India-Day 6

"Must've been the nuts" -Tom Dalske, in regards to why he has been throwing up for the past 2 days.

Out of 7 of us, 4 have become sick. Tom and Dhruva must have eaten some bad nuts. Krishna has some kind of fever. And Ashok, for some reason we can't explain, drank the waste water from the water filter. Matt, Aaron, and I are still holding strong. For how long, we know not. We're hold off the bacteria for as long as possible.

We've been doing a lot of meditating since arriving at the Ananda commune, one hour outside of Pune. Jemal, Jaydar, and the other monks taught us some simple meditation techniques yesterday dealing with breathing and clearing the mind. I didn't understand this at first, but our experience here is involving a lot more spiritual learning than I expected. The theology here is basically a mix between all religions with a little yoga twist to it all. Before we start meditation, we do some chants about Jesus Christ, some saint, and other stuff. There are prayers said to divine mother, heavenly father, holy Mary, and others. It's definitely different than what I'm used to. But I am in India so...when in Rome...?

Today, we went to downtown Pune's marketplace. Basically millions of people and cheap clothing and other goodies makes for a good time. Really exhausted, but so good. I got some traditional indian attire. I'll post pictures soon.

The poverty here in India is so difficult to see. Everywhere we go, there are children asking for money...or even worse, mothers carrying their sick children asking for money for food. We are encouraged not to give to them, for if we do then more will come asking for money. Its really tragic though. I did give some money away to a handicapped fellow. But I feel that it doesn't really help. Giving money will only benefit them so far. It's the whole idea that you can give a man fish or you can teach a man a fish. I wish that I knew how to teach them to fish.

The work we are doing is for the Ananda spiritual community they are building outside of Pune. Yesterday, I spent most of the day surveying elevations of the ground so we can install a water tank tomorrow. We are going to be working on the community for this week and traveling during the weekends. It sounds like we have some really interesting trips planned to different temples and stuff. The Indian culture is very spiritual and drawn to the inner energy that exists all around us. In meditation or in their everyday lives, they seek to find the inner energy of the planet. Really interesting stuff.

I hope you are all doing well. I love India. I miss you all. Namaste

India-pictures

An Indian sweets shop

Our housing accommodations

The "monk-mobile"

The famous Taj hotel where all the foreign ambassador

A bunch of "Auto-rikshas" (3 wheeled taxis)

A Indian taxi

No, not the ghetto. It's Mumbai.

Enjoy the pictures

India-day 3

The gateway to India

We met up with the group today. Basically, the first group arrived 3 days ago. Another group of 3 arrived today. We met up and were taken away to look at India and all its splendor. The gateway to India was really rad. It was to welcome the British when they came into India in like 1911 or something like that. While there, we met up with this nice British woman named Inshella. She came with us to eat. Then, we met this other woman from Washington D.C. named Monica. So we had a nice group of tourists together for lunch.

The food here is so freaking delicious. Everything I have eaten has been great. I have had to be careful about the water and such. We only drink bottled water. I have drank some coke, which I still think is disgusting, but being that it is so hot, I had to drink something.

The poverty here is tragic. In the city we were staying in, Mumbai, there is the largest slum in all of Asia. I saw it flying in and it just continued and continued over hills and hills of Mumbai. Seeing children on the street come up to me asking for money to eat or food is really hard. Especially because I still have not had a chance to exchange my American dollars into Indian Rupies. So, even if I wanted to give them something, I couldn't. I did, however, give two little kids that kept following me a quarter each. I don't know if it'll help them at all, but if it does, good. They left me alone after that.

We met Jemal today. Such a humble, good, down-to-earth guy. He is the monk who has been coordinating this project. He has an interesting story that has led him to where he is now. I don't feel it's my place to share over a blog or anything, but basically he has just taken his path to happiness by becoming a monk. Driving to Pune from Mumbai, he and I had a chance to discuss religious, or rather, ethic values for a good hour or so. It was a great mutual respect that I felt talking with him. He taught me and I like to think that I taught him. It was a beautiful, uplifting conversation about life in general that touched me. I am looking forward to learning more from him. He'll be instructing our meditation classes and supervising our work and such.

So tonight we're staying in Pune at the monks' apartments. Tomorrow, we'll drive the 2 hours or so into the monestary and so it begins...

India-En route

Leaving America was like a dream. My life is going to be so dismissed. so distant, for the next 5 weeks. However, it helped me to recall my experience as a missionary in Japan. I thought back to that day of nearly 3 years ago. Although I was not much younger in years or anything, I would consider myself a lot younger. I had not yet had the experience of a mission to change and form me as it had. I hadn't met all the people in Japan that helped shaped me into who I am now. So, leaving America was similar to that feeling right before I left for Japan. I felt so unaware and so in awe of the world in its vastness. I was going to fly across the Pacific Ocean once again. I would experience the surreal feeling of knowing that should I crash, there is nothing but water for thousands of miles to swallow up me, my friends, and the hundred or so other passengers. But that feeling, as strange as it might be, brings such a sense of peace and serenity. The trip was incredibly different from my plane flights to and from Japan. I watched movies. It made the time pass a lot more quickly. 3 movies, one men's health magazine, and 30 pages or so from Farenheit 451. And I slept. All in all, it passed pretty quickly. Anyway, I dabble. As I always do.
So here we are. 4 of us in the Singapore airport, a place I know nothing about. I hardly knew where Singapore was on a map before I left. Dhruva is playing chess on the free X box 360 system. Tom is playing Dynasty Warriors or something like that. Matt is...I don't know what Matt is doing. Maybe going to the bathroom. I heard him mentioning it a while ago. Here I am blogging. I love blogging. Guilty pleasure, I know. And I know of my few followers, I probably drive them pretty insane with my spacey thoughts and my spastic sarcasm. But do know, I do have a point, my friends. Getting my thoughts from my mind to the paper has always been one of my most important endeavors. I can type so much faster than I can write, so it's easier to dabble than in a journal or something like that.
7 minutes left on this computer before it logs me out. I think I'll cut that short and go find a bathroom. I'm about to enter Indian borders. I don't even know what is about to hit me. I think about India and an image of Bollywood pops into my mind. I have heard about the large amounts of poverty that exist in the country, and in all honesty, I don't think I am ready to see it. But ready or not, here it comes. It's okay. It'll help me out, in some deep and profound way... I suppose.

My blog's feet have been through a lot

Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado

I first began this blog with a pair of hands. You may recall, if you are a follower of my blog, that they were two hands being cuffed together at the American-Mexican border. All the blogs between that first one and this one have told us many stories. Many tragic details have hopefully left us changed and motivated to see the world differently. It is my hope that this blog will lead you to move. I hope that you will feel a desire to help not just refugees, but one another out. I have never written this blog expecting to convert the next Mother Teresa or to save the world from it's self-destructiveness, but I have written it so that you can see God's beautiful creation that is mankind. We exist. We live. We love. We cry. We have joy. And we suffer. The pictures that you have seen throughout the duration of my blog have hopefully captured that. So like I said earlier, I don't expect any of you to go out there and change the world in an instant. But I do hope that you change the world around you. I hope you can make the world a better place by small and simple things. Lets work together to help those around us who need a simple smile to know that we care.
Sorry, I got side-tracked once again.
So, my final picture for this portion of my blog is the picture of these feet. Once again, Salgado captures an experience, but does not have to put a face to the story. I'll be honest. I don't know what this story is, either. I found this picture on the internet on some Italian blog. However, it is Salgado. You can almost taste the Salgado flavor that is so evident in all his photos. I felt this photo was very fitting to end my blog with, for the journey is complete. The feet of my blog have been through a lot. It's been a trip. I hope you enjoyed it. Who knows when I'll see ya again. Love you all. God bless.

The most important thing is to remember

Recently, talking with one of my friends, I was asked, "Why is your blog the most depressing blog I follow?" or something like that. I thought about that for the past several weeks. I don't mean to come off depressing or annoying in my desire to talk about refugees and human suffering. I don't want to be pessimistic and in reality, I don't believe that I am. I like this quote. It describes me very well.

"When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse."

Amazing things are happening to those who are suffering. The picture I chose today involves remembering those who have suffered in the past and are currently suffering. The most important thing we can do is be aware of their situation and the world that exists around us.
In the film, Hotel Rwanda, a journalist films the atrocities and says, "I think if people see this footage, they'll say Oh, my God, that's horrible. And then they'll go on eating their dinners." The purpose of this blog is for this to not happen. Although we may not be able to help these people personally, the biggest mistake we can make is to forget them, to leave them out of our prayers, to not think that they are human.
Here is my man, a refugee from the Zepa enclave during the Bosnian-Herzegovina conflict between 1992-1995. Probably originally fleeing from Bosnia for refuge, the man ended up in a
United Nations declared "safe area". The Zepa "safe area" only lasted 2 years before the war reached this man, his family, and his friends. The so-called "safe area" was ethnically cleansed forcing people, like this man, to flee for their lives once again.
I don't know this man. I probably will never meet him. He may not still be alive. But the reason I chose this picture is because of the emotion this man shows. It's as if you can tell exactly how this man is feeling without ever having to speak a word to him. Although we don't know him, we can keep them in our hearts, our prayers. We do not have to see this picture, say "that's horrible," and go back to chatting with our friends on facebook.
Thanks for reading. Was this depressing again?

Works Cited

"Zepa." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2010. Web. 11 March. 2010.

Salgado, Sebastiao. "Migrations: Humanity in Transition. [The Human Family Around the World]." Legends Online. PDN and Kodak Presents, n.d. Web. 11 March. 2010

Angola and Landmines

photograph by Sabatiao Salgado

Hello again everyone. Today's photograph comes from Kuito, Angola. Researching for today's post was really quite interesting. I came across a UN article from 1998 on landmines in Angola. I found it very interesting that under my google search of "Kuito, Angola" the first several entries referred to the problems this African country has with landmine dangers. Through war and conflict, millions of landmines have been placed within the vacinity of innocent civilians without the care or concern of military powerhouses. I always feel like I have nothing good to say about the human race, but again, it is simply appalling that the number of military soldiers being injured by this weapon of war seems to be less than the number of innocent people being injured. According to the UN article I read, there is at least one mine per every citizen of Angola. This causes the death or serious injury of over 26,000 individuals a year. You see the disgusting thing is when you look at the economics behind it all. Why are landmines so practical in wartime? Because they are so cheap;
to lay one landmine costs from $3-$10. Why have the landmines not been removed? Because it is too expensive; $300-$1000 to remove just one mine. I simply do not understand the world we live in, where death, destruction, mayhem, terrorism seem to have become a consumer market, whereas the good in the world is becoming more expensive and unreliable. Where have all the good people gone? I know that I used an old article from 1998, and information may have changed since then. My only hope is that Angola, once home of the world's largest amputee population, will have recovered from the condition they used to be in.

Works Cited

Ayisi, Ruth Ansah. "Landmines inflict heavy costs on Africa. Programmes of Demining and Assistance for Survivors are Vital." Africa Recovery. United Nations, Feb. 1998. Web. 5 March 2010.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. "Migrations: Humanity in Transition." Aperture. New York, 2000. 170.