At dinner the program director answered our questions. Upon pulling into the school I was put-off by the large banners that had the program name and the director’s face proportionally stretched across. After his Q&A session, I had learned enough about the director to know that he was more selfless than the banners let on. Also, Molly pointed out that facial recognition was a huge part of Indian marketing. This is probably due to their literacy rate.
While we stayed at the RIDE program offices, the director’s wife made us each meal. My favorite thing was the lushious mangos. I remember eating Indian mangos at Josh’s house in high school and thinking they were delicious. How exciting that I got to eat Indian mangos in India!
Our sleeping conditions were awesome. Awesome, like an awesome story to tell and a great experience, nothing regal. We walked up three flights of stairs. At the base of the next flight there was a community bathroom, a toilet, a sink, a bucket, and a drain. When I walked into the room, the image of the cartoon Madeline flashed into my mind. There were six beds closely lined up on each side of the room. The beds however were not like the colorful cartoon. There were different shapes and lengths but all were cots plus thin padding plus a piece of sheet fabric. The building must have once been a hospital, there were still IV holdings in the corner and monitors fastened to the walls. Also, there were strings draped back and forth across the ceiling, these must have been to hang sheets for privacy. The eerie effect was completed by the barred windows sans screens or shutters. I stayed up late chatting with a few kids in my group. I love hearing people’s stories. Everyone on Semester At Sea has something interesting to talk about. (I am still searching for my go-to story, fact, or monumental experience.) Julianne works as an EMT, backpacked through Alaska, and took a semester off and moved to Australia for a while. Suzie dropped out of high school and is completing her associates degree in design, she believes everyone has a color that represents their aura. Eric goes to UVA, the school that sponsers SAS, he lost all of his luggage and started from scratch in Spain and is still accumulating things he needs. Three new friends from a simple conversation on a muggy evening in rural India.
The next morning I was told by Barbara who was sleeping in the bed next to me, that a large iguana had crawled through the window at night and decided to curl up next to me. She shooed it away. I am glad I didn’t roll over or wake up for this.
The next morning I was told by Barbara who was sleeping in the bed next to me, that a large iguana had crawled through the window at night and decided to curl up next to me. She shooed it away. I am glad I didn’t roll over or wake up for this.
The second day of our trip was spent learning first-hand about micro-lending. We drove to a rural village. Our bus was unable to go down the road that led from the highway, so we walked. We passed a purple structure that was a hangout for the goats; we later found out it was a mausoleum for the last village president. To receive their guests wholeheartedly, we were ushered to a small temple. We removed our shoes and were odorned with flowers and the traditional forehead dots. The dots are made organically with flower and spices. They are marked to remove stress and bad thoughts. A spiritual service was performed to ask for a blessing on the visit.
We were invited into the current president’s home where our director showed us record books of loans. Each week, different women’s groups met and delegated loans. They supported each other keeping on track to payback loans. We were given onion cookies that tasted like they sounded.
We also visited a home (a hut with clay walls and palm leaved roof) occupied by a widowed woman, her three children, her parents, and her sister’s family. The woman had petitioned for a loan to start a pottery business. With $400 she was able to start her business and support her family. I bought a clay piggybank.
Throughout our driving we stopped at a few Hindu temples. They were beautiful stone and marble carvings that reached high into the sky. The first one we visited had 180 separate meditation coves, each with its own depiction to focus on. The other was built in 1994 and had large colorful statues of a few of the most prominent gods.
We were invited into the current president’s home where our director showed us record books of loans. Each week, different women’s groups met and delegated loans. They supported each other keeping on track to payback loans. We were given onion cookies that tasted like they sounded.
We also visited a home (a hut with clay walls and palm leaved roof) occupied by a widowed woman, her three children, her parents, and her sister’s family. The woman had petitioned for a loan to start a pottery business. With $400 she was able to start her business and support her family. I bought a clay piggybank.
Throughout our driving we stopped at a few Hindu temples. They were beautiful stone and marble carvings that reached high into the sky. The first one we visited had 180 separate meditation coves, each with its own depiction to focus on. The other was built in 1994 and had large colorful statues of a few of the most prominent gods.
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