Asia travel

Clean Ramna Park Action

annicam — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:32:04 +0000

Our goal for the first two days in Bangladesh was to make some kind of action, which could make a difference. We were lucky to get in contact with Badal, a man from Dhaka who is involved in NGO work in Bangladesh. He turned out to have many useful contacts! We mentioned our ideas to Badal, one of them being to clean up a city park. Before we knew it, everything was settled. So at 7 in the morning on the last day of the year, we set off to Ramna Park.

Before the action could start, all girls were invited to make morning exercises in the women’s section of the park. A very entertaining and enjoyable activity. The women were so lively and friendly.

Then it was time for the grand opening ceremony. With one days notice, the two organizations, which were involved in the action had gathered more than 100 people to join us! We started of from one corner of the park in a big march.

The opening took place in the centre of the park, and a number of people gave a small speech (including Pjort!) The atmosphere was really good, and it was clear that people found it very special that this group of young people from Denmark had taken such an initiative. Media was also there, both TV and newspapers.

In the following 3 hours we made a good effort together with the people of Bangladesh, in cleaning the huge park. We didn’t by far reach the whole park, but that doesn’t matter. What we did, was to set an example, and create some awareness. And we are not in doubt that many people in Dhaka noticed and have heard about our action.

Three teenage girls who joined us spontaneously were so happy and grateful. They thanked us for teaching them about caring for their environment, and told us that because of this action, they had now decided to never again throw another piece of rubbish on the ground. That is something! I believe we did make a small difference, and we all enjoyed a lot. A good way of ending a special year!

Welcome to Bangladesh!

annicam — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:09:35 +0000

We have now entered a new country. Bangladesh has a common history with India, all the way up until the partition in 1947. Still it feels different in many ways. In Bangladesh there are no tourists – at least not at this time of the year. It feels like a relief, coming from Dharamsala and Delhi, which are crowded with tourists, even during the winter low season.

Here in Dhaka, the capitol of Bangladesh, with its 12 million inhabitants, it is something special that a group of 23 young Europeans have arrived. People notice us. They stare more than in India. But the attention is a friendly one. When you look back and smile, you almost always get a big smile and often a friendly comment.

I feel very welcome here in Bangladesh. Little things. A poor couple, having their lunch on the pavement call for me to come over and share the little they have. The shop keeper runs over to his home for a laptop and mobile, to set it up for me when he realizes I need internet and the netcafé is not yet open. A group of teenage boys shout across the street “Welcome to Bangladesh”. When I ask for the way, people walk with me long distances only to make sure I have arrived well and then they say thank you and goodbye.

Already after 3 days here, I have so many examples like these. Little gestures of hospitality – not because they want something from me, but just out of interest and helpfulness. The people of Bangladesh make me feel very welcome and I must say I love it here!

Christmas in the Himalayas

annicam — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:04:48 +0000

After a month of being separated, our team was finally gathered again. This time in the north of India in Dharamsala, home of Dalai Lama and many other excile tibetans. We had 10 days for writing reports, having meetings, sharing experiences, trekking and celebrating Christmas.

Travelling in India is demanding. It is crowded, noisy, dirty and busy – especially the big cities. Arriving in the himalayas felt like a relief. Here the air was fresh and clean (also a bit cold). The living standard is rather high, so you are not constantly confronted with poverty and dirt. We had a really good base, which DNS has been using for the last 8 years. A big house, 2-3 km away from the nearest small town McLoudGanj, and the walk up and down the mountain every day also did us good.

On the 23rd and 24th most of us went trekking in the amazing mountains. The highest point we reached was 3.240 m above sea level. The view was breath taking! Here are a couple of photos just to give you an idea (and possibly make some of you a little bit jealous )

Two faces of poverty in India.

annicam — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:50:27 +0000

Heavy rain was pouring down in the dark streets of Chennai – one of India’s biggest cities. As I was hasting towards the train station to get under a roof and check my e-mail, I passed a very busy street with lots of noisy traffic, and sideways crowded with people who sit all day long trying to sell something. Then there, in the middle of this crowd, noise, dirt and darkness, a beggar was lying down flat on his belly with the masses of water around him growing. He had no legs, was almost naked and in front of him he was holding an almost empty cup, hoping for a few coins to survive the next day. I just passed him without stopping, without giving him anything. In the big cities of India beggars is part of the picture. But the picture of this beggar is now still after a few weeks stuck in my mind, maybe because of the complete lack of dignity and hope for a better future for this man, maybe because I for a long time felt bad about not even giving him a small coin.

It was early morning in the streets of Kolkata, I was waiting for our bus for Bangladesh. That’s when I met Mangla. She was sitting inside her “house” made from a plastic cover, with her children. I looked at them from a distance, not knowing whether I could allow myself to go over to them, but in the same moment, Mangla looked at me, smiled and called for me to come in. In the next 30 minutes, I learned a little about the life of this family. Mangla has 7 children, aged 3 to 21. Her husband has been very abusive and violent to her for years. Finally he kicked her and all of the children out of the house and found a new wife, which is why Mangla and her children are now living on the pavement, with their only belongings being some blankets and some cooking utensils. The older children (from 12 years and up) work when they can, none of them go to school. They do different random jobs they can get in the streets – dirty jobs, says Mangla. She herself cannot work, having the small children to take care of. On a good day, the children earn 50 to 100 rupees (1-2 euros), which has to be enough to feed the 8 mouths in the family. The youngest girl doesn’t understand their situation, so she is quite demanding. The other children I got the feeling have understood and accepted that this is now their life, and there is no space for demanding anything. The whole family was so open and welcoming to me. Mina, the 12 year old girl rushed out with her younger sister by the hand, to buy us all a cup of chai to share. I gave my last 200 rupees to the family and wish from all of my heart, that there is a better future waiting for them.

Slums in Delhi

annicam — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:42:11 +0000

For our investigation in the North of India, some of us decided to try to get close to some of the poorest people in India – the residents of the slums. Our wish was to spend at least one night in the slum, which turned out to be too difficult. But still we learned a lot about the living conditions for a few of the more than 300 million people in India, living below the poverty line.

We visited several different kind of slum areas. I will now share with you some photos and experiences from the most poor and extreme area we visited, Daya Basti. This slum has about 200.000 inhabitants. It’s situated next to the railway, which is practical because the area is public, and because the rails can be used as toilet!

Surrender, a young Indian lawyer whom we met by luck, came with us to Daya Basti as our guide. Without him we would not have managed to get so close to the people. As soon as we arrived, we were surrounded by hundreds of people, young and old, interested in the strange visitors. Surrender agreed with two young men from the slum, to help showing us around and controlling the crowds and I believe this was a necessary help.

I have seen poverty in many parts of the world, but never before anything like Daya Basti. Here families of 7-20 people live in houses with 1-2 rooms. There is no space between the “houses” built from anytyhing you can find or imagine. The very narrow “streets” are filled with rubbish and sewage, and I don’t even dare to think about what the place is like during the months of monsoon!

We visited many people in their homes, and heard about their lives. I could tell lots of stories which touched me deepely, but don’t have time for that now. I will pick a few examples.

The tailor, whom we met in his 2 square meter big workshop, has a wife and 5 children. They have built a small house on top of his work shop. He earns 3.000 rupees/month, and we calculated that with his family of 7 people, this means that they have to survive with 1/3 of the poverty line amount!

The electrician we met, earns about the double amount – 6.000 rupees/month. His house consisted of one room, which was bigger than any other house we saw (maybe 20 square meters). He even had light and a TV. We thought that finally we found a family who were a bit better off… until he told us that he is providing for 15 people who live in his house!

Getting a little glimpse into their and other peoples lives was mainly a very sad experience. Noone in the world should have to live like this! Especially the thousands of children, of which only 1/4 go to school and all the rest have to work to support their families.

But visting the slums also taught us about peoples creativity, when it comes to surviving. The slum people have basically all come from the rural areas, some recently but many generations ago. They have been forced to leave their homes, because of lack of other ways of making a living, when harvest goes wrong for different reasons. In the city, the opportunities are many, and the people use them to the maximum. Out of nothing, they can create a small business.

A man with a combe and siccors is a hair dressor. Thousands make their money from the garbage they pick in the streets, sort and then sell. Contractors give people work they can do in their homes for very small money, such as putting stickers on plastic things. Anything can be sold in the streets.

So in the city a family father can find a way to provide for his family and feed his children. But…. he has to compromise when it comes to the quality of life on so many other areas. With 200.000 people squezed into a very small area without any sanitation, you can only imagine the health situation! The air is polluted. The noice is constant and almost unbarable. There is no space for the children to play and develop. So when we asked people, whould they leave the slum if they could, the ALL said of course!

I could tell you a lot more about our experiences in the slums, and maybe I will later… but now I will stop and share with you a few photos.

Making investigations

annicam — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:54:00 +0000

Basically the structure of our travel is divided in shorter periods. Most of them are investigation periods, where the team is divided in small groups of 2-4 people, for investigating different aspects of life in the travel countries.

For our first investigation period, Gita, Attila and I decided to find out more about the situation with clean drinking water in India. Our idea was that we would prove that privatization of water is a big problem for people in India. Our strategy was to visit both a village, a town and a big city and talk with shop owners, officials and ordinary people, to learn about the water situation.

The village we pointed out for us to go first was by coincidence the former Danish colony Tranquebar. It is situated on the east coast of the state Tamil Nadu and has a population of about 4.000 people. What we found, was that there is a problem with drinking water, mainly because the village is so close to the sea that the ground water is salty and not possible to drink. But we also found the Tamil Nadu government are taking care of the problem. Every morning at 6 am trucks arrive with clean drinking water, which is added to a system of pipes running through the village. So people need to be up with their bottles and cans to fill them with water needed for the day.

We were also invited to visit the home of a woman we met – and she showed us, that the water provided by the government is actually not very good, and that especially during rainy season it gets mixed with dirty water, and dangerous to drink. Middle class people who can afford it, they buy their drinking water.

We also met the only two Danish people who are living in Tranquebar – a retired couple, who stay there 5 months/year. They have been part of initiating that a Danish clothes company is now sponsoring improvements for people in Tranquebar, including sewage system, streets, and running water in the houses. The couple also told us a lot about the consequences of the Tsunami in Tranquebar, where 600-700 people died – that is 20% of the population! The people who died were mainly children and women. The Tsunami first came with one big wave, which threw a lot of fish up on land. Many women were walking along the beach picking the fish, when the second wave surprised them. Along the beach, there is a belt of bushes with torns, which the saris of the women got tangled into – and they drowned. We went to see the area which was hit by the Tsunami, and the wrecked houses are still there. But we also saw the little village of new houses built for the victims, by the government. Houses which definitely are safer and have a better standard, then what these people had before.

Next destination was Rajapalayam, which I already told you a bit about. Here we again talked with shop owners and people, and found that the situation with drinking water is not bad. It is provided by the government from a big dam of water, created by water coming down from the mountains. Many people have their own water pump in the house, and those who cannot afford that, share with their neighbours. But we had read on the internet, that there is a lack of water in Rajapalayam area, so we felt there was more to it.

When we learned that the town is called “cotton city” because of the many cotton industries, we were sure that this was the reason for lack of water. So we went to visit a cotton mill, which is one of the biggest exporters of medical bandages to Europe. It was a big experience to see the big productions with hundreds of busy people. We learned about the bad working conditions the workers of the factory have. They work 360 days/ year, and earn 120 rs (less than 3 dollars)/day for 8 hours of work. The sound in the factory was extremely loud, and the air was full of cotton dust. There were many things we found which were not good, but… they didn’t use any water. So we could not prove that the privatization of water through big industries is a problem.

Finally we continued to Trivandrum in the state Kerala. Trivandrum is a big, quite modern and extremely noisy city. It is the main city in Kerala – so here we managed to find Kerala Water Authorities, which are in charge of providing clean water to all people in the state. The boss we talked with, explained how they are dealing with securing the water situation in their state, and as far as we could find out, people in Kerala have access to clean drinking water. When we asked if it is a problem that big companies use huge amounts of water, the man clearly stated that they do not accept that. Proudly he told us about a concrete example of how a Coca Cola factory some years ago, used big amounts of ground water, and the level started falling. Then the people in the area, together with the government closed down the factory and the ground water level is now back to normal.

As you can see, we didn’t achieve what we expected from our water investigation. We could not prove that the privatization of water is a big problem in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Our main conclusion is that the situation with drinking water is quite okay. But we also found evidence that the sales of bottled water is growing a lot, because many middle class people chose to buy their drinking water to be more safe.

The main providers of bottled drinking water are Pepsico and CocaCola, and there is no doubt that they are earning lots of money already and will do more in the future. We are also very sure, that what we found, does not give a very representative picture of the water situation in India. We have been reading quite a lot and know that in other parts, especially big cities, the water problem is huge and growing. But this is how it is with investigating.

Through putting our own experiences together with theoretical knowledge, and then also sharing the gained knowledge between us in the whole team, we can start to get a picture of India – the biggest democracy in the world.

Some experiences from Louises journey going south.

annicam — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:44:46 +0000

First I would like to say, that I am not sure how to define an experience, and since we are very limitied with time (Much more than I thought) its hard to devote a lot of time to what Im writing. I would also have like to sit down and write reports about my last investigation, but under cirkumstances the team decided we will only start writing the reports from now on.

I should maybe explain where, what and how before we start. I am in Kerala right now, spending the days with the team, having meetings, charing issues, experiences and thought and other things. Tonight or tomorrow I’ll move on with Josue and Ruta, to Investigate the situation of women in Tamil Nadu. But all this I’ll write about later, for now its my experiences from North moving south (Nanitale, Mumbai, Kerala) where I was investigating street children in Mumbai. I want to write a bunch of small and big things, and let it count for two experiences. Just, things I wrote from time to another, maybe even from the time before I started moving south.

Thought about a begger (In Delhi on my way to Mumbai)

I gave a piece of fruit to a begger today. He was sitting on the floor in front of me, in dirty rags, with a leg missing streching out his palm – something in the way he looked at the fruit seemed almost tender, before he started eating it slowly and carefully. Piece by Piece he ate it, not looking away even once. Seemed like anything could have happened around him in this moment, and he wouldn’t have bothered to look. I couldn’t take my eyes of him, and suddenly felt like I would start to cry. This man – that seemed to completly have given up on such things like human dignity, opportunity, safety, comfort, security – happiness, hope and joy? And only had one thing to live for, or look forward to – to get the next bite to eat, and survive. A man that might have hope for all these things, once when he was a boy, but life taught him not to expect anything but problems and misery. And here I was on the floor with money in my pocket, a passport and all the opportunity I can possible get to have a good and fullfilling life - and he was in front of me, eating my orange like it was the most presious thing in his life. I coundn’t decide if I felt ashamed, sad or angry? How can life be so unfair? These people are no different from my self at birth, but get degraded to living like something similar to an animal. While I go on getting educated and living the life I wish? Is it because they are bad people? No. Because I deserve it more? No. its just how circumstances left us. Who is to blame?                  (Am I wrong?)

I admit it, I went into the train, and when noone was looking, I cried.

About being tired

I felt tired today, while walking in Delhi station. Tired of the heat, dust and dirt mixing with polluted air from endless cars, trucks and richaws. Tired of the sound of horns constantly blowing with or without reason, from people chatting, yelling and shouting things I didnt understand. Tired of people staring and talking about me, like I was something extra ordinary – or trying to get something from me, or cheat me into paying more for a train ticket or a piece of fruit. First I cursed all indians and whole India far away, making moody glances to anyone that looked at me more that 5 seconds – but while sitting on the stone floor, putting music in my ears to drown out the sound of the city, I started thinking - can I really blame India for what it is? Can I blame India and especially the Indians for urbanization, globalisation, industrialisation and all other sations? Or what about poverty, over population or having a culture I dont understand? Can I blame a person for staring at someone, so different from him self and anyone he knows? Or can I blame him for trying to get a bit more, from a woman that seems like she can easily afford it. And there on the floor it seemed like people stopped staring and I became the one to stare - I looked at a woman singing to her newborn child, a father buying chai for his two sons and small group of friends chatting and laughing - and I realized, I can not blame these people anything. All I can do is try to understand. And from this thought everything became my dirty, beautiful india again. Long after someone said to me - you can not change the situation, you can only change yourself - this is so so true.

Slum poetry (from Haldwani)

(In the honnor of Christian 2008, that gave me the Idea to teach slum children the importance of being clean)

… Mayday, mayday..
Team sunshine to headquater, you copy?
Mission banana under pressure.
Slum kinds, no want to learn how to wash.
Lightning from clear sky.
Surrounded by crowd. Angela nearly lost pants.
Manged to distract by throwing bucket. Buckets lost.
Calou and Ruta fought brave for towel. Towel intact.
Agi went down trying to save child from crowd.
Pjort no help, but filmed all.
Team in good spirit, but stuck with 120 bananas.
Will have feast. Tonight.

Over and out.

Bizarre situation sometime needs bizarre explanations.


… I will not go into details about what happened. Believe it or not, everthing in poem is true – but this experience makes me wonder about two things – the nature of a crowd and the nature of a slum. Days before many had been in the slum, and we had no problems at all. Sure people gathered around us, but in a friendly, interested way.. What makes the same people act like crazy? In psycology I read about the nature of a crowd – how it can make people do or react in ways they would never do normally. Or is it just poverty? Desperation? Boredom? Anger? Lack of social skills? What effect does life in the slum have on people? Does it make them rude, stupid, angry, sad or do things they would never do under other cirkumstances. Would I act the same in their situation?

Days after I was still wondering - who are these people? Not when I look at them, not in the crowd, but them truely. And who where they before they ended up in these conditions. Are they happy where they are? Some people told me that many children often run away when they are placed in homes, or at NGOs because they dont want to deciplined. Does it mean they are satisfied with their life? Or just can cope with another life?

I have no answers and no time. (to be continued)

Louise.

annicam — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:27:57 +0000

Time flies and it has already been many days since I managed to update my blog a little. The reason is a very boring one – I caught some kind of nasty Indian bacteria which has kept me in bed with a high fever for over a week. Now finally I feel good again, have started eating properly and am regaining my energy. It’s great!

Unfortunately it also meant that I missed out on most of the time we had in Kerala, where the whole team was together for the first time since we left Denmark a month ago. At least I got a few photos of the place we were staying so you can see that. In Kerala they call their state “God’s Own Country”. I do understand why they feel like that!

Rajapalayam

annicam — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:29:00 +0000

On the edge of the Western Ghats mountain chain, we arrived in the city Rajapalayam – with Indian measures, a rather small city with “only” 150.000 inhabitants. The city was founded and developed by the Rajas, who first arrived as warriors from the state Andra Pradesh some 400 years ago.

Kanan and Gita

This information we got from Kanan – a very nice man, whom we met by coincidence when we went to visit the Ayyanar Water fall. The water fall turned out to be nothing more than a river nowadays, but Gita and I enjoyed bathing, and laughing with the women anyway.

Wonderful experience - bathing in the river

Meeting Kanan and also his family gave us a good look into the life of an upper class Indian family. His grandfather, who died many years ago, was the minister of the whole state of Tamil Nadu – we saw his statue several places in the city. Kanans uncle owns the biggest educational centre in the city, where 10.000 children, youngsters and adults get a good education in beautiful, peaceful surroundings. The family is also into agriculture (coconut, rice, sugar etc.) They own the two cinemas in the city… and I could go on like this.

Kanan, his wife and their two grown up children have lived in Chennai for many years, so he was only home in Rajapalayam for a visit. He took us to the house of his uncle and aunt, and very soon the house was full of people who wanted to see us. The house was quite big, and as I have already explained, the family is economically well of, but still the inside of the house was compared with a European home, totally empty! In the room where they hosted us, there was one bed, a TV and 4 chairs which were brought in, so that we would be able to sit. This tells me, that even though society in India is developing, the people have not at all turned in to consumers like us Europeans.

This nice woman insisted on doing my hair

The developments and changes in society was also something Kanan came into while we talked. Traditionally a “raja” can only marry another raja. The parents find the coming wife/husband, by agreeing with the parents of the other part. Earlier the bride and groom have not even been allowed to see each other prior to the marriage. In the last few years this has changed, and today it is common that they are allowed to see each other once or twice, but not even talk. If a young raja decides to marry someone who is not a raja, traditionally he/she will be completely excluded from the family. But when we asked Kanan – what about when your daughter is getting married. Then his answer was… she will be allowed to choose. Times are changing in India!

Attila, me and Gita in a rickshaw in Rajapalayam

Last day at TCGD

annicam — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:07:14 +0000

After 11 days with TCGD, it was time to leave. We decided to make one final, really nice day together with the DIs.

Everyone together on our last evening

In the morning we made all the preparations. Then in the afternoon, every group made a presentation about the results of their investigations. It was a really interesting round, where each of us got useful information about the different topics.

The "Garbage and Sewage" group presenting

This group investigated the educational system

Gita, Minija and some DIs, cooking our last dinner

In the evening we prepared a nice program for the DIs. Since they had now hosted us, and taught us lots about India, we decided we wanted to also teach them something about Europe. So every nationality we represent was presented with photos, a very small presentation, and a cultural input. The whole day was a really good ending of a period full of experiences. Thank you again to everyone at TCGD for giving us such a fantastic start of our travel!