Sapporo Bound

It seems these days that not much more than a month passes between trips for me ..... I am such a lucky girl I guess :-) This weekend it is the Sapporo Snow Festival! The name Sapporo may ring a bell - yup, the beer with the star on the can. That is where one of Japan's most famous breweries is located. It is the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. The snow festival is held every year, and artists from all over build gigantic, beautiful ice sculptures. It is a pretty famous even apparently, and I am expect to lots of crowds. And cold - the temp here gets down to -9 Celcius ....brrrrrr!!!!! But I am also expecting lots of beer and ramen and hot springs! And possibly even some snowboarding?!?!?!?

How cool!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7218078.stm

Faces

I will devote this post entirely to black and white close-ups of the people in the KI Village. These are some of my absolute favorite shots from the whole trip! And I have to admit, I am terrible with names, especially unfamiliar names, so although a lot of the people in these photos were a huge presence during the two weeks, I can't assign a name to go with their faces. But I do have a little story for most of them.

Does she know how to pose or what?!?!

This girl was very well known by all of us - she was everywhere! I never did figure out which family she was actually a part of, but she seemed to turn up for every single house we built, especially at picture taking time. She was super personable, and very clever. One day she got paper and a pen from one of the volunteers, and when around asking us to write our names for her, so she could practice her English. Ravi said she was extremely well-spoken for her age, and I think her intelligence really shows in her eyes. Also, she wore this silver/gray sequined dress that must have been really nice at one time, but had become extremely tattered from so many washings and wearings. Strangely enough though, it gave her class!

Funny Faces

This one cracks me up - the baby had the same expression every time I saw her - sort of shocked and confused and almost dreamy. Despite the face that she clearly was scared of us, the older kids were constantly showing her off and asking us to take her picture. So she was generally in a state of shock and on the verge of tears every time she was near us. The boy's face just goes too perfectly with hers - he is a complete ham, and she is completely bewildered.




This little guy was one of my favorites. He was a charmer and a trouble maker - cute enough to get away with being a little bit of a shit-head. He loved attention and would do whatever necessary to get it!

Old Woman

I think this old lady is fascinating. She really caught my attention, and I later realized why - elderly people are rare in the village because the average life span is 55 years old. A lot of the people were far younger than they looked, and a lot did not know their ages. I have no idea how old this lady actually is, but she was definitely one of the eldest members of the village.

Is it nap time yet?

On New Year's Day, we gave some talks to the villagers about the importance of education, cleanliness, etc., but of course the children were less than enraptured. This particular boy was just about to fall asleep on his mom's lap. In the photo though, he sort of came out looking pitiful, like one of those malnourished kids you see in the "Sponsor a Child in Africa" ads. But I still love it, because his eyes are so expressive.

Mali

This is Mali, one of my favorite people from the whole trip. He is 14, and was working as our bus driver's assistant. He spoke no English, but it didn't matter because he had such a sweet and good-natured personality. All of us just adored this kid! We didn't particularly like the bus driver though, because he was sort of rude and creepy. So when it came time to give tips (which are customarily given/expected for pretty much everything in India), we all agreed that we wanted to tip Mali, but not the driver. We were all sneaking him money throughout the last day, and he had a grin on his face a mile wide. And the bus driver actually asked us for a tip, so we put together the minimum that was possible without being rude. Mali must have made a killing though, I know we all were pretty generous with him. And he totally deserved it, Mali is awesome!

Old Man

Another one of the older people in the village.

So that is all I will post for now! Sigh, I have tons more ... I realize I never even got around to posting most of the photos from the big Asia backpacking trip. More cool things just kept happening! (Although I suppose that speaks well of my life!) But I will definitely get the India photos up, because they really are worth sharing.

As an end note that fits with the theme of this post, I want to say that one thing I loved about the people in the KI Village was that they were not afraid to have their pictures taken. Quite the opposite in fact - they loved it, and they loved looking at them afterwards. Their openness to the camera is the reason I was able to get so many nice shots. After traveling to so many touristy areas where the locals are jaded by cameras being pointed at them, it was refreshing to have people who enjoyed being photographed. I think it really is one of the most sincere forms of flattery. To take a person's photos is to say - I think you are interesting, and I want to capture your image so I can remember you and share your face with other people. At least that is the way I think of it!

The KI Villages

Here are a few shots from our arrival in the villages, on the first day of the project. It was one of the most memorable moments of the whole trip, being swarmed by kids and showered with marigold petals. That was when it all suddenly became real.

April, Kids and Me

Tina, her ajumma hat, and a really cute little girl

The Kothasatram and Indiranagar villages where we were volunteering are located along a long road that runs between the city of Kavali and the coast, in the Andhra Pradesh region of southeast India. They are surrounded by other villages, which are also fairly poor, but not of Dalit (Untouchable) status. The difference is noticeable - the other villages have concrete buildings and several vehicles and are clearly a bit better off.

All along this road you can see prominent blue signs announcing the government Tsunami Rehabilitation Project, but there are no signs in either the Kothasatram and Indiranagar villages - they did not get any government money because they are Dalit. About a year and a half ago, someone from the locally-based Association of Relief Volunteers (ARV), heard about these two villages. ARV paired up with the non-profit organization Longitude, which is based in Rhode Island, and the Building Communities project was born.

I won't go into the history of the caste system here, if you want to read about that, it can all be found online of course, put into better words than I would come up with. The important thing to know is that the caste system is a system of discrimination that goes back thousands and thousands of years, and is very deeply embedded into the fabric and psyche of India. So the fact that it has been legally banned doesn't really make a huge difference - putting a law in place won't exactly change the way people think. (Look at the history of slavery and racism in the US as another example.) There are lots of individuals and organizations working to create more equality in India, but undoing thousands of years of thinking is a very slow process.

A few examples - Ravi told us that when he brings doctors out to see a sick villager, the doctor won't even touch them. A DOCTOR! I couldn't believe that. And Lauren, one of my fellow volunteers, was once approached by some local people while she was playing with the children, and they asked her, "How can you touch those dirty kid?" I also read a story in the Delhi English newspaper that talked about discrimination against Dalit children in public schools. The children have to be allowed to attend according to the law, but they are often made to sit separately and ridiculed by their teachers classmates. Some schools even use separate sticks to beat them with. They are not even considered good enough to be beat with the same stick. That is sad.

When I joined this volunteer project, I went expecting that our main purpose was to raise the money and lend a hand with building the houses. But I realized that the message we were sending - to the people of the villages and the surrounding communities - was in a way the most important thing. A large part of what ARV does is empowerment - to teach people how to lift themselves out of poverty. But it is hard to convince people who have been so oppressed that they are worthy of something better, and bringing in volunteers from outside really helps to get the point across -- your own country might not help you out, but there are lots of others in the world who think that is wrong. Furthermore, it sends the same message to the rest of the community and brings attention to the fact that these people have been grossly oppressed and neglected. And sure enough, this year the local government has pledged a very large amount of money to help out the ARV project. That is the sort of effect that our time spent in the village had.

One of the things I found most surprising is that although these two villages are both Dalit, and regarded as equally low status by everyone else in the community, there is a difference in status between them - in their eyes at least. One of the villages is clearly a bit better off - they have more skilled wage earners, more space to grow crops, and more livestock. And because of this, they consider themselves to be better than the neighboring village. One of the main goals of the ARV project is to create unity between the two villages and encourage them to help each other. Before the project started, children from the two villages would not play together, and people from one village would rarely go into the other village. The two people in our group who also went last year told us that they observed a noticeable improvement since last year - now the children wander freely between the villages and there is a lot more contact between the people from both sides.

ARV is hoping to eventually completely unite the two villages and rename them. And the name they are considering - the JET Village - in honor of the fact that most of the volunteers have been part of the JET Program. I think it is a little odd though ....

Alright, more photos!

Ravi

Ravi, who works with ARV, was the man responsible for us while we were in India. He is an incredible and selfless person, an inspiration to us all. His birthday happens to be on January 2nd. Last year, the volunteers asked him what he wanted for his bday, and he said he wanted them to hold a New Year's feast for the village. So they did, and also used the extra money to buy new sarees for all the women. This year, they decided to budget the New Year's food into the work camp. So when we asked Ravi what he wanted for his bday this year, he asked us to buy new clothes for all the men and children. How much do you think it costs to buy new outfits for an entire village of men and children? Once the math was all done to split the cost between 16 people, each of us contributed about $40. To think that we spend twice that on ONE pair of jeans for ourselves.

Washing Hands

After last year's work camp, they also started a children's feeding center - every morning each child gets one egg and one glass of milk. Doesn't seem like much, but you have to remember that these kids would normally eat only rice and and a tiny bit of veggies. One morning they had us come and help out with the food.

Sid, who is actually Canadian, looked like he was recruiting for the US Military.

Everyone's Favorite Baby and her mom

Hannah the Scalding Milk Lady

Baby with the Huge Eyes

The Taj Mahal

Before we headed out to the village, we had one day in Delhi, so we decided to go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal. And it was a really, really intense day! Kate and I had just arrived the night before and were still jet lagged. We had to get on the bus at 6 a.m. to head out to Agra. We were told that the drive there would take 4 hours, but it turned out to be more like 6 hours. No time for breakfast, just go, spent about an hour and a half at the Taj, a bit of lunch, a bit of shopping, then back on the bus for 6 hours ... exhausting!

Road to the Taj

This is pretty typical scenery in India ... tons of auto-rickshaws of course. Most buildings we saw were falling apart, yet every few blocks there was a billboard for a swanky housing development.

Streets of Agra

In LineSecurity is really tight at the Taj. You cannot bring in any bags, only a camera and a bottle of water. Everyone gets pat searched upon entry also. And like everything in India, there are separate lines for men and women, so nobody has to be patted down by the opposite sex.

Red Corridor

The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal really is beautiful. I think our guide said it best, "The beauty of the Taj cannot be expressed in words; it has to be experienced by the individual." I really like that idea, and I think it is true of beauty in general -- you can't always explain why it is so beautiful, you just know that it is.

Anyway, a quick rundown of the history of the Taj -- it is actually a Mausoleum built for a queen - a monument to true love, so to speak. Her name was Mumtaz Mahal, and she died after giving birth to her 14th child (!!). Her husband, Shah Jahan, was so grief stricken that he started to have health problems. So in tribute, he had the Taj built for her, and he wanted it to be the most beautiful building in the world. Talk about love! It took 22 years to build and was finished in 1648.

Kids, Just Hanging Out

What I liked most about the Taj was the general feeling of peacefulness that prevailed over the whole grounds. It was very crowded, but somehow it was still calm and pretty quiet. Felt like people enjoying a Sunday stroll in the park, not like a major tourist attraction. Ironically, the only place that was NOT peaceful was the inside of the mausoleum - in there people were loud and pushy and taking tons of flash photos. It didn't feel like a tomb at all and it actually made me feel sorry for the poor queen. You have the spectacular monument built for you, but because of it your final resting place is constantly crowded with obnoxious tourists!

Side View of the Taj Mahal

The Mosque

The Taj is an Islamic building - I didn't realize this before, but it is actually so apparent from the architecture! There is a mosque off to one side, and to keep the symmetry, they build an identical building on the other side that wasn't intended to be used for anything specific. I think our guide said that it is now a tomb for several other people and is referred to as "The Guest House."

BC Group at the Taj

These are some of the people that I would be spending the next 2 weeks with. We are all JETs but live in different parts of Japan. As you can imagine, we all got pretty close during the trip, and *hopefully* will be having a reunion sometime this summer before some of us leave the country and go back home.

I am really, really happy that I got to see the Taj Mahal - it has always been on my list of "must-sees." And I wasn't disappointed by it at all - it really is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. The only regret I have is not being able to spend enough time there, one of the inevitable downfalls of going with a group. When I visit such beautiful or historical places, I love to linger and just soak it all up, but we only had an hour and a half. So I feel like I didn't really get the full experience. Maybe someday I will have to go back!

Swimming in Photos!

I just uploaded my India photos to my computer, and I have just over 400 shots! Holy shit shutterbug! The trip was just that memorable though. I will eventually put them all up on Kodak, once I sort and filter and edit, but for now I will try to just post a few of my favorites each day.

I'll start with this one, not because it is a particularly great shot, but because it is what we went there to do (although as it turns out, our visit to the village was about much more than building houses, but I won't go into all of that yet.)
This is my building team from the second day, including some volunteers, the masons, and the family that will live in the house. You'll notice that the house is not finished -- during the two weeks that we were there, we pretty much just built the walls. They have to get government approval of structural safety before they go ahead and put the roofs on. Eventually the houses will have cement floors, a tin roof, and whitewashed and painted walls. They expect to be finished by May 2008.

This is the family that will be living in the house.

Fellow volunteers Sid and Hannah with The World's Most Adorable Baby. I think that is actually her name, or at least it should be. Every single one of us was completely in love with her - she was always happy, even when being passed around by 17 complete strangers. If Angelina Jolie came to the KI Village, this is the one she would adopt!

Another one of my favorite kids from the village, but I don't remember her name because I am terrible with names. She renamed me Chuni, and called me that every single time she saw me. A really sweet girl, and I just love this photo of her because it is so expressive.

Home again

I am home again! Well, back in Japan at least :-) And let me say, this place is weeeiiiirrd after being in India....

I have so much to write about and so many photos to share (upwards of 400, eegads!), but for now I am keeping it short due to extreme exhaustion!!!

At this point, I have pretty much been up for 3 days straight, with the exception of 1-2 hour naps stolen on trains, planes and buses. We headed out to the village for the last time on January 3rd, did a half day of building, then had a tearful but joyful goodbye to all our new friends of the KI village. Then it was back to the hotel for packing and last minute shopping in Kavali before loading up the bus by 7 p.m. We dropped 4 people off at the train station around 9, then drove through the night to Chennai. We said goodbye to another part of the group at the Chennai Salvation Army guest house around 2 am, and continued on to the airport where the remaining 6 people spent the rest of the night waiting for our 6 am flight back to Delhi. We had some time to kill before our flight back to Japan, so we did some shopping in the local craft market and then tried to grab a few winks at the airport. An 8 hour overnight flight back to Tokyo put us in Japan around 9 this morning, and I finally walked in my door about 4 this afternoon. What a friggin' long journey!

Just for fun, here is the list of various forms of transportation I have used in my journey home, in chronological order: bus (4 hours), plane (2 hours), taxi (30 minutes), motor rickshaw (30 minutes), plane (8 hours), train (1 hour), subway (15 minutes), Shinkansen (1 hour), train (30 minutes), walking (40 minutes), and one more bus (45 minutes). Behold the wonders of modern transportation! I am probably on my 9th or 10th wind by now, and my body has pretty much given up on fighting me and resolved itself to being awake until I decide it is time to go to bed.

And on that note, I think 8 pm is reasonable bedtime given the circumstances!!! Sweet sleep in a real bed, here I come!