble is out of harms reach. The TV has CNN/BBC and a bunch of Indian stations which play mostly soaps. When we want the room cleaned, 2 “boys” (men) come with the supervisor and clean. On a serious note, India as we said is very poor, so it better for us to stay in the room when people are cleaning so that they aren’t enticed to take anything. For the first three days they changed the sheets everyday but did not change the pillow cases. We have discovered that we need to ask them to do whatever we want done and not depend on them doing a cleaning job. They are very accommodating as soon as we ask.

This is our second day at RIDE (Rural Institute for Development Education). The Director is Jeyaraj, and his wife Britto are the two key staff people, and then there are another 50 or so. We have met about a dozen so far, and are just beginning to learn names. Briefly, RIDE is trying to eradicate child labor in the silk weaving industry here in Kanchipuram, teach about human rights, women’s rights, and help villages develop self help projects. We’ll tell you more later – very interesting and exciting.

Our first assignment is to do an evaluation of the child labor project. We have already drafted the methodology and the first set of questions, and during the next couple of weeks we will be conducting the evaluation with staff, teachers, government workers, family members, and even loom owners. Then we will review the evaluation with all concerned and help develop an action plan which ultimately we hope will lead to any appropriate and necessary changes.

In addition, we are going to do some fundraising training, and we have already come up with a very exciting idea that we hope can be implemented, and if successful will lead to a source of revenue for RIDE. We will tell you more as we develop the plan. It is still very preliminary and we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. Stay tuned!

We will also try to help develop a plan for a transitional place for the children leaving the factories to live while they attend “bridge schools” before they return to their own homes, and try to lay the groundwork to raise about $10,000 to purchase a van for RIDE.

We have been asked to evaluate their annual report as well and we will be going that in the next few weeks. Perhaps we will help them write a new one – at least help them with an outline.

Yesterday we attended the monthly meeting of a Women’s Federation that RIDE began and sat in on a lecture about TB – how to recognize it, treatment, encouragement not to hide the symptoms, etc. There were about 40 women there and they came from several villages around Kanchipuram. They were asked to pass on the information to other people in the villages.

Next week we are going to visit the schools and loom factories and see these child laborers. As you know, we have a grandson. He will be 5 years old soon. Some of the children who work in the loom factories are the age of our grandson. That is not in our frame of reference, and I suspect not in yours either. This is what this is all about. This is what happens in much of the world, and if we can help a bit, that is good. You know what they say: “If you help just one person, you are helping the world”. We will try and perhaps you will be able to help also.

There is a lot to do and a short time to do it, but we have already begun and we look forward to being able to be of help.

Today is Valentine’s Day so we bought several cakes at the local bakery and brought them to the office. People were so happy they are making a party this afternoon for all the employees so we can share with them.

Everyone that we have met – on the job, in the hotels, on the street, in the restaurants are very friendly and helpful. Indians are very friendly people and very cooperative. (Peter, as usual, has developed a great relationship with some of the young women working at RIDE. They all treat him as though he is their father and make sure he has everything he needs. They follow him around the office making sure things are in order.) I am photographing a lot of people and it is easy to do because of their very friendly attitude. The Indian people are very handsome, very beautiful and have a lot of character in their faces.

The people here at RIDE are very dedicated to their mission. They work hard, it seems like all the time, and in addition to what they do at work, they have a lot of personal involvement in helping people and families.

Some of the people who work here are very very poor and come from a very low caste, and Jeyaraj and Britto do much for them. One of the young women has been “assigned” to take care of me (Peter) and watches my every move. Inside the house no one wears shoes, so sometimes it is a little un-nerving to all of a sudden see Cristina Elizabeth behind me because I can’t hear her coming.

One final anecdote. We don’t want to be disrespectful, but there is a habit here that to us is very funny. When you are speaking to an Indian person, their head is continually bobbing around, kind of in a circle. It is like our nodding, but to us it looks like the bobble head dolls. Very funny ,and takes a little getting used to. If we come home bobbling our heads, eating with our fingers, and oh yes, pouring water from a glass into our mouth – no laughing!

That’s all for now. We’ll write again soon.

Hinda and Peter